A live staged reading of select scenes f r o m “Wonder Drug,” by award-winning screenwriter Caitlin McCarthy, is set for Tuesday, August 17, 2010, at the Manhattan Theatre Club, 311 West 43rd Street, 8th Floor (between 8th and 9th Avenue), New York, NY. Attendance is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5 p.m. The reading and Q&A period will be 5:30-6:30 p.m., followed by light snacks and beverages.

“Wonder Drug” is a scientific drama about DES (diethylstilbestrol), the world’s first drug disaster. DES is a toxic and carcinogenic synthetic estrogen. It was prescribed to pregnant women to prevent miscarriages and problem pregnancies for decades: f r o m 1938 until 1971 (and in a small number of cases for several years thereafter) in the United States; and until the mid-1980s in parts of Latin America, Europe, Australia, and the Third World.

McCarthy says, “The currently proven effects of DES exposure include a rare vaginal cancer in DES Daughters; greater risk for breast cancer in DES Mothers; possible risk for testicular cancer in DES Sons; abnormal reproductive organs; infertility; high-risk pregnancies; and an increased risk for breast cancer in DES Daughters after age 40. There are a number of other suspected effects, including auto-immune disorders, but many of these effects are still awaiting further research. To this day, not one drug company has ever apologized or accepted responsibility for the DES tragedy. Nevertheless, they have paid millions in out-of-court settlements and verdicts to DES Daughters and Sons who suffered injuries f r o m their exposure.”

Set in Boston, “Wonder Drug” interweaves the lives of a pharmaceutical executive, a feminist doctor and a thirty-something newlywed across different decades. The feature film is currently in development with acclaimed independent director Tom Gilroy (“Spring Forward”) and executive producer Mark Romeo (”Blue Gold: The Story of American Jeans”).

McCarthy has been honored at international film festivals and labs. “Wonder Drug” has won awards, or received nominations, in more than 20 international film festival screenplay competitions and labs, including the prestigious Hamptons Screenwriters Lab as an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation script.

Directing the reading is Tom Gilroy, a New York-based director/writer/producer and actor. Among his writing/directing/producing credits are two award-winning films: “Spring Forward,” (IFC/MGM) starring Liev Schreiber, Ned Beatty and Campbell Scott;
and the short, “Touch Base” (IFC/BRAVO). He is co-founder of the Machine Full theatre company and has appeared in more than 30 films.

The reading will star celebrated married couple David Alan Basche and Alysia Reiner. Basche’s recent roles include “Sex and the City 2,” “United 93” and “The Starter Wife” series; and Reiner’s include “Sideways,” “The Vicious Kind” and “Speed Grieving.”

More information can be found at: www.wonderdrugthemovie.com and www.facebook.com/wonderdrugthemovie.

Via EPR Network
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