Amber Tamblyn to Lead THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST on Broadway This Spring; Judith Ivey to Direct

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Beth Henley's 100-proof comedy The Miss Firecracker Contest, starring film and television actress Amber Tamblyn and directed by Tony Award winner Judith Ivey, will bow on Broadway in the spring of 2013. The Miss Firecracker Contest marks Ms. Tamblyn's Broadway debut and Ms. Ivey's Broadway debut as director, and is produced by HOP Theatricals. Broadway theater and dates to be announced.

THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST is the inspiring story of Carnelle Scott (Tamblyn), a Southern orphan living in Brookhaven, Mississippi. Carnelle is furiously rehearsing her patriotic tap dance for The Miss Firecracker Contest-hoping that a victory will salvage her tarnished reputation as the town's "Miss Hot Tamale" and allow her to leave Brookhaven in a "crimson blaze of glory." The unexpected arrival of her cousin Elain, a former Miss Firecracker Queen, (who has walked out on her rich but boring husband and two small children) and Elain's eccentric brother, Delmount (recently released from a mental institution), threatens to derail Carnelle's total makeover. Carnelle perseveres-leading to a climax of hilarity, heart and radiant fireworks!

THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST was first presented to New York audiences in 1984 at the Manhattan Theater Club. Then New York Times critic Frank Rich said of the play that Beth Henley's "comic voice has the crazed yet liberating sound of a Rebel yell." It was later made in the 1989 feature film starring Holly Hunter, Mary Steenburgen and Tim Robbins.

Amber Tamblyn (Carnelle Scott) is an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Independent Spirit Award nominated actor. Ms. Tamblyn will be seen in Quentin Tarantino's soon to be released motion picture, Django Unchained, and in 2013 she will star in the feature film 3 Nights in the Desert. Her film work includes, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants films, 127 Hours and Stephanie Daley. On television Ms. Tamblyn starred in the title role in "Joan of Arcadia" and was featured on the long running "House." In addition to her work as an actor, Ms. Tamblyn is a nationally known poet. Two books of Ms. Tamblyn's poetry have been published, Bang Ditto and Free Stallion and she is working on a new collection to be published in 2013. She is the producer of The Drums Inside Your Chest, an annual poetry concert, and co-founded the nonprofit, Write Now Poetry Society.

Judith Ivey (Director) Judith has directed Vanities, The Musical at the Pasadena Playhouse and Second Stage in NYC. Off-Broadway, she has also directed Secrets Of A Soccer Mom, The Butcher Of Baraboo, Fugue, Southern Comforts and more. Judith directed Steel Magnolias at the Alley Theatre, Bad Dates at Northlight Theatre and Laguna Playhouse, and most recently she was nominated for a Bass Award for her work on Carapace at the ALLIANCE THEATRE. Ms. Ivey is currently starring on Broadway in The Heiress. She won the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for her performances in both Steaming and Hurlyburly, and the Obie Award for her performance in The Moonshot Tape. She was honored with the Sydney Kingsley-Madge Evans Award for 2004 from the Dramatists' Guild, and she has been inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame, as well as received the Texas Medal of the Arts for Theatre. She toured the U.S. in the one-woman show, Irene O'Garden's Women On Fire during the 2006-07 season, and was nominated for a Lucille Lortel award for Best Solo Performance. In 2010 Judith received the Lucille Lortel for Best Actress for the Roundabout's revival of The Glass Menagerie, and she was nominated again for Best Solo Performance for The Lady With All The Answers at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Some film credits include The Devil's Advocate, Washington Square, Mystery, Alaska, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Love Hurts, Harry and Son, Compromising Positions, What Alice Found, and Flags of our Fathers. Judith starred in four television series, the most memorable being "Designing Women." Ms. Ivey as guest starred on such shows as "Will And Grace," "Law And Order: SVU," "Grey's Anatomy," "Person Of Interest" and "White Collar." She was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in Hallmark's "What The Deaf Man Heard." Some other TV film credits include "The Long, Hot Summer," "Decoration Day," "Half a Dozen Babies" and "Rose Red."