The DRAMA BOOK SHOP, Inc.: Thurs, Oct 20 @ 6 P:M: Daniel Talbott & Jessica Bauman direct moments from The Amish Project, Milk, Birthday and Nobody at The Drama Book Shop

Inspired! Samuel French Celebrates New Plays by Emily DeVoti, Jessica Dickey, and Crystal Skillman

Daniel Talbott and Jessica Bauman direct moments from The Amish Project, Milk, Birthday and Nobody at the Arthur Seelen Theater

Celebrating Samuel French’s hot-off-the press publications written by three up-and-coming women playwrights who find inspiration in each other’s work. Along with insights from the authors on each other’s pieces, moments will be shared from the plays directed by a director who has also inspired these writers: Rising Phoenix Rep Artistic Director Daniel Talbott (Director of Birthday and Nobody, and author of Slipping, also available for purchase). Book signing party upstairs with wine and refreshments to follow!

"(Dickey's) craft made me weep. The virtuosic writer-performer acts her bonnet off."--Time Out New York

“Birthday is a romantic comedy, sort of; it’s a lovely, sweet play of connection and camaraderie. Skillman picks up details of the trappings of our lives and makes them sing resonantly.” --NYTheatre.com

“There is an engagingly original streak running through her writing… [DeVoti] fills Milk with interesting details (lots of cow knowledge) and unexpected touches.” --The New York Times.

Jessica Dickey is a professional actress and emerging playwright. She is a company member of Rising Phoenix Repertory, an Affiliated Artist of New Georges and a Founding member of the Fire Dept. Her hit one-woman show, THE AMISH PROJECT, examines the aftermath of the notorious Pennsylvania schoolhouse shootings. It premiered at the New York Fringe Festival in 2008, and went on to open at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, where it was greeted with tremendous response from both audiences and critics. For more info, visit www.AmishProject.com

Emily DeVoti is a playwright and founding editor of The Brooklyn Rail. Her play MILK was produced Off-Broadway by New Georges in NYC in 2010 at HERE Arts Center in SoHo.

Crystal Skillman is a Brooklyn based playwright. NOBODY & BIRTHDAY, originally produced by Rising Phoenix Rep in NYC with director Daniel Talbott. She is honored to announce her comedy Action Philosophers! will be returning for a full run at the Brick this fall - Oct. 6th-16th following its sold out debut in the Comic Book Theatre festival this summer. In Spring 2012 he will be the resident playwright at Overturn Theatre Ensemble.

AMISH PROJECT: The Amish Project is a fictional exploration of the Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting in an Amish community, and the path of forgiveness and compassion forged in its wake.

BIRTHDAY & NOBODY: In Birthday, an anxious young woman slips away from a unwelcoming birthday party in a bar only to discover a stranger sitting in the other room – they find they may have a chance to forgive themselves and each other. In Nobody six people come together, each for their own reasons, at a restaurant on the Lower East Sid and grasp at trying to come to terms with their disjointed lives and their singular, unsettling dream.

MILK: An elegant parable of change set on the cusp of a shifting American landscape. First produced by New Georges and New Feet Productions in New York City.