For Immediate Release Contact: Melissa R.

Randel at (323) 572-3875 Leap in the Dark Productions presents

The Hat
The New York International Fringe Festival - FringeNYC A production of The Present Company August 9th - 25th, 2013 Tickets $15-18 at (866) 468-7619 or FringeNYC.org

@TheHatPlay TheHatPlay.com

Leap in the Dark Productions is proud to present The Hat, an original, experimental play written by Melissa R. Randel, premiering at the 17th annual New York International Fringe Festival - FringeNYC. The curtain rises on her 87th performance of a hit Broadway musical, but no one tells Ruth her father has died. Forevermore, her heart clings to a gold-studded chorus girls top hat... lights up - 5-6-7-8! The Hat recalls a simultaneous rise and fall - Ruth to her zenith, The Musician to his nadir. Rising daughter, falling father The Hat is a story about love, failure, and redemption - in the glamorous world of Broadway. Randel plays Ruth, a dancer, and The Musician is played by jazz trombonist, David Gibson. Randel also plays Rose, The Musicians wife, who has the most to say about this family of artists: A woman can survive losing sight of her dreams. But if a man loses his way, he will take you down with him. In marriage, the extraordinary becomes ordinary. The intolerable, routine. The Hat interweaves biography, choreography, and trombone performance into a complex narrative about artists and their dreams. The Steve & Marie Sgouros Theatre 115 MacDougal Street, New York, NY 10012 (212) 475-1449 ThePlayersTheatre.com Sun, Aug 11 @ 9:30 p.m. Sat, Aug 17 @ 6:30 p.m. Tue, Aug 20 @ 10:15 p.m. Thu, Aug 15 @ 3:45 p.m. Sun, Aug 18 @ 5:15 p.m. Wed, Aug 21 @ 5:30 p.m.

Actor/Playwright/Choreographer Melissa R. Randel performed in more than 2,000 performances of Michael Bennetts original production of A Chorus Line on Broadway. In 2012, she played Trevor in the Los Angeles premiere of Sheila Callaghans Roadkill Confidential, and recently debuted a devised collaboration, Asylum, in the Son of Semele Company Creation Festival. The Hat began as part of composition exercise in a workshop with SITI Company in 2007. David Gibson aka Dslide performs regularly at a variety of venues in NYC, including Smalls, Smoke, Swing 46 and Fat Cat, with George Gee, Roy Hargrove, Nickel and Dime Ops and his own DG 4tet, which is featured on two recent recordings released by Posi-tone Records. Jazzbone.org Director Sergio Castillos directing credits include Topdog/Underdog (UCLA); Bag of Cats (UCLA); Mr. & Mrs. Sullivan (Producers Club); The People! The People! The People! (Abingdon). In December 2013, Castillo debuts in the full-length feature film, Hole in the Wall. SergioCastillo.weebly.com Art Director/Set Designer David John Attyah is a Los Angeles-based contemporary artist. Attyah has exhibited his public projects internationally, cofounded the artist collaborative THINK AGAIN, and is currently proprietor of PhlatPhile: Artwork on Paper in Los Angeles, CA. Ph-Ph.org Lighting Designer Brandon Baruchs credits include The Second City's A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens (Kirk Douglas Theater), A Kind of Love Story (Sacred Fools Theater), The 33rd and 34th Annual LA Weekly Theater Awards (Avalon Hollywood), and Ken Rohts 99 Cent Only Same-O and Calendar Girl Competition (Bootleg Theater). He is Staff Lighting Designer for The Hollywood Fringe Festival. BrandonBaruch.com Costume Designer Fred Lloyd is Resident Costume Designer for the Gainesville Theatre Alliance (GTA) and an Associate Professor of Theatre at Brenau University. A working professional in Theater, Film and TV as a costumer, costume supervisor and designer, his recent credits include Drop Dead Diva (supervisor), Shakespeares Twelfth Night and The Producers (designer-GTA), Walter Cronkite is Dead and Dames At Sea (designer-Highlands Playhouse) and Season 1 of The Walking Dead (supervisor). Leap in the Dark Productions is a bi-coastal experimental theatre company that brings together visual and performing artists.