Howl Hosts Jan Buttram's LOST ON THE NATCHEZ TRACE 10/3

HOWL! Arts Project, The Actors Fund and Abingdon Theatre Company are set to present a reading of LOST ON THE NATCHEZ TRACE, a new play by Abingdon Theatre Company's Artistic Director Jan Buttram (PHANTOM KILLER), as part of HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2011 on Monday, October 3 at 7:00 PM at Theatre 80 (80 St. Marks Place). Kate Bushmann directs.

LOST ON THE NATCHEZ TRACE tells the story of Malcolm, a slave auctioneer in 1825 who falls from his mule and into a Mississippi swamp. Unable to walk, without food or water, strength fading, his apparent salvation arrives when Tom, a runaway slave appears. A desperate negotiation ensues as Tom represents Malcolm's only hope.

Jan Buttram began her professional theatre career as an actress with the New Orleans Repertory Theatre under the direction of June Havoc. She has since acted Off-Broadway and in regional theatres. While touring nationally with THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, she began
writing plays. A founding member of Abingdon, she was tapped by AMC to pen a pilot for a television series. Her plays have been produced in New York by the York Theatre, Pulse Ensemble, and Circle Rep Lab. Abingdon productions include GLORY GIRLS; PRIVATE BATTLES; ZONA, THE
GHOST OF GREENBRIER; THE PARKER FAMILY CIRCUS; TEXAS HOMOS; THE PRESIDENT AND HER MISTRESS; and PHANTOM KILLER. Her play BACKWOODS received the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays. She is published by Samuel French and Smith & Krauss, and in anthologies by Heineman Books. PHANTOM KILLER was selected for the 2009 Telluride Playwrights Festival. LOST ON THE NATCHEZ TRACE continues Abingdon Theatre Company's 19th Season, with performances running February 3-26, at the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre
(312 West 36th Street).

Director Kate Bushmann previously helmed Abingdon Theatre Company's productions of John Petrick's BEYOND RECOGNITION and THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY. As an actress, she appeared on the Abingdon stage in its premiere of Barbara Dana's WAR IN PARAMUS, directed by Austin Pendleton.

A month-long series of non-stop music, film, theater, performance art, burlesque and drag entertainment, HOWL! ARTS PROJECT was conceived as a vehicle to benefit HELP (Howl! Emergency Life Project), an emergency assistance fund supporting East Village artists of all disciplines, which also provides all services offered by parent administrator: The Actors Fund. HOWL! ARTS PROJECT presents wildly diverse programming at affordable costs to the whole family. Artists of all disciplines impart talent and pleasure galore as they showcase developing and
finished work in traditional and experimental theatrical productions, gallery offerings and more.

The HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2011 reading of Jan Buttram's LOST ON THE NATCHEZ TRACE runs Monday, October 3 at 7:00 PM at Theatre 80 (80 St. Marks Place). Tickets are $15 and available at
www.brownpapertickets.com. Cash only at the door. HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2011 runs through October 31. For a full schedule and additional information, visit www.howlfestival.com.

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