SAVE THE DATE: February 7, 8 & 9th 2020
THE BEST PLAYS FROM
The Strawberry One-Act Festival
will open at the
Leonard Nimoy Thalia
At Peter Norton Symphony Space
2537 Broadway at 95th St, NYC.
Tickets go on Sale Wed, November 27, 2019
Box Office: 212-864-5400

For Group Sales: 646-623-3488
For Immediate Release

Press Contact: Kevin Hansen
646-623-3488


(November 25, 2019, New York City) The Riant Theatre (Van Dirk Fisher, Artistic Director) -- the AUDELCO Award-Winning nonprofit, which provides a nurturing environment for playwrights and theatre creatives of diverse cultural backgrounds to develop new plays, presents some of the Best Plays From The Strawberry One-Act Festival Van Dirk Fisher directs EJYP JOHNSON , who has appeared in the films LIKE FATHER (Netflix) with Kristen Bell and Kelsey Grammar and SEE YOU YESTERDAY (Netflix) and television’s BLUE BLOODS (CBS), in the play MAKE HER HAPPEN by L.E. McCullough . Co-starring is GLORIA BANGIOLA , who has appeared as Mina Murray in Bram Stoker’s Dracula with InterACT Theater Productions, NJ and President Wintergreen in  Brooklyn Baby (Let 'Em Eat Cake) with The Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College. MAKE HER HAPPEN is a powerful play about people’s obsession with being famous. We witness it today where having the most LIKES on social media has replaced the importance of making real connections. In Mr. McCullough’s play, a waitress in a small town diner sees the opportunity for her entire life to change when a well dressed gentleman from New York City enters the establishment.

Also, on the program is A VISIT IN THE AFTERNOON by Fred Dennehy , a graduate of Yale Law School, who has had a practice for 40 years before taking up acting and playwriting. His recent credits include: HOMECOMING (Lucille Lortel Theatre) and A NIGHT AT THE OPERA and DEAD RECKONING . The cast includes: Dawn Lanoue (‘Night Mother), Russell Ortiz (will star as Murray Burns in A Thousand Clowns by Herb Gardner, Westfield Community Players in March 2020) and Allegra Mroz ( Johanna in Sweeney Todd and Ophelia in Hamlet).  The play is directed by Ed Faver who has worked as an actor and director at the Paper Mill Playhouse, and the NJ Shakespeare Festival. Recent directing credits include: The Normal Heart and Children of a Lesser God. A VISIT IN THE AFTERNOON is a delightful and charming play about a teenage girl named Mara, who reluctantly agrees to visit her bad-tempered grandfather, who her mother tells her wants to give her something before he dies. What she receives from him is completely unexpected.

Best Play Award Nominee NOT THAT ILLEGAL by Yusuf Yildiz tackles the Hot Topic: Immigration, in which Ali Can, a Turkish immigrant, is forced to end his 10-year long journey in the U.S. due to unfortunate events. He convinces his best friend to help him with a highly risky plan to trick his arch-nemesis USCIS.  Find out how USCIS's nerve-racking interview turns into a hilarious journey. The cast includes: Dylan Combs ( Don John in Much Ado About Nothing , Laertes in Hamlet) , Joshua R. Pyne ( Dr. Jared Katz in Hanging Cow's  The Accidental Awakening and Sheriff Grace in  Toady Hoad) and Yusuf Yildiz . NOT THAT ILLEGAL is directed by Ayse Eldek-Richardson ( Emre Ozpirincci’s The New Yorkers and Ayse Eldek’s Bald Boy The Musical) . Mr. Yildiz moved to the United States after spending 20 plus years filled with mathematics and science in Turkey. He secretly kept writing love poems while his classmates tried to prove the Riemann hypothesis. Everything in his life changed once he stepped on stage as a thespian.

We are happy to present the Best Play Award winning play LEAVES by Victor Vaban, Jr. , who also directed the play, is an actor and a former circus performer, who is in love with the art of writing. Born and raised in Brazil, Mr. Vauban became a bonafide circus performer at the age of fifteen after attending the Nacional Circus School in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a circus performer he was able to travel the world and experience up close different cultures and witness all the diversity and beauty put in this world for us to enjoy, preserve and learn from.  Mr. Vauban seeks in August Wilson, Anne Thompson-Scretching, Tennessee Williams, Franz Kafka, Susan Lori Park, and James Baldwin the inspiration to create a body of work that will move audiences in ways that will sparkle the need to reflect and take action when it comes to ways to better our community and the world.

