New City Stage Company is proud to present The Woolgatherer, the third play of its second season of Three Plays by William Mastrosimone. Mastrosimone made his debut with The Woolgatherer in 1981, and it later won the L.A. Drama Critics Award in 1982. He wrote the play while still a graduate student at Rutgers University. It received its first production there under the direction of John Bettenbender, dean of the theatre department at the time, and in less than one year was at the Circle Rep Theatre in New York City. The play is Mr. Mastrosimone’s most often produced work and New City Stage is thrilled to bring its latest production to the Philadelphia in conjunction with the playwright.

The Woolgatherer will be performed at Studio 5 at the Walnut Street Theatre from May 21 to June 1, 2008. Previews are May 21 and May 22 and opening night is May 23. The show runs Wednesday through Saturday at 8 PM, and on Sundays at 3 and 7 PM. Tickets range in price from $14 to $22. To purchase tickets or for information, visit www.newitystage.org or call (215) 563-7500

About the Play

Press release summary:

Set in South Philadelphia, Mastrosimone’s debut work is about an unlikely couple of half-crazy loners looking for love in a world gone mad. Rose, a shy cashier prone to daydreaming, meets Cliff, a rough-edge trucker with a solitary life. These two lonely souls are drawn to each other despite their mutual fear of commitment. As the skeletons in their closets are revealed, they somehow manage to find comfort in each others’ uniqueness.

“A touching duet that travels from defensiveness and distrust, parrying and deception, to real contact!” -- The New York Times

About the Production

Neill Hartley is thrilled to be back with New City Stage this season after directing the Philadelphia debut of Mastrosimone’s Sunshine in the fall. He also directed our inaugural production of Angel: A Nightmare in Two Acts in September of 2006. Mr. Hartley is involved in several aspects of professional theater. As an actor, he has appeared in many regional productions including Working, Sweeney Todd, and Company at the Arden Theatre, God's Country and Aunt Dan and Lemon with InterAct Theatre, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival and Batboy, The Musical for 1812 Productions, which won a Philadelphia Barrymore award for best ensemble. He has four one-man shows that he regularly presents: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Spirit of Lindbergh, Sherlock Holmes and the Speckled Band, and P.T. Barnum: The Master Showman. His work can also be seen in commercials and films, and he is a spokesperson for Spray-N-Grow, a national gardening company. As the artistic director for Acting Without Boundaries, a theater company for teens and young adults with physical disabilities, he recently directed You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. He has also directed for Philadelphia Young Playwright’s, the University of the Arts, the University of Pennsylvania, Arcadia University and Luna Theater. This past winter he directed productions of Madagascar for Isis Productions and The Real Inspector Hound for Ursinus College. He is an assistant professor of voice and speech at the University of the Arts and has acted as a speech/dialect coach for several professional theater productions. Neill holds an MFA in Acting from Temple University.

Joe Guzmán (Cliff) most recently appeared as Gallo in Theatre Exile’s Roosters, Dr. Brown in InterAct Theatre’s Skin In Flames, and also Joe in h Time of Your Life and Antonio in Merchant of Venice. Joe has performed at many area theatres, including the Arden, the Wilma, People’s Light, Lantern Theater, Bristol Riverside, Act II Playhouse, and the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival. He won the Barrymore Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1999 for his portrayl of Don Lope in Lovers and Executioners for Lantern Theater.

Amanda Schoonover (Rose) is a four time Barrymore Award nominee receiving two (supporting actress and ensemble in a play) for her work as Dottie Smith in Theatre Exile’s 2006 production of Killer Joe, directed by Joe Canuso. She has worked with many theaters in Philadelphia including People's Light, Bristol Riverside, Pig Iron, the National Constitution Center, and Lantern Theater Company. Favorite roles include Lucy in Mr. Marmalade with Exile, Flora in The Loyalist with Fictitious, and Sara in Grace with Luna Theater. She also co-produced and performed in the critically acclaimed 4.48 Psychosis with Theater Catalyst.

About the Playwright
William Mastrosimone (b. 1947) made his debut with The Woolgatherer in 1981, which later won the L.A. Drama Critics Award for Best Play of 1982. His play Extremities won the New York Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play of 1982-83, the John Gassner Award for Playwrighting, and later became a feature film of the same title (screenplay also written by him) starring Farrah Fawcett. His play NANAWATAI! opened in Bergen, Norway at Den Nationalscene, and later became a film called The Beast directed by Kevin Reynolds, which won several film festival awards. He wrote the five-hour mini-series Sinatra, which won the Golden Globe for Best Mini-Series in 1982. His most recent mini-series, Into the West, which was produced in 2005, was nominated for 9 Emmys. He has also written several screenplays, including Chico, about the life of Brazilian hero Chico Mendes, and With Honors for Warner Brothers. His other plays include A Tantalizing, Shivaree (Warner Communications Award), A Stone Carver, The Undoing, Sunshine, and Cat’s Paw. He also wrote Bang Bang You’re Dead, which was inspired by the Columbine High School shootings and can be downloaded off of the internet and performed by students for no fee. His most recent play is Sleepwalk, a story that also focuses on the traumas of modern teenage society in the United States.

Mr. Mastrosimone was born in New Jersey where he attended the Pennington School and received his M.F.A. in playwrighting from Rutgers University. He also is a recipient of the New Jersey Governor’s Walt Whitman Award for Writing and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Rider University.

About New City Stage Company

Our mission:
New City Stage Company is dedicated to presenting high quality professional theatre that engages audiences on a variety of levels; not only entertaining them but also encouraging awareness of issues relevant to the community. We draw our season from contemporary and classical works, with a special focus on including Philadelphia premieres from playwrights whose work and stories are not normally found in the region.

Our history:
New City Stage Company came onto the Philadelphia theatre scene in September of 2006 with the world premiere of “Angel, A Nightmare in Two Acts” by Jo Davidsmeyer. This controversial play depicted the life of real life Nazi War criminal Irma Grese, who worked as a guard in the S.S. at the Auschwitz concentration camps and had an illicit affair with the notorious Dr. Joseph Mengele. The playwright attended and gave two talk back nights, and the play received several reviews.

New City Stage Company is a 501(c)3 not for profit producing company that employs both union and nonunion actors, directors, and crew.

We commission and create fully mounted productions of plays that come from a variety of sources – classical works, contemporary plays, reader’s theatre, literature, film, and works-in-progress.

We start the employment process in the region first, in order to utilize many of our local artists and technicians.

We strive to bring as many Philadelphia and World premiers to the stage as possible, as well as presenting well known pieces in ways that are unexpected, unique, or nontraditional.

Our productions are accessible to many facets of the community, with a special emphasis on bringing schools and universities in contact with our work.

Press information: Ginger Dayle, 215-563-7500 or info@newcitystage.org. All complimentary press tickets should be requested at least 24 hours in advance.

Ticket information: 215-563-7500 or www.newcitystage.org