A Special Edition Of LIVING RADIO To Raise Funds For Australian Bushfire Relief Announced At The Kraine

LIVING RADIO, Co-Op Theatre East's monthly series of radio plays "revising current events" to imagine a different world, presented in association with FRIGID New York, will host a special edition of the show on Monday, February 10 at The Kraine Theater, as a fundraiser for Australian bushfire relief.

All ticket proceeds will benefit Victorian Bushfires Appeal (https://www.vic.gov.au/bushfireappeal), which provides direct support to residents who have lost a family member, or experienced loss or damage to their housing as a result of the fires; and Wildlife Victoria (https://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au/), which supports wildlife shelters and carers to rebuild enclosures and equipment that have been lost in the fires, as they cope with the enormous number of animals that will need care.

The evening will feature five new radio plays, including works by Australian playwright Jane Miller writing from Down Under, Australian playwright Nate Charles writing from New York, and NYC-based playwrights Ebony Kennedy, Roddy MacInnes, and Duncan Pflaster. Australian actors living in New York, including COTE Ensemble member Laura Iris Hill, as well as Nicolle Bradford, Nate Charles, James Deeth, and Clara Francesca, will be featured in the evening's works.

COTE Ensemble member Laura Iris Hill, a native of Melbourne, says, "It's absolutely devastating what's going on back home in Australia. It's not uncommon to have bushfires during the summer but the scale of this one is unprecedented. I just can't believe the damage caused to people's lives, the land and especially the animals. It's truly horrific. So, I'm really touched that COTE decided to dedicate our February Living Radio evening to the Aussie bushfire effort.

"There are so many worthy organizations to support across a number of regions in the country, however, as New South Wales charities have gained particular attention both domestically and internationally, we decided to throw some love at charities doing similar work in the state of Victoria."

Producer Robert A. K. Gonyo adds, "Co-Op Theatre East was founded with a mission to create socially-engaged works. This is a mass environmental and humanitarian tragedy, and it's front-and-center in the news; we decided that not only should our Living Radio series address it head-on, but we had to try to help directly, too."

Formerly known as "Radio COTE," the Living Radio series stages live performances of radio plays that re-imagine current events, exploring alternate present realities. The results range from the absurdly wacky to the poignantly reflective, from apocalyptic to aspirational, but they're always clever, fun, and inspired. Living Radio is a monthly series at FRIGID New York's Kraine Theater.

Five new plays are presented each evening, featuring members of Co-Op Theatre East's Ensemble collaborating with an incredible array of independent theatre artists, mixing and matching in the roles of playwright, director, and actor, with all shows sound-designed and engineered by producer Robert A. K. Gonyo. Each play is also recorded as a podcast, available via COTE's website soon after the performance. Listen to past plays at www.cooptheatreeast.org.

Co-Op Theatre East believes in the power of art to foster a dialogue for social change. Founded in April 2008 by Casey Cleverly, Robert A. K. Gonyo and Ashley Marinaccio, three classmates in the Performance Studies graduate program at NYU, COTE was formed to create theatre that actively works to challenge the status quo and create lasting social change. We provide an entertaining performance forum in which to ask evocative, challenging questions of artists and audiences on our way to creating collaborative answers.

FRIGID New York's mission is to provide both emerging and established artists the opportunity to create and produce original work without limit to content, form, or style, and to amplify their diverse voices. We do this by presenting a array of monthly programming, mainstage productions, an artist residency, and 7 annual theater festivals that create an environment of collaboration, resourcefulness, and innovation. Founded in 1998, the aim was and is to form a structure, allowing multiple artists to focus on creating and staging new work and providing affordable rental space to scores of Independent artists. Now in our third decade we have produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater.

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