Rising Phoenix Rep's Cino Nights Presents the undeniable sound of right now

Rising Phoenix Repertory announces the TENTH PLAY IN THE CINO NIGHTS SERIES the undeniable sound of right now a new play by Laura eason and directed by laura eason & kirsten kelly with Assistant director Chinasa Ogbuagu

FULLY produced on half a shoestring AND performed, warts and all, for two shows on ONE NIGHT ONLY - SUNDAY, August 28th at 7PM featuring Daniel Abeles, Estelle Collins BAJOU, Jimmy Davis, Jeff Still, and Lusia Strus at Seventh Street Small Stage, 43 East Seventh Street (6 to Astor Place, R/W to 8th Street, F to 2nd Ave)

THE tenth IN a year-and-a-half-long series of TWENTY-one Fully STAGED, world-premiere plays commissioned by rising Phoenix rep to BE performed in the extremely intimate close quarters of the basement space of downtown restaurant Jimmy's No. 43 with performances from September 2010 - June 2012

Admission is free; space is extremely limited reservations are strongly encouraged and can be made by calling 212-946-5198 for more information please visit www.risingphoenixrep.org

Following the sold out performances and overflow crowds at its first nine Cino Nights presentations (of new plays by Gary Sunshine, Mando Alvarado, Courtney Baron, Florencia Lozano, Kristen Palmer, Emily DeVoti, Lucy Thurber, Jessica Dickey, and Adam Szymkowicz) Rising Phoenix Rep continues the series on August 28th at 7 p.m. with THE UNDENIABLE SOUND OF RIGHT NOW by Laura Eason. It's 1991. Hank is struggling to keep his legendary rock club going amid changing times and changing tastes. When his beloved daughter Lena starts dating a rising star DJ, Hank comes face-to-face with the cruel vitality of youth and the destructive power of the next big thing.

The production will be co-directed by Kirsten Kelly and Laura Eason, features Daniel Abeles, Estelle Collins Bajou, Jimmy Davis, Jeff Still, and Lusia Strus.

Inspired by Joe Cino and his Caffe Cino-one of the original birthplaces of Off-Off-Broadway theatre and early home to such writers as Doric Wilson, Robert Patrick, John Guare, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, and William M. Hoffman-New York Innovative Theater Award winning company Rising Phoenix Rep has commissioned twenty playwrights to write new, full-length plays for the Seventh Street Small Stage, the intimate back room space at Jimmy's No. 43 in the East Village, where the company has mounted critically acclaimed and award winning productions of new plays for the past six years.

Rising Phoenix Rep artistic director Daniel Talbott described the series as a place to tap into the raw, inspired, inventive, and pioneering work of the Caffe Cino, where the love of theatre and new work was joined with a scrappy, do-it-yourself work ethic. All shows will be rehearsed for a week and then fully mounted and produced, warts and all, for one night only with free admission.

Cino Nights are currently scheduled through June 2012 and will celebrate the spirit of indie theatre as a home for new plays and theatre artists as well as hopefully honor what has been said of the Caffe Cino: "the first studio of theater where playwrights can experiment as painters and poets have done for a century, free from the tyranny of audience, box-office, church, and criticism." The plays will be fully produced for one night only on a more or less monthly basis. The remaining playwrights, in the order their plays will appear, are:

Laura Eason's The Undeniable Sound of Right Now will premiere on August 28, 2011; directed by Kirsten Kelly and Laura Eason and featuring Daniel Abeles, Estelle Collins Bajou, Jimmy Davis, Jeff Still, and Lusia Strus.

Daniel Reitz: September 25, 2011

Crystal Skillman: October 23, 2011

Megan Mostyn-Brown: November 13, 2011

Charlotte Miller: December 11, 2011

Keith Reddin: January 2012

Dael Orlandersmith: February 2012

Jonathan Blitstein: March 2012

Brooke Berman: April 2012

Melissa Ross: May 2012

Daniel Talbott: June 2012

Cusi Cram: June 2012

The previous productions in the series were:

Gary Sunshine's BEST SEX EVER premiered on October 3, 2010. It was directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel and featured Stephen Bel Davies, Cathy Curtin, Jimmy Davis, Mike Doyle and Jeffrey Nauman.

Mando Alvarado's (O)N THE 5:31 premiered on October 24, 2010, directed by Taibi Magar and featuring Jolly Abraham, Sarah Baskin, and Bernardo Cubria.

Courtney Baron's HERE I LIE premiered on November 7, 2010, directed by Daniel Talbott and featuring Denis Butkus and Samantha Soule.

Florencia Lozano's BUSTED premiered December 12, 2010, directed by Portia Krieger and featuring Maggie Bofill, Audrey Esparza, Nate Miller, Puy Navarro, Ana Reeder, and Jeanine Serralles.

Kristen Palmer's THE STRAY DOG premiered on January 23, 2011, directed by Julie Kline and featuring Stephen Brown, Chad Goodridge, Brian Miskell, Laura Ramadei, Jelena Stupljanin, and Haynes Thigpen.

