Yorktown Actors Apar, Chanza, Pennington in New Play this Weekend

In a notable departure from its standard practice of staging Broadway classics, YCP TheaterWorks is bringing to the Hudson Valley the world premiere of a compelling drama about the inner workings of the New York City court system.

Albi Gorn, author of Diminished Capacity, is an award-winning playwright and Westchester resident (Hastings-on-Hudson), whose career as a court reporter afforded him a front-row seat of the very real people and events that populate his play.

In Diminished Capacity, a criminal defense lawyer is assigned to represent a young man who may well be innocent. Along the way, the audience encounters an arresting range of colorful characters engaged in clever subplots that would make Charles Dickens proud. Hard lessons are learned, relationships are re-ordered, and justice prevails – or does it?

• Bruce Apar of Yorktown Heights portrays Ted Mastro, a City College English Professor (photo enclosed).
• Melissa Chanza of Mohegan Lake is court reporter Jennifer D’Onofrio (photo enclosed).
• Dianne Roxy Pennington of Mohegan Lake is defendant Lourdes Lluvera (photo enclosed).

Other Cast Members (cast photo enclosed)

• Tom Ammirato (Port Chester) as U.S. attorney Larry Weiskopf
• Lourdes Laifer (Cold Spring) as lawyer Miranda Morales
• Fred Rueck (Ridgefield, Conn.) as psychiatrist Robert Novak
• Steve Schnapper (Yonkers) as Judge Kenneth Ryan
• Gary Simon (Cortlandt Manor) as lawyer Herb Kramer
• Donna L. White (Putnam Valley) as lawyer Cindy Hammond
• Nadja Winter (Scarsdale) as waitress/student Lola Sternberg

Diminished Capacity is directed by Robin Anne Joseph of Hastings-on-Hudson, winner of the Best Play prize at the Aery 20/20 One-Act Festival in Garrison (N.Y.) in 2016 and 2015. Daphne Platt (Pleasantville) is assistant director and stage manager.

Performances are on Fridays and Saturdays, Nov. 4, 10 & 11 at 8 p.m., and on Sundays, Nov. 5 and 12 at 2 p.m. in Parish Hall of United Methodist Church, 1176 East Main Street, Shrub Oak, NY 10588.

Tickets, which can be purchased online at YCPTW.org, are $20, adults; $18, seniors and students. A group rate of $10 per ticket applies to parties of 10 or more. For more information: 914-245-2184; ycptw59@gmail.com.

In photo the full cast of "Diminished Capacity" include (from left) Fred Rueck, Dianne Roxy Pennington, Tom Ammirato, Melissa Chanza, Lourdes Laifer, Steve Schnapper, Gary Simon, Donna L. White, Bruce Apar, Nadja Winter (photo by Robin Anne Joseph)