Cherry Lane started the Mentor Project in 1998.

Cherry Lane Theatre is embarking on the 13^th season of their Mentor Project, and will present productions of three new plays from Feb. 21-April 14. Three plays will be given productions at Cherry Lane while the playwrights receive mentoring from industry vets. The plays and playwrights this year are: Mamma Roma, by Anne DeSalvo, who will be mentored by David Rambo; Evolution, by Patricia Buckley, who will be mentored by Jean-Claude van Itallie; and Relative Pitch, by Elizabeth Rose, who will be mentored by Gretchen Cryer. Also, Lisa Ramirez’s play Pas de Deux (Lost My Shoe) will be given two public staged readings. Ramirez will be mentored by Cynthia Hopkins.

CHERRY LANE THEATRE announces Playwrights, Mentors and Directors for 2012 MENTOR PROJECT
Feb. 21-Apr. 14 at Cherry Lane Studio Theatre
Gretchen Cryer, Jean Claude van Itallie, David Rambo to mentor Cherry Lane Theatre's award-winning MENTOR PROJECT will begin its 13th season with productions of three new plays from February 21 to April 14 at Cherry Lane Studio Theatre (38 Commerce Street in Manhattan), it has been announced by Cherry Lane's Founder and Artistic Director Angelina Fiordellisi.

The playwrights and their plays -- Anne DeSalvo (MAMMA ROMA), Patricia Buckley (EVOLUTION) and Elizabeth Rose (RELATIVE PITCH) -- will be mentored respectively by David Rambo, Jean-Claude van Itallie and Gretchen Cryer.

MENTOR PROJECT's 13th season will also debut the program's first-ever commissioned play, Lisa Ramirez's PAS DE DEUX (LOST MY SHOE), to be given two public staged readings (dates TBA). Ms. Ramirez will be mentored by Cynthia Hopkins.

Winner of an American Theatre Wing Award, a Village Voice Obie Award and the Dramatist Guild's James Kirkwood Award for fostering new work by contemporary playwrights, MENTOR PROJECT is the cornerstone of Cherry Lane's development program, each year pairing leading dramatists with emerging writers for a full season of script development, casting, rehearsals and a showcase production of the mentored playwrights' works in the Studio Theatre.

MENTOR PROJECT has become an important national launching pad for new writers and their plays since it was begun in 1998 by Angelina Fiordellisi and Susann Brinkley along with Founding Mentors Edward Albee, Charles Fuller, Tony Kushner, Wendy Wasserstein and Michael Weller. The list of more than 40 playwrights whose early works at MENTOR PROJECT have lead to significant productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway and on stages around the world include: Katori Hall, Rajiv Joseph, Christopher Shinn, Anne Washburn, David Adjmi, Julia Cho, Anton Dudley, Sheila Callaghan, Colin McKenna, Bathsheba Doran, Molly Smith Metzler and Anne Washburn.

ABOUT 2012 MENTOR PROJECT PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS

RELATIVE PITCH By Elizabeth Rose Mentored and directed by Gretchen Cryer February 21 - March 3, 2012

Elizabeth Rose's RELATIVE PITCH is a one-woman musical comedy about the hilarious roller-coaster ride of a performing songwriter. Written and performed by Rose, the musical's score features 19 original songs (from opera to rap) to depict her story of a childhood in a noisy musical family through the Vietnam and Woodstock eras to an inner-city classroom where hip hop trumps the blues.

As a performer Elizabeth Rose's wide-ranging credits include having sung the National Anthem at Shea Stadium, composing music for Discovery Channel and PBS as well as for the film "Sex and the Other Man" starring Stanley Tucci. She created the music video "Leave Me Alone" featuring a cast of nonagenarians, wrote the hit single "I'm Too Beau'ful for You," and recorded an original CD "Sleep Naked."

Gretchen Cryer is an award-winning playwright, lyricist and actress best-known for writing the book and lyrics and starring in I'M GETTING MY ACT TOGETHER AND TAKING IT ON THE ROAD along with NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL GOOD MEN and THE LAST SWEET DAYS OF ISAAC (Obie, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards), SHELTER on Broadway, HANG ON TO THE GOOD TIMES (Manhattan Theatre Club), THE FABULOUS PARTY (Williamstown) and ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (Theatreworks).

RELATIVE PITCH will be presented at the Cherry Lane Studio Theatre (38 Commerce Street) from Tuesday, February 21, 2012 to Saturday, March 3, 2012.

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EVOLUTION by Patricia Buckley Mentored by Jean Claude van Itallie Directed by Michele Chivu March 13 - March 24, 2012

Written and performed by Patricia Buckley, EVOLUTION combines the Paleontological history of whale evolution with a contemporary tale of a woman's extraordinary transformation and her family's attempts to prevent it. Dually inspired by the visual work of artists such as Robert LePage and Theatre de la Jeune Lune and creation myths and scientific facts, EVOLUTION seeks to illuminate the self-contained world of a family - how family members construct each other's identities while trying to shape their own, how decades can be spent inhabiting an "assigned" persona and how, in the process, we can lose any certainty as to what our "true identity" is.

Patricia Buckley is a founding member of the three-woman theatre company, Gams On The Lam, (Franklin Furnace Emerging Artist Award) whose ground-breaking shows combining roughhouse slapstick, satire and dance have toured extensively in the US, Canada, Latin America and Europe for 10 years. Ms. Buckley was a writer and performer with the Tony-award winning Minneapolis company, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, collaborating and touring with the company, and with The Actors' Shakespeare Company. Other writing projects include Syracuse Stage's BACKSTORY PROGRAM and various projects with the Oxygen Network.

Mentor Jean Claude van Itallie is one of the original playwrights at La MaMa and Joe Chaiken's Open Theater whose credits include THE SERPENT, AMERICAN HURRAH, MOTEL along with more than 30 other works including WAR, SEX AND DREAMS, THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD, FEAR ITSELF and the gay-themed WAR and ANCIENT BOYS. He was one of three actor-writers in the performance piece GUYS DREAMIN' 1997 and is the author of "The Playwright's Workbook." His classic translations of Chekhov are performed frequently throughout the U.S.

Director Michele Chivu has directed LAByrinth Theater Company's PRETTY CHIN UP and 7 CAPTIVA ROAD, along with THE MAIDS at the Chocolate Factory, RHINOCEROS and I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER at Center Stage/NY; EMPLOYEES MUST WASH HANDS for Vampire Cowboys, among others.

EVOLUTION will be presented at the Cherry Lane Studio Theatre (38 Commerce Street) from Tuesday, March 13, 2012 to Saturday, March 24, 2012.

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MAMMA ROMA by Anne DeSalvo Mentored by David Rambo Directed by Rob Urbinati April 3 through April 14, 2012

Written and performed by Anne DeSalvo, MAMMA ROMA is a solo show about the earthy and unkempt Italian actress Anna Magnani. Magnani who radiated with a fierce intelligence, uniqueness and sensuality, but lacked the bombshell good looks of her contemporaries like Bridget Bardot, Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida. She rocketed to international celebrity with Roberto Rossellini's OPEN CITY and came to epitomize Italy's Neo Realism movement and transcended it with an exceptional rawness, depth and honesty.

Anne DeSalvo - a visual artist, writer, director and producer - is best known for her work as an actress. Her credits include: Christopher Durang's THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE UNIVERSE, Albert Innaurato's THE TRANSFIGURATION OF BENNO BLIMPIE, Peter Parnell's THE SORROWS OF STEPHEN, the musical adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's GODBLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER, Marilyn Miller's spoof GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS, Albert Innaurato's GEMINI (Obie Award), Harvey Fierstein's SAFE SEX on Broadway, and more. Her numerous film appearances include Woody Allen's STARDUST MEMORIES, ARTHUR with Dudley Moore, MY FAVORITE YEAR and COMPROMISING POSITIONS with Susan Sarandon.

