BRAVE DUCKS To Premiere in FringeNYC 8/19-26

BRAVE DUCKS, a compelling and comedic drama of courage and hope in the aftermath of disaster, written by Andrew Belcher and directed by Simón Adinia Hanukai, will receive its World Premiere in the 15th Annual New York International Fringe Festival.

Performances will be held at The Living Theater (21 Clinton Street, south of Houston), at the following times:

* Friday, August 19 at 4:15pm
* Sunday, August 21 at 4:30pm
* Wednesday, August 24 at 10:00pm
* Thursday, August 25 at 7:15pm
* Friday, August 26 at 10:45pm

Tickets at www.fringenyc.org or www.braveducks.com.

THE BRAVE PLAY

BRAVE DUCKS takes place in the aftermath of a natural disaster, as two strangers unite in their search for loved ones. The unlikely allies navigate the "assistance" of gun-toting Confederates, Bible-thumping Revivalists and an incompetent government as they grapple with an America that says, "You're illegal!"

Playwright Andrew Belcher spent the fall of 2005 running a Red Cross shelter in New Orleans, helping residents who had lost their homes and livelihoods to Hurricane Katrina, and Brave Ducks tells the story of the survivors he assisted. It's a story about natural disasters and how they reveal human failures, how they uncover social inequalities in who is protected and how. The story is just as relevant to today, with current events like the tsunami in Japan or the flooding in the South, as it is to Katrina. Learn more at <www.braveducks.com>.

THE BRAVE CREATIVE TEAM

Playwright Andrew Belcher is an actor, playwright and educator. He has taught Spanish and performing arts at both regional theaters and public and independent schools in Louisiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. Recently, Andrew moved to Brooklyn from Ashley Falls, MA where he co-founded MassBliss Productions and worked as an artist-in-residence at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Brave Ducks received a staged reading in 2009 at The Berkshire Fringe and will be Andrew's first play to take flight. Andrew graduated from Tulane University with a BA in English and Spanish and is currently continuing his education as a yoga facilitator.

Director Simón Adinia Hanukai is a director, performer and educator. He was a founding member of Oakland, CA's headRush Crew and the Co-Artistic Director of the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company. NYC directing credits include My Artichoke Heart (Theater for the New City), Can't Stop, Won't Stop (2010 Hip Hop Theater Fest), The 6 Project (Brooklyn Arts Exchange), and Birthday Triage (Horace Mann Theater). Simón has a Masters degree in Education from the University of San Francisco's Center for Teaching Excellence and Social Justice and is currently attending the MFA program in Theater Directing at Columbia University.

Designers for Brave Ducks are Rebecca Lord-Surratt, sets; Toby Jaguar Algya, sound; Michelle Bohn, costumes; Greg Solomon, lights; and Dan Teicher, composer. Advisors include Susan Kim and Anne Bogart.

THE BRAVE PRODUCERS

MassBliss Productions <www.massbliss.org>, a fledgling theater company located between Ashley Falls, MA and Brooklyn, NY, makes art that moves. MassBliss inspires active participation in life through the telling, sharing and experiencing of stories. In the classroom, on the stage and everywhere we can, MassBliss explores creative expression, in any media, with the goal of heightened awareness and a better understanding of our world and ourselves.

THE CAST OF BRAVE DUCKS

Ito Aghayere is a Canadian-born Nigerian-American and former White House intern with recent credits including Medea (Medea), The Creditors (Tekla) and Siti Company's staged reading of Faction (Virtue). She is a recent Duke University graduate in political science and theater studies and an MFA candidate at Columbia University. This fall she will be writing her thesis and appearing at the Riverside Theater in Columbia's repertory productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and La Ronde.

