Special Mother's Day Performance of 'Beyond the Etchings' Benefits Women in Military Service for America Memorial

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade in association with Infinite Variety Productions will present a special Memorial Day performance of "Beyond the Etchings," directed by Jessica Schechter, on Monday, May 29 at The Kraine Theater, 85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 and may be purchased in advance at www.horseTRADE.info. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Women in Military Service for America Memorial.

Through a collaboration with Vietnam Veteran Bob Staranowicz and IVP creators Ashley Adelman and Kelly Teaford, "Beyond the Etchings" tells the story of women and men whose names are visited on the Vietnam Wall every day. Basing the play around oral histories, letters and first-hand accounts, "Beyond the Etchings" reminds us of the power of listening, remembering and connecting.

The cast will feature Andrew Dunn, Gerrard James, Sharon Litwinoff, Joshua Michael Payne, and Marie Zoumanigui with Violinist Christianna Barnard.

Ashley Adelman (Writer) received her BFA from NYU TISCH, her MFA from The Actors Studio Drama School and is working on her MA in Women's History at Sarah Lawrence. She is one of the producers of the Wyoming Theatre Festival, where her theater company has been producing new work about women from history for the past three years. She is currently working on a documentary theater piece about the women who went to Vietnam. The piece will include the interviews she has conducted and will also include a documentary film about the process. All due out in the Spring of 2018.

Bob Staranowicz (Writer) was born in Philadelphia and attended Northeast Catholic High School. After high school, he enlisted in the United States Army in 1968. He completed basic training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, trained in communications at Fort Monmouth, NJ, and in October of 1969, he was shipped off to Vietnam. He arrived at the Army's Long Bihn Replacement Center, where he received orders for the 101st Airborne Division, HQ-501st Signal Group.

Kelly Teaford (Writer) is a Manhattan-based director, actor, and now writer has enjoyed co-writing and co-producing this piece enormously. She is grateful for and humbled by the team behind it and everyone who contributed to it. The story of veterans and those serving in our military, especially during such a controversial war as The Vietnam War, is an important one to be telling right now. This will be her writing debut.

Infinite Variety Productions (IVP) is a registered NYS 501c3 based in New York City whose mission is to spark public inquiry and social change by illuminating unknown stories from women's history. IVP has produced impactful work across the country. Our production Censored on Final Approach had sold out performances at The Judson Theatre in New York and an acclaimed run at the Woman in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

The company has produced three new shows for the Wyoming Theatre Festival. Each show uncovers an untold story from women's history. The production of "A Piece of My Heart" by Shirley Lauro celebrated women who served in the Vietnam War. The piece was invited to Washington, DC for the Vietnam Women's Memorial 20th Anniversary, and to Sheridan, Wyoming for performances at schools and Veterans Affairs centers.

The play had its beginnings at the infamous NYC Living Theatre. Last year IVP produced "A Piece of My Heart" at the American Airpower Museum May 2015, at The American Armor Museum in Long Island in 2016 and this past March for the Bethpage Historical Society.

IVP are proud recipients of the LIT Grant Space Award, the resident theater company with FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade and partners of the Wyoming Theatre Festival. This June Infinite Variety Productions will produce its first web series, Insignificant based on the first female astronomers as well as a new piece this summer about the first female baseball players for the Wyoming Theatre Festival. www.infinitevarietynyc.org

FRIGID NEW YORK is a theater development group with a focus on new work that produces a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater every season. FRIGID's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. FRIGID New York grew out of the annual FRIGID Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in New York City to offer artists 100 percent of their box office proceeds, and Horse Trade Theater Group, a self-sustaining theater development and management group.

For more information, visit www.horseTRADE.info