Pages

Saturday, November 8, 2014

AMERICAN THEATER GROUP TO OPEN NEW SEASON WITH EAST COAST PREMIERE OF ONE-MAN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL PLAY

raymond mcanally 291 (1)SIZE MATTERS

WHEN: NOVEMBER 12 THROUGH NOVEMBER 23; Thursday – Saturday, 8 PM; Sunday, 3 & 7 PM
WHERE: Union County Performing Arts Center, 360 Hamilton Street, Rahway
TICKETS: $35; Student/Seniors/Military Personnel tickets: $20 with valid ID at the box office.  Groups of 10 or more receive 10% off. 
Tickets  can be purchased online at www.americantheatergroup.org, by calling 732.499.8226, or at the Union County Performing Arts Center box office located at 1601 Irving Street. The theater has ample well-lit parking and is a five minute walk from New Jersey Transit's Rahway station.

American Theatre Group, New Jersey’s newest professional theater company in residence at Hamilton Stage, will open its 2014-2015 season with the East Coast premiere of Raymond McAnally’s one-man show, Size Matters.

In this East Coast premiere, heavy-set everyman, Raymond McAnally, weaves a comedic tale of his current life as a plus-sized actor, new husband, and uncle to an admiring overweight ten year old nephew, Morgan. Seeing a chance to save Morgan, as well as himself, Raymond searches his life for just how much, or how little size matters. Size Matters is a heartfelt and eye-opening comedy that will resonate for anyone – male or female—who’s every wrestled with body issues.

Size Matters is not a dieting play, a self help play, a do it yourself play, or any work that guides you on your way to slimness,” says Ed Stern, who directed the world premiere at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati . “Size Matters is about the relationship of husband to wife and uncle to nephew. It is filled with humanity and humor. And, fortunately, for all of us every moment is filled with the uniqueness and wonderfulness that is Raymond McAnally.”

As an actor, Raymond McAnally’s recent credits include One Man, Two Guvnors at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and the world premiere of Size Matters at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati.  Other credits include Defending the Caveman (Broadway National Tour), and off-Broadway in the original cast of God’s Ear, plus productions at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Long Wharf, Theaterworks Hartford, Two River Theater, to name a few. On television, he appeared on Law & Order: SVU, 30 Rock, Nurse Jackie, Royal Pains and Boardwalk Empire, among others. His film credits include Compliance, Ghost Town and I Don’t Know How She Does It. Raymond is a writer and actor for the online original comedy group Daily Fiber Films and is a faculty member at the Mason Gross School of the Arts Online Department at Rutgers University.  Mr. McAnally holds an MFA in Acting from Mason Gross School of the Arts and a BA from Sewanee.

American Theatre Group, under the leadership of producing artistic director/co-founder James Vagias, along with co-founders/artistic advisors Rick Sordelet and Joseph Mancuso, makes it home in the new intimate 199-seat state-of-the-arts Hamilton Stage in Rahway, governed and operated by the Union County Performing Arts Center.