Jonathan Camuzeaux started playing the piano when he was five, the clarinet when he was eight and the saxophone when he was eleven; at fifteen he picked up a bass guitar for the first time and would keep playing from then on. He has been involved in a number of musical projects, spanning from Blues to Funk to South African Jazz - in France, his home country, and the US. He has an MA in Jazz History and an MA in Climate Change Policy at the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia.
Sean Gabbert is both an actor and stand-up comic. His roles have included Malvolio at the American Theatre for Actors with James Jennings; Puck, in Puck in New York, currently submitted for Sundance Film Festival; and Man # 1 in David Mamet's Duck Variations, at the Mildred Dunnock Theatre, Directed by Will Starr. His stand-up has been heard on Sirius X.M, Satellite Radio, and Comcast on Demand, as well as in clubs such as Gotham Comedy Club, The Comic Strip, and the D.C. Improv.

Freddy Gonzalez is an alum of Berklee College of Music and currently freelances with numerous bands and ensembles around New York City and Boston, while leading his own band as Freddy Fuego. He has shared the stage with first-class artists such as Brian McKnight, MC Hammer, Buju Banton, Groundation, Collie Buddz, Pato Banton, Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch, Dead Prez, De La Soul, Styles P, Blitz the Ambassador, Cody Chestnut, Bootsy Collins, Fred Wesley, Delfeayo Marsalis, Jason Palmer, Sam Barsh, Maurice Brown, Grace Kelly and Bobby Sanabria. Freddy is currently finishing production on his first album, "The New York Chapter," soon to be available online thru iTunes and Amazon on AUGUST 27TH, 2011

Leah Henoch was most recently seen in How To Get Out of Your Own Head as part of State of Play's "How to ______ Festival," and Release Point (reading) by Gino DiIorio at New Jersey Rep. She has also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Berkshire Theatre Festival and has appeared on Sesame Street. She graduated in 2009 from Clark University with a degree in Theater Arts/English and Women's Studies, and has also studied with LAByrinth Theater Company and at T. Schreiber studio.

Rocío López is a UCLA graduate and a recent Master of Arts in Educational Theatre from NYU. She is a teaching artist for the Theater Development Fund, S.T.A.R.R, Inc., and CUNY's Creative Arts Team. This year, she worked with The Possibility Project as Assistant Director for Ready, Set... Show! - an original musical drama written and performed by 80 NYC teenagers at Museo del Barrio. A product of Mexican telenovela culture, you can watch Rocío's telenovela spoofs on youtube.com/Televeritas.

Andrea A. McCullough is an actress, singer and dancer. New York City credits include The Winter's Tale (with Philip Bosco, dir. Muriel Dolan), Jeffrey, and Alphabet City III. Regional credits include The Skin of Our Teeth (dir. Alan Schneider) at the Huntington Theater; Marat Sade (dir. Vincent Murphy) at Boston Stage; The Hot L Baltimore (u/s) at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival; and Tartuffe at the Piccadilly Playhouse. Andrea has a BFA from Boston University and an MFA from NYU.

Bobby Plasencia was most recently seen in the world premiere production of On Campus and Julius Caesar with The Drilling Company. He is the recipient of the San Diego Theater Critics Circle's 2008 Craig Noel Award for best featured actor in a play for his work in Water & Power at San Diego Rep (dir. Sam Woodhouse). Other credits include Caliban in The Tempest, Feste in Twelfth Night, Wedding at La Jolla Playhouse (dir. MarK Wing-Davey), and Conjunto at Playwrights' Arena (dir. by Jon Lawrence Rivera).

Brad Thomason has performed in over two dozen Off and Off-Off Broadway productions. NYC (selected credits): Dodsworth (Metropolitan Playhouse); Torch Song Trilogy, Violet, Bus Stop (Gallery Players); An Ideal Husband, The Exonerated (Red Fern); and Brief Encounter (IsleofShoals). Watch for Brad in the upcoming feature film Wind Jammers. TV: The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Guiding Light, Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU as well as several national commercials. Visit www.bradthomason.com.
http://www.braveducks.com

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