Abingdon Theatre Company's 2015-16 Season to Feature World Premieres

Abingdon Theatre Company launches its 2015-2016 Season of new plays beginning this fall with the world premiere of CUT THROAT by JB Reich. Directed by Drama Desk nominee Mark Waldrop (NEWSical The Musical, When Pigs Fly), CUT THROAT is set to begin previews October 2 at Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex's Dorothy Strelsin Theatre (312 West 36th Street).

In February 2016, the company continues its 23rd Season with the world premiere, limited Off-Broadway engagement of A ROOM OF MY OWN, written and directed by Charles Messina (Mercury: The Afterlife and Times of a Rock God, Cirque Jacqueline).

Abingdon Theatre Company's 2015-2016 Season concludes in May 2016 with the world premiere of MARRIED BY MIDNIGHT by Emmy winner Ken Levine ("Cheers," "Fraiser," "The Simpsons"), directed by Drama Desk nominee Stuart Ross (Enter Laughing, Forever Plaid).

Following are details regarding Abingdon's upcoming season of new plays:

CUT THROAT
October 2-25, 2015
Written by JB Reich
Directed by Mark Waldrop

Amy and Ben are happily married...until they decide to send their 3-year-old boy to preschool. CUT THROAT examines the meaning of children, parenthood, marriage-and New York City private school admissions.

Playwright JB Reich received two commissions from the EST/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science and Technology Project in 1999 and 2000. Area Under the Curve was produced by the Ensemble Studio Theatre in Marathon 2000. The other commissioned full length, Milgram, was workshopped at Brodman Area #25 in 2014. Other plays include Chrissy (Launch Festival '99; Red Line/All Seasons Theater Group), Runaway Train (Lamia Ink!/La MaMa '96). Many readings and other workshops including DNR, Joe & Sarah, Ersatz Nevada, Train, Sonny Boy (EST Octoberfest, Naked Angels, N.Y. Stage and Film, MCC, New Jersey Rep). He is a playwright member of EST and the EST playwrights unit.

Drama Desk nominee Mark Waldrop returns to Abingdon where he previously directed John Epperson's My Deah, starring Nancy Opel, and Inventing Avi by Robert Cary and Benjamin Feldman. He is the director of the long-running Off-Broadway hit NEWSical The Musical. Other Off-Broadway credits include Til Divorce Do Us Part, When Pigs Fly, Pete 'n' Keely, Listen to My Heart, Game Show and Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 (Encores!). He directed Bette Midler's Divine Miss Millennium Tour and numerous regional productions, including Gypsy starring Betty Buckley (Paper Mill Playhouse), Little Shop of Horrors (Olney Theatre Center), and Into the Woods (Seattle's 5th Avenue).

CUT THROAT opens Sunday, October 11 in the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre.

A ROOM OF MY OWN
February 19-March 20, 2016
Written and Directed by Charles Messina

In A ROOM OF MY OWN, Charles Messina recounts his adolescence growing up in a Greenwich Village studio apartment with his eccentric Italian-American family. This semi-autobiographical adult comedy takes a hilarious and heartfelt look at NYC in the late-1970s.

Charles Messina's credits as a playwright and director include the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway plays Cirque Jacqueline, about the life of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and Mercury: The Afterlife and Times of a Rock God, a one-man drama about Queen's frontman Freddie Mercury. His plays include An Honest Woman, The Wanderer, Actor Found Dead, Merging, and 'Twas the Night Before a Brooklyn Christmas (co-written with Vincent Gogliormella). As part of Abingdon's Sunday Series, Messina has presented evenings of one-act plays: 3 From the Neighborhood, Moonlight in Greenwich Village and Fairies. His directing credits include Two-Mur Humor, Be My Love: The Mario Lanza Story, Rockaway Boulevard, and the long-running comedy, The Accidental Pervert, now in its sixth year Off-Broadway.

A ROOM OF MY OWN opens Wednesday, March 2 in the June Havoc Theatre.

MARRIED BY MIDNIGHT
April 29-May 22, 2016
Written by Ken Levine
Directed by Stuart Ross

At 5pm on August 26, 1965, President Johnson declares that only men MARRIED BY MIDNIGHT would still be eligible for draft deferment. It's a rush to the altar for six young men and their prospective brides, as the guys try to avoid going to Vietnam.

Ken Levine is an Emmy-winning writer/director/producer/disc jockey/major league baseball announcer. In a career that has spanned over 30 years, he has been the head writer of "M*A*S*H"; producer of "Cheers"; creative consultant of "Fraiser" and "Wings"; writer for "The Simpsons"; co-creator of three series; director of sixty half-hour sitcom episodes; and play-by-play voice of the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, and San Diego Padres. His first play, Upfronts and Personal received all-star staged readings in Los Angeles and New York. His second play, A Or B?, was produced at the Falcon Theatre in Los Angeles. He has hosted movies on TCM and has been a national radio commentator and talk show host. He has authored four books and has a blog (byKenLevine.com) that Time Magazine listed as one of the top 25 blogs of the net.

At Abingdon, Stuart Ross directed last season's It Has to Be You by Catherine Butterfield. He received a Drama Desk nomination for his direction of Enter Laughing. Other Off-Broadway credits include Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, and the musical revue Forever Plaid, which he also wrote and choreographed. He earned Lucille Lortel Award nominations for the book and lyrics of Radiant Baby.

MARRIED BY MIDNIGHT opens Sunday, May 8 in the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre.

Casts and creative teams are to be announced. Productions in the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre are Equity Approved Showcases. Dates are subject to change.

Abingdon Theatre Company is dedicated to producing new works by emerging and established playwrights. In its 22-year history, it has produced 86 new plays. Highlights of Abingdon's past seasons include John Epperson's My Deah, John Morogiello's Engaging Shaw, Iddo Netanyahu's A Happy End, Robert Brustein's The Last Will, and Brian Richard Mori's Hellman v. McCarthy, which was filmed as part of WNET Thirteen's inaugural season of "Theatre Close-Up."

Jan Buttram is Artistic Director and Craig J. Horsley is Managing Director of Abingdon Theatre Company.

Subscriptions to Abingdon's 2015-2016 Season featuring CUT THROAT, A ROOM OF MY OWN and MARRIED BY MIDNIGHT are currently available. For tickets and additional information, call 866-811-4111 or visit www.abingdontheatre.org. Abingdon Theatre Company is located at 312 West 36th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues.