Theatre East Presents THE JUNGLE BOOK, Beginning Today, 9/1

Theatre East presents "The Jungle Book"  - a new adaptation by Megan O'Brien, Off Broadway at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 416 West 42^nd Street (Theatre Row), NYC.  Dina Epshteyn directs this theatrical exciting production. Performances begin for the limited engagement today, September 1. The multi-talentedcast includes: Vanessa Altschuler, Bianca Gallifuoco, Charlie Solis, Kire Tosevski, and Christopher Travlos.  The Set Designer is Lea Anello, the Lighting Designer is Jessica M. Burgess and the Sound Designer & Composer is Scott O'Brien.  The Production Manager is Eric Kasprisin.        

         

This brand new adaption of Kipling's classic tale of a lost boy being adopted by the jungle is "told through the eyes of young Alex, who through the pages of the story uses his imagination to bring the book to life. Through shadow puppetry, and new staging this is a show the entire family will enjoy."   www.junglebooktheplay.org.

 

The Jungle Book was chosen as a companion piece for Theatre East's main stage production, Normalcy, because of the similar themes and issues of adoption and finding one's identity. The company realizes that children too are a part of their community and seek to serve them as well. Theatre East is so excited about this addition to their programming. Educator and activist Maxine Greene once said, "Literature is being replaced by literacy." Theatre East hopes to not only ignite imagination but truly instill the importance of these wondrous, classic texts.

Megan O'Brien  (Playwright) was often terrified of The Shadows in her room growing up, and wishes her imagination had been as cool as Alex's. In 2006, she was a NJ Young Playwrights winner and accepted the Governor's Award in Arts Education. Some of her previous plays include Assaulting Her Ego and They Don't Exist.

Dina Epshteyn (Director)'s NY directing credits include Mary's Wedding (Peter Jay Sharp Theater); Lubbock or Leave It! (HERE); Mush and George the Fourth (Fringe Festival); How Herman Commike Saved My Life, Visionaries, and School Romance (MITF); Boy's Own Jedi Handbook and The Clockmaker (Urban Stages); and many others. Regionally, she directed the World Premiere of Three Views of the Same Object (Woodward/Newman Award Winner for Best Drama) and Still the River Runs at Bloomington Playwrights Project. She has assistant directed and dramaturged at Capital Rep, Two River, Westport Country Playhouse, and Baltimore's CENTERSTAGE. Her first play-No Blueberries-won the 2009 $7,500 Grand Prize in Manhattan Theater Club's REALationships National Playwrighting Competition and was staged at their City Center space. Ms. Epshteyn graduated with distinction from McGill University.

Theatre East (Judson Jones, Artistic Director; Christa Kimlicko Jones, Associate Artistic Director) advances the dialogue of the shared human experience through works that utilize simple storytelling, providing our community with a platform to deepen its understanding of themselves, each other and the world we share.

Performances for the limited Off-Broadway engagement are:  Today and Sunday at 1:00pm & 3:00 pm.  Note that the 2^nd perfomrenace on Sundays 9/9, 9/16 and 9/23 will be at 6:30pm (not at the the regular 3pm). Tickets are: $25 and for groups of 10 or more only $20.  Tickets are on sale at the box office and through Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or on the web at  www.ticketcentral.com/