PACE UNIVERSITY MEDIA ADVISORY:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Annie’s Lilla Crawford Cast as Senator Patricia Murray Joins the American Scoreboard Ensemble Alongside Fun Home’s Sydney Lucas as Senator Elizabeth Warren

NEW YORK, NY – AMERICAN SCOREBOARD: The Trump Administration will present the next installment of its series of live dramatic political readings on Monday, October 23rd from 7:00 p.m. to 8:20 p.m. at Pace University’s Schimmel Center, 3 Spruce Street, downtown New York City featuring; Lilla Crawford (Annie) as Senator Patricia Murray, Sydney Lucas (Fun Home) as Senator Elizabeth Warren, Sam Poon (The King and I) as Senator Bernie Sanders, Nicholas Barasch (Big River, 2017 Encores!) as Senator Al Franken, Edward O’Blenis as Senator Lamar Alexander (Law & Order SVU), and Tracy Shayne (Bronx Bombers, Chicago) as Betsy DeVos.

WHO and WHAT: Directly from the U.S. Senate Chamber in Washington, DC, AMERICAN SCOREBOARD: The Trump Administration series explores, from an all new perspective, the serious issues facing President Donald Trump and the America public today. Conceived and produced by Fran Kirmser and Christopher Burney, AMERICAN SCOREBOARD presents one hour verbatim readings of Congressional hearing transcripts in a format that can’t be found on C-SPAN or CNN. The readings are FREE and open to the public.

Coinciding with the Fall 2017 Semester and in cooperation with Pace University’s Office of Government & Community Relations, AMERICAN SCOREBOARD’s fourth installment features the confirmation hearing of U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. U.S. Senators represented in the hearing will be portrayed by current students and recent graduates including young professionals from Broadway productions, colleges and universities, including Pace University, and the New York City Public School System. All Actors appear courtesy of Actors Equity Association.

AMERICAN SCOREBOARD’s first readings were presented at HB Studio Players Theater on January 24, 2017, reaching back into 2016 on the topic of corporate fraud with The Wells Fargo Hearing Panel 1. The second reading, The Tom Price Confirmation Hearing - Panel 1, was presented March 1, 2017, and the third installment on The Investigation of Russian Interference in the 2016 Election with Clint Watts was presented on June 26, 2017. 

WHEN and WHERE: Monday, October 23rd, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:20 p.m. at Pace University’s Schimmel Center, 3 Spruce Street, downtown New York City. Pace University is adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge, opposite City Hall. The production runs 80 minutes, with no intermission.

Media RSVP Required: Cara Cea, Office: 914.773.3312/Cell: 914.906.9680, No later than Noon on October 23, 2017. For General Public Reservations Call: 212.554.3431.

Lilla Crawford

Lilla Crawford is a 16 yr-old Brazilian-American actress.  She began acting, singing and dancing at a very young age and made her Broadway debut in the Tony Award-Winning musical Billy Elliot.  She then booked the title role in the Broadway revival of Annie against 5,000 actresses who auditioned in a nationwide search.  Lilla left to make her film debut opposite Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep as Little Red Riding Hood in Disney's "Into the Woods".  She is currently starring in the new Netflix sketch comedy series, The Who Was Show.  You can hear Lilla's iconic voice as the lead character in Nick Jr.'s animated series Sunny Day.  Lilla also enjoys writing original scripts for TV episodic and musicals, performing for charity benefits, and spending time with her family and friends.  Her sister, Savvy Crawford, is also a Broadway and screen actress.

Sydney Lucas

Tony nominated and Obie Aware winner for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Small Alison in Broadway’s Fun Home. Sydney is a series regular on AMC's The Son. Other theater work includes The Secret Garden at Lincoln Center, Hollywood Arms and Amelie. Film/TV: Dude, Girl Most Likely, Law & Order: SVU, How & Why, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Saturday Night Live.

About AMERICAN SCOREBOARD series producers: Fran Kirmser is a two time Tony Award winning producer. In 2008, off the heels of the financial crisis, Kirmser conceived and produced a sports series for stage to explore leadership and competition beginning first with Lombardi. Christopher Burney is the Artistic Producer of Second Stage Theatre where he has worked since 1996. He teaches at Columbia University in the Graduate School of the Arts. https://www.americanscoreboard.com/ 

About Pace University: Since 1906, Pace has educated thinking professionals by providing high quality education for the professions on a firm base of liberal learning amid the advantages of the New York metropolitan area. A private university, Pace has campuses in Lower Manhattan and Westchester County, NY, enrolling nearly 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in its College of Health Professions, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Lubin School of Business, School of Education, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. 

