Directors and actors announced!

We have assembled an amazing group of talented directors and actors for the staged reading of our two award-winning plays, "A Relationship's Beginning in 10 Acts" and "The Three of Us." Both are currently in rehearsals for the Tuesday, April 22 event at Manhattan Theater Club, 311 W. 43rd Street, 8th Floor, Studio 3. Doors open at 7:20 p.m. and we'll start promptly at 7:30 p.m.

Read today's press release and RSVP (optional) on the Facebook Event page.

THE THREE OF US explores the relationship among a librarian, her boyfriend and the neurotic grad student who falls in love with them both. The play begins with a mysterious accident that shatters the reality of three happy people. In flashbacks, we learn how the love story began and all the intricate machinations it takes to get to being happy in a multi-partner relationship. But then, fate takes a hand on a rainy day and those left behind are left to wonder how to pick up the pieces of their shared lives.

Jeff House* (Louis) has performed in many New York stage productions. Favorite roles include Shannon from “Night of the Iguana” and Joe from “Days of Wine and Roses.” Jeff recently returned from a year in San Francisco where he took advantage of the Bay Area's abundant improv opportunities. While he trained and performed in several forms, he found greatest satisfaction in the long-form dramatic style - which he discovered belies its name by often generating even deeper laughs than the more common short-form variety. He is glad to be part of this rich, honest and touching play.

Katherine Alt Keener* (Joan) has performed on television, in film, commercials, webseries, and her best-loved – onstage. Her favorite roles include Amanda in “Private Lives,” Beatrice in “Much Ado About Nothing,” and Renee in “The Smoking Diary.” Her most recent gig was doing the female lead voiceover in the new documentary for Alex Gibney, Oscar-winner in 2007 for Best Documentary Feature. Katherine’s company, Country Girl Productions, produced “Dance With Me” at the West End Theatre. Her most cherished roles are wife to Jim and mother to Samantha! AEA, SAG-AFTRA, KatherineAltKeener.com

Colista K. Turner (Ruby) is an award nominated stage performer, voice actor, and dancer. This is her second project with Melissa Skirboll. Colista holds a B.A. in Theatre and Africana studies from Cornell University; she has trained at the British American Drama Academy, GeVa Theatre Center and with Magis Theatre Company. New York Credits include: “Desdemona” (Emilia); “Shakuntala” (Aditi, Januka, Gautami); “Oedipus After Colonus” (Chorus); and “A Raisin in the Sun” (Ruth). Colista is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Social Work. Colista is thrilled to be working with such a talented cast on such an interesting play.

Melissa Skirboll (Director) is a director, writer, actor and producer. Most recently she directed “NOLA: Three Plays About Home” by Vivian Neuwirth for the Estrogenius Festival in NYC. Her work has been seen at the Planet Connections Theater Festivity for the past three years where she won Best Director (Short Form) for her work on “The Closet” by Amy Gray Piper in 2012, and was nominated for her direction of “Straight Faced Lies” by Mark Jason Williams in 2013. Her play “Hell is where the Heart Is” was nominated for four awards and took home two prizes in 2010. She directed her own plays “Blood is Thicker” as part of the 2013 SWAN Day celebration at the Abingdon Theater, and “Pizza for Life” as part of Ego Actus NYC Icon Play in November of 2011. She is proud to have directed readings of 14 different 10 minute plays as part of Abingdon's Benefit Challenge Series since 2011. She also directed and produced “Girlfriend Experience” by Paul Tarantino at the Next Stage Theater in Hollywood, CA.

A RELATIONSHIP'S BEGINNING IN 10 ACTS is a non-chronological, episodical short play of two women, Miriam and Catherine, who are falling in love with each other. Each act is a snippet of those delicious and poignant early days of getting to know each other.

Anna Van Valin* (Catherine) is a wing-eating native of Buffalo, but has cried on the subway enough times to make her a real New Yorker. New York Credits: ”Othello” (New York Shakespeare Exchange), “The Feminism of a Soft Merlot” and “Throat” (Primary Stages), “The Degradation Play” (Rising Phoenix Rep), “What the Wall Does” (Red Fern Theatre Co.), “Courting” and “All Alices” (undergroundzero festival), “BIOLIFE” (terraNOVA), “Pussyfest” (CAPS LOCK Theatre). Regional credits include: “Blithe Spirit” (Trinity Rep Co.), “Jane Eyre” (Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theater) and “Henry V” (Rites and Reasons). She wrote, produced and starred in the award-winning short film “Take it Off.” Her writing has appeared on Indiwire’s Women and Hollywood, Theaterspeak, and New York Theatre Review. Anna is a 2012 Primary Stages Rockwell Scholar, a proud member of Actors Equity Association and New York Women of Film and Television, and the Head of the New York Madness Acting Company. She holds a BFA with honors from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (Stella Adler Studio and RADA) and a Masters of Fine Arts from the Brown University/Trinity Rep program.

Chelsea K. Vance (Miriam) has been acting on the stage and screen her entire life. She made her debut at the age of two and a half as Dorothy in a home movie version of The Wizard of Oz in which the Wicked Witch of the East was crushed by the garage door rather than the entire house. A woman of many talents, Chelsea is also a dancer, artist, poet, author, composer, designer, and occasional sound "guy." She is currently working on an adaptation of Shakespeare's infamous Scottish play filled with gratuitous spectacle and gore.

Kacey Anisa Stamats (Director) is a multidisciplinary artist with work branching into theatre, fine art and cinematography. Her upcoming projects include stage manager/assistant director of the fairy-tale-style gender reversing verse play “The Tragedy of Dandelion” with Ego Actus at Urban Stages, May 22-June 8, and cinematography/co-direction for the short film “Things Fall Apart” and cinematography for the upcoming film "And in her it Danced: An Inheritance." Her photography has been featured in Time Out New York, Edinburgh Evening News, and Whimsy. Her past directing work includes “The Consequences of Happiness” at the 2011 D.C. Black Theatre Festival, and “Next Year in Jerusalem,” a site-specific anti-romantic comedy. Kaceyanisa.com

Azizi Bell (Stage Direction, both plays) is excited to be working among such talent! She is learning the craft of acting while working at the Signature Theatre. Azizi has worked with the Classical Theatre of Harlem as actress and stage manager and performed in readings here in the city. Her previous credits include Mrs. Pinchwife in “The Country Wife,” Moll in “The Roaring Girl,” and Lady Croom in “Arcadia.” She is also a member of the Coney Island Screenwriting Contest.

* Member, Actors' Equity Association