True Stories castFive stories… a little bit funny, a little bit sexy, a little bit dark. All true.

Tickets are now on sale for TRUE STORIES, playing at the Cherry Lane Theatre from April 28 to May 17, 2020

New York, N.Y. – In a trip to Hell and back… a struggling actor decides God wants him to be a monk; a woman’s birth is the result of 1960’s wild key parties, martinis, and Manhattans leaving her with one burning question: Who is her biological father?; a psychiatrist divorces his wife and religion to find his authentic self only to learn that escaping daddy issues is more daunting; a girl from out West finds that the search for perfect love has turned her into a wandering, reckless cowboy; and an actor goes back to his roots after a career that has been a series of encounters of escalating surreality. These are stories told with heart, humor, and the searing honesty that can only happen when your past catches up with you and all that is left is the truth.

Directed by Obie, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award winner and Grammy nominee GRETCHEN CRYER, TRUE STORIES offers five unique solo shows staged Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre. During each performance, discover a poignant tale of truth delivered through the words of the person who lived it. No topic is off limits, from overcoming sexual abuse to uncovering parental adultery and grappling with spiritual identity. 

For nearly a decade, GRETCHEN CRYER has imagined a group of solo performers coming together under one roof to tell their funny, sad, sexy, shocking, and most importantly TRUE STORIES. Her dream has come to fruition at the gorgeous, historic CHERRY LANE THEATRE – a treasure in Greenwich Village. 

“The journey I've gone on with each of the playwrights and performers has been full of surprising twists and turns,” explains GRETCHEN CRYER. “When you dig deep, like we have, each unveiling of more information re-routes the piece. It's a very exciting process that requires great courage and flexibility. Not everyone is up for the task. These five are, and we've had a wonderful time developing these shows together. Needless to say, working with my son, Jonny, as he makes his maiden voyage into this kind of theatre is another dream come true.”

Executive producer MICHAEL PINNEY shares, “I was thrilled when GRETCHEN CRYER asked me to produce this piece. I've spent the last 30 years in and out of the theater in myriad capacities and am very gratified to be able to put that experience to good use here. We're so lucky to have five gifted storytellers under the guidance of an industry legend. All of our performers have unique stories, and Gretchen has helped craft each story into five compelling evenings of theater. To see Jon and Gretchen working together for the first time in such an intimate way about Jon's love of the theater, where his mother has spent her life, is a magical experience.”

The cast of players includes JON CRYER (So That Happened), LINDA MANNING (Perfect Love), BRIAN SHERIDAN (I Was A Hot Monk), ABBY STOKES (A Good Girl Doesn’t), and STEVE WRUBLE (Escape from Daddyland).

Tickets are available at the CHERRY LANE THEATRE box office and online. For tickets, showtimes, and more information, visit truestoriesplay.com. Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook, @TrueStoriesPlay.

JON CRYER has been a professional actor since he was four years old. In So That Happened, he explores the peculiar combination of heart, talent, and wisdom it takes to survive not just the bad times in a notoriously fickle industry but even the good times. He earned two Emmy Awards for his work as ‘Alan Harper’ on the CBS hit comedy Two and a Half Men and most recently, portrayed the ultimate villain, Lex Luthor, on the CW’s Supergirl. CRYER initially gained attention on the big screen opposite Demi Moore in No Small Affair, followed by his iconic performance as an endearing misfit in John Hughes’ Pretty in Pink. Other film credits include Hot Shots, Hiding Out, and will soon be seen opposite Pete Davidson in Big Time Adolescence. 

In Perfect Love, award-winning playwright LINDA MANNING speaks out about her past, growing up surrounded by predatory, abusive men and how she created a fantasy of perfect love in order to survive. She chronicles her journey from a rootless girl to a reckless woman on the hunt for perfect love with every sexy, dangerous man she meets. Why does it take decades for her to finally tell the truth about what happened? Empowering, darkly funny, and poignant, this is the story of the havoc that fantasy wreaks on her life as she struggles to let the past go and set herself free. MANNING is a playwright, screenwriter, and actor. She has written five full length plays, including Bite the Apple (2019 Finalist for the Kentucky Women Writers Prize; staged reading at TheaterLab NYC 2016; produced as part of the NY International Fringe Festival, 2012). She has co-written and acted in two short films and has won multiple awards for her writing.

