MODERN TERRORISM, WATER BY THE SPOONFUL Included in Second Stage's 2012-13 Season

Following an acclaimed season which included the world premiere of Paul Weitz's Lonely, I'm Not and a critically lauded second staging of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winner, How I Learned To Drive, Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has just announced two of the four mainstage productions in the company's upcoming 34th season. For subscription or ticket information, please call the Second Stage Box Office at 212-246-4422 or visit the company's website, www.2ST.com. All productions are staged at Second Stage's Tony Kiser Theatre, 305 West 43rd Street (just west of Eighth Avenue).

Second Stage Theatre's upcoming season will continue the company's mission of producing bold new plays and musicals by American Playwrights as well as second stagings of the best of Contemporary Theatre.

The 2012-2013 season will kick off this fall with the world premiere comedy, Jon Kern's MODERN TERRORISM, OR THEY WHO WANT TO KILL US AND HOW WE LEARN TO LOVE THEM, winner of the 2012 Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award. This provocative satire will be directed by Peter DuBois, who staged Second Stage's popular and critical hits Becky Shaw, Trust and All New People. Previews will begin in mid-September prior to a mid-October opening.

The fall will continue with the New York Premiere of this year's Pulitzer Prize-Winning drama, WATER BY THE SPOONFUL, written by Quiara Alegría Hudes and directed by Davis McCallum. Previews will begin in mid-December and the production will officially open in early January, 2013.

Two additional productions are still to be announced.

More detailed information on Second Stage Theatre's upcoming season follows:

MODERN TERRORISM, OR THEY WHO WANT TO KILL US AND HOW WE LEARN TO LOVE THEM

Winner of the 2012 Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award
World Premiere
By Jon Kern
Directed by Peter DuBois
Previews begin mid-September; opening mid-October

In the spirit of Dr. Strangelove comes MODERN TERRORISM, OR THEY WHO WANT TO KILL US AND HOW WE LEARN TO LOVE THEM, a provocative satire about a rogue group of 21st Century terrorists and their darkly comic misadventures. As a young bomber develops feelings for his beautiful, secretive conspirator, he is torn between his duty and his heart. When his hipster neighbor accidentally gets caught up in the plans, circumstances spiral out of control. This world premiere is the winner of the 2012 Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award.

Jon Kern, a graduate of Columbia University's MFA program in playwriting and the University of Chicago, is the 2012 winner of the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award, the largest playwriting prize of its kind in the United States, for Modern Terrorism, or They Who Want To Kill Us and How We Learn To Love Them. Jon recently joined the staff of the long-running hit television show, "The Simpsons," and is a member of the Ars Nova Playgroup, The Civilians R&D Group, and the Ma-Yi Writers Lab. He was awarded a Van Lier Fellowship in Playwriting from New Dramatists in 2010 and is an alumnus of the Youngblood writers' group at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Jon is a born and bred New Yorker. His play We in Silence Hear a Whisper premiered in 2011, produced by Red Fern Theatre Company.

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