MANNY FRIED TO BE HONORED AT HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL IN LOS ANGELES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
JUNE 5, 2011

CONTACT: CATHERINE PELONERO
Phone: 310-403-5484
E-mail: [email protected]

MANNY FRIED TO BE HONORED AT HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL IN LOS ANGELES; NEW PLAY BY CATHERINE PELONERO FEATURING VETERAN COMIC ACTRESS ANN RYERSON

OPENS THURSDAY, JUNE 16 AT FRINGE CENTRAL (ARTWORKS THEATRE) IN HOLLYWOOD, CA

Hollywood, CA – Emanuel “Manny” Fried, iconic Buffalo playwright and labor leader, will be honored at this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival in Los Angeles, California where a production of Another Effing Family Drama, a new comedy by Fried’s former playwriting student Catherine Pelonero, is dedicated in his memory. A full-page dedication to Fried will appear in the playbill.

“Manny had a tremendous impact on me as a playwright,” Pelonero said. “I started off in his playwriting class in the early 1990s and we remained close even after I moved to Los Angeles. We wrote and spoke on the phone several times a year and sent each other our new work. He was my one and only playwriting mentor. I told him that once and he just chuckled. Manny was always modest to a fault.”

Pelonero’s other plays include Family Names, which won the Off-Off Broadway Play Festival, was published by Samuel French and has been produced throughout the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. Her play Awesome Ghosts of Ontario, another comedy, was published by Samuel French/Baker’s Plays last year. Pelonero is a member of the prestigious Actors Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit and serves as a Vice Chair of the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights (ALAP.)

Another Effing Family Drama will have a world premiere production on the Fringe Central mainstage at ArtWorks Theatre in Hollywood as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. There will be one preview performance on Saturday, June 11 at 6:30 p.m. with opening night set for Thursday, June 16 at 10:00 p.m. Dan Berkowitz directs the ensemble cast that includes Monica Martin, Josh Brewster, Eva Minemar, Kenny Johnston, Jack Hunter and Ann Ryerson, known for her work as a Second City cast member and more recently in the recurring role of Nan Funkhouser on Curb Your Enthusiasm and as Elsa Kittridge on Mad Men. Monica Martin, Josh Brewster and Jack Hunter all spent years as actors and directors in the Buffalo theatre community.

Another Effing Family Drama will play a limited engagement at the Hollywood Fringe Festival through June 26. For more information, visit the website for Another Effing Family Drama at www.sharpcocktail.com or the website for the Hollywood Fringe Festival at www.hollywoodfringe.org.

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