I Was A Hot Monk chronicles BRIAN SHERIDAN’s journey into (and out of) monasticism. How and why did this bi-coastal hot shot go from living the Show ‘Biz dream in Hollywood and Manhattan to a Benedictine monastery in the slums of Cleveland? First, the work dried up. Perennial Singlehood ensued and, finally, his frenemies staged a collective shun… but in church he was a rock star. Is God trying to tell him to become a monastic priest? Experience Brian’s agony in the city via monologues, poems, prayers and blow-by-blow journal entries.  SHERIDAN recurs on What Would You Do? (ABC) and recurred on General Hospital (ABC), Days of Our Lives (NBC), As The World Turns (CBS), and Guiding Light (CBS). Brian’s original play, Training, appeared in the New York International Playwrights’ Festival and won Best of the Fest at the Playtime Series in NYC. His play, Top Banana, appeared at Ensemble Studio Theatre’s OktoberFest. As a solo artist, his show Me, Them & U.S. was produced at the MET Theatre in LA and another solo effort, Stompin’ On Passion, appeared at LA’s Skylight Theatre. I Was A Hot Monk marks Brian’s solo premiere in NYC.

A Good Girl Doesn’t, by ABBY STOKESAbby’s birth is the result of her parents swinging through the 1960s with wild key parties, martinis, and Manhattans. Their frolics leave her with one burning question: Who is her biological father? STOKES is the best-selling author of “Is This Thing On?” - A Friendly Guide to Everything Digital for Newbies, Technophobes, and the Kicking & Screaming and tours the country as a public speaker helping more than 300,000 Digital Immigrants (those over 40 who were not born with a keyboard or a mouse in their hand) cross the digital divide. STOKES studied theatre at the O’Neill Theatre Center, performed off-off Broadway as well as in comedy clubs, did extra work in film and television, industrials, and voiceovers. She founded and was Artistic Director of improvisation company, At A Moment’s Notice.

Brought up in the deep South as an Orthodox Jew, son of a famous doctor – Elvis Presley’s proctologist – STEVE WRUBLE is expected to follow his father into the bowels of the rich and famous. Instead, Steve becomes a psychiatrist, divorces his wife and religion, and begins a hilarious and compelling journey into unchartered waters. Steve’s musical odyssey – Escape from Daddyland – takes us from an S&M weekend retreat in the hills of Maryland to Germany, where he hopes to make his father proud by killing it on the comedy stages of Berlin. WRUBLE is an accomplished singer-songwriter and storyteller. He has won The Moth StorySLAM and performs standup comedy in NYC and Berlin. In addition, WRUBLE is a board-certified child and adult psychiatrist in private practice in NYC. He is also co-author of the New York Times best-selling book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, where he wrote a chapter called, “Trump’s Daddy Issues – A Toxic Mix for America.”

GRETCHEN CRYER (Director) is most well-known for writing the book and lyrics and starring in I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road (with music by Nancy Ford), which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Musical, Best Actress, and a Grammy nomination for the album. CRYER has written numerous other shows with Nancy Ford: Now Is the Time for All Good Men (Lortel Theatre), The Last Sweet Days of Isaac (Obie Award – Best Musical, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award), Shelter (Golden Theatre), Hang On to the Good Times (Manhattan Theatre Club), Eleanor (Williamstown), The American Girls Revue (American Girl Place – Chicago, New York, Los Angeles), Circle of Friends (American Girl Place – Chicago and New York,) and Anne of Green Gables (Theaterworks USA). CRYER and Ford’s new musical, Still Getting My Act Together, premiered at the Laguna Playhouse in 2015. CRYER has also won acclaim for her course, “Creating Your Own Solo Performance.” She has directed and developed dozens of solo performance pieces that have evolved into fully realized works, seen on stages throughout New York City. She is on the Dramatists Guild Council and is President Emeritus of the Dramatists Guild Fund.

The CHERRY LANE THEATRE is located at 38 Commerce Street, New York, NY 10014. Tickets for TRUE STORIES will be available online and at the box office, starting at $34. As New York's longest continuously running Off-Broadway theatre, the CHERRY LANE THEATRE has helped to define American drama, fostering fresh, daring, and relevant theater since 1924. cherrylanetheatre.org

 

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Contact: Amy Sapp, amyelizabethsapp@gmail.com