Balancin' Productions Presents FOLLOW World Premiere, Now thru 11/3

Balancin' Productions presents the world premiere of Follow by Crystal Skillman tonight, October 19 through November 3, 2012 at Fanfare Theatre (100 East 4th Street, between First and Second Ave.). Daniel Talbott (Eightythree Down, Hard Sparks; The Umbrella Plays, the teacup company/FringeNYC – Overall Excellence Award: Outstanding Play and at The Tank) directs.

Two estranged brothers must say goodbye to the woman they've loved in her dying hour. But with the arrival of her daughter the brothers are forced to face their decades long rift of truth and lies in the intimate Lower East Side apartment - and to let go. Just one of the many, lonely stories for those surviving in a city busting with joy and heartbreak, this unique play offers a window into the Tallen's family story, while glimpsing through the window of several other NYC stories - all staged in the same room.

Skillman (Cut, Birthday) wrote Follow specifically for the intimate Fanfare space and the actors, Addie Johnson (Three Sisters, Rising Phoenix Rep; Late: A Cowboy Song, Clubbed Thumb), Matthew Lewis (Fathers and Sons, Public Theater; Crawl Fade to White, 13P), Jerry Matz (Broadway: Fiddler on the Roof, Ghetto. Classic Stage Company: The False Servant), Troy Deutsch (Lake Water, IRT Theater), Richard Millen, Gillian Rougier and Sarah Shaefer.

The production team includes costume designer Tristan Raines (Tribes, Barrow Street Theatre), sound designer Janie Bullard (Yosemite, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), and producers Steven Cunningham and Lanie Zipoy.

Follow will have one preview performance, tonight, October 19 at 8:00 pm before opening Saturday, October 20 at 8:00 pm. Performances continue through November 3, Tuesday through Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm with additional performance Saturday, November 3 at 3:00 pm. Performances will be held at Fanfare Theatre (100 East 4th St., between First and Second Ave.; Subway: F to 2nd Ave.). Tickets are $18, and may be purchased at www.brownpapertickets.com or 800.838.3006.

CRYSTAL SKILLMAN (Playwright) is the award winning author of Cut (The Management in Spring 2011; NY Times critic's pick), Vigil or The Guided Cradle (ITG/Brick; 2010 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Full-Length Script); and Birthday & Nobody (Directed by Daniel Talbott for Rising Phoenix Rep in NYC; U.K Premiere with Kibbo Productions; Chicago at The Side Project). Her play Wild debuted in Chicago at Mary-Arrchie Theatre this June with Kid Brooklyn Productions. Her work was also featured in Chicago this summer in Collaboraction's Sketch- book Theater Festival with a new play commission for The New Colony. In NYC this spring Wild was featured Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel as part of MCC Theater Playwrights' Coalition Playlabs, Another Kind of Love was workshopped at IRT/ Overturn Theatre, and Cut finished a run in Boston at Apollinaire Theatre. Crystal, one of Manhattan's "Best Ofs" for OurTownNY magazine, was recently featured as a writer to watch in the Huffington Post, selected as one of nytheatre.com's fifteen People of the Year for 2011, and was one of six writers chosen for Terra Nova 2011-12 Groundbreakers' Group. She is a member of the MCC Theater Playwrights' Coalition, Amoralists Lab, Rising Phoenix, and a Women's Project Lab as well as Soho Rep Lab alumna. Geek, her upcoming new play for Obie-Award Winning Vampire Cowboys, will premiere in Spring 2013 under the direction of Robert Ross Parker. Her plays are available at Indie Theater Now (including Telling Trilogy directed by Daniel Talbott) and are published by Samuel French (Cut, Birthday and Nobody, also directed by Daniel) as well as Smith and Kraus.

Daniel Talbott (Director) is an actor, director, playwright, producer, literary manager, and artistic director. Recent directing work includes Much Ado About Nothing (Boomerang), Lake Water (Neighborhood Productions), Eightythree Down (Hard Sparks – nominated for six 2012 NYIT Awards), Squealer (Lesser America at Theater for the New City), The Umbrella Plays (the teacup company/FringeNYC – Overall Excellence Award: Outstanding Play and at The Tank), Keep Your Baggage With You (at all times) (Theater for the New City), Footprint by Mac Rogers (part of +30NYC for Red Fern Theatre), Afterclap by Daniel Reitz, Birthday and Nobody, both by Crystal Skillman (Rising Phoenix Rep at the Seventh Street Small Stage), and Fall Forward (Sitelines/River to River Festival produced by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council). His most recent work as an actor includes the Theatre for One project in Times Square and around NYC, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis), and a recurring role on The Big C for Showtime. His play Yosemite premiered last season at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and he is currently working on new play called Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, America, Kuwait, which was commissioned by Rattlestick and Encore Theatre in San Francisco. Other plays include Sam and Gus, What Happened When (published online by Indie Theater Now), and Slipping (published by Dramatists Play Service and Indie Theater Now, named one of the top ten plays of 2009 by The Advocate, and a 2011 Lambda Literary Award finalist for drama). Recent producing credits include the Off-Broadway productions of 3C, Elective Affinities with Zoe Caldwell, and Too Much Memory, as well as the Cino Nights series. He received a 2011 Theater Hall of Fame Fellowship, a 2007 New York Innovative Theatre Award for directing, a Drama-Logue Award, two Dean Goodman Choice Awards and a Judy Award for acting, and was also named one of the 15 People of the Year 2006 by nytheatre.com. He is currently a member of MCC Theater's Playwrights' Coalition, LoNyLa, and TOSOS, is a graduate of Juilliard and of Solano College Theatre's ATP, and teaches at the Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA). He is a literary manager at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and the artistic director of Rising Phoenix Rep (recipient of the 2007 NYIT Caffe Cino Fellowship Award).

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