'AMERICAN SCOREBOARD' Readings Series Kicks Off with Wells Fargo Fraud at Bank Street Tonight

AMERICAN SCOREBOARD is a series of readings that reflect the issues that President Elect Donald Trump faces when he steps into office. Conceived and produced by Fran Kirmser and Christopher Burney, AMERICAN SCOREBOARD are verbatim readings of Senate and Congressional hearing transcripts presented without interpretation or slant.

The first reading, today, Jan 24 at 4 p.m., will focus on the topic of corporate fraud with The Wells Fargo Hearing Panel 1. The cast includes Quincy Dunn Baker, Bill Dawes, Constantine Maroulis, Sapna Parikh, Katharine Roman Powell, Adeola Role, Peter Scolari, Tracy Shayne, Asa Somers, and James Yaegashi.

On September 20, 2016, CEO of Wells Fargo John Stumpf appeared in front of the Senate Banking Committee after the conclusion that thousands of Wells Fargo employees opened more than 2 million accounts that may not have been authorized. The Wall Street Journal dubbed actions at Wells Fargo "The Scandal of the Year." The cast will read the verbatim transcript of hearing panel 1.

The second slated AMERICAN SCOREBOARD reading is the LGBTQ FADA hearing, which occurred on the one month Anniversary of the Orlando Massacre.

How can we trust what we are told? At a time when many news outlets seek the sensational angle and the sources of information are questioned, this reading series offers information without editorial slant in an effort to share facts and provoke all people to ask the tough questions and inspire action.

Future topics include, but are not limited to, immigration, the economy, international relations, racism, LGBTQ and gender equality, the homeless crisis, national security, healthcare, and education. This pop up reading series intends to follow the administration through the next four years addressing issues as they arise.

The reading is free and open to the public. Reservations required by calling 212-554-3431. AMERICAN SCOREBOARD will have its reading at The Bank Street Theater at HB Studio Theatre, 124 Bank Street, NYC.

Fran Kirmser is a two time Tony Award wining producer whose credits include; Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (Tony Award 2013), Hair (Tony Award 2009), Glengarry Glen Ross, Lombardi, and August Wilson's Radio Golf. In 2008 off the heels of the financial crisis Kirmser conceived and produced a sports series for stage to explore leadership, competition, teamwork and resilience beginning with first Lombardi which is now a film in development with Legendary Pictures.

Christopher Burney is the Associate Artistic Director of Second Stage Theatre where he has worked since 1996. Previously, he worked at Lincoln Center Theater as the Assistant to the Director of Musical Theatre. He teaches creative producing and New York theatre history at Columbia University in the Graduate School of the Arts.

HB was founded in 1945 by the Broadway actor and director Herbert Berghof. Berghof, born in Austria, was a protégé of the German realist director Max Reinhardt. A refugee from Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime, Berghof came to New York in 1939, where he joined a community of immigrant artists interested in bringing the classical training of the European theatrical tradition into practice in the still-young American theatre and created a studio for this work and practice. Berghof met the celebrated actress Uta Hagen in 1945 and invited her to join him in teaching at the Studio. Together, Hagen and Berghof trained some of the most noted actors of the American theatre. Their students, colleagues, and a new generation of accomplished artists continue that tradition today.

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