MAE WEST'S The Pleasure Man: Workhouse Publicity announces 1st NYC performance since 1928

Hourglass Group benefit performance stars Charles Busch and an all-star cast of 40

NEW YORK- Hourglass Group presents the first NYC revival performance of Mae West's legendary 1928 play The Pleasure Man in a staged reading to benefit the company's fourth season of provocative new plays and The Actors' Fund's Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative. Starring Charles Busch, Tom Hewitt and Tony Torn, the reading will be directed by Elyse Singer and produced by Hourglass, the same team behind the acclaimed revival of Mae West's SEX-- deemed "exuberant" and "first-rate" (Vincent Canby, The New York Times). Music direction will be by award-winning composer Jeffrey Stock (Triumph of Love). Set in a third-rate vaudeville house, and peopled with acrobats, dancing girls and female impersonators, the play focuses on a Lothario whose dalliances finally catch up with him. Featured in the cast of 40 are Michael Musto, Adam Nelson, James Urbaniak, David Drake, Cynthia Darlow, Alice Playten and Peter Jacobson. Drag performers scheduled to appear are Flotilla deBarge, Sunrize Highway, Traila Trash, Murray Hill and Cashetta, the magician. The reading takes place Monday, March 17, 2003 at 8pm at the Culture Project @ 45 Bleecker Street and will be followed by a gala dessert reception with the cast sponsored by the Chocolate Bar, Original Sin, Manhattan Fruitier and others. Tickets are $50.

Call 212-439-8122 for reservations/information or visit Hourglass Group's website at http://www.hourglassgroup.org. Benefit Committee Michael Cerveris, John Cameron Mitchell, Flotilla deBarge, Hugh Hayes, Sunrize Highway, Terry Kinney, Ron Lasko, Murray Hill, Alison Nelson, Cynthia Nixon, Edward Norton, Lisa Ramirez, James Urbaniak, Melissa Wolff