Panicked Productions' SISTERS BY LAW Set for 37th Annual Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, Now thru 10/28

Chosen from over 900 submissions by playwriting workshops, university theatre programs, and professional companies nationwide, Sisters By Law written by Erin Austin and produced by Panicked Productions will be presented at the 37th Annual Samuel French Inc. Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival on Saturday October 27th, 8:00PM at the Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street, NYC). The week-long festival features a full program of the selected plays performed for a panel of judges comprised of established playwrights, agents and Samuel French editorial staff. Six finalists are chosen to have their plays licensed and published by Samuel French, Inc.

This is Austin's 2nd collaboration with Panicked Productions, and her 12th play to be staged in NYC. Her work was featured last May at the Theatre Master’s Festival at Theatre Row when she was selected as the representative for Northwestern University, where she is currently pursuing her M.F.A in Writing for the Screen and Stage. Asked about her inspiration for this play, Austin says “My family often jokes about the fact that we don’t pick our family like we do friends, but my generation is getting to the age where are picking family members. I thought it would be fun to explore that concept and the ways we navigate the lines between friendship and family.” This comedy dances all over those lines, and eventually tests the limits of those bonds.

Tickets are $18. Visit panickedproductions.com, log onto www.telecharge.com, or call Telecharge at 800-432-7250

Panicked Productions is a Williamsburg, Brooklyn-based theater company founded in 2005 with the mission to provide a home where emerging theater artists can develop and share their work. Guided by the principles of accessibility and opportunity—from writers to actors to directors to designers—they are committed to seeking out and cultivating the next generation of independent theater artists. Panicked Productions is a 501c3 tax-exempt non-profit arts service organization (Creative Director: Rob Egginton, Managing Director: Glenn De Kler). Since its inception, it has premiered three original plays: Papa's Will (Jewel Box Theatre, Midtown International Theater Festival); Whiskey, Beer & Apple Pie (Strelsin Theater, Midtown International Theater Festival) Follow The Leader (Triskelion Arts); staged three revivals: Out of Gas on Lover's Leap, Boys' Life (presented at Ensemble Studio Theater), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Multi Award winner at the 2011 Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival including: Best Play, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Ensemble, Best Choreography, and Best Direction), and continuously hosts workshops of original works.

The Off Off Broadway Festival started in 1975 and is Manhattan’s most established short play festival. Hundreds of theatre companies and schools have participated in the Festival’s first thirty-six years, including companies from coast to coast and abroad. This Festival has served as a doorway to future success for many aspiring writers. Since its inception, over two hundred plays from the Festival have been published, and many of the participants have become established, award-winning playwrights including Theresa Rebeck, Shirley Lauro, Bekah Brunstetter, Steve Yockey, David Johnston and Sheila Callaghan.

For more information about the festival, plays, playwrights and participating companies, please visit the official festival website at oob.samuelfrench.com. By requiring authors to collaborate with a producing organization and present their work in performance, Samuel French seeks to encourage the collaborative and creative process of playwriting.

Samuel French Inc. was founded in 1830 with offices in New York City, Los Angeles and London, and retail bookstores in Hollywood and London making it the oldest and largest publisher and licensor of plays in the world.

All tickets are $18. For more information and to purchase tickets, call Telecharge at 800-432-7250 or log onto www.telecharge.com. The 37th Annual Off Off Broadway Original Short Play Festival will run October 23rd – 28th at the Beckett Theatre, Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street).