(NEW YORK, NY) -- The world premiere of Scar Tissue, a bold new play by Victoria Fragnito, will take place on the Steve and Marie Sgouros Theatre at The Players Theatre (115 MacDougal Street) with performances beginning Thursday, January 13, and set to run through Sunday, January 30, 2022. The production features direction by Jenn Susi and music by Kristin Sgarro. It is Fragnito's New York City playwriting debut.
Time does not heal all wounds. Best friends, Jessica and Sam, each have scars from their pasts that have not healed. Jessica has never been able to get past an extremely damaging romantic relationship from her formative years in college, while Sam has been ignoring a painfully fractured relationship with her sister. After years of denial, an impromptu lunch date and a surprise overnight guest forces them both to confront these wounds and face what they didn't want to see head on.
“With every staged reading or workshop production, I have had audience members of every walk of life tell me that they see themselves in these characters - and not just one single character, but multiple. This is a story that everyone can relate to in some way, shape, or form,” says playwright Victoria Fragnito.
“It’s time to allow trauma to live on stage as it truly is- messy, pervasive, confusing, and isolating. In giving voice to this truth, we can heal and begin again. Audiences will be transformed by the power and courage of these humans through Victoria’s impactful storytelling,” says director Jenn Susi.
Scar Tissue achieves a chilling dichotomy by using our unspoken truths to connect with its audience on a human level. Returning to face these truths is an all-star cast including Fragnito herself leading the company as Jess; Nick Ritacco (“Homeland”, “Law & Order”) as Luke; Rita McCann (Linked Dance Theatre, Jesus Hopped the A Train, RED) as Sam; Jillian Vitko (Unarmed Man, “The Perfect Murder”, The Boys Will Be) as Sam’s sister Hannah; and Brandon Ford Green (“High Fidelity”, Good Grief, “I’m Dying Up Here”) as Jack. Lighting design is by Alyssandra Docherty.
Scar Tissue is produced by Christopher McGinnis.
Scar Tissue will play the following schedule: Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7pm; and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets begin at $52 and are available for purchase online.
BIOGRAPHIES
VICTORIA FRAGNITO (Playwright/Jess) is an actor, director, and playwright. Her acting career has included South Pacific, Sweeney Todd, Romeo and Juliet with Rick Sordelet, and more) and touring with their WillPower program as Ophelia in Hamlet and Hermia in Midsummer. She was in the inaugural al theatre, touring companies, and independent films. She attended DeSales University and worked very closely with the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, assistant directing many of their critically acclaimed productions (Midsummer, The Playboy of the Western World, Southacting apprentice program at Florida Studio Theatre where she participated in their nationally recognized Write-A-Play program, performing the works of young playwrights for thousands of students from all over the state of Florida. The writing bug bit Victoria when she arrived in New York City and found the substantial roles for women to be slim to none. Her debut play Scar Tissue has had an amazing developmental history including Match: Lit’s New Words in a New Light program, Dixon Place’s Works-In-Progress Series, the historic Old Joint Stock Theatre in the UK and their open doors program, as well as winning Best Dramatic Script at the 2021 SheNYC Summer Arts Festival. Her new play, With Dignity, was selected for a public reading with The Bechdel Group in NYC, had a virtual presentation as part of The Tank’s CyberTank online series, and was read as part of The Barrow Group’s First Fridays program in March of 2021 for Women’s History Month.
JENN SUSI (Director). NYC Director and Theatre Educator born and raised in the Bronx! Jenn has been directing and developing work all over NYC including Theatre 54, 13th Street Repertory Theatre, Stay True, an LGBTQ+ Theatre Company, and Nuyorican Poets Cafe where she was a “Best of Fest'' winner. Member of Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and Artist -In- Residence at Abingdon Theatre Company.
