WHERE AND WHEN
August 25 at 8:00 PM, August 26 at 6:30 PM, August 27 at 9:00PM, August 28 at 9:00 PM, August 29 at 6:30 PM, August 31 at 2:00 PM
Theater for the New City (Cabaret Theater) 155 1st Avenue
Presented by Theater for the New City (Crystal Field, Artistic Director) as part of Dream Up Festival 2019
Tickets: $15 Box Office: (212) 254-1109, www.dreamupfestival.org
Running time: 90 minutes
Critics are invited to all performances

NEW YORK July 24 -- In "Carrier Pigeon" by Skylar J. Beirne, a lonely shut-in finds salvation through a carrier pigeon who carries letters from a mysterious stranger. The play explores the feelings of people recovering from a mass shooting, which often creates feelings of loneliness and being overlooked for the greater good. Theater for the New City will present the play's world premier August 25 through August 31 as part of its 2019 Dream Up Festival, directed by Alaina Messineo.

One year after surviving a mass shooting, Joy becomes a shut in struggling with PTSD, agoraphobia, depression, alcoholism and crippling loneliness. Her only connections with the outside world, aside from her numerous sexual partners, are her mother, her sister Lauren and a mysterious man named Jordan whom she receives letters from via a carrier pigeon named Peter. Prompted by the return of her father's cancer and her sister's upcoming wedding, Joy must make a choice between her shut-in lifestyle and an uncertain life where she can do more than survive.

Joy will be played by Kalei Tischler. The acting ensemble also includes Matthew Zimmerman, Marcia Vidal Nolte, Skylar Beirne and Jack Harding.

Skylar J Beirne is an emerging playwright and director from New York City. Her other notable works include "Blazed and Amused," a one-act comedy that was presented at the NY Summerfest at Hudson Guild Theater.

Director Alaina Messineo has also staged "Two Hearts," which Ms. Messineo wrote, and "Posers," which was performed at Manhattan Repertory Theatre. Ms. Messineo has also worked as assistant director for the Joan Littlewood musical "Oh What A Lovely War!" performed at the York Theatre. She is currently a BA Theatre Arts candidate at Marymount Manhattan College with a double concentration in Writing and Directing.

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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