The New Group Presents WOMEN BEHIND BARS, 5/7

Tonight, May 7, Women Behind Bars arrives at The New Group @ Theatre Row in a one-night-only benefit reading of the play by Tom Eyen. Directed by Scott Elliott, Women Behind Bars features: Charles Busch (The Matron), Janeane Garofalo (Louise), Nancy Giles (Jo-Jo), Josh Hamilton (the men), Natasha Lyonne (Cheri), Cynthia Nixon (Blanche), Rosie O'Donnell (Gloria), Rosie Perez (Guadalupe), Rhea Perlman (Granny, The Warden), Chloë Sevigny (Mary-Eleanor) and Jennifer Tilly (Ada).

This benefit reading takes place tonight, May 7 at 7:00pm. Tickets: $350 premium seating & exclusive reception with cast immediately following performance / $175 general reserved seating. For tickets & information, contact Brandon Suisse brandon@thenewgroup.org.

It's New Year's Eve 1952 in The Women's House of Detention in Greenwich Village. When the innocent and lovely Mary-Eleanor is framed by her husband and put away, her arrival in the house of detention sparks rivalries that build to increasingly dangerous -- not to say unspeakable and hilarious -- conflicts among her fellow prisoners and the sadistic Matron. An outrageous send-up of the classic genre of 1950s movies set in women's prisons, Women Behind Bars is a wild ensemble piece by Tom Eyen (who went on to write Dreamgirls). Women Behind Bars premiered in New York in 1974 (The New York Theatre Ensemble) and transferred to Off-Broadway's The Astor Place Theatre, where it opened in May 1975.

The New Group (Scott Elliott, Artistic Director; Geoff Rich, Executive Director) launched its 2011-12 Season with Thomas Bradshaw's Burning and followed with the extended run of Erika Sheffer's Russian Transport (both directed by Scott Elliott). The company's final production in the current season is the world premiere of David Rabe's An Early History of Fire, directed by Jo Bonney, which begins previews April 5 in advance of an Official Opening on Monday, April 30.