September 10, 2011— From October 10th-16th, Project Y Theatre Company will be presenting their first ever New York New Playwright Festival at the Access Theatre located at 380 Broadway @ White Street in New York City. The festival will present “an incredible mix of strikingly engaging and diverse plays” says Co-Artistic Director Andrew Smith.

New playwrights often get caught in an endless series of play readings, never actually experiencing their words as a play, which lives only when it is performed rather than read. “Project Y hopes to support these new playwright voices and give them the opportunity to see their plays on their feet with professional actors and a supportive audience,” says Co-Artistic Director Michole Biancosino. “These plays are at different stages in their writing. Each playwright is a distinct and important new voice; each play selected for the quality and impact of the writing. We want to give these new plays the space to come alive, and these playwrights the chance to grow.”

The festival opens with How. What. Now. written by Michael Warner and directed by Campbell Scott. How. What. Now. is a one man play that chronicles the life of a recovering alcoholic and will be presented on October 10th at 7:30pm, October 12th at 8pm, and October 15th at 7pm. Michael Warner is both an Actor and Playwright who has appeared on TV, Film, and the stage including most recently Engaging Shaw (Old Globe) and Arthur Kopit’sWings (Second Stage). How. What. Now. was an official selection of the 2011 New York Fringe Festival, and was performed at The Williamstown Theater Festival as a part of its Fridays @3 Reading Series last summer. Campbell Scott has made over 50 appearances in Film and TV including Rodger Dodger (National Board of Review-Best Actor), The Secret Lives of Dentists, Singles, Dying Young, The Sheltering Sky, among many others. Theater appearances include Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in many of the great Regional Theaters in the country.

Gidion’s Knot, the second show of the festival, is written by recent Princess Grace Award recipient Johnna Adams. The play explores a mother and teacher conflict during a 90 minute conference and asks, “who is ultimately responsible for the actions of children?” Directed by Project Y’s Co-Artistic Director Michole Biancosino with Lisa Velten-Smith as the fierce mother and Amy Lynn Stewart as the well-intentioned teacher, this play is about two women’s excruciating feelings of culpability over the bullying of an 11 year old boy. The show will be presented on October 11 at 7:30pm, October 13 at 8pm, and October 16 at 3pm. Ms. Adams’ play Sans Merciwas the 2008-2009 Reva Shiner Award winner, and was produced by the Bloomington Playwrights Project in October of 2008. Johnna’s plays have been read or produced by theatres all over the country, including The Alliance Theatre Lab (Miami, FL), The New Group (New York, NY), and Flux Theatre Ensemble (New York, NY).

The festival concludes with a stage adaptation of the newly published book I’m From Driftwood. Both a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and online community, I’m From Driftwood (IFD) collects and shares first-person LGBTQ stories from all different communities, cultures, races and backgrounds to send a simple yet life-saving message to queer youth around the globe: You Are Not Alone. Edited by Nathan Manske, The IFD Theater Project is an experiment in taking these stories and creating a live theatrical event: an intersection of wildly different experiences and beliefs, a snapshot of queer life across the country and the world. Performed on October 14th at 8pm and October 15th at 9pm, the performances will be directed by Luke Harlan and will feature an ensemble cast reading these humorous, courageous, and incredibly heartfelt stories in front of an audience for the first time. For more information about I’m From Driftwood the organization, please visit www.imfromdriftwood.com.

About the Plays

HOW. WHAT. NOW. by Michael Warner

Directed by Campbell Scott

Featuring: Michael Warner

Lights by Joe R. Skowronski

Sound by Amit Prakash

Projection Design by Shawn Boyle

Assistant Projection Design by Kim Dowd

Stage Manage Lizzy Lee

Gidion’s Knot by Johnna Adams

Directed by Michole Biancosino

Assistant Director Leah Benvanides

Featuring: Amy Lynn Stewart and Lisa Velten-Smith

Lights by Joe R. Skowronski

Sound by Amit Prakash

Stage Manager Lizzy Lee

I’m From Driftwood

Edited by Nathan Manske

Adapted for the stage by Joe Basile, Jeffrey James Keyes, and Luke Harlan

Directed by Luke Harlan

Featuring: Joe Basile, Philip Callen, Julia Christgau, Raquel Cion, Sanam Erfani, Eddie Guttierez, Harrison Hill, Lea Robinson

Lights by Joe R. Skowronski

Stage Manager Lizzy Lee