Abingdon Theatre Company Continues Ghostlight Reading Series with TALL SKINNY CRUEL CRUEL BOYS

Abingdon Theatre Company continues its Ghostlight Reading Series with TALL SKINNY CRUEL CRUEL BOYS by Caroline V. McGraw, author of Ultimate Beauty Bible (Page 73), on Thursday, December 15 at 7pm. The reading is free and open to the public at Abingdon Theatre Company's June Havoc Theatre (312 West 36th Street). Danya Taymor is set to direct.

In TALL SKINNY CRUEL CRUEL BOYS, Brandy is the city's most sought-after birthday party clown who has never let her drinking, gambling, and bed-hopping interfere with her work-until now. Her teenage boyfriend won't stop calling, her clients are getting needy...and the monster under her bed is growing restless. Weaving fantasy and clowning with brutal reality, TALL SKINNY CRUEL CRUEL BOYS asks...what is the price of growing up?

The ensemble includes Cleo Gray (These Seven Sicknesses), Elise Kibler (The Heidi Chronicles), Nate Miller (Of Good Stock), and Zoe Winters (Small Mouth Sounds).

Additional casting to be announced.

Caroline V. McGraw's plays include Ultimate Beauty Bible, Believeland, The Bachelors, The Vaults, The King is Dead, and Baby No More Times (a musical co-written with Mary Birnbaum and Melissa Lusk). Her work has been produced and developed all around the country, at companies such as Page 73, Lesser America, New Georges, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Theater Ninjas, the Yale Cabaret, Naked Angels, Washington National Opera/The Kennedy Center, Second Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Studio 42, the Lark, IAMA Theater Company, and Ars Nova ANT Fest, among others. She has been in residence at Portland Center Stage's JAW Festival, Wordbridge Playwrights' Lab, and SPACE on Ryder Farm. Four of her full-length plays have been nominated to the Kilroys List, and she has been nominated for the Weissberger Award. She is an alum of the New Georges Jam and The Civilians R&D Group, and a member of the Primary Stages Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group and Interstate 73. Caroline was the 2013 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow, and is Page 73's 2016/17 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence. She is working on a commission from Yale Rep. Caroline is a graduate of the Playwriting program at the Yale School of Drama, where she studied under Paula Vogel.

Danya Taymor is a director and translator originally from Northern California. Recent work includes Justin Kuritzkes' The Sensuality Party (The New Group), Dan McCabe's ChrisTina Martinez (Juilliard), Susan Soon-He Stanton's Cygnus (Women's Project), BrIan Watkins' Wyoming (Lesser America) and My Daughter Keeps Our Hammer (The Flea), Sarah Gancher's The Place We Built (The Flea), Antoinette Nwandu's Flat Sam (PlayPenn), Anna Moench's In Quietness at Walker Space (Dutch Kills), Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (Stella Adler), Lucy Teitler's Engagements (Ensemble Studio Theater), I Hate f-ing Mexicans (The Flea) and Shakespeare's The Tempest (NYU/Stella Adler). Translations include Alejandro Ricaño's We Are Getting Better at Saying Goodbye, Luis Enrique Guitierrez Ortiz Monasterio's I Hate f-ing Mexicans, and Ettore Scola's Working on a Special Day. She is a 2014-2016 Time Warner Directing Fellow at Women's Project, a former 2050 fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, an Artist in Residence at Theatre for a New Audience, an Associate Artist at The Flea Theater, New Georges Affiliated Artist and a semi-finalist for the Lange-Taylor prize with Dominic Bracco. She is a frequent volunteer at Covenant House, where she teaches a master class in directing twice a year and has taught theater in Ecuador and Slovakia. Other awards/fellowships include: Van Lier Directing Fellowship; Gates Foundation Grant, Rough Draft Residency at the Drama League and Lincoln Center Directors Lab. BA: Duke University.

With an eye towards production-ready scripts, The Ghostlight Reading Series provides an opportunity for writers, directors and collaborators to share the work with an audience before transitioning into production. By focusing on scripts that that reflect our social, political, historical and cultural diversity, Abingdon aims to become a destination for artists grappling with big questions.

A ghost light is defined as "an electric light that is left energized on the stage of a theater when the theater is unoccupied and would otherwise be completely dark." This new series aims to maximize usage of the two theaters onsite at Abingdon, the 98-seat June Havoc and the 56-seat Dorothy Strelsin, and energize the momentum of a new work.

Abingdon Theatre Company launches its 2017 mainstage season in January with the world premiere of The Mother of Invention, written by James Lecesne (The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey) and directed by Tony Speciale. In March, Abingdon's 24th Season continues with the world premiere of Chess Match, conceived and directed by Anne Bogart, text arranged by Jocelyn Clarke from the words of John Cage, created by Siti Company. In April, Abingdon will break new ground by presenting its first mainstage musical, The Boy Who Danced on Air, music by Tim Rosser and book and lyrics by Charlie Sohne, recipients of a 2015 Jonathan Larson Grant.

Abingdon Theatre Company is dedicated to developing and producing new work by emerging and established American artists. Under the artistic direction of Tony Speciale, the company provides a safe home where playwrights, directors and actors can collaborate within a supportive and nurturing environment. Abingdon Theatre Company searches for stories about the human experience that reflect our social, political, historical and cultural diversity. To date, the company has collaborated with more than 200 playwrights, produced 87 New York and world-premiere plays, presented more than 700 readings, staged over 175 ten-minute plays, and commissioned 6 one-act plays. Notable artists who have worked with Abingdon Theatre Company include Carl Andress, Bryan Batt, Reed Birney, Robert Brustein, Mario Cantone, Maxwell Caulfield, Dick Cavett, John Epperson, Jane Greenwood, Arthur Kopit, Ralph Macchio, Roberta Maxwell, Charles L. Mee, Iddo Netanyahu, Nancy Opel, Austin Pendleton, Sam Pinkleton, Marcia Rodd and Mark Waldrop. Abingdon's 2014 production of Brian Richard Mori's Hellman v. McCarthy, directed by founding artistic director Jan Buttram, was filmed and presented by WNET as part of its inaugural Theatre Close-Up series. abingdontheatre.org

The Ghostlight Reading Series reading of Caroline V. McCormick's TALL SKINNY CRUEL CRUEL BOYS, directed by Danya Taymor, is set for Thursday, December 15 at 7pm at Abingdon's June Havoc Theatre (312 West 36th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). The reading is free and open to the public. Reservations are required, and seating is subject to availability. For more information, visit www.abingdontheatre.org

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