'Breaking Gulf News' by Phil Paradis Among Four New One-Act Plays at Manhattan Rep 10/21 & 10/23

NEW YORK - Oct. 20, 2015 - PRLog -- "Breaking Gulf News" by Phil Paradis is one of four new one-act plays to be showcased at Manhattan Repertory Theatre as part of Manhattan Rep's October Event on Wednesday, October 21 and Friday, October 23rd. Other plays in the Series 4 showcase include "Cupid's Corner" by Parade Stone, "Eliminated" by Michael Thomas Cain, and "Against Human Nature," by Cornelius Fortune.

The October Event Series 4 showcase will be presented on Wednesday, October 21st at 9 pm and Friday, October 23rd at 8 pm at Manhattan Repertory Theatre, 303 W. 42nd Street, Suite 614, New York, NY. Tickets are $20 and are available at the door on the night of performance while supply lasts. Tickets may be reserved by emailing MRTRESERVE@GMAIL.COM. For more information, visit www.ManhattanRep.com.

"Breaking Gulf News" is directed by Brock H. Hill and features Jenna DiMartini as a network news anchor, Ken Straus as a CEO of a large oil company, and Liberty O'Dell as a Coastguard spokesman. The news anchor gets a big break to interview a CEO announcing the end of a huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill cleanup. A young Coastguard ensign is chosen to rebut the CEO's assessment of the cleanup's success. Says Director Brock H. Hill, "'Breaking Gulf News' is funny and entertaining but there's a skull beneath the wit. The play's sort of a Faustian allegory that speaks to current social issues like the responsible use of natural resources and personal accountability."

Jenna DiMartini has made stage appearances with Two River Theater, Premier Theater, McCarter Theater, Phoenix Productions and festivals throughout the tristate area. DiMartini landed her first television role as a recurring actress/singer in ABC's daytime soap opera, All My Children. She has also appeared in NBC's Taxi Brooklyn, Crimson Hill's short film, Redemption 101, Inside Amy Schumer and SNL writer Colin Jost's latest independent film project Staten Island Summer.

Ken Straus studied Film and Theater Arts at UCLA. Straus’s recent stage appearances include King John at the West End Theater in New York City, On Golden Pondat the Philips-town Depot Theatre in Garrison, NY, and God of Carnageat the Beacon Theatre in Beacon, NY. Straus recently completed work on his first feature film Dick and Jack, playing the role Richard Nixon. For more see www.kenstraus.com

Liberty O'Dell, a classically trained actor from Oregon, is a recent graduate of Stella Adler Studios, and has been working on the devised stage production "Lost In Place" which received numerous awards from the Planet Connections Theater Festivity. O'Dell also  has played Antonio in Merchant of Venice, Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, as well as Lysander and Demetrius in A Midsummer Nights Dream.

Brock H. Hill is a New York based director best known for ensemble based, organic work. Hill is the Producing Artistic Director of the Planet Connections Festivity and Artistic Director of the Altruistic Theatre Company. Some of the many projects he has worked on include: Mistakes Madeline Made, Books on Tape, Humans Anonymous (Tongue in Cheek Productions); Civilization! (Planet Connection Festivity); Choose Your Grown Adventure, Wardrobe of the Living Dead (Altruistic Theatre); and Invoice (Leela Theatre Festival).

Playwright Phil Paradis is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America. Paradis was a semifinalist in the Kentucky Theatre Association's 2014 New Play Competition for his play The Red Badge of Stephen Crane. His play Footprints of the Polar Bear won the Cincinnati Directors Competition in 2008. Paradis is best known for Soldier's Christmas, his play about the Christmas Truce of 1914. He is currently at work on a play about the 19th Century American author Stephen Crane.