Beginning with found and shared experiences, Cassandra Ritas’ and Rebecca Gopoian’s writings smolder with repressed goodness and liberated ambivalence. Kari Swenson Riely reads Ms. Ritas’ disconcerting and exceptionally suspenseful stories about love.  Diane DiCroce will be reading “Two,” Ms. Gopoian’s long poem in tiny pieces, a dark and  unconventional meditation on pregnancy.

Diane DiCroce is a professional actor/singer/dancer/director and teacher of Musical Theater Acting and Voice. She is currently a Professor of Musical Theatre at Pace University. Performing credits include Les Miserables (Broadway and National Tour), 42nd Street and My Fair Lady (USA, Canada, East Asia). As a working member of Actors’ Equity Association, Diane has spent the last 15 years performing many roles in Regional and Stock Theatre including: Penelope Pennywise in Urinetown, Cinderella in Into The Woods, Rizzo in Grease, Sister Robert Anne in Nunsense, Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof and many others. Directing credits include: My Way (Summerstock, Findlay, Ohio) and Songs for a New World (Seaside Music Theatre/UCF).

Rebecca Gopoian‘s poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals including, most recently, jubliat, elimae, Bateau and EOAGH. She has collaborated with her husband, the cartoonist David Heatley, and their comic, “The Creche,” appeared in the New York Times last December. Rebecca was a finalist for the 2005 Marjorie J. Wilson Award for Excellence in Poetry, chosen by Joyce Carol Oates, and a finalist for the Caketrain Chapbook Contest in 2008. She lives with her family in Queens, NY.

Kari Swenson Riely‘s recent credits include You Must Believe in Spring (Don’t Tell Mama), Helen (Extant Arts Company), Manhattan Casanova (Hudson Stage), LOL (The New York Fringe Festival), Youthink! Festival (The McCarter Theatre), Intellectuals (The Workshop Theater Company) and the world premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks’ The House of Jones (365 Days/365 Plays at The Public Theater). In addition to being involved with Manhattan Theatre Club acting in their Write on The Edge program, she is a frequent volunteer with The 52nd Street Project. Film: Never Forever, Life in Flight. TV: New Amsterdam.

Cassandra Ritas has performed original work at Under Acme and at Dixon Place as part of their HOT festival, a celebration of queer culture.  In addition to fiction, Ms. Ritas has published articles and book chapters about criminal justice, aging, and healthcare policies, and the relationship between community-driven public policy and democracy.  She is currently working on a science fiction novel in which a woman becomes a man and the world comes to an end.