Roust Theatre Stages HOMELESS AND HOW WE GOT THAT WAY World Premiere Tonight

HOMELESS AND HOW WE GOT THAT WAY -- a new play by Dan McCormick -- will be given its world-premiere this fall when Roust Theatre Company produces the play at the Access Theatre (380 Broadway, one block below Canal St.), with previews starting tonight, October 22 prior to a press opening October 25. James Phillip Gates directs.

The author of the award-winning play THE MORONS at the 1st Irish Play Festival, Mr. McCormick takes on one of the most enduring social taboos with HOMELESS AND HOW WE GOT THAT WAY, a full-length, two-character one-act play about what happens when two veterans of homelessness -- Eloise and Sidney -- have their fragile world rocked by a vicious murder in their community. This launches them on a journey to seek safe haven in each other, not only from the ravages of street life, but to reveal the dark truth about how they came to be where they are, and the freedom those revelations ultimately provide.

Richarda Abrams (Eloise) has appeared in Suzan Lori-Parks IN THE BLOOD at The Public Theatre along with ASCENSION at the NY Fringe Festival and the solo play HARRIET'S RETURN about Harriet Tubman for The Acting Company. Brian Hickey (Sidney) has performed most frequently in Chicago - receiving Joseph Jefferson Award nominations - in leading productions of CANDIDE, WHO KILLED SANTA CLAUS and the title role in THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN.

Dan McCormick's play THE MORONS received the Best Production award in the First Irish Play Festival. He has had staged readings of his plays at New Jersey Rep, The Middletown Arts Center and The Actor's Chapel in NYC. His play ON THE DAY AND THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED about 9/11 has been accepted into the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum's Artists Registry and has been performed at Universities and High Schools around the country. He is a member of the Actors Studio Playwrights collective.

Director James Philip Gates is Artistic Director of Roust Theatre Company, having previously founded the London-based award-winning company DRAMARAMA. He directed Roust's productions of Brecht's THE PRIVATE LIFE OF THE MASTER RACE, Jose Rivera's CLOUD TECTONICS, Lee Blessing's TWO ROOMS and MACBETH. He is a member of The Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab.

Scenic design for HOMELESS is by Kevin Kedroe, recent art director on the student Academy Award finalist short 'Samaria'; lighting design is by Travis Sawyer - NYU Tisch School's architectural light designer; Bill Gilinsky is Production Stage Manager.

Roust Theatre Company is dedicated to radical and epoch-making theatre, aiming to challenge and inspire the audience, and producing theatre that can and does make a difference in the world. Roust believes it is the duty of theatre "to break the grip of mass media, which dilutes the community consciousness." Past productions include Brecht's THE PRIVATE LIFE OF THE MASTER RACE, CLOUD TECTONICS, TWO ROOMS, MACBETH and THE ELEPHANT IN MY CLOSET. Last spring, Roust presented the Off-Broadway premiere of JANKA, Oscar Speace's powerful, moving real-life account of his mother's remarkable survival following incarceration during the Holocaust. Tracy Hostmyer is Roust's Producing/Executive Director.

HOMELESS AND HOW I GOT THAT WAY will perform Thursday October 22 - Sunday October 25, Thursday October 29 - Sunday November 1, Thursday November 5 - Sunday November 8, Wednesday November 11 - Saturday November 14. All shows at 8pm, except Sundays at 3pm. Performances play the Access Theater, 380 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10013 (TriBeCa). All tickets $18. Advance ticket purchase via Brown Paper Tickets - www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2332719. For more on ROUST THEATRE COMPANY, visit: www.rousttc.com.

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