The cast of LEAVES includes:  Antonia Badon, Best Actress Award winner for her role as Muriel in LEAVES. Ms. Badon is from New Orleans and is a radio On-Air Personality at WHCR 90.3 FM The Voice of Harlem. Her show Renaissance Travels is on Sundays at 4:30pm-5:30pm. Rounding out the cast is Patricia Fields as Benita, Shai Shockley as Verna and Benjamin Rowe as Curtis. In LEAVES, Muriel and her two sisters had dreams of becoming the new musical sensation just like, "The Supremes" - but fate intervene. Muriel fell in love and married her college sweetheart, Curtis, putting an end to the girl group's dreams. Over thirty-years later the two sisters still resent the premature dissolution of the group blaming it on their so-called- good for nothing brother-in-law .

PROGRAM A:

DATE: Friday, February 7, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

TICKETS: Early Bird $40 I Beginning February 1, 2020 - $50

GROUP SALES: 10 or MORE - $35 Tickets Call: 646-623-3488

Tickets go on sale Wed, November 27th www.symphonyspace.org
Box Office: 212-864-5400
The first play in Program B is A VISIT IN THE AFTERNOON by Fred Dennehy , a graduate of Yale Law School, who has had a practice for 40 years before taking up acting and playwriting. His recent credits include: HOMECOMING (Lucille Lortel Theatre) and A NIGHT AT THE OPERA and DEAD RECKONING . The cast includes: Dawn Lanoue as Melanie ( theatre credits include ‘Night Mother), Russell Ortiz as Alex (theatre credits include: Murray Burns in A Thousand Clowns by Herb Gardner, Westfield Community Players in March 2020) and Allegra Mroz as Mara ( theatre credits include: Johanna in Sweeney Todd and Ophelia in Hamlet).  The play is directed by Ed Faver who has worked as an actor and director at the Paper Mill Playhouse, and the NJ Shakespeare Festival. Recent directing credits include: The Normal Heart and Children of a Lesser God. A VISIT IN THE AFTERNOON is a delightful and charming play about a teenage girl named Mara, who reluctantly agrees to visit her bad-tempered grandfather, who her mother tells her wants to give her something before he dies. What she receives from him is completely unexpected.

Richard Lobel , when not practicing law, writes plays, short fiction and the occasional magazine article. He has previously performed stand-up in New York City at a host of comedy clubs including Carolines, Stand Up New York, Comic Strip Live and Gotham Comedy Club, sharing the stage with such talents as Chris Rock and Jim Gaffigan. Mr. Lobel made his playwriting debut at the Strawberry One Act Festival, where his play, A TWO HUNDRED DOLLAR RHINOCEROS , was a Best Play Award Nominee.
The play is about Adam, a privileged and idealistic college student living on the Upper West Side and Chance, a grizzled, weary homeless man who sells elaborate sculptures made from wire hangers on West 79th Street. Adam strikes up a conversation with Chance, starting with an offer to buy one of his sculptures. As they talk further, Adam is intrigued by Chance's story and interviews him for a journalism class. What begins as a lighthearted encounter evolves into something more as Adam learns about what drove Chance to the streets. The play celebrates engagement and a relationship between people who typically would never even meet. The cast includes:  Lucas Max as Adam, Royston Scott as Chance and Rew Starr as Stella.  Richard Charles Mueller , won the Best Director Award for this play.

Best Play Award Nominee NOT THAT ILLEGAL by Yusuf Yildiz tackles the Hot Topic: Immigration, in which Ali Can, a Turkish immigrant, is forced to end his 10-year long journey in the U.S. due to unfortunate events. He convinces his best friend to help him with a highly risky plan to trick his arch-nemesis USCIS.  Find out how USCIS's nerve-racking interview turns into a hilarious journey. The cast includes: Dylan Combs ( Don John in Much Ado About Nothing , Laertes in Hamlet) , Joshua R. Pyne ( Dr. Jared Katz in Hanging Cow's  The Accidental Awakening and Sheriff Grace in  Toady Hoad) and Yusuf Yildiz . NOT THAT ILLEGAL is directed by Ayse Eldek-Richardson ( Emre Ozpirincci’s The New Yorkers and Ayse Eldek’s Bald Boy The Musical) . Mr. Yildiz moved to the United States after spending 20 plus years filled with mathematics and science in Turkey. He secretly kept writing love poems while his classmates tried to prove the Riemann hypothesis. Everything in his life changed once he stepped on stage as a thespian.

