MANGELLA Comes To The Drilling Co for an October Opening

Project: Theater will present the World Premiere of a modern cyber-thriller MANGELLA. Written by Ken Ferrigni and directed by Joe Jung, MANGELLA begins performances on Thursday, October 6 for a limited engagement through Sunday, October 23. Press opening is Wednesday, October 12 at 8 PM. The performance schedule is Wednesday - Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM, Sunday at 2 PM. Please note there is no performance on Sunday, October 9. Performances are at The Drilling Company (236 West 78th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam). Tickets are $18 and are available by calling Smartix at (212) 868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com. For more information, visit www.projecttheater.org.

This darkly comic new play joy rides through one day in the bizarre life of Ned, an underground computer hacker. His attempts to reprogram his dementia-addled father (who insists he's famous blues musician Mangella St. James) are proving impossible. Vietnamese gangsters want Ned dead. And his computer is really acting up. When a beautiful woman mysteriously shows up at his door, Ned thinks his luck may have finally turned. But has it? Nothing is what it seems in this exhilarating and heartbreaking virtual adventure.

The cast features Anthony Manna (Timon of Athens at The Public Theater, The Hasty Heart with Keen Company); Bob Austin McDonald (The Angel Project at Lincoln Center); Ali Perlwitz (NY debut); and Hannah Wilson (ATYS at BAM)

The design team includes J.J. Bernard & Francois Portier (set design); Alex Goldberg (lighting design); Nick Borisjuk & Joe Jung (sound design). The costume consultant is Stefano Brancato. Original illustrations are by Ben Schwartz. The production stage manager is Jacob Seelbach.

Ken Ferrigni (playwright) is an actor and playwright from St. Louis, Missouri. His play ANGEL/BUDDY was a Backstage Magazine Critic's Pick in the 2007 New York International Fringe Festival, and his one-act play SWING STATE was evaluated at the 2005 Lincoln Center Directors Lab. He has written additionally for Tax Deductible Theater's Dare Project in New York, and his plays EMU FARM, and INSECTS AND VIOLENCE were back-to-back winners of the Asolo Ten Minute Play contest in Sarasota, Florida. Additionally, he has written several children's plays for the Dynamo Light Opera Company in Oakland, California. Since 2009 Ken has been a core member of PROJECT:THEATER's OUR BAR(www.ourbarnyc.com), writing and performing each month at Failte Whiskey Bar in Manhattan.

As Artistic Director of Project: Theater, Joe Jung (director) has staged the world premiere of Michael Hilliard's The Florentine, J.B. by Archibald MacLeish, THE SECRETARIES by the Five Lesbian Brothers, SHEL'S SHORTS by Shel Silverstein, THE LEGEND OF EUSTIS RAY JACKSON by Auburn Brit Whittle, as well as the company's adaptation of Michael Ian Black's MY CUSTOM VAN. At the Connecticut Repertory Theatre, he had the pleasure to direct SPRING AWAKENING, WAITING FOR GODOT, and The LARAMIE PROJECT (co-directed with Bob McDonald). Joe has also committed his directing, writing and acting talents to Project: Theater's monthly performing/writing series OUR BAR and has led Suzuki training sessions with the company since its inception in 2004. As an actor, he has been seen in various Project: Theater Productions, regionally at the Berkshire Theatre Festival and the Connecticut Repertory Theatre and Off and On Broadway in BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON. Joe has an MFA in acting from the University of Connecticut as well as a BA in performance from Western Michigan University.