Dear Friend of the Milk Can Theatre Company, Happy holidays and greetings from the Can! We hope your year has been happy, healthy and productive. As for us, 2011 has been a year of reflection, regrouping and reorganizing. While you may have been wondering, "What are those crazy Canners UP to?!?" we have been working behind the scenes to re-emerge as a company with a clearer vision and more streamlined approach to developing and producing new work while remaining a safe artistic home for writers, directors and actors in New York's vibrant independent theatre community.

As part of this new vision, we are pleased to invite you to our first COW! "Comments On Work" is our new reading series that will go hand-in-hand with our tried and true "Scene Herd Uddered" (SHU) process. Unlike the longer (although extremely productive) SHU which results in a full-length reading, the COW series will be a more casual reading of excerpts of works-in-progress. The COW series will take place in unexpected locations, feature unexpected talent, and is designed to spark interesting conversation and commentary that will allow us to continue to develop the exciting, original work you've come to expect from The Milk Can Theatre Company. It will also offer us a chance to further reach out to the community and invite new playwrights to join us in the development process.

Please join us at our first COW - it will be a chance to reconnect with your friends at the Can, raise a glass of holiday cheer and hear short excerpts of new works by Cheryl L. Davis, ML Kinney and Bethany Larsen. We will meet at the back room of Characters Bar & Grill (www.charactersnyc.com), 243 W. 54th Street (between 8th Ave and Broadway) on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18 from 2-4 p.m. The reading will be free, and the full bar and menu will be available for purchase during the gathering.

Stay tuned for more information on what promises to be a busy and productive 2012. We are currently planning the return of our popular Ten Minute Play Festivals with productions in May and October of 2012. We will also be taking applications for future COW's, planning more SHU's and continuing to develop and produce new work in a supportive, engaging environment.

We hope to see you at Characters on December 18th! And please remember The Milk Can Theatre Company in your end-of-year holiday giving. Every tax-deductible penny we receive goes directly to helping us develop innovative new work. For more information on making a tax-deductible contribution to the Can, please check out the link at the bottom of this email.

Happy holidays, best wishes for a great 2012 and keep in touch! Don't forget to "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

All the best,

The Milk Can Theatre Company
ML, Bethany, Cheryl, Riv & Seth