unFRAMED: A MAN IN PROGRESS Returns to the Stage in NYC, June 4

Double Play Connections and Doing Life Productions, Jane Dubin, Executive Producer, and Director Brent Buell, collaborators on Antigua-born poet, author, painter, and playwright Iyaba Ibo Mandingo's unFRAMED: A Man in Progress, are fostering relationships and communication by participating in community driven programming. Dubin, Buell and Mandingo have stepped outside the theater to "continue the conversation we start with this powerful show," says Dubin, a TONY award-winning producer. The three have been seen connecting with many different communities – making African masks with an afterschool class in Newburgh, NY; writing poetry with the women in residence and the high school girls at the YWCA White Plains; to presenting the play to over 200 prisoners and staff inside Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

The play takes the audience into the artist's studio where Mandingo tells the story of his life as an immigrant in America. unFRAMED is returning to Manhattan for five performances in June as part of the soloNOVA Arts Festival at Off-Broadway's New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street, inside the landmark Archive Building). Performances begin Monday, June 4 and continue through Saturday, June 16. Tickets are $20 and are available at www.terranovacollective.org.

According to Mandingo, "unFRAMED has allowed me the opportunity to continue my work as a master teaching artist with an entirely New Group of students, such as the women and girls of the YWCA in White Plains and the adult students of the Literacy Volunteers of Stamford and Greenwich. The added visibility has also afforded me wonderful performing opportunities too, like participating in the World Aids Day concert in New London, CT, or participating in the first ever Westchester Poetry Festival, or being a part of the Caribbean Art celebration at Lincoln Center this summer."

"I taught in Sing Sing and other New York maximum security prisons for ten years and witnessed the transformative power of theater," reflects director Buell. "I am proud to be directing Iyaba Ibo Mandingo's unFRAMED because its powerful message does outside the walls what I'm so proud happened inside: it changes people."

"In unFRAMED writer and performer Iyaba Ibo Mandingo tells the story of his journey from Antigua to America. It wasn't without tribulations; navigating treacherous times without a father, Mandingo turned to art. unFRAMED puts the art front and center: Mandingo uses painting, poetry, prose and song to tell a story that echoes the lives of many." – Times Herald Record.

When asked why unFRAMED: A Man in Progress was chosen to be part of the OUTSIDE THE FRAME Festival in Philadelphia, InterAct Theatre's Producing Artistic Director Seth Rozin explained, "unFRAMED is a compelling performance piece in which the very striking Antigua native Iyaba Mandingo details his incredible journey to America while simultaneously painting his self-portrait on stage in front of the audience. His story is both deeply personal and starkly political, revealing a man whose identity literally and figuratively changes through the course of his extraordinary saga to become an American. While our government continues to focus on the challenges and complexities of U.S. immigration from Mexico, I found myself drawn to Mandingo's story, which invites us into the psyche of an émigré of singular talent and determination."

unFRAMED plays the following schedule as part of the soloNOVA Arts Festival:
Perf #1 - Monday, June 4 at 7:00 pm
Perf #2 - Saturday, June 9 at 7:00 pm
Perf #3 - Sunday, June 10 at 4:00 pm
Perf #4 - Wednesday, June 13 at 7:00 pm
Perf #5 - Saturday, June 16 at 9:00 pm

Tickets are $20 and are available online at www.terranovacollective.org or directly at http://bit.ly/unFRMAEDtixatSOLONOVA. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at Box Office ½ hour in advance of the performances.

Running Time: 85 minutes, no intermission

Website: http://www.terranovacollective.org

unFRAMED is Winner of the 2011 Excellence in Theatre Award from the DC Black Theatre Festival and has been presented all over the east coast, including Theatre 80, NYC (All for One Theatre Festival), 2011 Art of Justice Series at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater in NYC, the Railroad Playhouse in Newburgh, the Puffin Cultural Forum, as a Spotlight show at the DC Black Theatre Festival; many colleges and universities (including York College, NY, Nichols College, MA); and the Hudson Valley Writers Center. More information about Iyaba Ibo Mandingo and unFRAMED available here: www.unFRAMEDthePlay.com.

