Casting Announced for Adam Kraar's Five Borough World Premiere of ALTERNATING CURRENTS

Working Theater (Mark Plesent, Producing Artistic Director) will present the World Premiere of Adam Kraar's Alternating Currents, directed by Kareem Fahmy (James Scruggs's 3/Fifths at 3LD) as part of their Five Boroughs/One City Initiative with performances in Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, Staten Island, and Brooklyn, April 26-May 26. Tickets ($25-$35) are available in advance at http://theworkingtheater.org or by calling 866-811-4111. Please note that Bronx (5/16) and Brooklyn (5/26) performances are by suggested donation. Select Manhattan and Staten Island performances (5/1, 5/5 @ 2pm, 5/22) are pay-what-you-can at the door only.

When two newly married electricians, Luke and Elena, move to Electchester everything seems perfect: spacious apartment, low rent, friendly neighbors and an incredibly close-knit community. But as they settle in, they discover how much they may need to give up in order to really belong. Alternating Currents is both a love letter to the community spirit of Electchester and a cautionary tale about the difficulties of creating community in the face of increased diversity.

The cast will feature Robert Arcaro, Jason Bowen (My Mañana Comes with The Playwright's Realm), Rheaume Crenshaw (Groundhog Day on Broadway), Antoinette Lavecchia (A View From The Bridge on Broadway; The Portuguese Kid with MTC), Brian Sgambati (The Iceman Cometh at BAM; A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney at Soho Rep), and Liba Vaynberg (Bekah Brunstetter's The Oregon Trail with Fault Line Theatre) with Set Design by David Esler (The Mecca Tales at Crossroads Theater), Lighting Design by Scott Bolman (Wilderness at Abrons Arts Center), Sound Design by Lawrence Schober (Asking for Trouble at EST), Costume Design by Dina El-Aziz (Wayward at The Lee Strasberg Theatre), and Props Design by Claire Kavanah (Hit the Wall at Barrow Street Theatre).

Alternating Currents will receive preview performances in Queens on Thursday, April 26 at 7pm, Friday, April 27 at 7pm, and Saturday April 28 at 2pm & 7pm at Local 3, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (158-11 Jewel Avenue) followed by performances in Manhattan on Tuesday, May 1 at 7pm, Wednesday, May 2 at 7pm, Thursday, May 3 at 7pm, Friday, May 4 at 7pm, Saturday, May 5 at 2pm & 8pm, Sunday, May 6 at 3pm, Tuesday, May 8 at 7pm, Wednesday, May 9 at 2pm & 7pm, Thursday, May 10 at 7pm, Friday, May 11 at 7pm, Saturday, May 12 at 8pm, Sunday, May 13 at 3pm, Tuesday, May 15 at 7pm, Thursday, May 17 at 7pm, Friday, May 18 at 7pm, Saturday, May 19 at 2pm & 8pm, and Sunday, May 20 at 3pm at Urban Stages (259 West 30th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues). There will be a one night only performance in the Bronx on Wednesday, May 16 at 6pm at the Bronx Museum of the Arts (1040 Grand Concourse). Staten Island performances will take place on Tuesday, May 22 at 7pm, Wednesday, May 23 at 7pm, and Thursday, May 24 at 7pm at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center (1000 Richmond Terrace). The production will close out its run in Brooklyn on Saturday, May 26 at 2pm & 8pm at RiseBoro Youth Center (1474 Gates Avenue).

The Five Boroughs/One City Initiative launched in the fall of 2014 with the commissions of five teams of writers, directors, and installation artists, supported by designers, dramaturgs, and community liaisons. Each team's goal was to create a piece of theater rooted in a neighborhood in each of the five boroughs of New York City by engaging a specific community as both source and resource in the creative process. The work being created is for, inspired by, and in response to each community and adheres to Working Theater's mission to create theater for and about working people. The initiative is led by long-time Working Theater collaborator Tamilla Woodard. Alternating Currents will be the third full touring production to come out of the initative, following the World Premiere of Dan Hoyle's The Block in 2016 and the World Premiere of Ed Cardona, Jr.'s Bamboo in Bushwick in 2017.

In anticipation of the production of Alternating Currents, Working Theater will host two community engagement events in each borough. The first event, The Community Shine, celebrates local artists in each of the neighborhoods in which we are performing. Residents will join together at an open mic to present their individual talents in a community setting and to find out more about Alternating Currents. The second event will be a Community Dialogue focusing on the dominant theme of the play; how communities deal with increasing diversity. These events are aimed at directly serving each neighborhood and deepening the cross-borough conversations generated by the play and the Five Boroughs/One City Initiative.

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