Emily DeVoti's THE UPSTART premiered on February 13, 2011; directed by Taibi Magar and featuring Edward Carnevale, Julie Kline, and Anne O'Sullivan.

Lucy Thurber's NAMED premiered on February 27, 2011; directed by Jenna Worsham and featuring Lila Dupree, Ronete Levenson, Katie Meister, and Sarah Tolan-Mee.

Jessica Dickey's ROW AFTER ROW premiered on May 22, 2011; directed by Stephen Brackett and featuring Sevrin Anne Mason, Michael Kingsbaker, and Bjorn Thorstad.

Adam Szymkowicz's CLOWN BAR premiered on June 19, 2011; directed by Kip Fagan with lyrics by Adam Szymkowicz and Adam Overett, and music by Adam Overett. The cast featured Alex Anfanger, Brett Aresco, Stephen Bel Davies, Sam Breslin Wright, Jamie Effros, Jessy Hodges, Beth Hoyt, Jessica Pohly, Dominic Spillane, and Stephen Stout.

Reservations will be available one week before the performance each month. Seating is extremely limited. For reservations please call 212-946-5198; for more information please visit www.RisingPhoenixRep.org.

Playwright and director Laura Eason is a Brooklyn-based playwright and director. Recent productions as a playwright include Sex with Strangers (Steppenwolf, Chicago), Mr. Smitten (Humana Festival), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Hartford Stage; People's Light) Citi Moms (Women's Project, NYC) and Lost Boy in the Ruined City (Theatre Seven, Chicago). Recent productions as a writer and director include Around the World in 80 Days (Baltimore Centerstage; Kansas City Rep) and Ethan Frome (Lookingglass Theatre, Chicago). Most recently, Laura directed Unknown Soldier, a new musical by Daniel Goldstein and Michael Friedman, at the O'Neill Music Theater conference. Upcoming: The Undeniable Sound of Right Now (Rising Phoenix Rep, NYC), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Actors Theatre of Louisville; KC Rep; St. Louis Rep; Denver Center; New Victory, NYC) and Sex with Strangers in France, Luxembourg and Monaco. Current commissions include the Denver Center, Arden Theatre, Lookingglass, and a new musical for Writers Theatre. Affiliated Artist, New Georges, NYC; Women's Project Playwright's Lab alum, NYC; Ensemble Member and former Artistic Director of Lookingglass Theatre, Chicago, recipient of the 2011 Regional Tony Award. www.lauraeason.com

Director Kirsten Kelly is a theatre director, educator, and documentary filmmaker. Recent New York directing credits include shows for Roots&Branches Theatre (an intergenerational theatre company), Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre & Piece by Piece Productions (Off-Broadway), Rising Phoenix Rep, The Juilliard School, and Lincoln Center. She is currently developing an experimental theatre piece based on Shirley Jackson's short stories with Mud/Bone Collective, and has co-adapted the Newbery Award winning young adult novel The Wednesday Wars for the stage. Kirsten is the co-creator of CPS! Shakespeare, an innovative education program at Chicago Shakespeare Theater which was featured on NBC National News in 2010, and she has directed productions for CST the last five years. Kirsten also directed the Washington D.C. premieres of The Clockmaker for The Hub Theatre, and Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gillman (Helen Hayes Nomination, Best Direction) as well as the Midwest/Chicago premiere of Mamet's Boston Marriage (After Dark Award, Best Director). Film credits include: The List, a surprising feature documentary about homeless teens in Chicago which recently won a coveted Sundance Development Grant (projected release 2013); The Real Rosie the Riveter an oral history film project for New York University's Tamiment Labor Library, and Asparagus! (Stalking the American Life), an award-winning documentary on the 2006-07 film festival circuit; DVD released 2008 more info at http://www.asparagusthemovie.com). Kirsten is a graduate of the Master's Directing program at Juilliard where she received the Andrew W. Mellon Directing Fellowship, and is a proud member of Rising Phoenix Rep.

Founded in 1999 by Artistic Director Daniel Talbott, Rising Phoenix Repertory began by producing an ongoing reading series of new plays and has continued to add workshops, festivals, and highly praised productions of new plays. Recent productions include the acclaimed, sold-out Off-Broadway runs of Slipping, produced with Piece by Piece Productions and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and Too Much Memory (also with Piece by Piece Productions) which transferred to the New York Theatre Workshop's Fourth Street Theatre after winning the FringeNYC award for Outstanding Play in 2008. Other recent productions include Ceremony, Afterclap, Birthday and Don't Pet the Zookeeper (Seventh Street Small Stage); 365 Days/365 Plays (Jimmy's No. 43 and The Public Theater); What Happened When (HERE Arts Center); Fall Forward (part of the Sitelines/River to River festival produced by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council); The Telling Trilogy (including The Ride, 2006 NYIT Award Nominee - Outstanding Original Short Script- Crystal Skillman), Rules of the Universe (Winner, 2007 NYIT Awards for Outstanding Original Short Script - Daniel Reitz and Director - Daniel Talbott), and Three Sisters (both at the Seventh Street Small Stage); Gift by Mark Schultz and Ponies by Mike Batistick (FringeNYC). For more information please visit www.RisingPhoenixRep.org.

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