BENCHED Plays Georgetown's NCDA, Closes 2/27

BENCHED, featuring actresses Dionne Audain, Leigh Jameson and Liz Mamana, will close Sunday February 27 at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, 1556 Wisconsin Avenue NW in Historic Georgetown.

BENCHED is a bittersweet comedy about three big-city moms who meet daily on a playground bench to hang on tight to the women they are. The play has great humor and heart, and while it is a story about parenthood, it is also a story about the power and importance of friendship, and reminds us that life can be oh-so-very funny--even when it's not.

Playwright Allyson Currin has been twice nominated for the Helen Hayes Charles D Mac Arthur Award for Outstanding New Play and received the Mary Goldwater Award for Playwriting. Her 2010 musical THE DANCING PRINCESSES, commissioned by Imagination Stage in Bethesda, was recently named DC Theatre Scene's Audience Choice Award for Best Family Entertainment, and her 2009 Kennedy Center production UNLEASHED! THE SECRET LIVES OF WHITE HOUSE PETS was recently released as a children's book by Simon and Schuster. World premieres of her plays include TREADWELL: BRIGHT AND DARK (American Century Theatre), LOVE AND WHISKEY (AEA Members' Project Code production, film option held by Pendrawn Productions), THE SUBJECT (Charter Theatre), FUR AND OTHER DANGERS (Source Theatre Company), CHURCH OF THE OPEN MIND (Charter Theatre) and AMSTEL IN TEL AVIV (Source Theatre Company).

Director Jessica Lefkow has extensive directing experience with new works, including Stefanie Zadrafek's Honey Brown EYES, winner of the 2009 Helen Hayes Charles MacArthur Award for Best New Play. She has directed workshop productions of emerging scripts for The Inkwell and Spooky Action Theater, has helped playwrights develop and produce one-person shows in New York, Provincetown and in DC, and has directed a score of developmental readings of new plays in theatres across the DC-Metro area.
Actress Dionne Audain plays Meghan, the grounded heart at the center of this triumvirate: Dionne can currently be seen in Lifetime TV's UNANSWERED PRAYERS and in feature film SALT, starring Angelina Jolie. Her theatre credits include Target Margin, The Roundtable Ensemble Theatre, The Queen's Company and Urban Stages in New York; DC audiences may remember Dionne from her work at Folger, Source and African Continuum Theatres.

Leigh Jameson plays powerhouse career-woman Joan: Leigh most recently performed, directed and co-produced the DC reading of Belarus Free Theatre's BEING Harold Pinter, an extension of the Global Artistic Campaign in Solidarity "Free Belarus". She has performed in the DC area at Rep Stage, The Shakespeare Theatre, Studio Theatre and at Wayside Theatre.

Liz Mamana plays struggling stay-at-home mom Timby: Liz appeared off-Broadway in the Transport Group's Award-Winning production of THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS, and in Los Angeles at the Globe and Stella Adler Theatres. Her DC-area credits include Olney, Theater J, Folger and readings for Round House, the Hub, and The Actors Salon, of which Liz is a founder and co-producer.

The producing team for BENCHED is Allyson Currin, Beth Hylton, Jessica Lefkow and Liz Mamana; the remaining company includes: Zoia Wiseman (SM), Valerie St Pierre Smith (costumes), David Lamont Wilson (sound), Doug Wilder (lights) and Jason McCool (production photography).

BENCHED will be performed as an Actors' Equity Association Members' Project Code; all actors appear courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. Admission is free, though donations are suggested and strongly encouraged. For more information, see our website at www.benchedtheplay.vpweb.com; for reservations, please email us at benchedtheplay@gmail.com.

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