KRISTIN SGARRO (Composer) (she/they) is a nonbinary actor, musician, and emcee in New York City, having composed original music and arranged both originals and classics for many independent NYC theater companies, including their own Match: Lit (As You Like It, Othello), AMiOS' SHOTZ! series ("Shared Communal Space", And SHOTZ! For Something Virtually Different), Everyday Inferno (Iphigenia Among the Taurians’ a cappella chorus), and for Horse Trade (Fate, Fury, and Musical Theater; Monica Lewinsky Sings Your Heart Out!), among others. Select Musical Director credits include The Last Five Years (reorchestrations and new arrangements, conductor/live piano), Assassins, Captain Louie (Conductor/Piano 1 for live remote orchestra), Schoolhouse Rock Live!, and A Year With Frog And Toad. Kristin is also the Founding Artistic Director of Match: Lit, a [let’s-mess-with-]Shakespeare company, where they regularly perform and emcee its monthly BARDcore reading series. During their time in NYC, they have been working with great depth in Shakespeare's canon, and have appeared in Romeo & Juliet (Romeo), Twelfth Night (Viola, Olivia), Othello (Emilia), As You Like It (Celia, Phebe/LeBeau), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Helena, Hermia), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Mistress Page), Richard III (Queen Margaret), and many more. Occasionally a dabbler in contemporary and devised theater, you’ll also see Kristin’s work in various projects with AMiOS, No Exit Theater Collective, Regeneration Theater, and in new works hosted by The Bechdel Group and TheTank (Victoria Fragnito's latest, With Dignity, most recently).
NICK RITACCO (Luke) is an LA based actor/artist/athlete and graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He can be seen on recent seasons of Showtime’s “Homeland” and NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU”. Nick is thrilled to step back into the role of Luke and work alongside these incredible artists once again! Other credits include: Petruchio (The Taming of the Shrew, Match:Lit), Cassio (Othello, Match:Lit), Orlando (As You Like It, Stella Adler Studio), Giovanni (Strictly Dishonorable, Attic Theater Co.), Yakov (The Notebook of Trigorin, Attic Theater Co.), Alan (Devil and the Deep, Theater East). Special thanks to Victoria for her boundless bravery and courage and for once again including me in the telling of this story.
RITA McCANN (Sam) is thrilled to be performing Scar Tissue with this dream team of an ensemble. Recently, Rita played the role of Mary Jane in Jesus Hopped the A Train (under the direction of Jenn Susi, at The Nubox). Favorite NYC credits: Elle S’envoie (an immersive experience, by Linked Dance Theatre, benefitting Hilarity for Charity), Beloved/Departed, The Unseen, and Like Real People Do (LDT), RED (First Person Xperience), The Mortality Machine (Sinking Ship Creations), Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, The House of Yes, and Os Confederados. Rita is a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor teaching at CycleBar, Pure Barre, and Burst! NYC.
JILLIAN VITKO (Hannah) is thrilled to be back onstage with Scar Tissue. She’s played Hannah since the show’s first reading in NYC, and she’s so happy to step into the role once again! She currently performs Off-Broadway in the comedy show On the Spot and the musical improv show she co-created, True Crime the Musical. Her newest short film HoneyDough has garnered Jillian awards at numerous film festivals, including Best Comedy, Best Director, and Best Lead Actress. She’s currently adapting her one woman show Synesthesia the Musical into a feature film.
BRANDON FORD GREEN (Jack). Stage: Apollo at Portland Center Stage, Six Degrees of Separation, The Comedy of Errors and The Pension Grillparzer at The Company Rep in Los Angeles, The Dante Club at The California Repertory Company in Long Beach. Film/TV: “High Fidelity”, “God Friended Me”, “Lisey’s Story”, “Episodes”, “This Is Us”, “Quantico”, “CSI: Cyber”, “Scandal”, “Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Justified”, “Criminal Minds”, “Monk”, “Chuck”, “24”, and “Gilmore Girls”. He notably played comedy legend Richard Pryor on the Showtime series “I’m Dying Up Here”. Most recently he was seen in the film The Holiday Fix-Up on Lifetime and will star in the upcoming independent feature Foreclosure. Brandon is also the writer/director of the independent feature film Good Grief which not only received official selection at many film festivals across the country but also won the Audience Choice Award at the Laughlin International Film Festival but also won him Best Director at the Harlem International Film Festival. You can currently find it streaming on Amazon, Tubi and Roku. Brandon has trained at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Central California, Second City in Hollywood and The Barrow Group in New York City. Big thank yous to Amanda and mom.
ALYSSANDRA DOCHERTY (Lighting Design) is a Philadelphia based lighting designer. After graduating with honors and a BA in Theatre from DeSales University, she continued her training as an apprentice at Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut. She spent five seasons as the Lighting Supervisor at Philadelphia Theatre Company, and has been touring internationally with Koresh Dance Company since 2013 and with BalletX since 2017. Aly’s designs have been seen recently at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Florida Repertory Theatre, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Delaware Theatre Company, and Theatre Exile, among others. Her work has been recognized with Barrymore and Ostrander Award nominations.
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