Nice People Theatre Company Kicks-Off Fourth Year With GRACE Or THE ART OF CLIMBING 10/21-11/8

Nice People Theatre Company (NPTC) kicks off its season with the World Premiere of Lauren Feldman's Grace, or the Art of Climbing. This dramatic and humorous new work, directed by PirronNe Yousefzadeh, will run October 21-November 8. The show officially opens on October 22 at 8 p.m. Performances will take place at The Power Plant Basement, 233 North Bread Street. (Access off of New Street and between 2nd & 3rd Sts.) Tickets are available online at www.nicepeopletheatre.org. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Door tickets are available at the $15 advance price for students and seniors.

While dealing with her father's illness, a painful breakup, and the inertia of depression, Grace, or the Art of Climbing, focuses on Emm's decision to launch into the world of competitive rock-climbing. What ensues is her quest through the rugged, and often humorous terrain of physical training and human relationships. Poetic and athletic, Grace, or the Art of Climbing is the journey of a young woman suspended between muscularity and vulnerability, falling and climbing, and the ardor and grace of being human.

Rachael Joffred, leads the cast as Emm. Joffred's performance in NPTC's Psalms of a Questionable Nature last year earned raves. Filling out the cast is: Armando Batista, Dan Hodge, Kevin Meehan, Bi Jean Ngo, Mary Tuomanen, and Bob Weick.

Yousefzadeh is directing her second show for Nice People. Yousefzadeh has directed or assistant directed at The Public/Joe's Pub, Summer Play Festival NYC, SITI Company, Collective: Unconscious, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Milwaukee Rep, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, and the Hangar Theatre, where she was a 2006 Drama League Directing Fellow. Earned her M.F.A. in Directing at Columbia University, where she studied with Anne Bogart, RoBert Woodruff, and Brian Kulick.

Lauren Feldman will spend the rehearsal process in residence with NPTC and is a playwright and performer from Miami, Florida. Her plays include Fill Our Mouths (New Theatre/Miami; Yale School of Drama), Penguins (Lark Theatre - reading), and a one-act When it Rains (Yale School of Drama; published in In Times of Disaster). Her short plays have been produced internationally and include Asteroid Belt (Heideman Award Finalist), The Kissing Play, Fugue 24, Monday in C Minor, and Tea Things (Royal Court Theatre - Exposure 2000), among others; as well as her solo piece Funny Story (Yale Cabaret - Going Public; Carlotta Festival '07 - Speaking Our Minds). She co-created the devised/collaborative theatre piece The Apocryphal Project (Yale Cabaret). Ms. Feldman has received two Downstage Miami Playwriting grants, and was a US Playwright Delegate for The Royal Court Theatre's "Crossing the Borders" Project and in World Interplay Australia's Young Playwrights Festival. She received a BA in English from Cornell University and is an Alumna of "The Shakespeare Programme" through the British-American Drama Academy/Skidmore College.

Set design is by Caitlin Lainoff who earned rave reviews from her work on NPTC's set for Psalms of a Questionable Nature. Lainoff is a satellite member of NPTC and has just completed her MFA in Set Design from Cal Arts in California. Lighting design is by Mike Inwood, costumes by Melissa Trn. Recent Swarthmore graduate Dan Perelstein will be doing sound design as well as creating original composition for the show. Stephen Hungerford will serve as Technical Director. NPTC founders, Nicole Paloux and Miriam White are producing the show. Mark Jesse Swanson will serve as Stage Manager and Ellen Podolsky rounds up the crew as Assistant Stage Manager/Assistant Director.

Nice People Theatre Company

The Nice People Theatre Company is the vision of a group of passionate, talented, dedicated and versatile theatre artists. We recognize the importance of collaboration and that the process is equally as important as the final product. Therefore, we strive to work with ‘nice' people of diverse theatrical backgrounds. We are focused on intellectual, thought-provoking, Philadelphia premieres that entertain, educate, and enrich the artistic fiber of the Philadelphia theatre community. Play Nice!

Nice People Theatre Company
Grace, or the Art of Climbing
by Lauren Feldman
Directed by PirronNe Yousefzadeh

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