NY Theater Festival to feature "Idols" by Armenian-American playwright Nicholas Bompart

NEW YORK, NY—Armenian-American playwright Nicholas Bompart’s original play Idols will make its debut performance at the New York Theater Festival this month. The play is about a young piano prodigy diagnosed with ADHD. Following the diagnosis, the boy’s school issues an ultimatum that the youngster must take medication or face expulsion, leading to an intense and emotional conflict between his parents and grandparents. The short version of the play “Effigy” was performed at the Chain Theater Play Festival in the summer of 2022.

Bompart is an actor, director, writer and musician from Forest Hills, New York. He earned a BA in theater arts from Pace University and has authored and directed theatrical plays as well as starred in many Off-off and Off-Broadway productions. Bompart’s plays have received accolades and were selected for the Rogue Theater Festival, Chain Theater Festival, Strawberry Theater Festival, The Player’s Theater Short Play Festival, NY Theater Festival, Secret Theater One-Act Play Festival, Equity Library Theater Festival(s) among others.

Bompart has also written and acted in short films that were screened at multiple national and international film festivals and won awards including Best Horror Film, Best Screenplay and Best Science Fiction Short. Bompart has been called “a new up and coming artist” and “someone to watch” in reviews of his work.

Idols is directed by Stefania Papadopoulos, who has a degree in theater arts from the City College of New York, studied comedy improv at New York’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and directing and storytelling at Theater of Changes in Athens, Greece. Currently, Papadopoulos is co-creating a full-length show called Sherry’s Bop that will open in December 2022. Papadopoulos says her main focus in theater is to tell stories that make sense of the world she sees around her.

Stage-managed by veteran Tay Mary Schmidt, the cast includes Benny Wilkinson as the boy Alex; Patrick Robinson as his father and school counselors Andrew/Mr. Johns; Lily Filippatos as Alex’s mother Anna; Chloe Pellicano as Alex’s love interest Isobel; George Zak as Alex’s grandfather Sergei; Dalita Getzoyan as the school psychiatrist and Alex’s music teacher Dr. Hasslebeck/Mrs. Hoffman; Meredith Binder as Alex’s grandmother Sofia; Evans Formica as school principal Stevens; and Markus Kaitilia as the older version of Alex.

Idols, which runs 70 minutes, opens at the New York Theater Festival on October 24 at 9 p.m. at Teatro LATEA on 107 Suffolk Street, NYC, with additional performances on October 26 at 9 p.m. and October 29th at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are available online.