BLIZZARD: A LOVE STORY Premieres Tonight at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity

Lifedream Productions is pleased to present Melissa Skirboll's new one-act play, Blizzard: A Love Story in its world premiere at the Paradise Factory in New York, as part of the 7th annual Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. Helmed by the award winning director LORI KEE, this production stars GARY LEE MAHMOUD and MELISSA SKIRBOLL.

Blizzard: A Love Story will be running with two other one-acts for a full evening of theater. The program will also showcase Years May Go By... by Julie Hayes and Trust in Chariots by Roderic Wachovsky.

Blizzard: A Love Story is a serio-comic look at love and letting go. When an epic snowstorm shuts the city down, Ian shows up at his ex-girlfriend's door looking for a place to crash and a chance to revive their relationship. With the weather forcing them together, Ian and Lacey are forced to confront their past. And though it's clear they love each other, this love provides no shelter -- for them the storm outside reflects their love; beautiful and oh so destructive.

DETAILS:

Blizzard: A Love Story at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity

Written by Melissa Skirboll

Directed by Lori Kee

Sound Design: Andy Evan Cohen

Stage Manager: Steven Albano

At The Paradise Factory, Upstairs Theater, 64 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003

Playing: TONIGHT, June 24th at 7:45 pm; Thursday June 25th at 5pm; Sunday, June 28th at 12pm; Wednesday July 1st at 5pm and Friday, July 3rd at 9:20pm

Tickets: $18 at planetconnections.org

BIOGRAPHIES:

Lori Kee (director) Kee is an award winning director and actor returning to Planet Connections after her win in 2014 as Outstanding Director for her work on Vacation! All I Ever Wanted. At the 2013 Planet Connections Gala event One Acts for A Cause, she directed Tennesee by John Patrick Shanley. She has won best directing awards for her work on Death, it Happens... at the 2012 Frigid Festival and Male Man at Medicine Show. Kee is Resident Director at Nylon Fusion Theatre Company. Other recent directing credits: The Assent by by Eric Champney, The Fairy Tale Project by Webb Wilcox (for BMCC CUNY where she teaches acting,) Insult to Injury by Cary Gitter, Yugo's There by James Reynolds, Big Funk by John Patrick Shanley Goat by Don Nigro and new works by Craig muMsila Grant, Kristina Poe, Jack Karp, Matt Crowley, Janet Bentley, Matt Jordan, Steven Young, Elizabeth Irwin, Thomas J. Misuraca, James McLindon, Joseph Samuel Wright, Alisha Silver, Jerrod Bogart, Christine Toy Johnson, Christine Cirker, Cheryl Erlich, Bricken Sparacino, Kristin Niven.

MELISSA SKIRBOLL (playwright/producer/LACEY), Skirboll is a playwright/producer/ actor/director who is participating in Planet Connections for the 4th time. She wrote, produced and acted in her play Hell is Where the Heart Is which premiered at the 2011 Festivity. She won an award for outstanding direction for her work on The Closet in 2012 (producer and director) and was nominated, again for outstanding direction in 2013 for her work on Straight Faced Lies. Her play Pizza for Life was produced by Ego Actus in 2011. There have been staged readings of her short plays Show and Tell Tango and Blood is Thicker at the Abingdon Theater. She has written sketch comedy that has been performed by groups in both New York and Los Angeles.

GARY LEE MAHMOUD (IAN) Mahmoud has played a principal role in The Bourne Legacy and was a series regular on the Nicktoons live action show Alien Dawn. Amongst his more noteworthy roles, he hosted the Onion News Network's mock debate show In The Know, appeared as the featured dancing businessman in the Saturday Night Live music video Boombox, and had the privilege of performing in a staged reading of the screenplay Mona's Dream with Oscar nominee Shoreh Aghdashloo. He is proudest of writing, producing, and performing in his multi-million view web sensation Panhandler Party.

ANDY EVAN COHEN (Sound Design) Cohen is a multi-talented, composer, musician, sound designer, music director and all around boon to the production team. His theatrical compositions have been performed in numerous venues in New York City and in the Northeastern U.S. region. His works have been played in such venues as Lincoln Center, Fordham University, The Public Theater, off-Broadway at Theatre Row, 59E59, La Mama, HERE, the Ohio Theatre, Theater for the New City, Expanded Arts, and the New York International Fringe Festival, where he was a 2000 "Excellence" Award Winner.

STEVEN ALBANO (Stage Manger) Albano returns to LifeDream Productions and Planet connections as Stage Manager. He is a graduate of Rutgers University with a BA in Theater Production. He also served as Stage Manager on LifeDreamProductions THE CLOSET at the 2012 PCTF.

Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is New York's premiere eco-friendly/socially conscious not-for-profit arts festival. Fostering a diverse cross-section of performances and events, the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity seeks to inspire artists and audiences both creatively and fundamentally, in a festive atmosphere forming a community of like-minded artists. At the heart of the Festivity are like-minded individuals striving to create professional, meaningful theatre, music and film, while supporting organizations which give back to the community at large.

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