TRYING Will Premiere at Bushwick Starr Theatre, 4/15-4/18

TRYING, a new play by Erin Browne, will receive its premiere at the Bushwich Starr Theatre on April 15th for a limited engagement through April 18th.

A girl-girl first love story set in a small California resort town. Lena and Chels are two sisters just trying to make ends meet at minimum wage jobs, and with Chels pregnant and her boyfriend in jail - they really need each other. Along comes Belle Walker, a bookstore clerk that asks Lena on a date that threatens to change the routine of her life. Lena has to make a decision, stay at home and support her sister Chels or follow Belle to a life full of new excitement. From the charm of first love to the harsh realities or growing up with no options, three young ladies navigate their way together through some of the toughest questions and most pivotal topics of our time.

"Trying" was recently nominated for the Richard Imison Award and is the winner of the BBC World Service International Radio Play Award. It will be published in this year's New York Theater Review. Her "A Meth Play" won the International Student Playscript Award at the National Student Drama Festival. Her plays have been read by Flux Theater Ensemble, Hip Obscurity, Mad Shag, Saltbox Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, The Flea Theatre, America-in-Play, and Columbia University. Her short plays have been produced by Slant Theater Project, Poliglot Theater, Spork Fest, Sticky, Brooklyn Playwrights' Collective, Adelphi University, Gone in 60secs, and others. This will be Erin's first full-length play production.

The cast for TRYING features Rachael Hip-Flores as Lena, Jody Christopherson as Belle Walker, and Maria Helan as CHels. The design team includes set design by Arnulfo Maldonado, lighting design by Derek Wright, costume design by Antonia Ford-Roberts, and sound design by Colin Whitely.

The production team features associate producers Robyn Pottorff and Ana Valle, stage manager Estie Sarvasy, and producers Jody Christopherson and Erin Browne.

Co-Artistic Director Twilight Theatre Company was the recipient of the 2005 Princess Grace fellowship for Directing in Theater, while serving as the Associate Artistic Director of INTAR. In the fall of 2006, he joined Obie Award-winning Rattlestick Playwrights Theater as the Associate Artistic Director. Recent New York directing credits include: Minotaur, a Romance by David Anzuelo (LAByrinth Theatre Company at the Public Theater); 7th Inning Stretch (Mile Square Theatre); Fresh Play Festival (Manhattan Class Company); Kingdom (NYMF); End of the Line (MCC Youth Company); Rock/Paper/Scissors by Ben Snyder (New York Hip-Hop Theater Festival at the Public Theater); The Bigger Man by Sam Marks (Partial Comfort Productions); and Blues for a Gray Sun by Nilaja Sun (INTAR). Lou is currently in development on Rikers Hot, a Princess Grace Foundation Special Project Grant. As an Associate Producer with The 24-Hour Company he has produced numerous shows in NYC as well as Montreal. For the past ten years he has taught playwriting for Manhattan Theatre Club at the RNDC Youth Facility on Rikers Island.

Tickets for TRYING are $15 and may be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling the box office at 917-975-4864.

For more information, visit www.thebushwickstarr.org.

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