Jake Rosenberg's BROTHERS Begins Tonight at Manhattan Rep

At the fictional Faber College, two freshmen clash over the revelation of a dark but time-honored hazing ritual. BROTHERS probes questions of class, legacy, torture and American traditions older than the country itself.

Jake Rosenberg is the award winning playwright behind MUSE OF FIRE, BROTHERS, and THE JEWS, whose plays have been produced across the world, from the Best of Playgrounds Festival in SF to the Producers Club Short Play contest in NYC to the Belarusian Dream Theater Project. His play NO ONE GIVES A CLAP was produced in LA, Chicago, Vancouver and Frankfurt, Germany and was also named a finalist for The 2014 City Theatre National Award for Short Playwriting. He is currently a sophomore majoring in dramatic writing at the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU.

BROTHERS stars Theo Iyer, Tisch Stella Adler & Stonestreet graduate, as John Manning III and Nathan Simpson, De Paul University graduate, as Joe Murray.

"Since 1873 there have been 82 recorded deaths due to the brutality and negligence associated with undergraduate hazing, with at least 1 having occurred every single year since 1997. Why does our society allow these same acts again and again in the context of 'tradition?' It is my hope in writing BROTHERS to illuminate a culture of brutality that permeates far beyond the college campus, into the vast tentacles of government, finance, and the foundations of America itself," Rosenberg said.

"Fraternity hazing is perceived as a 'present' topic in the media but really it's anything but that. It's a time-old tradition that has been problematic from the beginning. My vision for the play is to take this reality and combine it with a stylized world in which we strip it all down to the primal source of what brings people to participate in something as trapping and psychology disturbing as fraternity hazing. I want people to question and challenge a legacy of torture that has passed under people's noses for so long because it's "embedded" in the fabric of American tradition. I believe this play has the capacity to wake people up and challenge them to challenge an absurd status quo," said director Sophia Cannata-Bowman.

BROTHERS will be presented in association with the Manhattan Repertory Theatre from tonight, November 7 to November 22, 2015. Performances are Saturdays at 9 pm and Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets are $20 at the door (cash only) and can be reserved on the Manhattan Repertory Theatre website at manhattanrep.com/ticket-reservations. The Manhattan Repertory Theatre is located at 303 W. 42nd St. (42nd St. and 8th Ave.), NYC.

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