Mentor David Rambo is the author of THE LADY WITH ALL THE ANSWERS, a one-woman play about the noted advice columnist Ann Landers, produced by Cherry Lane Theatre and starring Judith Ivey (Lortel nominated for Outstanding Solo Show). Other plays include GOD'S MAN IN TEXAS, THE ICE-BREAKER, an adaptation of BABBITT and an all-new book for Lerner and Loewe's PAINT YOUR WAGON. His plays have been widely produced at regional theatres around the country including Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geffen Playhouse, Old Globe, Denver Center Theatre, Alliance and Pasadena Playhouse.

MAMMA ROMA will be directed by Rob Urbinati, whose directing credits include Staceyann Chin's BORDER/CLASH for the Culture Project, Al Letson's SUMMER IN SANCTUARY, Jan Buttram's THE PRESIDENT AND HER MISTRESS at the Abingdon, Pirandello's THE MAN WITH THE FLOWER IN HIS MOUTH for Classic Stage Company, Krik Bromley's SYNDROME at Greenwich St. Theatre. At Queens Theatre, he has directed MARRY ME A LITTLE with Brent Barrett and Sally Mayes, ANGEL STREET, MASTER CLASS and Max Sparber's MINSTREL SHOW OR THE LYNCHING OF WILLIAM BROWN.

MAMMA ROMA will be presented at the Cherry Lane Studio Theatre (38 Commerce Street) from Tuesday, April 3, 2012 to Saturday, April 14, 2012.

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PAS DE DEUX (LOST MY SHOE) By Lisa Ramirez Mentored by Cynthia Hopkins Two staged reading dates TBA

A multi-media play written and performed by Lisa Ramirez, PAS DE DEUX (LOST MY SHOE) concerns the relationship between Ms. Ramirez and her younger brother, a principal dancer with Oakland Ballet who died of alcoholism in 2002. Already in a recovery program herself, Ms. Ramirez enrolled in a ballet class in order to deal with her brother's death, learning dances her brother had performed.

Lisa Ramirez's previous solo work EXIT CUCKOO about women who work as nannies in New York, was directed by Colman Domingo and was presented Off-Broadway by Working Theatre. Her other writing credits include ART OF MEMORY, a dance-theatre piece presented at 3-Legged Dog, INVISIBLE WOMEN-RISE collaboration with Foundry Theatre and Domestic Workers United, and TO THE BONE a new play about Latina/immigrant women workers in poultry plants.

Mentor Cynthia Hopkins is a writer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and theater artist who creates and performs unique multi-media pieces. Her work has earned her the 2007 Alpert Award in Theater and 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship. Her full-length works include ACCIDENTAL NOSTALGIA, MUST DON'T WHIP 'UM, THE SUCCESS OF FAILURE (OR, THE FAILURE OF SUCCESS) and THE TRUTH: A TRAGEDY.

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Performance schedule for THE MENTOR PROJECT is Tuesday through Saturday at 7:00pm and a Saturday matinee at 3:00pm. Tickets are $18 (plus $1 facility fee) and can be purchased by calling 212-352-3101 or online at www.cherrylanetheatre.org.

Angelina Fiordellisi is Founder and Artistic Director of Cherry Lane Theatre.

The Mentor Project continues Cherry Lane Theatre's long and rich history of presenting works by both emerging and seasoned playwrights that reveal the social consciousness of our ever-changing world. Now 87 years old and New York's longest, continuously-running Off-Broadway theatre, Cherry Lane's roster of iconoclastic writers whose work has been at home at the theatre since the 1920s includes O'Neill, Saroyan, Auden, Albee, Odets, Orton, Mamet, and Lanford Wilson. Such distinctive actors as Ruby Dee, James Earl Jones, Colleen Dewhurst, Cicely Tyson, Frank Langella, Tyne Daly, Estelle Parsons, Dennis Quaid and Judith Ivey have performed on its stage.

For more information about THE MENTOR PROJECT or The Cherry Lane Theatre, please visit www.cherrylanetheatre.org.