NEW YORK - Today, Diverse City Theater Company opens its "Green Room Series" with Linda Faigao-Hall's NEA-honored play, "Walking Iron," directed by Jamie Richards. The Green Room Series is a festival of staged readings featuring original plays that portray social diversity from various cultural perspectives. It will also present award-winning full-length plays "Sex Diary of an Infidel" by Michael Gurr on Saturday, August 13, 2005, and "The Princess of the Lizard Moon" by Dr. Anton Juan on Monday, September 26, 2005. In addition, it will also present The Equality Plays, which features six one-act plays by today's emerging playwrights, on Monday, September 12, 2005. The roster of one-act plays will be announced at a later date. The reading series will take place at Ensemble Studio Theatre at 549 West 52nd Street and begins at 7PM.

"Walking Iron" explores homophobia in a working class setting: a gay iron worker outs himself on the construction site and to his straight best friend. Seen from the iron worker gang's perspective, it examines homosexuality from the point of view of sympathetically drawn heterosexual working class men, forced to confront their own feelings about homosexuality, friendship and loyalty.

"No one is a villain, no one is homophobic … just human," said playwright Linda Faigao-Hall.

Originally commissioned by The Working Theater, Walking Iron won a National Endowment of the Arts award and grants from New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs. Faigao-Hall's play, The Female Heart, was recently produced in association with Ensemble Studio Theatre at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre and was directed by Jamie Richards.

"Walking Iron" features Tim Davis, Andrew Eisenman*, Ernest Mingione*, David Newer*, Dean Stapleton*, Rodney To* and Anne Winkles*.

Back Row: (from L-R) Victor Lirio (Artistic & Producing Director), Tim Davis, Andrew Eisenman, David Newer and Ernest Mingione
Front Row: Anne Winkles, Dean Stapleton, Jamie Richards (Director), Linda Faigao-Hall (Playwright) and Rodney To

*appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association

The Green Room Series was made possible due, in part, to the generous support of The Irvin Stern Foundation and our partners at The Ensemble Studio Theatre. For reservations, please contact Liz Casasola at 212-309-9018 or e-mail liz@diversecitytheater.org. Suggested donation $10.

ABOUT DIVERSE CITY THEATER CO.:
Diverse City Theater Co. Inc., is an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on promoting diversity in the theater arts. Its mission is to commission, develop and produce original plays that portray social, cultural, lifestyle and demographic diversity, thereby creating multiculturally fluent theater audiences as well as advocate the non-traditional casting of actors. Formed in 2003, Diverse City Theater Co., Inc. is based in New York City. For more information, visit the organization's website at www.diversecitytheater.org.

Contact:
Liz Casasola
212-309-9018
liz@diversecitytheater.org