Libby Winters and Ito Aghayere Set For UNIFORMS Off-Broadway

Director Jimmy Maize (Spoon River Anthology at The Invisible Dog) and BOSS (En Garde Arts) will lead actresses Libby Winters (American Idiot) and Ito Aghayere (Lortel Nomination for Familiar at Playwrights Horizons) in Uniforms by Jeffrey James Keyes (The End of Days &Imaginary Friends) next month in the Samuel French 41st Annual Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival in New York City.

Uniforms by Jeffrey James Keyes has been selected from 1,500 submissions to be a finalist in the Samuel French 41st Annual Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival (OOB) in New York City this summer. Uniforms will be presented on August 9th at the East 13th Street Theater (Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street, NYC). Uniforms is one of 30 plays presented during the weeklong event. At the end of the festival, Samuel French's editorial staff will select six titles for publication and licensing.

In the play Uniforms Susan is called into the principal's office because her five-year-old son came to school wearing a dress. When the principal recommends having the child change a heated discussion of education, ethics, and modern day parenting ensues.

Ito Aghayere is a recent Lucille Lortel Award nominee for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play for her work in Danai Gurira's critically acclaimed new work, Familiar, which had its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons. Ito received her BA from Duke University, and after a short stint at the White House, received her MFA from Columbia University. Other Off Broadway: The Liquid Plain (Signature Theatre), Three Days To See (Transport Group/NYTW), The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, and Macbeth (Classic Stage Company). Other New York credits: The Obeah Symphony (Billie Holiday Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Classic Theatre of Harlem). TV: "Falling Water," "Braindead", "Orange Is The New Black," "The Knick," "Unforgettable," "Forever." Film: "Right Song, Wrong Chord." www.ItoAghayere.com

Libby Winters (Susan) This is Libby Winters' second time collaborating with Jeffrey James Keyes for the Samuel French Festival. Broadway: American Idiot (Extraordinary girl, u/s Heather), Mamma Mia (Sophie) in Las Vegas. Regional: Bright Star (Dora) Old Globe, American Idiot (Ensemble, u/s Extraordinary Girl and Heather) at Berkeley Rep. New York: End of Days (also by Jeffrey James Keyes) in the NY Fringe Festival, White Noise in the NYMF, The Spitfire Grill at the Gallery Players. Television: Olive Kitteridge (HBO), Billions (Showtime), Smash (NBC), Champs (ABC/DreamWorks). Film: My Man is a Loser (dir. Mike Young), Dreaming American (dir. Lee Percy), Yearbook (dir. Carter Smith). Libby writes songs and is the lead singer/guitarist for her grunge-pop band LAKES @lakestheband (twitter) @libby.winters (instagram).

Jeffrey James Keyes (Playwright & Producer) co-authored the upcoming novel Killer Chef with James Patterson for Little, Brown and Company and Hachette Book Group. A recent graduate of Columbia University's MFA Playwriting Program, his plays have been developed or featured at SoHo Playhouse, the Old Vic/Old Vic New Voices, 59E59, the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Laguna Beach High School, Rogue Machine Theatre, the Prologue Theatre and is a proud alum of the Samuel French OOB Festival. He was recently commissioned by Lexus to story produce the first ten episodes of a travel web series additionally story produced a ten-part travel series for Lexus, associate produced Revealing for the Sundance channel, and two episodes of MTV's True Life. He additionally contributes travel and lifestyle features for Metrosource Magazine, Passport Magazine, and Q Digital and serves as the Program Assistant to MFA Theatre Program at Columbia University's School of the Arts.

Jimmy Maize is an NYC-based writer/director. Recent directing credits include his critically-acclaimed 100-actor adaptation of Spoon River Anthology (The Invisible Dog); BOSSS (En Garde Arts); The Tempest and Much Ado About Nothing (Classic Stage Co); Ring Of Fire (Endstation Theater); the rock musical Hypochondria by Kyle Jarrow; his mash-up adaptation of A Dream Play and The Seagull (Columbia University); John Muir Wolf and Camino Real (Whitman College); Into The Woods (Conn College); The Skin of Our Teeth (Strasberg Institute); A Different Kind of Animal by Thomas Higgins (Theater Row) and You're Invited (Old Vic, UK).

