Horse Trade Theater Group Presents IT COMES FROM BEYOND!, 12/4

Horse Trade Theater Group (Heidi Grumelot, Artistic Director, Erez Ziv, Managing Director) will present the World Premiere of Michael R. McGuire's, It Comes From Beyond!, directed by Heidi Grumelot (The Flower Thief; Donnie and the Monsters) and featuring Horse Trade's resident acting ensemble, The Drafts.

When a Bombshell sets her sights on a Square neither her violent ex- a Hotshot- nor the Square's calculations of the world's end can dissuades her. Inspired by 1950's pulp film greats like The Creature From the Black Lagoon, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, The Blob, Them!, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, this play by Michael R McGuire addresses all of our 2012 fears. It Comes From Beyond! is a zany, absurdist and ultimately dark comedy that explores American archetypes, xenophobia, fate, and the monsters that lurk within us.

The production will receive a two-week engagement, December 6-15 at The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery); Thursday through Saturday at 7pm. Tickets ($18, $15 students & seniors) are available online at www.horseTRADE.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444.

MICHAEL R. MCGUIRE (Playwright) A 2005 CT Artist Fellowship recipient for his play The New Girl, McGuire's plays have been produced and workshopped by The Lark, Theater for the New City, the Planning Stage, Hygienic Theaterwerks, Valley Rep, Slant of Light Theater, Bridgeport Theater Company, Horse Trade Theater and Heartland Theater. His play for young actors Persephone Rules! is published by Brooklyn Publishers. He is also the author of the conspiracy thriller novel The Undertakers Hill.

HEIDI GRUMELOT (Director) is co-creator and producer of the monthly storytelling show TOLD. She is the founding director of The Drafts, an acting ensemble responsible for development of over ninety original plays to date as part of a monthly reading series. She is the Resident Coordinator for Horse Trade's six resident companies. New York directing credits include punkrock/lovesong at The Brick Theater, Dido and Aeneas with The New York Collective of Performing Arts at The West End Theater and The Boston Early Music Festival, Donnie and the Monsters at UNDER St Marks Theater, and Accidents Do Happen, Tom's Things, LINES, The Flower Thief, and Turning the Glass Around in The Red Room. New York staged reading credits include The Flower Thief in The Red Room, A River Pure for Healing, and An Absolutely Perfect Life at UNDER St Marks Theater. Assistant director credits include Antony and Cleopatra, Love's Labour's Lost, and A Christmas Carol for the American Shakespeare Center. She has directed productions in Michigan, Virginia, and Mexico.

THE DRAFTS are the resident acting ensemble of Horse Trade Theater Group supporting the work of its artistic community. Committed to new play development, The Drafts monthly reading series has featured over 100 original scripts and inspired several full productions.

The Drafts reading series has featured notable emerging playwrights Pia Wilson (The Public's EWG), Michael McGuire, Kelley Girod, Paul David Young, Megan Mostyn-Brown (LAByrinth), Terence Patrick Hughes, Augusto Federico Amador (The Public's EWG), Ziella Bryars, and Micheline Auger. The Drafts have been cast members of Lines, Donnie and the Monsters, punkrock/lovesong, and Song for a Future Generation (The Management), all shows produced or presented by Horse Trade. The Drafts will present three new full-length Lab Productions in the upcoming season.

HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP is a self-sustaining theater development group; with a focus on new work that has produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. Horse Trade's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. It is also the home of FRIGID New York – the first and only festival of its kind in New York City. In 2011 Horse Trade received the New York Innovative Theatre Ellen Stewart Stewardship Award for demonstrating a significant contribution to the Off-Off-Broadway community through service, support and leadership.

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