Photo Flash: First Look at Road Less Traveled's BUFFALO RISES

Buffalo-based theatre company Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) kicks off its monumental tenth season September 13, 2013 with the world premiere of Buffalo Rises. Comprised of eight, ten-minute snapshots, Buffalo Rises honors what it is to be a Buffalonian through the exploration of our rising past, beautiful present, and hopeful future. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the show below!

Through the voices and vision of some of our most talented local artists, Buffalo Rises takes us on an endearing and insightful journey, weaving together a history of Buffalo via a myriad of events, legacies, and themes that have crowned our Queen City. We travel back to the horrors of the assassination of President William McKinley at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition and to the race riots of 1967. We share in our always-on hospitality with the "gift" of chicken wings during an ensnaring snowstorm and in our comedic talents with the "idea" of Shakespeare in Delaware Park...in the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. And, we are challenged to consider our future, through the clash of a Haitian Catholic priest and an Italian-American contractor over Lovejoy Church, the mind of an athlete deeply connected to Gates Circle Fountain, and young "up and comers" contemplating the choice between cross-country moves and a lifetime in their hometown.

Buffalo Rises is a unique, playwrighting collaboration of RLTP Ensemble members and Artie Award winners Jon Elston (2012: End of the Road), Donna Hoke (Seeds), Darryl Schneider (Clean Break), and Ibn Shabazz (Insidious), joined by Artie Award winner Gary Earl Ross, two-time RLTP Buffalo Young Writer Grand-Prize Winner Caitlin McAneney, and beloved local playwrights Matthew Crehan Higgins and Justin Karcher.

RLTP Artistic Director Scott Behrend has tied together the words and ideas of the individual writers with the talents of local stage actors and visual artists to create a truly original exploration of concepts and mediums in just eighty short minutes.

Buffalo Rises features actors Bonnie Jean Taylor, Carlton Franklin, Jonathan Shuey, Greg Howse, Darleen Pickering Hummert, Candace Whitfield, and David Mitchell as well as visual artists Dana Saylor, Bruce Adams, Max Collins, A.J. Fries, Nancy J. Parisi, John Jennings, Julian Montague, and Alana Fajemisin. The production is directed by Scott Behrend.

To become a season ticket holder, for more information, or for presale tickets, visit www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org, call the RLTP Box Office at (716) 629-3069, or email marketing@roadlesstraveledproductions.org.

Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) is a professional, non-profit theatre company dedicated to the development and production of new theatrical works by Western New York playwrights, as well as presentations of esteemed modern dramas of outstanding literary merit. RLTP, a member of the National New Play Network, is located in the Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre in the Theatre District of Downtown Buffalo, NY. For more information about RLTP and to purchase tickets, visit www.RoadLessTraveledProductions.org or call (716) 629-3069. RLTP's work is made possible through public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Photo Credit: Mike Grantham