He is a member of Tectonic Theater Project, where he has worked alongside Moisés Kaufman for a decade developing groundbreaking new work. He developed and assistant directed the TONY Award-nominated Broadway production of 33 Variations starring Jane Fonda, The Pulitzer Prize-winning Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Center Theatre Group), and The Laramie Project (national tour). He was associate director and dramaturg for Tennessee Williams's One Arm (The New Group) and the sole dramaturg for The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, which debuted simultaneously at 150 theaters nationwide, and later had a critically-acclaimed run at BAM. He teaches the company's method of "Moment Work" internationally, and is currently co-writing a book on the method to be published by Random House in 2016.

He is an Associate Artist of Classic Stage Company, an Old Vic New Voices Fellow, an SDCF Fellow, a Princess Grace Award finalist and received his MFA in directing from Columbia University's School of the Arts. Member SDC.

Corrie Beth Shotwell (Stage Manager) is the Assistant Director of Production for the Columbia University Graduate Theatre Program. Most recently, she worked on Circle Mirror Transformation in a outdoor theatre in Pottstown, PA. She has also worked at the Professional Performing Arts School (NY), HB Playwrights Foundation (NY), Detroit Opera House (MI), Meadowbrook Theatre (MI), and the Lied Center for Performing Arts (NE). Her production management, stage management, and technical direction credits range in the hundreds from concerts, dance, opera, and theatre across the country. Corrie Beth is also studying for a master's degree in Fundraising Management at Columbia to further the support of non-profit companies/individuals that strive on bettering communities and helping those without means to experience art on a large scale. BA: Oakland University. MA: Wayne State University

Originating in 1975, the OOB Festival is New York's oldest, continuous short play festival and has attracted submissions from across the U.S. as well as Australia, Canada, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. The OOB Festival is unique in that it requires applicants to collaborate with a producing organization or to self-produce their work. The winning plays are published in Samuel French's acclaimed OFF OFF BROADWAY FESTIVAL PLAYS series and licensed to theatre producers around the world.

The OOB Festival Week consists of eight performance sessions in which three or four scripts are presented in front of a judging panel comprised of theatre industry professionals, including artistic directors and major playwrights. At the end of each session, the judges deliberate and select one or two plays to move on to the OOB Festival Finals.

The 41st Annual Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival will run August 9-14 at the East 13th Street Theater (Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street, NYC).

For tickets and more information visit www.oobfestival.com.

The 2016 Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival Final 30 are:

• Gwynn Ballard for The Duet
• Jennifer Barclay for Tight Curls Today
• France-Luce Benson for Risen From the Dough
• Kellen Blair for Madeline 14 Billion Jumps the Track
• Keith Burton for The Journey
• Renee Calarco for Bleed
• John Connon for Ambush
• Samantha Cooper for The Woman American
• Carey Crim for Room 313
• Sunita Deshpande for A Sari for Pallavi
• Sharron Farrell for Depths
• Perry Guzzi for Los Demás
• Timothy Huang for Missing Karma
• Nicole Greevy, Uma Incrocci, and Erica Jensen for 28 Years Later
• Jonathan Josephson for Grandpa and the Gay Rabbi
• Lindsay Joy for The Cleaners
• Mustafa Kaymak for Green Card
• Jeffrey James Keyes for Uniforms
• Andrew Leeds and Lindsey Kraft for Wedding Bash
• John Minigan for Easter at the Entrée Gold
• Alex Rubin for Dust and Ash
• Angela Santillo for Welcome to the Fall
• Mark Staufenberg for The Mysterious Life, And Even More Mysterious Death, Of That Guy Who Lived Below Max And Beth
• Angela Stern for Mama's Eggnog
• Seamus Sullivan for Valkyrie in the Roller Disco
• R. Eric Thomas for Human Resources
• Korde Arrington Tuttle for clarity
• Lizzie Vieh for Monsoon Season
• Jane Willis for That Kid
• Pia Wilson for Mama's Seeds

Samuel French is the world's leading publisher and licensor of plays and musicals. The company's catalog features some of the most acclaimed work ever written for the stage and titles by writers at the forefront of contemporary drama. Samuel French is proud to have served as a leader in theatrical publishing and licensing for over 180 years and is committed to the future by championing for playwrights, innovating the industry, and celebrating all those who make theatre around the world.

Website: oobfestival.com

Primary Contact Email: oobfestival@samuelfrench.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/OOBFestival

Twitter: @OOBFestival

Hashtag: #OOBFestival

Photo Credit: Jeffrey James

To post a comment, you must register and login.