THE BOYS UPSTAIRS Plays Laurie Beechman Theatre June 9

Sex, Dating, Friendship, and all the blurry lines in between - THE BOYS UPSTAIRS is a New York story that invites you upstairs to the fabulous living room of three best friends in Hells Kitchen who handle relationships, careers, and the city with style, scandal, and specialty cocktails!

The New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC), the largest multi-arts festival in North America, will celebrate its 15th anniversary in August., THE FringeBENEFITS SERIES will offer a taste of 15 of the most beloved shows from the past 15 years of FringeNYC. Line up to include URINETOWN, DOG SEES GOD, and THE BOYS UPSTAIRS among others.

This reading will be under the brand new direction of Darren Katz, who is currently Resident Director for THE LION KING on Broadway. Recent directing credits include YOU SAY TOMATO I SAY SHUT UP by Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn (New York, Detroit and West Palm Beach), I GOT SICK THEN I GOT BETTER at New York Theatre Workshop (co-directed with James Lapine), THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE (2nd National Tour) and the development of original shows at Pace University and NYU/Strasberg Studios. He is directing and developing numerous new theater pieces, including ELEANOR & HICK by Tom Wilson Weinberg and Peggy Stafford; SEXURITY by Yuval Boim (Joyce Soho); THE BIRTHDAY BOY by Wes Webb; and THE WASP WOMAN by Phillip Chernyak and Blake Hackler (NYTE).

The new cast will feature two-time Tony nominee Robin De Jesus (La Cage Aux Folles, In the Heights), Zach Booth (Damages, Me, Myself & I), Ven Daniels (Legally Blonde, Tarzan) Michael Zahler (The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee, The Boy in the Bathroom) & Mark Fisher (Little Dog Laughed, Wallenberg)

The world-Premiere of playwright Jason Mitchell's THE BOYS UPSTAIRS was part of the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival where it received critical praise and played an entirely sold-out run. It was then invited to be a part of the FringeNYC Encore Series, where it was the only play to sell out the Soho Playhouse. The fringe production starred Nic Cory, Joel T Bauer, Kristen Alexander-Griffith, Josh Segara, and David Rudd. It was directed by Matthew Corozine and produced by Justin Allen Pifer.

THE BOYS UPSTAIRS was first presented in 2008 as a staged reading directed by Christopher Gattelli and starred Michael Arden, Tyler Maynard, Colin Hanlon, Stephen Bienskie and David A. Rudd.

"Hilarious zingers fly in Jason Mitchell's THE BOYS UPSTAIRS, a new comedy that's Sex in the City meets Boys in the Band." - The Village Voice

"Did Tina Fey lend a hand with the script? It's that clever." - Gay City News

"Jason Mitchell isn't answering Mart Crowley's trailblazing play, The Boys in the Band, as directly as Jonathan Tolins did six years ago with The Last Sunday in June. Instead, he's set out to prove that gay culture is now assimilated enough and sellable to straight audiences, too. He's unquestionably succeedeD. Mitchell has kept The Boys Upstairs so funny, so smart, and so recognizably real that it seems like these friends could - and should - just as easily be friends of yours." -Talkin' Broadway

THE FringeBENEFITS SERIES runs Thursdays May 5 - August 11. The Laurie Beechman Theater is located inside West Bank Cafe at 407 West 42nd Street -- at Ninth Avenue, accessible from the A,C,E,N,R,V,F,1,2,3 trains at 42nd Street). THE BOYS UPSTAIRS will be June 9th at 7pm. Tickets are $20, plus a $15 food/drink minimum. To purchase tickets call 212-352-3101 or visit http://www.spincyclenyc.com/

For more information on THE BOYS UPSTAIRS visit www.TheBoysUpstairs.info.

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