Iyaba Ibo Mandingo (Playwright, Performer) poet, author, painter, and playwright – is a native of Antigua, first exposed to the arts through his mother, a professional singer, and grandparents, a tailor and a seamstress who introduced him to colors and patterns. Poet: Connecticut Grand Slam champion (twice); 7-time winner, Yale University's InvitationAl Martin Luther King Birthday Slam; Keynote performer, Westchester Annual Poetry Festival, Lincoln Center Outdoor Festival (upcoming, August). Author: three poetry chapbooks 41 Times, Amerikkan Exile, and 40 days & 40 nites of write; novel, Sins of My Fathers (upcoming). Painter: Over a dozen shows; National Percent-for-the-Arts Program grant. Playwright/Performer: NYTW Artist in Residence (summer, 2011), EXPENSES OF RAIN (59E59, NYC).

BRENT BUELL (Director) Stage credits include From Sing Sing to Broadway (premiere, Playwrights Horizons); Wood Bars; Rosemary Hester's You Can't Leave That There; The Gem Exchange; and his Las Vegas spectacular, Undone Divas. Film: The Terrors of Teri; Goddess Films' Moses. For ten years Brent directed shows performed by prisoners in NY's maximum-security prisons earning praise from critics including The New York Times. His Breakin' The Mummy's Code premiered at Sing Sing and was featured in Esquire. He chronicles his experiences in Drama in the Big House, a chapter in Performing New Lives: Prison Theater by Jonathan Shailor. His novel Rapturous is scheduled for release early this summer.

Jane Dubin (Creative Consultant and Executive Producer) TONY Award-winning producer and President of Double Play Connections; Jane is a graduate of the Commercial Theatre Institute's 14- week and O'Neill Center Producing Workshops. Productions: Peter and the Starcatcher (9 TONY Nominations, including Best Play), Ann starring Holland Taylor (Broadway, upcoming), Umbrellas of Cherbourg (London), 39 Steps (OB, Tour), Norman Conquests (TONY, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards, Best Play Revival), Groundswell (New Group), Beebo Brinker (2008 GLAAD Award), Mentalpause (Society Hill Playhouse). Board member - Houses on the Moon Theater Company; member - Broadway League and League of Professional Theatre Women; co-curator - Hudson Valley Writers' Center New Play Reading Series.

soloNOVA Arts Festival (SAF) is now the longest-running solo performance festival in New York City. SAF began in 2004 as a vehicle to showcase innovative artists representing various disciplines and cultures, and whose solo performances reflect distinct perspectives. The 3-5 week festival hosts 8-10 performers annually, who perform five times each in repertory. SAF is specifically curated to showcase the best in puppetry, dance, magic, physical theater, multi-character monologues, multi-media, and other forms of storytelling, and aims to bring forth ideas and experiences from varying cultures. The New York Innovative Theatre Awards has presented SAF programming with 22 nominations and 6 awards over the past three years.

terraNOVA is an ever-expanding collective of artists devoted to nurturing distinct and innovative theatrical voices. It is dedicated to cultivating environments where the art of storytelling thrives, and actively seeks stages for the new theatre it develops.

Since its inception, terraNOVA has staged 8 full-scale productions, over 20 plays within 7 new play workshop series, and 8 annual solo performance festivals that feature diverse artists of many disciplines. Over the past 8 years, terraNOVA has developed more than 80 plays through Groundbreakers, and has given a platform to approximately 320 solo artists in our annual soloNOVA Arts Festival.

terraNOVA has been hosted within several artistic homes, including Performance Space 122, the DR2 Theatre and D-Lounge at the Daryl Roth Theatre (theatre-in-residence for two seasons), the HERE Arts Center. This 2012 season, terraNOVA will present within the newly renovated New Ohio Theater.

terraNOVA Collective has received many accolades including 30 New York Innovative Theatre Award nominations, 8 of which were for the productions of 'Feeder: A Love Story' by James Carter and 'Blue Before Morning' by Kate McGovern.

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