IT'S ALL ABOUT LORRIE Opens Tonight at The American Theatre of Actors in January

When Joe Krawczyk's new comedy , "It's All about Lorrie" swept the awards for Best Play, Best Director (Kimille Howard), Best Actor (Akira Fukui), and Best Actress (Molly Esther Wilson) at this summer's Thespis Theatre Festival (now called SummerFest) he was not only thrilled, he was shocked.

"I was surprised," he says, "because there were 70 productions in the Thespis Festival that ran for nearly three months!"

As someone who has gotten quite a few kudos for this festival show, he's been humbled by the experience and attributes it to hard work and a talented team: "A great director, a hard-working cast, and 100-hours of rehearsal time over the course of one month, six days a week, four hours a day and five hours on Sundays. The actors were all off book two weeks before opening. I never had that happen before in any of my productions," he says.

Just two months after the awards, Krawczyk and his entire cast and crew have reunited to bring "It's All About Lorrie" back to the stage for a limited engagement run at The American Theatre of Actors (ATA) as part of an ambitious journey being planned for an extended Off Broadway run later in the year.

"This play is amazing," says the show's new production advisor and consultant, Roger Gonzalez. "When I saw this play I was floored at how perfect this festival show was. Typically, shows in festivals are works in progress. But as soon as I spoke to Joe after the show I told him he should easily win the festival. He did. We feel 3 performances was wonderful, but that the show and this cast deserve a real run... actually an extended run!"

"It's All About Lorrie" is a play within a play, a comedy about a character that's only referenced in a script but "comes to life" and barges in on a rehearsal, demanding to make the play all about her! Enthusiastic director/writer "Jessica" is about to begin rehearsal when Lorrie shows up and imposes her will with a new draft of the script in hand, throwing everything into chaos. As Jessica and her actors cope with Lorrie's demands, things begin to unravel in this comedy about the fine line between reality and fantasy.

ATA, which stepped in to produce the Off/Off Broadway run starting January 25th was tremendous validation to what the team believed all along. "Lorrie is such a phenomenal and magical character," says Gonzalez. "And the actor who plays her - Molly Esther Wilson - is pure dynamite. It works, because the entire cast is in sync on a script that is one of the funniest I've seen in years. It's perfectly written, perfectly directed, and with a cast of young actors that are phenomenal."

For Krawzcyk and company, this means not letting an opportunity and the awards sweep go to waste. As Crowdfunding begins and the production reaches out to potential investors for a future Off Broadway run, work begins on the ATA presentation at the John Callum Theater which will run now through February 5th, 2017. Tickets are now on sale online at smarttix.com by clicking HERE.

The play is produced by The American Theatre of Actors, written by Joseph Krawczyk, directed by Kimille Howard, and features Molly Esther Wilson as Lorrie, Akira Fukui as "Mark/Jeremy," Katherine Janeska Guanche as "Heather/Kate"," Khalilah Smith as the director, "Jessica," , and Logan Curran as "Tommy Z."

Visit the new "It's All About Lorrie" website at www.lorrieoffbroadway.com.

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