An intriguing world premiere comedy set in 17th Century Venice written by Robert E. DiNardo. Shela Xoregos directs a cast of six, including Ethelyn Friend*, Sarah Kebede-Fiedler, Carla Lewis*, Bennett Saltzman, Gene Santarelli*, and Jacob Silburn with violin excerpts performed by Laura Zawarski. Original music has been composed by Barbara Rottman.

1615. Venice. A cosmopolitan city populated by people from many nations and predilections. Entwined in strange ways are the intriguing lives of a once notorious woman who now masquerades as a nun, a couturier who wears his own gowns, his brainy African lover, a mysterious Don Juan, a violin-playing novice and a 60-year-old virgin dressmaker. An unusual comedy with captivating twists, Brocade will amuse and surprise.

Tickets are $18. Students/Seniors are $15. Visit TheaterForTheNewCity.net or BrownPaperTickets.com.

Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. A talkback will be held after the 3:00 p.m. performance on Sunday, February 9th with the playwright, violinist and cast.

The runtime is approximately two hours, plus one 15-minute intermission.

Brocade is presented by Theater for the New City and is a Xoregos Performing Company production. Scenic Designer: Vincent Gunn; Costume Designer: Sara Decker; Lighting Designer: Gabrielle Button; Stage Manager: Nikki Reed; Publicist: Paul Siebold/Off Off PR.

Shela Xoregos (director) has directed for many New York, regional and summer stock companies. Some favorites: Hamlet, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Children's Hour, Much Ado About Nothing, Racine's Britannicus and three programs of Harlem Renaissance one-act premieres. She has discovered and premiered one-acts by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sarah Bernhardt and Oscar Wilde as well as unknown writers whose works deserve staging. Beginning as a modern concert dancer on the West Coast, she is also a choreographer. She has staged her dances as well as those of American choreographer Charles Weidman (1901-1975) for the Oakland Ballet, San Francisco Dance Spectrum, Seattle Chamber Dance and others.

Robert E. DiNardo (playwright) has been writing since his mid-teens. He has been the recipient of grants from the Mary Margaret Rhinehardt Foundation, Philadelphia Folk Song Society, residencies at the Ossabaw Island Foundation, as well as being the first writer to receive a grant from the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts. He lives with his partner of fifty-three years in Philadelphia where he was born and raised. They married in 2013.

Barbara Rottman (original music) has composed an obscene song for the character of Agostino, designed to make him a buffoon in the eyes of Venetian society.