For Immediate Release:
Press Contacts: Shirley Herz / Daniel Demello

New Worlds Theatre Project will begin previews of Peretz Hirshbein's THE AMULET, April 13, 2006 at the 78th St. Theatre Lab, 236 West 78th St. Isaac Butler Directs.

Adapted for the first time from the original Yiddish, this 100-year old play takes place in a world of seers and miracle-workers, where people are expected to suffer in silence. They wear amulets to protect them, waiting passively for the promise of future happiness. THE AMULET is the story of a girl who refuses to wait. The play's unusual style combines elements of Greek Tragedy, Russian Avant Garde, and the Old Testament.

Peretz Hirshbein (1880 -1948), the son of a Russian miller, was the founder of the Art movement in Yiddish Theatre, which lifted the genre beyond the realm of mere entertainment. His work was forever immortalized by Edgar Ulmer, legendary director of The Black Cat and Detour, in the film he made of Hirshbein's play Green Fields. The film was named Best Foreign Film of 1938 (France).

Isaac Butler's directing credits include the US Premiere of Line Knutzon's First You're Born at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, the world premiers of Clay McLeod Chapman's redbird at 45 Below and volume of smoke at the Firehouse Theater in Richmond, Virginia, The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown (Also at the Firehouse), In Private/In Public and Sustaining, both by George Hunka and both at Manhattan Theater Source, Cop-Out by John Guare at the Access Theater, and Henry IV, part 1 at the Powerhouse Theater.

The cast includes Hanna Cheek (Off Broadway: Pumpkin Pie Show, The Zipper; TV: West Wing, Titus, MTV's Undressed), Anita Keal (Broadway: M Butterfly, Tribute), David Little (Broadway: Six Degrees of Separation, Film: First Born, The Bet) and Daryl Lathon, (Off-Broadway: Volume of Smoke, Horsetrade; Dead Reckoning Soho Rep).

Set Design is by David Birn. Lighting is by Sabrina Braswell. Costumes by Sydney Marseca.

Performances of THE AMULET are Wed - Sat at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $18 and can be purchased through SmartTix: www.smarttix.com or by calling (212) 868-4444. For more information call (917) 513-7620.

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