PRESS REPRESENTATIVE:
JONATHAN SLAFF, 212-924-0496, JS@JSNYC.COM
THEATER
FOR THE NEW CITY’S DREAM UP FESTIVAL PRESENTS "FOR WHAT IT'S
WORTH" BY CHRIS BAYON WHERE AND
WHEN: NEW YORK, August 7 – "For What It’s Worth," written and directed by Chris Bayon, is a musical about a group of talented jazz and classical musician-actors living and working in New York City. Set in the 1930s, the play peeks into a society where the classical instrumentalists are the elite while the Jazz players are poor street workers. It becomes a musical battleground between jazz artists and classical musicians when Christopher, a struggling trumpet player, falls in love with a violinist, Carolina, who comes from an upper-class family. The two cannot be together but still try even though Carolina’s family and Christopher’s peers do not accept their love. Will they end up together or will their peers and families tear them apart first? "For What It's Worth" made its world premiere at Theatre 80 St. Marks and has been presented at the New York New Works Theatre Festival on October 2017, FRIGID Festival in New York on September 2017 and the Midtown International Theatre Festival. It is being presented in TNC's Dream Up Festival as a special engagement. Playwright and Director Chris Bayon graduated with a Business Degree from Gettysburg College in 2009 and received the Wagnild Scholarship to play the trumpet. He immediately moved to New York City upon graduation, attended the William Esper Studio from 2009-2011 and has been writing, producing, acting and directing since. Musical Director and Composer Seth Weaver is a world-renowned trombonist, vocalist, composer, band leader and educator. Weaver earned his Masters Degree in Jazz Studies from the Manhattan School of Music. He has a Downbeat Student Music Award for Best Vocal Jazz Soloist. He has been a top-three finalist in the International Trombone Association's J.J. Johnson Jazz Competition for two years and winner of the American Trombone Workshop's National Jazz Competition in 2017. Weaver also leads a 17 piece swing band that performs regularly at the Iridium, Swing 46 and Club Bonafide, among other popular New York City jazz venues. The cast includes Xiaoqing Zhang, Christopher Bayon, Caddy Finlayson, Gina Chapman, Elya Siani, Marcus Herndon, Thomas Hutchings, Michael Brinzer, Xander Kozak, Nick Wheeler, Steve Boghossian, Aprille Onward, Wayne Walcott and Jeremy Pagirsky. Choreography is provided by Ruby Berube. For more information about the show please visit: www.facebook.com/forwhatitsworthnyc and @fwiwnyc on Instagram. The eighth annual Dream Up Festival (www.dreamupfestival.org) is being presented by Theater for the New City from August 27 to September 17. An ultimate new work festival, it is dedicated to the joy of discovering new authors 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. A unique and varied selection of productions will again be offered that draw upon a variety of performance specialties including singing, clowning, poetry, street music, magic and movement. 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. # # #
|