Horse Trade Theater Group Closes THE LAST SUPPER 8/25

The Rising Sun Performance Company presents the main stage selection of their 9th season: THE LAST SUPPER, the New York City stage adaptation premiere of the 1995 cult film by Dan Rosen. Artistic Director Akia (Hellcab, Good Night Lovin' Trail) gathers an impressive cast and crew of over 40 NYC theatre artists. The show is double cast with 26 performers who will rotate throughout the 18 week run. THE LAST SUPPER will also feature an original music score by film composer & Blue Man Group performer Christopher Bowen (9.99 & Jellyfish).

THE LAST SUPPER follows a group of liberal minded roommates, and their well-meaning descent into murder. After a dinner party goes wrong and their guest ends up unexpectedly slain after a violent political debate, the group decides that this can be their way of changing the world and making a difference...one unreasonable conservative at a time. They begin inviting guests over for dinner and political discussion. If they can't change their guests mind through "intelligent" conversation and debate, they end their lives "humanely" by poisoning them. With each dinner, and the bodies mounting, the roommate's relationships to one another and reality quickly begin to unravel.

THE LAST SUPPER will feature a rotating cast, which includes Alexia Tate, Anastasia D. Peterson, Anthony Mead, April E. Bennett, Ariel Heller, Barry Kennedy, Becky Sterling, Ben Friesen, Christopher Enright, David Anthony, Erik Gullberg, J.L. Reed, Jeff Ronan, Jessica Ritacco, Joe Beaudin, Larry Gutman, Leal Vona, Lindsay Beecher, Mariana Guillen, Matt Riker, Michael Bernardi, Michael Jones, Michael McManus, Nicole Howard, Patrick J. Egan & Susan Burns.

The creative team will include Christopher Bowen (Musical Score), Dan Jobbins (Lighting Design), Ryan Kilcourse (Sound Design), Matthew Kreiner (Media Design), Tiffini Minatel (Costume Design), Jak Prince (Set Design), and Turner Smith (Fight Direction).

The production, presented by Horse Trade Theater Group and Rising Sun Performance Company, will play at The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) April 28-August 25, every Wednesday night at 8pm, following preview performances on April 22, 23, & 24 at 8pm. Tickets ($18) are available by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.horseTRADE.info

DAN ROSEN (Playwright) is a filmmaker and playwright. His first film, The Last Supper, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. It also played at the London Film Festival, Sundance, and won Best Film at the prestigious Congac Film Festival of Thrillers. His directing debut, Dead Man's Curve premiered at Sundance and went on to make a number of top ten film lists. The Last Supper is his first play.

AKIA SQUITIERI (Director/Producer/Founding Artistic Director) is an active member of the flourishing Off-Off/Indie & Off Broadway theatre communities having produced, directed, and performed with numerous NYC companies since 1997. Akia is the Company Manager for the international sensation, The Blue Man Group at the Astor Place Theater. Proudly, she is the Founding Artistic Director of the Rising Sun Performance Company, now in entering its ninth season, and has been involved on all levels with each of its 35+ productions. She is a Board Member of The Paul Butterfield Fund & Society, and Company Manager for The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation, where she serves on their honorary awards committee as Sub-Committee Chairman and as an At-Large Judge. Past notable credits include working on staff at Horse Trade Theatre Group, serving as General Manager for FRIGID New York's inaugural year, and returning as Volunteer Coordinator in 2009; she also served as Production Coordinator for nationally acclaimed Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, overseeing the playwrights unit and INSIGHT 13 production series. Akia has worked as a contributing writer & reviewer for NYtheatre.com and scene4magazine. She is best known for her directing work for RSP's hit show Hellcab which ran for 13 sold out weeks at UNDER St Marks to rave reviews.

Committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights, Rising Sun Performance Company's (RSP) mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships, and contributing new works and revitalized pre-existing work to the national canon. Rising Sun Performance Company realizes this goal by providing a safe artistic home that stimulates risk-taking without limits of genre or agenda.

HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP is a self-sustaining theater development group; with a focus on new work, it has produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. Horse Trade's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent Theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. It is also the home of FRIGID New York - the first and only festival of its kind in New York City.

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