The Platform Group is now in works to bring about their new play titled Roughly Speaking: Voices from the Soup Kitchen. They have now launched a Kickstarter campaign to back this project.

Long Island City, NY -- (SBWire) -- 04/10/2015 --Started in 2010 by Director Shara Ashley Zeiger, The Platform Group has been a concentrated effort to "create platforms, build bridges, and move mountains through theatre." There are now in their endeavors to bring about their much anticipated production called Roughly Speaking: Voices from the Soup Kitchen. It is stated that this play will set a new archetype in theatrics will bring together the homeless and the art of theater in a way that has never been witnessed before.

With this new Kickstarter campaign, their goal is to raise a minimum of $21,000, which would fund 16 Equity Showcase performances Off-Off Broadway, with an additional $29,000 to finance an extended Off Broadway run. The Platform Group plans on hosting post performance talkbacks on homelessness as well as a special performance.

The idea for this play took birth when six playwrights spent months volunteering their time at Xavier Mission Welcome Table Soup Kitchen, through their partnership with The Platform Group. Xavier is the biggest establishment of its kind serves an average of 1,500 meals each Sunday. When volunteering, the team was lead by Platform's Artistic Director to interview the guests. And thus, they crafted a new biographical play based on the people they met and titled it "Roughly Speaking: Voices from the Soup Kitchen."

"These stories are touching, powerful and sometimes even very funny. Something like this has never been done before, and we are excited to share it," said Zeiger in regards to the theme of the play.

"She traveled every year, she had a house… now she gets up at 4 a.m. in Grand Central Station because a cop is rolling her," stated writer Melissa Tien about interviewing a woman in her 50s who lost her home after her husband died, and plummeted from a middle class life.

Other people represented in the play include a college student who sleeps on the subway, victims of domestic abuse, a vet who still has shrapnel in his back and suffers from narcolepsy, former gang members, a musician who once played with the greats, a filmmaker that never quite made it, a paraplegic rapper who stays in the shelters because they are handicapped accessible, products of addiction, and successes of making it out of the system too.

The creative team includes Shara Ashley Zeiger (Platform founder), Melisa Tien (Women's Project, EST), Mel Nieves (LAByrinth, The Actors Studio), Jonathan Libman (IRT, The Actors Studio), Joe Norton (Broadway Cares, NY Fringe), and Erin Moughon-Smith (Old Vic New Voices). The Platform Group was founded in 2010 to create exciting, inspiring work that provides a place to stand on.

The team is funding the project through a Kickstarter campaign that will launch May 11. For details and more information, the official website for The Platform Group can be found on http://www.theplatformgroup.org/.

Contact:
Website: http://www.theplatformgroup.org/
Adress: 47-12 11th st #1
Long Island City, NY 11101
Email: PlatformGroupStuff@gmail.com
Tel: 215-833-4914