CONVERSATION WITH A KLEAGLE Runs At 13th St Rep Thru 3/15

"Conversation with a Kleagle," Directed by Kevin B. Ploth and written by Rudy Gray is now running thru 3/15 at Thirteenth Street Repertory Theatre 50 West 13th Street, NYC (between 5th & 6th Avenue).

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This is the second production of the Conversation with a Kleagle. The play is one of the most popular in the 36 year history of 13th St. Rep and was included in "The Best of 13" Festival of Plays. Winner: 2004 New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest, a contest that seeks socially conscious scripts from around the world.

Based on a true story: at the height of a lynching epidemic in the late 1920's, a black journalist, passing for white, travels to the deep South to interview a Kleagle, a recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan. When his true racial identity is discovered by the Klan he escapes being lynched, only to find that his rescuer's family paid a dear price, a price that brings the journalist back to the south to confront the Kleagle and the Klan.

Kevin B. Ploth is recipient of Best Director, and Best Show Awards for Bayshores Long Island New Plays series of 2007. His directing debute began at the age of nineteen with his production of Othello for the Cultural Committee of Glen Ridge, in 1993, and took on the role of the moor along with, costume, set and stage combat design. He attended West Virginia Wesleyan, and then went on to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he was a member of PALP, P.A.R.T, and worked with the Drama Guild. From being affiliated with P.A.R.T he enjoyed the tutelage and close work with the R.S.C., the likes of Cicely Berry, and Gregory Doran the new Artistic Director of the R.S.C.

Kevin currently enjoyed success with "Prince Trevor Amongst the Elephants", at the June Havoc Theatre as the lighting director, " A view from Here" at the Sage Theatre, as lighting and sound director. His film work includes a long running short film "Nothing but Net", that he was a Co-Producer, and Assistant Director. Kevin B. Ploth is in post production of two short films he wrote and directed "Traveler", and "The New Client", which should be out by summer of 2009.

Rudy Gray won three John Golden Playwriting awards, a Creative Artists Public Service Award for Playwriting, the New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest and a Writers Guild of America Screenwriting Fellowship. He was also nominated for an AUDELCO Award for excellence in theatre. Many of his plays have been produced around the country, including Trio by the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center, Before The Flood by The AMAS Repertory Theatre, Linty Lucy, and Medea and the Doll at The Frank Silvera Writers Workshop and at The Samuel Beckett Theatre with Morgan Freeman; the latter play was also produced twice at The North Carolina Black Repertory Theatre and the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood with Dick Williams directing and Ella Joyce starring in all three productions, and by The Jubilee Players in Fort Worth, Texas. Currently, Rudy is writing a play about black Germans in the Ruhr Valley during the Third Reich. Rudy, with a Ph.D. in Drama, teaches in the Thematic Studies Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

The Cast and Production Staff in order of Appearance:
Tim Weinert, Shaun Patrick Flynn, Mike Pirozzi, Erroll W Greaves, Toni Ann DeNoble, Reggie Resino, James P Stephens, Shawn Belpano, Aaron Walker
Asst. Director: Rebecca Hengstenberg
Stage Manager: Hector Hicks
Tech: Dustin Williams
Costume Consultant: Jeff Johnson Doherty
Sound Design: Justin Zalkin
Marketing/PR Designer: Michelle Alexis Mulle
Prod. Asst: Eric Gonzales, Stephane Valkanas, Lisa Hoffman, Laura Crane

Founded in 1972 by Artistic Director Edith O'Hara, 13th Street Repertory has been a place for actors, directors, playwrights, and technicians to develop their craft in a caring, nurturing, professional environment. Anywhere between 5-7 shows run weekly, including children's shows on the weekend. The Rep is also home to the longest running play in NYC, LINE, by Israel Horovitz, now in its 35th year.

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