Major Motion Picture By O’Neill Playwright Makes Connecticut Premiere
Special Advance Screening To be Held at The Garde Arts Center in New London

Waterford, CT, July 15, 2004 ­ An advance screening of a new Paramount film, “Mean Creek” by Jacob Aaron Estes, will take place on Monday, July 19th at 7:30 pm at the Garde Arts Center in New London. Estes, who is the film’s producer/writer/director, first developed the work as a play during the 1997 O’Neill Playwrights Conference which will be co-sponsoring the presentation. The film, which stars Rory Culkin, has already won awards at the 2004 Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals. Mr. Estes also recently received a Humanitas Award for his work. Paramount Studios will be releasing the film commercially later this summer, in part due to its unprecedented success at both Sundance and Cannes.

It was Estes desire to have the film screened in the New London area because of the work’s association with the O’Neill and O’Neill’s Playwrights and Music Theater Conferences that are currently underway. It also seemed to be the perfect collaboration with the Garde’s New London Film Festival, which begins August 11. This screening will act as a sneak peek for the Festival, now in it’s fourth year. Mr. Estes will be on hand that evening and will entertain questions from the audience about the film after the screening.

“Mean Creek” tells the story of small town teenagers who suffer at school from the ravages of a tough older kid and his continued attacks. When the bully goes after a completely defenseless youth, the others take matters into their own hands with a plan that goes tragically awry.

The screening is open to the public and tickets at $8.00 each will be available at the door. 2004 New London Film Festival Passes will be valid for admission. The Garde is located at 325 State Street (at the corner of State and Huntingdon Streets) in New London. For more information call the Garde Box Office at 860.444.7373 or visit www.gardearts.org or www.theoneill.org.

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964 and based in Waterford CT, is a learning community dedicated to advancing the American Theater through programs that encourage creative excellence and develop diverse voices and new work. These include the Puppetry Conference, the Playwrights and Musical Theater Conferences, the Critics Institute and the National Theater Institute, a college-accredited training program for theater artists. The O’Neill also owns and operates the Monte Cristo Cottage, childhood home of America’s only Nobel Prize-winning playwright, Eugene O’Neill, and holds an annual celebration honoring the life and works of its namesake every October.