Aaron Smallwood Jr., the recipient of the Best Actor Award for his role as the Old Man in TWO GOOD DOGS by Anthony Roesch , is happy to reprise his role. His credits include, film: Suspicion (Austin Film Festival), In/Finite (Amazon Prime); Television: Elvis Lives Here (Ep 318), and Theatre: Hurt Village (The Acting Studio), Bros From the Bottom (The Acting Studio), and Lazarus (Hudson Guild Theater). TWO GOOD DOGS is about two homeless people who sit by the Chicago River discussing life, racism, love, loss and two good dogs. The cast is rounded out by Valarie Donaldson Best Actress Award Nominee as the Old Woman, and Amy Stapleton as The Young Woman.  Adriana Alter , Best Director Award Nominee, has extensive directorial and dramaturgical experience including work with the Secret Theatre, Hip to Hip Theatre Company, Chelsea Rep/The Acting Studio, Nicu’s Spoon Theater Company, Identity Theater Company, Royal Family Productions, and Hartford Stage Favorite recent projects include the world premiere of Bridges and Overpasses , also by Anthony Roesch!  Mr. Roesch is also a fiction writer and has published stories appearing in Inkwell Journal and Tampa Review , and has been a Top-25 finalist in Glimmer Train’s Fiction Open and Very Short Story Competitions.

Mario Corry is an actor, singer, writer, playwright and award-winning director, Producer and CEO at M.A.C. Films. His film credits include:  Bridge of Spies Dir: Steven Spielberg, The Irishman Dir: Martin Scorsese. Television credits include:  Power, Law and Order CI, Madam Secretary, Blacklist, Bull, It’s Bruno, La Lupe, Blue Flame and Senorita Mr. Corry received the BEST DIRECTOR AWARD for RESERVATIONS FOR DINNER by Sean O’Leary , which was a BEST PLAY NOMINEE. Other plays that have appeared in NYC by Mr. O’Leary include:  The Sample and The Return.  Rounding out the cast are:  Melissa Capista as Anna, her credits include in the award-winning films streaming on Amazon Prime and DirecTV, including A Box Came to Brooklyn and Blind Trust ; and Tony White as Harry. Some of his favorite roles include: Falstaff in The Merry Wives Of Windsor , Pompey in Measure For Measure
RESERVATIONS FOR DINNER is a hilarious comedy about husband and wife who suddenly become aware that they have different dreams and have been hiding from the truth for years as they prepare to celebrate the wife’s triumphed return to the performing arts.

PROGRAM B:

DATE: Saturday, February 8, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

TICKETS: Early Bird - $40 I Beginning February 1, 2020 - $50

GROUP SALES: 10 or MORE - $35 Tickets Call: 646-623-3488

Tickets go on sale Wed, November 27th www.symphonyspace.org
Box Office: 212-864-5400
The first play in Program C is A TWO HUNDRED DOLLAR RHINOCEROS by Richard Lobel.  Mr. Lobel, when not practicing law, writes plays, short fiction and the occasional magazine article. He has previously performed stand-up in New York City at a host of comedy clubs including Carolines, Stand Up New York, Comic Strip Live and Gotham Comedy Club, sharing the stage with such talents as Chris Rock and Jim Gaffigan. Mr. Lobel made his playwriting debut at the Strawberry One Act Festival, where his play, A TWO HUNDRED DOLLAR RHINOCEROS, was a Best Play Award Nominee.
The play is about Adam, a privileged and idealistic college student living on the Upper West Side and Chance, a grizzled, weary homeless man who sells elaborate sculptures made from wire hangers on West 79th Street. Adam strikes up a conversation with Chance, starting with an offer to buy one of his sculptures. As they talk further, Adam is intrigued by Chance's story and interviews him for a journalism class. What begins as a lighthearted encounter evolves into something more as Adam learns about what drove Chance to the streets. The play celebrates engagement and a relationship between people who typically would never even meet. The cast includes:  Lucas Max as Adam, Royston Scott as Chance and Rew Starr as Stella.  Richard Charles Mueller , won the Best Director Award for this play.

