AXIAL THEATRE & HOWARD MEYER’S ACTING PROGRAM ANNOUNCE NEW CREATIVE HOME

Westchester, New York– Axial Theatre, Inc. (www.axialtheatre.org) founder and artistic director, Howard Meyer, has announced that the six-year-old theatre company will be creating and developing their original plays at 48 Wheeler Avenue in Pleasantville, one block from the Jacob Burns Film Center. Steve Apkon, executive director of the award winning film center, when asked about this development said “I am very excited about Axial’s move. Their presence will enhance the cultural landscape of Pleasantville.” The mission of Axial Theatre will continue to be the creation of relevant and provocative original plays, while the Howard Meyer’s Acting Program (www.hmacting.org), a project of Axial Theatre, Inc., will continue to offer training for actors and playwrights at all levels of experience in the newly-secured space. The guiding principle of the acting program is to foster truth in creative expression in a supportive environment. “After six years of renting space from other institutions in Westchester and Manhattan to conduct the classes and develop our plays, it is a real landmark for us to have signed our first lease,” said Meyer.

Axial Theatre has been creating and presenting world premier theatre productions in Northern Westchester for the past six years. During those years, people were periodically invited in to observe various stages of the development process of the creation of Axial’s original plays as a means for the playwrights and cast to obtain productive feedback and collaborative assistance. The group was founded by Meyer in Yorktown as a gathering of professional actors, directors and writers to collaboratively create original theatre material. Axial’s productions during the past years have featured directors and company members from throughout northern Westchester and Fairfield Counties. Since January 2000 the group has presented ten original plays that have included last year's critically acclaimed comedic drama, “Billy Bubblehead”, staged in the distinctive, multi-leveled setting of the historic Quaker Meeting House in Yorktown. Meyer also established Axial Theatre’s reading and development series, “New Works in New York”, that led to presentations at the HERE Arts Center in SoHo, Manhattan during recent years. This development process, now entitled “Axial Playwrights”, will be housed in the Pleasantville location.

Axial recently announced that Neil Mautone, the former owner of the upscale restaurant, Dylan’s Roadhouse in Granite Springs, NY, became the managing director of the theatre company. Mautone is the highly respected restaurateur who transformed the award-winning Maxim’s Restaurant in Granite Springs into the fine dining and romantic atmosphere of Dylan’s Roadhouse, a suburban branch of the famed Dylan Prime restaurant in Manhattan. “The New York Times” gave Dylan’s Roadhouse three stars, and the acclaim was wide spread. This April, Mautone sold the popular Sammy’s restaurant on Route 100 in Somers that he owned for the past two years. “My plan was to sell it once my daughter graduated from high school, so now I’m open to new ventures, and have chosen to work with Axial Theatre. ”

Axial Theatre’s mission is to create relevant, original plays. Although most plays are principally authored by individual members of the Axial Theatre company, all of the plays are the result of long, collaborative processes that involve the entire company and their audiences. For more information on Axial Theatre, Inc., visit www.axialtheatre.org, www.hmacting.org, call 914-962-8828, or email to info@axialtheatre.org.