Rodriguez, Stahl-David, Thomas & More Lead REALLY REALLY Reading At Kennedy Center 9/6

REALLY REALLY, a new play by emerging playwright Paul Downs Colaizzo, will be featured in the Kennedy Center's Page-to- Stage festival this September.

The presentation, sponsored by Washington DC's Olney Theatre Center, will be on Sunday September 6, 2009 at 7:30 pm at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage South. The cast, directed by B. Swibel (Good Thing, Cubby Bernstein ), who is also a two-time TONY nominated producer, includes Krysta Rodriguez (The Addams Family, In the Heights), Xosha Roquemore (featured in the upcoming Sundance Festival winning film Precious), Michael Stahl-David (Cloverfield, NBC's Kings), Eddie Kaye Thomas (FOX's 'Til Death, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist), Ryan Watkinson (Xanadu), and David Weidoff (ABC's Roommates).

Admission to the reading is free. For more information on the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage festival, visit www.kennedy-center.org.

At a top New England University, members of the rugby team are forced to deal with allegations of sexual assault. Inspired by the infamous Duke rape case, REALLY REALLY explores the selfishness and harsh reality behind the motives and tactics employed by ‘Generation Me'.

PAUL DOWNS COLAIZZO (playwright) received his BFA in Drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, studying at Playwrights Horizons, the Experimental Theater Wing, and the International Theater Conservatory in Amsterdam. While at Tisch, he wrote and composed the sold out run of the off-off-Broadway production of Suicycle: An Attempted Theatrical Rock Experiment, in which he also appeared. Paul served as the Associate Producer and Creative Consultant for the record-breaking Broadway web series Cubby Bernstein, in which he played the role of Dyllun von Ritter, and was the Associate Company manager for Xanadu on Broadway for the entirety of the show's run. As an actor, Paul most notably portrayed the role of Van on As the World Turns and originated the role of Zeke in the World Premiere of Disney's High School Musical 2. Really Really is Paul's first full-length play. His play Little Gives was recently workshopped at American University and will also be seen as part of the Page-to-Stage Festival at the Kennedy Center through the Didactic Theatre Company. Also in development are his new play Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill as well as the pilot episode of his original television series Guys Do This.

B. SWIBEL (director) A proud Chicagoan born and bred, B. Swibel is an award-winning director/writer/producer. While attending The Goodman School of Drama, Swibel founded a then new theatre company, worldtribe, for which he directed such works as Cowboy Mouth, House, Orpheus Descending, Uncle Vanya, The Entertainer, Temporary Help, Falconer and Base (developed under the tutelage of Anne Bogart), among others. Also with worldtribe, Swibel created the Zia Theatre Project, an educational theatre program based on the Zia Pueblo in New Mexico. Upon graduating, Swibel penned a short film series, the last of which earned the Kodak Emerging Filmmakers Award in the Cannes Film Festival. After directing several plays in Los Angeles, including the acclaimed revival of Good Thing, he formed b. swibel presents, a New York based multi-media entertainment company (affiliated with Playing Pretend Productions) that develops and produces a diverse slate of arts and education projects. Most recently, Swibel produced the Broadway hits XANADU and Will Ferrell's YOU'RE WELCOME AMERICA and directed the record-breaking web series Cubby Bernstein starring Cynthia Nixon, Nathan Lane and Patti LuPone, now available on DVD. Swibel is the recipient of the Outer Circle Critics Award and two TONY Nominations.

THE OLNEY THEATRE CENTER (sponsor) A professional, award-winning regional theater, the Olney Theatre Center is located just north of Washington, D.C. The Olney offers a diverse array of professional productions year-round that enrich, nurture and challenge a broad range of artists, audiences and students. In addition to its Subscription Season, which emphasizes 20th-century American classics, new works, area premieres, reinterpretations of classics and musical theater, Olney offers a wide range of programs and affiliations including: National Players, America's longest running classical touring company (since 1949), which performs for high school and college audiences in over 25 states; a Family Entertainment Series; special school performances of Subscription Season shows; a free Summer Shakespeare Festival; post-show discussions; and a 5-week intensive summer training program for high school students. The newly announced 2010 Mainstage season includes: Bus Stop by William Inge; Triumph of Love with book by James Magruder, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead and music by Jeffrey Stock; Trumpery by Peter Parnell; The Savannah Disputation by Evan Smith; Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw, and Annie with book by Thomas Meehan, Lyrics by Martin Charnin, and music by Charles Strouse.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna

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