New Play THE LONG & THE SHORT OF IT Examines Women's Rights at Theater for the New City

Theater For the New City has announced that it will present the world premiere of THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT, a new play by Walter Corwin that spotlights the wrongdoings against women since the Garden of Eden through the present day and suggests the problems a woman president could face, running tonight, November 2nd, through 13th in the Cabaret at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets).

Written by Walter Corwin and directed by Daniel Kelley (long-time veterans of the TNC) the production also features music by Arthur Abrams.

While some plays, performances and protests focus on women's rights, in THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT, the principle offering, "Half the Race", focuses on how women have been wronged since the Garden of Eden. Following women from that time into the future, this play envisions a female president using a Lysistrata cure and then vasectomy to mitigate the problem but without clear success. Three short "Play Poems" about the high cost of drugs, life on the cell-phone, and our on-line obsession introduce the social and comedic nature of the evening. The afterpiece, "Rehabilitation", tries to bring everyone together in these raucous times.

Playwright Walter Corwin has had numerous plays produced at the Theater for the New City (TNC), where he is on the staff. His plays have also been performed at La Mama, The Public Theater, and ATA among others. Two - The Ivory Tower and The Mill - may be heard on Art on Air.org. A scene "Laughter After Midnight" from the current play was published in LEF(t) by Critical Practices Inc. of New York in Jan. 2015. Corwin got his start assisting Ed Bullins and participated in workshops at The Actors Studio and the Herbert Berghoff Studio.

Director Daniel Kelley is a long-time veteran of the TNC and directed Corwin's last play. Previously, he worked at La Mama, PS 122, Target Margin Theater, Playwright's Horizon, and studied acting at Carnegie-Mellon University. He spent five seasons with the Paper Bag Players and is a founding member of the Wise Guise.

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT features Sarah Germaine Lilly, T. Scott Lilly, Skip Dietrich, and Juan Villagas.

Production design includes lighting design by Alexander Bartenieff, music by Arthur Abrams, and set design by Will Corwin.

Performances of THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT run from November 2nd - 13th; Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8PM, on Saturday November 12 also at 10:30, and Sundays at 3 PM. The running time is 1 hour and 20 mins. Tickets are $10. Contact Smart Tix at (212) 868-4444 www.smarttix.com or www.theaterforthenewcity.net.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY (TNC) is a Pulitzer Prize winning community cultural center that is known for its high artistic standards and widespread community service. One of New York's most prolific theatrical organizations, TNC produces 30-40 premieres of new American plays per year, at least 10 of which are by emerging and young playwrights. Many influential theater artists of the last quarter century have found TNC's Resident Theater Program instrumental to their careers, among them Sam Shepard, Moises Kaufman, Richard Foreman, Charles Busch, Maria Irene Fornes, Miguel Piñero, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Vin Diesel, Oscar Nuñez, Laurence Holder, Romulus Linney and Academy Award Winners Tim Robbins and Adrien Brody. TNC also presents plays by multi-ethnic/multi-disciplinary theater companies who have no permanent home. Among the well-known companies that have been presented by TNC are Mabou Mines, The Living Theater, Bread and Puppet Theater, the San Francisco Mime Troupe and COBU, the Japanese women's drumming and dance group. TNC also produced the Yangtze Repertory Company's 1997 production of BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH, which was the only play ever produced in America by Gao Xingjian before he won the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature. TNC seeks to develop theater audiences and inspire future theater artists from the often-overlooked low-income minority communities of New York City by producing minority writers from around the world and by bringing the community into theater and theater into the community through its many free Festivals. TNC productions have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and over 42 OBIE Awards for excellence in every theatrical discipline. TNC is also the only Theatrical Organization to have won the Mayor's Stop The Violence award.

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