Tri-state Playwright's New Comedy 'Powder Puff Heist' at Manhattan Repertory Theatre Holiday Event

CINCINNATI - Dec. 6, 2015 - PRLog -- -- Playwright Phil Paradis, of Fort Thomas, KY, has yet another new play being showcased in three performances at The Manhattan Repertory Theatre in New York. Paradis' latest new one act comedy "Powder Puff Heist" will be staged as part of Manhattan Rep's 10th Anniversary Holiday Event showcase of six new short plays December 9-12 at Manhattan Repertory Theatre, 303 W. 42nd St. 6th FL, New York, NY.

The six new one-acts in the Holiday Event Series #1 include "One Act Opera, My First One Night Stand," by Emily Rose Simmons and Hansol Kim, "Telepathy" by Brian Leahy Doyle, "Hey! Shoot me! I'm Free!" by John Ladd, "John Lennon," by Richard Thomas Henle, "Cheese Doodle Fingers," by Lawrence F. Schwabacher, and "Powder Puff Heist," by Phil Paradis.

The Holiday Event Series #1 presentations are Wednesday and Friday, December 9 & 11 at 6:30 pm and Saturday, December 12th at 4 pm. Tickets are $20 at the door while supplies last or may be reserved online.

"Powder Puff Heist" written by Paradis is directed by Lyto Tria and features Janaki Gerard as a sympathetic bank teller and Stephanie Curtiss as a distraught single mother turned bank robber.

Faced with a dead-beat husband and recently fired from her waitress job the day before Thanksgiving, the single mother of three despairs of providing any kind of Christmas for her kids so she decides she must rob a bank. At the bank she meets a teller who thinks the perpetrator looks familiar and might be a former high-school class mate, so the teller provides all kinds of kindly advice as she tries to talk the perp out of it. According to Paradis, "Although an earlier production was successfully staged locally, this new and improved Powder Puff Heist being staged in New York is a more timely thought-provoking Christmas story with attitude. Plus it's being directed by the talented Lyto Triantafyllidou and features Janaki Gerard and Stephanie Curtiss, two young hot New York actors!"

Janaki Gerard is an Australian born actor and graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She earned a degree in Journalism and Public Relations at Griffith University, Brisbane. Her stage credits include “Freestylin” at Manhattan Rep, MUSE’S Evening of Cabaret at The Secret Theatre, and Off-Broadway “Sisters Keeper” at Theatre for the New City.

Stephanie Curtiss is a recent graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and St. John's University, with a degree in Television and Film. Currently Stephanie is starring in the upcoming Indie Film "Moon Justice." Other roles include Penguin's Lawyer in the DC comic fan film "Penguin: Bird of Prey," Andromache in "The Trojan Women" at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and Lorraine in "Freestylin" at Manhattan Rep.

Lyto Triantafyllidou's directing credits include Interview by “EMEIS”, Miss Margarida's Way by Roberto Athayde, No Way Home by Allan Staples, One Minute Play Theater Festival (New Georges, New York City Center), Pool (No Water) by Mark Ravenhill, Cymbeline by William Shakespeare, A Few Things Before I Leave You by Daniel Kitrosser, The Lover by Harold Pinter, and As you desire me by Luigi Pirandello. www.lytotr.com.

Playwright Phil 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. Currently he is at work on a play about the 19th Century American author Stephen Crane. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America. For more see www.SoldiersChristmas.net

To reserve tickets or for more information about this Holiday Event or Manhattan Repertory Theatre, visit http:www.manhattanrep.com