Photo Flash: Looking Glass Theatre Presents NYC Premiere of EAST OF THE SUN, WEST OF THE MOON

Looking Glass Theatre, celebrating almost 20 years of productions strengthening the voice of women in theater and the arts, presents the NYC premiere of Frankie Little Hardin's East of the Sun, West of the Moon, a new children's play directed by Naima Warden. See photos from the production below!

East of the Sun, West of the Moon is currently playing through Sunday, May 20 with performances Saturday at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. at Looking Glass Theatre, located at 422 West 57th Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues. Tickets are $15 adults, $12 kids 12 and under at www.lookingglasstheatrenyc.com. Group tickets also available. Running time is approximately 60 minutes with no intermission.

To save her father and mother, a young daughter makes a promise to live with a beastly bear, whose palace is secretly filled with nasty, bumbling trolls.

In the dark of night, our heroine falls in love with a sweet shy Prince. She makes a promise never to see his face in the light and to keep their love in the dark. But when the tricky trolls convince her to sneak a peak, she breaks her promise and the trolls whisk away the newly un-enchanted Prince.

So - what's a girl to do? Save him, of course! On her amazing journey to save her true love, she encounters Hags and Horses and gets help from the Winds. Will she save her hero from the evil trolls? Can she mend her broken promise? Will they live happily ever after? Join us and find out!

This production features an ensemble cast, including Samantha Cains, Melody Harnish, Irina Kaplin, Natalie Kropf and Kevin Russo.

Creative Team includes Margaret Morton (Assistant Director/Stage Manager), Joseph Lark-Riley (Scenic Design), Porsche McGovern (Light Design), and Karim Rivera (Costume Design).

Playwright FRANKIE LITTLE HARDIN is playwright, director, actor, producer and general theatre maid-of-all work, currently residing in Newnan, Georgia. She taught theatre history, mask performance and children's theatre at Old Dominion University (1997-2006) and created the family theatre programs ChildsPlay (Generic Theater), PlayTime Theatre (Old Dominion) and The Children's Theatre of Hampton Roads (40th Street Stage, where she also served as Managing Director). Ms. Hardin is the author of 23 works for children's theatre, and six plays for adult audiences, including Willow Song (2004 Edinburgh Fringe Festival). The Trashanator, commissioned by the Hampton Roads Waste Authority, which taught thousands of schoolchildren about trash and recycling; Perfect Faith (semi-finalist, 2012 Stanley Drama Award), and The Greater Love (Utah Shakespeare Festival's New American Playwrights Project, August 2012). Ms. Hardin is a graduate of Georgia Tech, with a BS in Management, and holds a Masters in Humanities from Old Dominion University. She studied at The Goodman School and Del Arte and is a member of The Dramatist's Guild. She and husband Lauriston have two children, Thomas and Mollie. She's an avid reader and a part-time farmer.

Director NAIMA WARDEN is a native Brooklynite; a true New Yorker! She received her BFA from Adelphi University in Theater Arts. Additionally, she attended "The Actors' Studio" at New School University, on a masters' track for directing. Currently she is a certified NYC theater teacher, sharing her talents with many parts of South Brooklyn. She has directed students between the ages of 11-18 in the musicals Grease, Little Shop Of Horrors and You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. This is her first mainstage production at Looking Glass Theatre, where she has directed numerous Looking Glass Forum shows since 2008 and made her playwriting debut with Sign Me (also directed) in the Forum. For her, it's easy to love the wonderment of East of the Sun...

LOOKING GLASS THEATRE - Looking Glass Theatre's mission is to theatrically and truthfully reflect a female vision on the stage while creating a community of artistic freedom. We fulfill this by presenting female directors' visions of original works or the classics and by staging new plays either written or directed by women. This includes children's shows and educational programming as well as our semi-annual festival of new works, featuring emerging women playwrights and directors, each season.

Photos courtesy of Looking Glass Theatre.

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