Nylon Fusion Collective Presents MISS HOPE'S, Beg. 5/23

Somewhere amidst the cracked asphalt and overgrown weeds on the highway to nowhere is Miss Hope's, a small-town diner where wistful wannabes with half-forgotten dreams meet, mingle and tell their stories. Consisting of three timeless tales with more than a little laughter, tears, irony and a pinch of The Twilight Zone, and told against the backdrop of the presidential inaugurations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Miss Hope's will be open for business starting May 23rd at the Sargent Theatre at the American Theatre of Actors, located at 314 West 54th Street. Miss Hope's is directed by David Triacca, and written by Jack Karp, Alisha Silver and Joseph Samuel Wright of the Nylon Fusion Writers Collective.

Everyone comes to Miss Hope's Diner, the place people end up when they have nowhere left to go. Prom queens and football heroes, school teachers and businessmen, housewives suffocated by their well-ordered lives, young people trying to come to terms with their sexuality, the ones who couldn't make it in the big city, those who still want to try and an old man who has seen all this happen over and over again. Miss Hope's is where plans for the future become a march from innocence, where passing through temptation can lead to either vice or virtue, and where broken promises come from broken dreams.

The cast of Miss Hope's features Katherine Barron, Rachel Buethe, Ivette Dumeng, Dave Hanson, Stephanie Heitman, Michael Karp*, Joshua Hinck, Dustin Kerns, John Keabler*, Eileen Lacy, Kelsey Mahoney, Zach McClanahan, Laura Pruden*, Donna Ross* and Fidel Visioso*. Miss Hope's is an Equity Showcase.

David Triacca is an award-winning professional actor and director who has been teaching and coaching performing artists for over 20 years. He has been written about in the New York Times and currently teaches at Manhattan Theatre Club.

Founded in 2007 by Ivette Dumeng and Elliot Joseph, Nylon Fusion Collective is a resident company of writers, actors, directors and designers committed to developing and producing original plays that explore social and cultural awareness. Nylon Fusion Collective's advisory board members include John Patrick Shanley and Paul Haggis. Shanley has also written two short plays for Nylon. Playwrights Jack Karp, Alisha Silver and Joseph Samuel Wright are members of the Nylon Fusion Writers Collective. For more information on the company, go to www.nylonfusioncollective.org.

Miss Hope's will be performed from May 23rd-June 3rd and from June 20th-June 24th at the Sargent Theatre at the American Theatre of Actors, located at 314 West 54th Street, between 8th & 9th Avenues. The theatre is wheelchair accessible. Show times are Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $18.00 and $15.00 for students. Reservations: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/245501 or 1-800-838-3006.

Members of the press are invited as of Thursday, May 24th.

* - Member of Actors' Equity