World Premiere Immersive Play TRY THIS ON FOR ME to be Presented Off-Broadway

The award-winning New York Neo-Futurists announced the world premiere production of TRY THIS ON FOR ME, a new full-length immersive play created by ensemble member Lee LeBreton with collaborators Anooj Bhandari and Nicole Hill, directed by Dan Rogers. TRY THIS ON FOR ME will play ten performances only in a limited engagement at Off-Broadway's Playwrights Downtown (440 Lafayette, 4th Floor). Performances begin Thursday, May 12 and continue through Saturday, May 21. Opening Night is Thursday, May 12 (8:30 p.m.). Tickets are $23-25 and available at nynf.org. Press are invited starting on Friday, May 13 and any subsequent performance.

TRY THIS ON FOR ME guides its roaming audience through a surreal flea market full of interactive installations exploring the absurdity, angst, and euphoria of trying to dress ourselves. Audience members leave with a one-of-a-kind souvenir: a hand-picked article of clothing from the show's set. Inspired by its transgender creator's battles with self-adornment, TRY THIS ON FOR ME aims to leave its audience feeling more beautiful than when they arrive.

TRY THIS ON FOR ME is the full-length culmination of earlier work featured in The Infinite Wrench, NYNF's decorated and long-running weekly show, and was a Semi-Finalist in Double or Nothing, NYNF's monthly public play development lab presented at Caveat NYC in 2019. The project received an ART/NY Norman Bel Geddes Design grant and developmental funding from City Artist Corps.

The production stars Lee LeBreton (The Infinite Wrench), Anooj Bhandari (The Infinite Wrench), and Nicole Hill (Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk).

The production is directed by Dan Rogers (sixsixsix) and features production design by Joseph Wolfslau (Ski End). Production management by Travis Amiel. Publicity by Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR.

TRY THIS ON FOR ME plays the following schedule through Saturday, May 21:

Thursday, May 12 2022 @ 8:30pm

Friday, May 13 2022 @ 8:30pm

Saturday, May 14 2022 @ 2pm

Saturday, May 14 2022 @ 6pm

Sunday, May 15 2022 @ 2pm

Sunday, May 15 2022 @ 6pm

Thursday, May 19 2022 @ 8:30pm

Friday, May 20 2022 @ 8:30pm

Saturday, May 21 2022 @ 2pm

Saturday, May 21 2022 @ 6pm

Tickets are $23-25 and are now available online at www.nynf.org.. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the theater a half-hour prior to the performance.

Running Time: 90 minutes

Website: www.nyneofuturists.org

BIOGRAPHIES

Anooj Bhandari is an artist, creative storyteller, playwright, performer, and community organizer. They are an ensemble member with the New York Neo-Futurists and have worked with Queer Abstract, Bronx Academy of Art and Dance, La MaMa, and Juilliard. Anooj is an alumnus of EmergeNYC, the Hemispheric Institute's Fellowship for Emerging Political Performance Artists, and was a Restorative Justice Coordinator with Make the Road NY. He holds a master's degree in Arts Politics from NYU and a bachelor's degree in Public Policy from the Ohio State University, with an emphasis on Educational Policy and Leadership.

Nicole Hill is a classically trained actress (and all around clown) who has worked on Broadway and Off, both off stage and on. In addition to numerous NY credits, she has toured regionally, most notably as standby for "Da Singer" in the First National Tour of Savion Glover's Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk. Nicole's work touring abroad has spanned from Europe to Africa, where she debuted her one-woman show, All Up in a White Woman's Closet as part of the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe. Nicole has also entertained audiences in Zimbabwe and Johannesburg, with stops in Mauritius and Zambia along the way, as the holiday favorite "Miss Saucy Claus". Rounding out her time in Africa, Nicole was fortunate enough to utilize her background in the arts to create programming for the Rockefeller Foundation and to work with Oprah Winfrey's Angel Network via the NGO Africa Loves Babies. Nicole is a NY Neo-Futurist and the recipient of the 2014 New York Innovative Theater Award for outstanding innovative design for her work in shadow puppetry. Current projects as writer/producer/lyricist include the musical podcast The Misadventures of Clown ZerO' and the web series Escape From Boo-Boo-Ville (a child-like show for grown-ass folk!).

Lee LeBreton is an experimental theatre-maker based in Brooklyn and ensemble member with the New York Neo-Futurists. Their work includes positions and fellowships at Roundabout Theatre Company and the John F. Kennedy Center; appearances with Trinity Rep, Arena Stage, Intiman Theatre, The Williams Project, and Night Vale Presents; premieres at the New Ohio and Dixon Place; collaborations with It Gets Better, Planned Parenthood, and the Brooklyn Public Library; as well as writing for global brands. His multimedia immersive epic Old Bones was included in the inaugural Future of StoryTelling Festival in 2016, in collaboration with AntiMatter Collective. Lee is a regular contributor to the NY Neo-Futurists' ongoing show The Infinite Wrench and NY Times-acclaimed podcast Hit Play. Lee Speaks on queerness, performance, and play at events and schools around the country. He holds an MFA from Brown/Trinity Rep.

Dan Rogers is a director of theatre and opera and the co-founder of AntiMatter Collective. He holds an MFA in Directing from Brown/Trinity and was a 2015 Drama League Directing Fellow. Projects include The Fall of All Atomic Angels and The Stripperers at The Public Theater, site-specific stagings of Cendrillon and La Sonnambula for the Promenade Opera Project in Boston, A Campfire Requiem, a song cycle by Rick Burkhardt at HERE, Brideshead Obliterated by Lee LeBreton at Dixon Place, Old Bones, an augmented reality play by Lee LeBreton, and sixsixsix by Gregory S. Moss, a black mass staged in a 20,000 sq. ft. warehouse.

Joseph Wolfslau is a set, sound, and costume designer based in Brooklyn. Recent designs include production design for La sonnambula (Promenade Opera), production design for Magnum Opus: A Retrospective (The People Movers), sound for The Emperor's Nightingale (Pan Asian Rep.), sound for The Peanut Butter Show (Little Lord), production design for Cendrillon (Promenade Opera), sound for Romulus the Great (Yangtze Rep.), sound for Brideshead Obliterated (Dixon Place), set, costumes, and sound for 410 [Gone] (Yangtze Rep), sound for CoIncident (JACK), sound for Ski End (New Ohio), sound for CoVenture (Baryshnikov), and set and costumes for Poor Sailor (Tugboat Collective).

The New York Neo-Futurists are a radically dynamic ensemble of multidisciplinary artists who write and perform original work rooted in the truth of their own lived experiences. They fuse elements of poetry, game, and performance art to create ever-changing theater and other artistic experiments to respond to the world around them. Since opening in Brooklyn in 2004, the New York Neo-Futurists have premiered over 6,000 plays and have become a downtown New York institution. In addition to performing The Infinite Wrench fifty weeks a year and producing Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind from 2004 until 2016, the New York Neo-Futurists have been a stalwart presence in the Off-Off Broadway community, having won numerous Innovative Theatre Awards and Drama Desk nominations. The company was honored at the 2018 Fresh Fruit Festival Awards with the Honeyberry Award for Unrecognized Service to the LGBT Community. The Infinite Wrench unleashes a barrage of two-minute plays, and while each one offers something different, be it funny, profound, elegant, disgusting, topical, irrelevant, or terrifying, all are truthful and tackle the here-and-now, inspired by the lived experiences of the performers.

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