ADDITIONAL CREDITS: Casting Consultant ... Geoff Josselson, CSA

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CAST

Tracy Shayne

Betsy DeVos, United States Secretary of Education

Broadway: Bronx Bombers, as Carmen Berra, Chicago, as Roxie Hart, Phantom, as Christine Daae, Les Miserables, as Cosette (also as Cosette on Grammy Award Winning London Symphonic Recording), A Chorus Line, as Bebe.  Off Broadway:  Marion Froude, in Biography( Mint Theater), Sunny, in the Regional Premiere of The Exonerated, Martha, in a world premiere of Missing Footage(The Old Globe Theater) Film: Can Hitler Happen Here (upcoming), How You Look at It, Jerome's Bouquet. TV: The Affair, Blindspot, Law & Order, Law & Order (CSI), Kennedy Center Honors, Baryshnikov On Broadway.

Sydney Lucas

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts (D)

Tony nominated Sydney for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Small Alison in Broadway’s Fun Home. Other theater work includes The Secret Garden at Lincoln Center, Hollywood Arms and Amelie. Film/TV: Dude, Girl Most Likely, Law & Order: SVU, How & Why, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Saturday Night Live.

Sam Poon

Senator Bernie Sanders, Vermont (D)

Broadway/National Tour: The King and I, Macbeth, Billy Elliot, Les Miserables. Off Broadway: Runaways at City Center, Kristin Chenowith: Evolution of a Soprano. Film/Tv: Boychoir (Hear My Song), Crazy Famous, Portraits in Dramatic Time, Snowy Bing Bongs.

Brooke Weisman

Senator Tim Scott, South Carolina (R)

Off Broadway: Engagements (second stage) Other favorite credits: Fly Guy and Other Stories (theatreworks, USA), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, David Catlin’s Moby Dick, and Fin. She’s thrilled to be a part of this important project.

Bartek Szymanski

Senator Bob Casey, Pennsylvania (D)

Bartek is currently studying for his BFA in Acting for Film, Television, Voice-overs, and Commercials. Bartek has performed in a couple of productions at Pace including aeterlinck's "The Blind" and student production, "Just a Few Blockbusters". In the past three years has appeared in well over 50 short films and promos including Consumed from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Mini-series and Bates Motel's Season 4 promotion. Aside from acting on stage and film, Bartek is also very active among the student community, serving as Executive President of the Student Government Association and as the Student Representative on Pace University's Board of Trustees. As an engaged American citizen and voter, Bartek is very excited to portray the role(s) of a United States Senator in American Scoreboard.

John Kroft

Senator Rand Paul, Kentucky (R)

JOHN KROFT is a recent graduate of the Juilliard School where his credits included Arcadia, Landscape of the Body, Measure for Measure, The Winter’s Tale and other credits. In the summers, John appeared at theaters such as The Williamstown Theater Festival, Eugene O’Neil’s National Playwright’s Conference, The Bay Street Theater, and The Chautauqua Theater Company. Television credits include "Blue Bloods" (CBS) and "Red Oaks" (Amazon). He as also held leading parts in such short films as Compatibility, and Passing.

Amber Jaunai

Senator Johnny Isakson, Georgia (R)

Amber Jaunai is excited and humbled to join this stellar cast and crew. Favorite credits at Pace University include Polaroid Stories (Dir. Raelle Mydrick-Hodges), An Octoroon (Dir. Jean Randich), Kaspar (Dir. Scott Davis), Hair (Dir. Saheem Ali), Middletown (Dir. Daniel Winnerman). She is beyond grateful to her amazing parents for who have shown nothing but love and support for her AmberJaunai.com

Cole Taylor

Clerk/Narrator

Cole hails from Ann Arbor, MI and is a recent graduate of Pace University’s BFA Acting program. His credits include BJJ in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ An Octoroon, G in Naomi Iizuka’s Polaroid Stories, and Spider in Amina Henry’s Ducklings. He hopes this reading will help create a safe space where people can form a dialogue about the given state of our nation, no matter what their background may be. Here’s to theater and this awesome cast. He’d also like to thank his family for supporting his dreams.

Catherine Auerbach

Senator Bill Cassidy, Louisiana (R)

Catherine Auerbach is an 8th grade student at West End Secondary School in Manhattan. She has lived in New York City and attended New York City public schools her entire life, except during second grade when she lived in Israel for a year. Her main interests include singing, songwriting, guitar, musical theatre, and hip hop dance.

Jasmine Sanchez

Senator Todd Young, Indiana (R)

Jasmine Sanchez is very excited to be part of the cast of American Scoreboard. Past credits include productions of Seussical Jr. and The Little Mermaid Jr., as well as circus acts at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts. She is currently an eighth grader at West End Secondary School in Manhattan. Her hobbies are singing, debating, and playing tennis.