The Brick and Glasswork Productions Present Valerie Work's THE PARTY PLAY, Now thru 5/31

Paul and Carl, two twentysomething roommates, hold a party to bid farewell to each other and their shared apartment. The year has been kind to Paul, who is moving into his own place; less so to Carl, who is moving back upstate with his parents. Then there is Tamar, facing her first party as a divorced, newly single woman. Awkwardness ensues, along with party hijinks including alien spaceman sounds, airborne paper plates and a special Guest DJ Hour. Through alternating humor and pathos, The Party Play explores the impact the recession has had on the attitudes, ambitions and relationships of young urban adults.

The play is set in an unspecified "emerging" Brooklyn neighborhood, and The Party Play's world premiere production seeks to evoke the atmosphere of the borough and the experience of living in Brooklyn today. The show's playlist features exclusively Brooklyn bands, and the set design captures the openness and flexibility of the borough's many industrial loft spaces. The Brick itself is a longstanding Brooklyn theater venue, making it the ideal location for the play's explorations. To further the Brooklyn connection, the playwright, director, set designer and one of the actors all recently received their MFA's from Brooklyn College.

The Party Play was written by Valerie Work. Direction is by Molly Marinik. Set design by Pei-Wen Huang. Sound design by Lee Kinney. Light Design by John Erich de la Torre. Stage management by Sarah Haber.

The cast features Charlotte Arnoux, William Barnet, Greg Carere, Caitlin Goldie, Joe Gregori, and Sarah Poleshuck.

Valerie Work is a New York City based playwright. This coming September 2014, her young adult play The Fighting Frogs vs. Victoria Vanderbilt will be produced by the Zona Gale Young People's Theatre at the Portage Center for the Arts in Wisconsin. In May 2012, her play The Collected Rules of Gifted Camp was presented at The Brick as part of their mainstage season. Her other plays include Bad Roommate, The Prostitute Play, The Economy Sucks, A Week at the NJ Shore, A Meditation on The Misanthrope: 10 Years Later, My Book of Storms, Emily's World the Play, A Wonderfully Flat Thing, "Rrrrr Argh Blech," "Crossing the Cow Field,""Hazel and the Sun" and "Sick." These works have been staged, read or fully produced at venues such as Classic Stage Company; Walkerspace; Dixon Place; the 14th Street Y; The Bushwick Starr; Brooklyn Arts Exchange; Under St. Marks; manhattantheatresource; Manhattan Repertory Theatre; the Boston Center for the Arts; Indiana Repertory Theatre in Indianapolis; the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater in Minneapolis; the Goggleworks in Reading, PA; The Pulse Performing Arts Studio in Bedford Hills, NY; Brooklyn College; Yale University; Georgetown University and Washington College.

In March 2012 Ms. Work received a Support Performing Artists Grant from the Berks County Community Foundation to be applied to production and professional development expenses. She was a 2014 Finalist for the Jerome Fellowship, a 2013 Finalist for the Leah Ryan Award and also a Semi-Finalist for the 2011 Bonderman Symposium. Her work has been published in The Midway Journal, The Book of Estro, and The Brooklyn Review. She has completed month-long residencies at the Espy Foundation in Washington State, the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and chashama's chaNorth site. She holds a B.A. from Yale and an MFA from Brooklyn College, where she studied with Mac Wellman. www.valeriework.com.

Performances today, May 22, 23, 24, 29, 30 & 31 at 7pm All tickets: $18 Only at The Brick, 579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. All tickets available at www.bricktheater.com or by calling Theatermania (212-352-3101) Only at The Brick.

The Brick, winner of The New York Innovative Theatre Awards' 2009 Caffe Cino Fellowship Award is located at 579 Metropolitan Avenue (between Union Avenue and Lorimer Street) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on the L & G subway lines (L: Lorimer stop; G: Metropolitan stop). For more detailed directions & further information, visit http://www.bricktheater.com. The Brick and its non-profit company, The Brick Theater, Inc. were founded in September of 2002 by Robert Honeywell and Michael Gardner. Formerly an auto-body shop, a storage space and a yoga center, this brick- walled garage was completely refurbished into a state-of-the-art theater complex, with a large sprung floor and professional lighting and sound package.

Winner of THE 2009 CAFFE CINO FELLOWSHIP AWARD, The Brick is Williamsburg, Brooklyn's destination for cutting-edge theatrical experience. Home to the critically acclaimed premieres of Bouffon Glass Menajoree (NY IT Award Winner-Outstanding Play), Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History of the Robot War (NY IT Award Winner-Outstanding Play), Craven Monkey and the Mountain of Fury (NY IT Award Nominee-Outstanding Performance Art Production), Greed: A Musical Love $tory (NY IT Award Nominee-Outstanding Musical), Red Cloud Rising, Theatre of the Arcade and Suspicious Package (NY IT Award Nominee-Outstanding Play), The Brick has hosted some of downtown theater's most innovative artists, including Annie Baker, Young Jean Lee, The Debate Society, Banana Bag & Bodice, Thomas Bradshaw, and Jollyship the Whiz-Bang's Nick Jones.

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