WHERE AND WHEN:
September 15 at 5:00 PM
Theater for the New City (Johnson Theater), 155 First Avenue
Tickets: $12
Presented by Theater for the New City (Crystal Field, Artistic Director) as part of Dream up Festival 2019
Box Office: (212) 254-1109, www.dreamupfestival.org
Running Time: 90min. Critics are invited.
Photos are available for download at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8TM5hCWLmZbKzV4p9

NEW YORK, July 23-- "Me and Lee," written and directed by Jason Trachtenburg, is a musical account of the supposed romance of Lee Harvey Oswald and teen science whiz Judyth Vary Baker in the runup to the JFK assasination. With seven original songs and an all-Star Downtown cast and band, it will be presented for its world premiere for one performance only, May 15 at 5:00 PM, by Theater for the New City's Dream Up Festival.

The musical is the authorized musical adaptation of the historical autobiography of Judyth Vary Baker: teen science superstar, witness to history and secret girlfriend of Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963. Baker was supposedly recruited by the U.S. Government during the height of the Cold War in 1962 as part of a secret project to develop cancerous bio-weapons designed to kill Fidel Castro. She is said to have met and fallen in love with Oswald, who at the time was another government agent involved with the same project. Their love story tells of events that weigh on the assassination of JFK.

The score includes original songs with catchy guy/gal harmonies in the style of The Everly Brothers, The Four Seasons and The Lettermen.

The cast include Jason Trachtenburg, Emily Frembgen, Trav S.D, Miz Stefani, Mike Amato, Bob Palos, Sal Mander.

Accompaniment is provided by the band Staged Incidents, whose members are Charles Mansfield (Guitar), Jake Strauss( Bass) and Henry Vaughn( Drums). Jason Trachtenburg is musical director and production designer.

Playwright/director Jason Trachtenburg is best known for his role as "The Dad" in the long running Off-Broadway and Indie-rock act The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. He has appeared on "Late Night with Conan O'Brian," MTV, VH1, Sundance Channel, The Bonnaroo Fest and is a multiple time award winner at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He has received feature coverage in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Pitchfork, N.M.E., Spin, and many more. He has given a T.E.D. talk and his band's debut album (Vintage Slide Collections From Seattle, Vol. 1) reached #79 in the CMJ charts. Trachtenberg's first musical, "Dr. Glassheart - A Modern-Day Medical Musical Comedy," is being developed into a podcast. He is leader of the Indie-Big Band "The Pendulum Swings" and also leads the alt-country band "The Watersheds" and the pop band "The Type." He is the President of the 4th St. Food Co-op in the East Village.

ABOUT THE DREAMUP FESTIVAL
The tenth annual Dream Up Festival (www.dreamupfestival.org) is being presented by Theater for the New City from August 25 to September 15. An ultimate new works festival, it is dedicated to the discovery of new authors, fresh ideas and edgy, innovative performances. Audiences savor the excitement, awe, passion, challenge and intrigue of new plays from around the country and around the world.

The festival does not seek out traditional scripts that are presented in a traditional way. It selects works that push new ideas to the forefront, challenge audience expectations and make us question our understanding of how art illuminates the world around us.

In addition to traditional plays, a unique and varied selection of productions will again be offered, drawing upon a variety of performance genres including musicals and movement theater. The Festival's founders, Crystal Field and Michael Scott-Price, feel this is especially needed in our present time of declining donations to the arts, grants not being awarded due to market conditions, and arts funding cuts on almost every level across the country and abroad.

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