The Vicious Circle To Present Industry Reading Of Amy E. Witting's I WASN'T EXPECTING YOU

The Vicious Circle will present two private industry readings of Jerome Foundation Fellowship recipient Amy E. Witting's new play I Wasn't Expecting You, directed by Zoey Martinson on Monday, April 8th. Casting to be announced.

When a maid shows up at Carrie Keating's door, the woman who walks into her home triggers her past and forces her to face some hard truths about herself, the world we are living in, and why her own white fragility has caused her to become so fearful of everything instead of embrace the love that she lost.

I Wasn't Expecting You was originally developed as part of Abingdon Theatre Company's Artist-in-Residence Program, which was created, curated and dramaturged by former artistic director Tony Speciale. "I am thrilled to be presenting Amy E. Witting's newest play under the auspices of The Vicious Circle," says Speciale. "Amy is an enormously gifted playwright with a unique voice whose career I have been closely following since first working with her at Atlantic Theatre Company's Amplified Reading Series in 2015. Her newest play I Wasn't Expecting You is powerful, moving and will leave you sitting on the edge of your seat."

The readings of I Wasn't Expecting You will be held on Monday, April 8that 3:00pmand 6:00pmat HERE, located at 145 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10013. For more information on the play or to make a reservation, call (929) 264-7085 or email rsvp@theviciouscircle.org.

Amy E. Witting's (Playwright) plays include Anne Page Hates Fun (American Shakespeare Center World Premiere), The House on the Hill (CATF World Premiere, Atlantic Theater Inaugural Launch Commission, NNPN Showcase, The Kennedy Center ACTF/NNPN MFA Alumni Playwright Workshop), A Bad Night (NY Rep Workshop, MTC Creative Space,), TheMidnight Ride of Sean & Lucy (Roundabout Underground featuring Elisabeth Moss, Semi-finalist O'Neil Playwrights Conference), and Day 392 (The Kennedy Center ACTF/NNPN MFA Playwrights Workshop, Hunter Playwrights Week, Kilroy's List). Her work has received a Jerome Foundation Fellowship, NEA Grant, Queens Council on the Arts Grant, and Anne Freedman Grant. She has been nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Weissberger Award, Stavis Award, and Theatre Visions Award. Her plays have been developed at Atlantic Theater, The Lark Play Development Center, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Pipeline PlayLAB, Tofte Lake Center, Roundabout Theatre Space Jam, National New Play Network, Abingdon Theatre, New York Rep, and The Kennedy Center. She is under commission from Actor's Express in Atlanta and received her MFA in playwriting from Hunter College. While she is not writing she is busy working as a Teaching Artist where she most recently curated an original play about young immigrants called Catch Me In America. Leading with love is her most important credit.

Zoey Martinson (Director) is an award winning writer/ director in film and theater. She works at the crossroads of Arts & Advocacy, starting as a humanitarian aid worker with refugee's in West Africa, London and USA/Mexico border. She has created, written and directed performances in Ghana, South Africa, Berlin Germany, Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles. She has spent her career as an artist creating stories from the African continent and diaspora. From organizing Arts Missions for the United States Consul General to Africa, writing/ directing award winning short films, award winning Off-Broadway plays and working on Netflix Beasts of No Nation. Her artistic interest lie in decolonizing Black stories while speaking to universal audiences. Having lived in America, Africa and Europe she brings a unique multicultural perspective into her work. Named one of 18 Women Making Black History by Popsugar.com and featured in the NY Times and New York Magazine. Martinson holds an MFA from NYU TISCH. She is a Directing Fellow at Manhattan Theater Club and Dramatist Guild Playwriting Fellow. Her work has been nominated for Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, featured on BBC World Service and published in five anthologies. She was named a 2017 Robert Rauschenberg Artist Activist for her upcoming production of Black History Museum According to the United States of America, developed through the HERE Artist Residency Program and slated to premiere at HERE in Fall 2019.

The Vicious Circle was founded in 2010 to create, develop and produce new, ensemble-based works. Past projects have included producing the international Gun Control Theatre Action Week festival of plays with NoPassport, the development of the play Buyer Beware or "How Lenny Bruce Found a Safe Space" (and lost it again) by Michael Weller, Locust Song by Jerry Marsini, Unnatural Acts by Plastic Theatre (Classic Stage Company), and Soulographie: Our Genocides, a series of 17 plays written by Erik Ehn on human rights issues - the latter of which was produced across the nation over the course of two years, culminating in a two-week marathon at La MaMa in November 2012.

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