Ripple Effect Artists' TWELFTH NIGHT Benefits Freedom to Marry, Now thru 6/30

Spend a summer night at Twelfth Night presented by Ripple Effect Artists, Thursday - Sunday: tonight, June 20 - 23 and Wednesday - Sunday: June 26 - 30. All oerformances are at 8:00 p.m.

FREE Matinees on Saturdays: June 22 & 29 at 3:00 p.m. Students and Actors Equity members (both with proper ID) are free throughout the run on a standby basis. All performances play the Access Theater, 380 Broadway, New York City. Tickets Online: www.rippleeffectartists.com. Click on "Reserve Twelfth Night Tickets". Ripple Effect Artists is also on TDF: www.tdf.org.

Ripple Effect Artists take on Shakespeare's raucous romantic comedy,Twelfth Night, about two shipwrecked twins - Viola and Sebastian - and the mischief they create.

Viola - reeling from a shipwreck in which she thinks her brother has been killed - dresses like her brother to survive in the strange land where she finds herself. This decision to gender-bend changes the lives of Duke Orsino, pining over Lady Olivia, who has now fallen in love with the manly-clad Viola, who is in love with Orsino, who can't love her as the her is a him but... well you get the point! This all sets in motion uproarious ruses and plots involving the dower Malvolio; the drunken Sir Toby Belch; the silly Sir Andrew Aguecheek; the fetching lady-in-waiting, Maria, and Feste, the fool. And when it turns out Sebastian is not dead... well, that's when the really fun begins!

With each production of RIPPLE EFFECT ARTISTS (REArtists), a significant percentage of the box office proceeds are donated to a Human Rights Organization that coincides with the subject-matter of the show.

Twelfth Night employs one of Shakespeare's favorite comic conventions: switching [sexual] identity. This makes it a perfect choice for RIPPLE EFFECT ARTISTS to create a project that asks the question: In matters of love, how much does gender matter? "We wanted to put on a production that deals with gender identity and to focus on how love can rise above one's gender" exclaims Jessie Fahay, the founding director of Ripple Effect Artists and author of "What Method? The Different Ways an Actor Can Train."

Proceeds from Twelfth Night will be donated to Freedom to Marry, an organization dedicated to creating freedom for all individuals to marry across the United States.www.freedomtomarry.org. The company's goal with the messaging of the production is to significantly impact marriage rights in the state of New Jersey.

Twelfth Night Creative Team:

Executive Producer: Jessie Fahay.
Director: Beth Newbery.
Stage Manager: Laurie Rae Waugh.
Technical Director: Terrence Christgau.
Costume Designer: Marcus Desion
Graphic Designer: Natalie Craig.

Cast: Paul Battiato*, Kaelin Birkenhead, Corey Camperchioli*, Joseph Esbenshade, Jessie Fahay, Terrence Montgomery, Erin Nelson, Valerie O'Hara, Kyle Sallee, Robert Shryock, Christopher Spurrier, and James Stewart* *appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association.

For more information, go to: www.rippleeffectartists.com, www.twitter.com/REArtists or www.facebook.com/#!/groups/184429398299538/.

RIPPLE EFFECT ARTISTS is dedicated to creating a connected, communicative, and compassionate world through STAGED THEATRE WORKS and GLOBAL EDUCATION. We dare our audiences to move from APATHY to ACTION, creating a RIPPLE EFFECT in the larger community and world.

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