Best Play Award Nominee NOT THAT ILLEGAL by Yusuf Yildiz, which tackles the Hot Topic: Immigration, in which Ali Can, a Turkish immigrant, is forced to end his 10-year long journey in the U.S. due to unfortunate events. He convinces his best friend to help him with a highly risky plan to trick his arch-nemesis USCIS.  Find out how USCIS's nerve-racking interview turns into a hilarious journey. The cast includes: Dylan Combs ( Don John in Much Ado About Nothing , Laertes in Hamlet) , Joshua R. Pyne ( Dr. Jared Katz in Hanging Cow's  The Accidental Awakening and Sheriff Grace in  Toady Hoad) and Yusuf Yildiz . NOT THAT ILLEGAL is directed by Ayse Eldek-Richardson ( Emre Ozpirincci’s The New Yorkers and Ayse Eldek’s Bald Boy The Musical) . Mr. Yildiz moved to the United States after spending 20 plus years filled with mathematics and science in Turkey. He secretly kept writing love poems while his classmates tried to prove the Riemann hypothesis. Everything in his life changed once he stepped on stage as a thespian.

Aaron Smallwood Jr., the recipient of the Best Actor Award for his role as the Old Man in TWO GOOD DOGS by Anthony Roesch , is his happy to reprise his role. His credits include, film: Suspicion (Austin Film Festival), In/Finite (Amazon Prime); Television: Elvis Lives Here (Ep 318), and Theatre: Hurt Village (The Acting Studio), Bros From the Bottom (The Acting Studio), and Lazarus (Hudson Guild Theater). TWO GOOD DOGS is about two homeless people who sit by the Chicago River discussing life, racism, love, loss and two good dogs. The cast is rounded out by Valarie Donaldson Best Actress Award Nominee as the Old Woman, and Amy Stapleton as The Young Woman.  Adriana Alter , Best Director Award Nominee, has extensive directorial and dramaturgical experience including work with the Secret Theatre, Hip to Hip Theatre Company, Chelsea Rep/The Acting Studio, Nicu’s Spoon Theater Company, Identity Theater Company, Royal Family Productions, and Hartford Stage Favorite recent projects include the world premiere of Bridges and Overpasses , also by Anthony Roesch!  Mr. Roesch is also a fiction writer and has published stories appearing in Inkwell Journal and Tampa Review , and has been a Top-25 finalist in Glimmer Train’s Fiction Open and Very Short Story Competitions.

We are happy to present the Best Play Award winning play LEAVES by Victor Vaban, Jr. , who also directed the play, is an actor and a former circus performer, who is in love with the art of writing. Born and raised in Brazil, Mr. Vauban became a bonafide circus performer at the age of fifteen after attending the Nacional Circus School in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a circus performer he was able to travel the world and experience up close different cultures and witness all the diversity and beauty put in this world for us to enjoy, preserve and learn from.  Mr. Vauban seeks in August Wilson, Anne Thompson-Scretching, Tennessee Williams, Franz Kafka, Susan Lori Park, and James Baldwin the inspiration to create a body of work that will move audiences in ways that will sparkle the need to reflect and take action when it comes to ways to better our community and the world.

The cast of LEAVES includes:  Antonia Badon, Best Actress Award winner for her role as Muriel in LEAVES. Ms. Badon is from New Orleans and is a radio On-Air Personality at WHCR 90.3 FM The Voice of Harlem. Her show Renaissance Travels is on Sundays at 4:30pm-5:30pm. Rounding out the cast is Patricia Fields as Benita, Shai Shockley as Verna and Benjamin Rowe as Curtis. In LEAVES, Muriel and her two sisters had dreams of becoming the new musical sensation just like, "The Supremes" - but fate intervene. Muriel fell in love and married her college sweetheart, Curtis, putting an end to the girl group's dreams. Over thirty-years later the two sisters still resent the premature dissolution of the group blaming it on their so-called- good for nothing brother-in-law .

Screening of the Video Diaries Project , A series of short films about the artists in the Strawberry One-Act Festival.

Presentation of the PIONEER OF THE ARTS AWARDS
 
PROGRAM C:

DATE: Sunday, February 9, 2020 at 7:00 p.m.

TICKETS: Early Bird - $40 I Beginning February 1, 2020 - $50

GROUP SALES: 10 or MORE - $35 Tickets Call: 646-623-3488

Tickets go on sale Wed, November 27th www.symphonyspace.org
Box Office: 212-864-5400

To obtain an application to Submit a play for the next Strawberry One-Act Festival email us at RiantTheatre@gmail.com
Late Deadline to submit a play is December 15th. The Festival runs from February 7th through February 23, 2020.

Click images below for information on CORE Project Theatre Workshop and Riant Theatre's Writers & Actors Retreat Cruise.