I’m very excited to invite you to see me perform in Corey Pajka’s new one act play, entitled Jenga in the The Gallery Player’s Black Box New Play Festival. This is my second year appearing in the festival and working with director Suzanne Adams and I couldn’t be more excited.

The Black Box New Play Festival is The Gallery Players’ signature season-ending festival of new works by both new and established playwrights. More than 400 plays have graced their stage in the past 15 years of producing the festival, including Nat Cassidy’s The Reckoning of Kit and Little Boots, a New York Innovative Theatre Award-winner for Best Play in 2008.

As I mentioned, I’m in a great little play called Jenga. My girlfriend Katie (Anna Chazelle) and I are celebrating our anniversary after moving in together and, much to their surprise, they have found out their brood is about to grow by one. When her two best friends from college (Heather Meagher, Megan Lee) come over for a game night, Katie’s past comes back to haunt her and possibly derail her future with me… which is sad. :(

If you want to see it, you’re going to have to stop that grumbling about Brooklyn (think how I feel – I have to go rehearse there), and hop on an F or an R train to Gallery Players (199 14th St, Brooklyn, NY). The show is only performed four times:

Thursday, May 31st at 8pm

Friday, June 1st at 8pm

Saturday, June 2nd at 8pm

Sunday, June 3rd at 3pm.

Get your tickets here.

In 1945 Noel Coward wrote the controversial film “Brief Encounter” about a British housewife who struggles with her desire to have an extramarital relation. In 1977 Steven Spielberg wrote what would becoming the science fiction blockbuster, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” In 2010 Corey Pajka irreverantly mashed the two into one story filled to the seams with love, temptation, aliens. Extramarital relations meet extraterrestrial destruction!

Come and witness the hilarious world premiere of “Brief Encounters of the Third Kind,” part of The Gallery Players Black Box Festival, on June 9 and 10 at 8pm or June 11th and 12th at 5pm. I place A-lec, the handsome and mysterious alien who falls in love with a human being. The play is directed by Suzanne Adams and features a fantastic cast including Matt Barbot, Barrie Golden, Christine Schwalenberg & Roni Tessler.

The Gallery Players is an excellent theatre and I’m honored to be working with them. They have premiered such exciting works as Urinetown, Yank, and Like You Like It. Each year their season concludes with this Black Box Festival, which introduces new work by up and coming playwrights. “Brief Encounters of the Third Kind” will start the evening, which includes 5 short one-acts – ours is the longest at 30 minutes. Yes, there is an intermission.

To purchase tickets visit: http://galleryplayers.com/plays/bb2011/.

Remember “Brief Encounters of the Third Kind” is in Program 3 on June 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th.

Lots of rehearsing lately. Tonight I’m singing at The Royal Oak in Brooklyn (594 Union Av at 11th St). We’re doing some four-part a cappella music!

I also had my first rehearsal with Cherub Improv this month and am looking forward to performing regularly with them. We perform at hospitals, senior homes, hospice, homeless shelter, cancer support organizations and many other venues where we can utilize our talent to make a positive impact in the lives of those who really need to smile.

Lastly (for this update) I’m performing in a reading on Friday called “Collected Stories: The Best and Worst of Me and You” by Corey Pajka. I portray a playwright that’s trying to sort through his recently failed relationship and possibly win back his ex-girlfriend by writing a play. The show plays at 11pm in the Richmond Shepard Theater at 309 East 26th Street, New York, NY after Wide-Eyed’s presentation of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Admission is $10 at the door.

Whew! Well, I’m off to Brooklyn.