Emerson Theater Collaborative’s production of Jacques Lamarre’s Gray Matters

Nominated for Five Theater Awards in

New York

 

ETC Production Comes to Harford September 9-12

 

 

August 24, 2010, Hartford, CT… Jacques Lamarre’s Gray Matters, recently was nominated for a 2010 MITF Award for “Outstanding Playwriting for a New Script” by the Midtown International Theater Festival (MITF) in New York City where Gray Matters premiered this summer. Gray Matters, produced by ETC’s Camilla Ross, is a topical new comedy that focuses on what happens to an uninsured, unemployed actor when she loses her memory.  April Woodall, who played Sarah Gray, was also nominated for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play,” and Kathryn Kates, who portrayed Miriam Berger, was nominated for “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play.” Other nominations include:  Jon Cappozzoli for “Outstanding Lighting Design,” and Emerson Theater Collaborative’s production of Gray Matters was nominated for “Outstanding Show Marketing and Advertising.”

 

The Midtown International Theatre Festival, now in its eleventh year, celebrates the diversity of theatre. The MITF welcomes theatrical storytelling across a broad spectrum of genres, forms, identities, cultures, and appetites. The MITF seeks to nurture these new ideas, perspectives, and stories on its stages, with an eye set on guiding these productions toward future success and longevity. The festival, traditionally held in summer, represents a fantastic, often paradoxical, adventurous and intriguing cross-section of the forefront of the theatre world. The MITF proudly hosts production companies from across the country and around the globe, uniting talent in one of the biggest theatre capitals in the world.

Mr. John Chatterton created the MITF, a Midtown alternative to other theatre festivals, in 2000 as a way to present the finest off-off Broadway talent in convenience, comfort, and safety. In 2008, the Festival added two 99-seat theatres and inaugurated the Commercial Division for upwardly mobile shows with commercial ambitions. The MITF's artistic emphasis is on the script itself, and therefore, the Festival requests minimal production values.  For more information, visit www.midtownfestival.org.

 

The MITF Awards Ceremony will be held on Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 8pm at New World Stages, 340 W. 50th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues), NYC. Tickets are $20 ($15 if booked before 8/30) and are available now at www.midtownfestival.org or by phone at 866-811-4111.  Gray Matters will open in Hartford next month from September 9 - 12 at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford, CT.  The New York City cast of Gray Matters will be joined by Hartford-area native, Debi Freund as the lead Sarah Gray.  This production is under the direction of ETC veteran director Joshua Lee Ramos and will feature professional Actors Equity Association members Jen Anaya, Kathryn Kates, and Steve Sherman and regional favorite, Debi Freund.   Performance information and tickets for Gray Matters be can be obtained by visiting EmersonTheaterCollaborative.org.  Tickets are $25 ($23 for students and seniors).

 

In the play Gray Matters, we find acclaimed actress Sarah Gray in a predicament familiar to many Americans.  After an emergency hospitalization, she finds herself with no insurance, no job and no prospects.  Worse, she has a faulty memory.  Surrounded by a well-meaning but tough agent and two self-centered young upstarts, Sarah must discover if it is possible for an actor with an Etch-a-Sketch for a brain to get back to what matters.  

 

Emerson Theater Collaborative’s mission is to serve youth, under-represented communities and artists with an emphasis on diversity, by producing innovative and exhilarating theater in Southeastern Connecticut.  ETC explores timely themes and issues through new, original works and modern theatrical classics. The company develops and nurtures both emerging and professional artists, and collaborates with the Emerson College network of alumni and students.  ETC’s goals include reaching inner city youth through educational theatrical programming and to support local communities by providing free admission to low-income families and donating profits to humanitarian causes.  For more information, visit EmersonTheaterCollaborative.org. 

 

Key Dates and Information

 

What:  Emerson Theatre Collaborative’s production of Gray Matters

When: September 9 - 11 at 8:00 PM, and Sunday, September 12 at 4 PM.

Where:  Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Ave, Hartford, CT 06106

How:  Tickets are $25 ($23 for students and seniors) and can be obtained online at www.emersontheatercollaborative.org

 

Additional information is available at www.EmersonTheatreCollaborative.org or by calling (860) 705-9711