*_FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE_**April 4, 2011*
Contact: Suzanne Grady

                (845) 257-3245


*/Note to editors:/*/Photos related to this release may be downloaded 
from the SUNY New Paltz web site at 
//http://www.newpaltz.edu/news/images/NewPlayFestival.html/


  *New Play Festival to be Staged at New Paltz*


  **

*
*

*Festival continues Theatre Department's commitment to developing
new works for the stage; eleven plays chosen from over 70 entrants*

**

*NEW PALTZ***-- The Department of Theatre Arts will present a New Play 
Festival on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 8, 9 and 10^th in Parker 
Theatre on the State University of New York at New Paltz campus. The 
festival is part of the Mainstage season and will continue the theatre 
department's commitment to developing and producing new works for the 
stage.

Over seventy one-act scripts from forty Hudson Valley playwrights, SUNY 
alumni and SUNY students were submitted, with eleven short plays chosen 
for presentation ranging from the realistic to the surreal, from 
outrageous comedy to the highly dramatic. Some of the plays will be 
presented as readings, while others will be more fully realized and 
contain more complete production values.

"What the Festival offers our students is the opportunity to work with 
texts that are not 'established.' Many of our students will continue to 
work with new plays when they are in the profession," said John Patrick 
Bray, one of the Festival's co-founders.

The New Play Festival was created by theatre faculty and director Nancy 
Saklad, designer Ken Goldstein, playwright John Patrick Bray, and 
Laurence Carr, who teaches Dramatic Writing in the English Department 
and heads the SUNY Playwrights' Project. Robert Miller, a member of the 
faculty of the SUNY New Paltz Communications Department and producing 
director of Mohonk Mountain Stage Company, serves as artistic director.

"Nothing in theatre is more exciting or rewarding than working with new 
scripts.  It's where the action is," said Robert Miller.


The plays, running 10 to 25 minutes in length, were written by Hudson 
Valley playwrights Mary Gallagher, James Farrell, Lew Gardner and Sybil 
Rosen; SUNY New Paltz alumni Julie Demers, J. Holtham, Bruce Pileggi, 
Craig Sarich and Evan Leed; SUNY student Annette Storkman; and SUNY 
theatre faculty Emeritus Beverly Brumm. New Paltz theatre students will 
direct and act in the pieces and create designs, both as lobby displays 
and as production elements.

"The main idea is to focus on the scripts, to illuminate the words. We 
want each script to reach its next stage of development, and to have our 
audiences help shape these plays," said Laurence Carr, playwright 
coordinator.

The New Play Festival will be presented as two separate series. *Series 
A,* made up of seven 10-minute plays will be presented Friday, April 8 
at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, April 9 at 2:00 p.m. *Series B*, presenting 
three longer one act plays, will be produced Saturday, April 9, at 8:00 
p.m. and Sunday afternoon, April 10 at 2:00 p.m.Tickets are $5 for each 
series and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 845.257.3880, 
Monday -- Friday, 11:30 a.m. -- 4:30 p.m., by visiting 
www.newpaltz.edu/theatre , or at the 
door. An audience feedback session will follow each series.

//

--30 --



/Located in the heart of a dynamic college town, ninety minutes from 
metropolitan New York City, the //State University of New York at New 
Paltz/ /is a highly selective college of about 
8,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

/

/One of the most well-regarded public colleges in the nation, New Paltz 
delivers an extraordinary number of majors in //Business/ 
/, //Liberal Arts & Sciences/ 
/, //Engineering/ 
/, //Fine & Performing Arts/ 
/and //Education/ 
/.

/

/New Paltz embraces its culture as a community where talented and 
independent minded people from around the world create close personal 
links with real scholars and artists who love to teach./