Schreiber & Carpenter Lead GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES at 2nd Stage in 2011; Ellis Directs

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Founder & Artistic Director; Casey Reitz, Executive Director) will present the New York premiere of Rajiv Joseph's GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES, featuring Jennifer Carpenter ("Dexter") and Pablo Schreiber (Tony nominee for Awake and Sing!). Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph returns to Second Stage Theatre, which premiered his plays All This Intimacy and Animals Out of Paper as part of the company's Uptown Series. Directed by Tony nominee Scott Ellis, GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES will begin previews on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 and officially open on Monday, January 31 at 7:00pm at Second Stage Theatre (305 West 43rd street). 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.

The dark romantic saga, GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES, explores the cost of wounded friendships. Over the course of 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the physical calamities that keep drawing them together.

JENNIFER CARPENTER is best known for her performance as Debra Morgan, Dexter's ambitious sister, in the acclaimed Showtime series, "Dexter." She last appeared on the New York stage as Mary Warren in the Broadway production of The Crucible opposite Liam Neeson and Laura Linney. Other theatre credits include: Lincoln Center Theater: Everett Beekin, Director's Lab (Orphan of Zhao, Shi-Zheng); Actors Theatre of Louisville: Julie Johnson (Humana Festival), Trudy Blue (Humana Festival); O'Neill Playwrights Conference: Lucy and the Conquest (Lucy). A graduate of the Juilliard School, Jennifer has appeared in the films The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Quarantine, Battle in Seattle, Dog Problem, Lethal Eviction, Nice Guys Sleep Alone, White Chicks, and D.E.B.S., among others. She can be seen in the upcoming films, The Factory, opposite John Cusack, and Hungry Rabbit Jumps, opposite Nicolas Cage, Guy Pearce, and January Jones.

PABLO SCHREIBER received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in Awake and Sing! His many other theatre credits include Desire Under the Elms, Reasons to be Pretty (Drama Desk Award), Dying City, Mr. Marmalade, Manuscript, Sin: A Cardinal Deposed, Blood Orange, and Julius Caesar at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He is well known to TV audiences for his role as Nick Sobotka on HBO's critically acclaimed series "The Wire." Schreiber has appeared in many films, including Woody Allen's Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Lords of Dogtown, Michael Cuesta's Tell Tale, Nights in Rodanthe, The Manchurian Candidate, Breaking Upwards, Into the Fire, The Mudge Boy, and Invitation to a Suicide. He will next be seen starring in Josh Radnor's Happythankyoumoreplease, which won the Audience Award at Sundance in 2010, and on the upcoming FX series "Lights Out."

RAJIV JOSEPH returns to Second Stage Theatre where his plays Animals Out of Paper (Lortel
nomination for Outstanding Play) and All This Intimacy premiered as part of the Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series. Rajiv is also one of Second Stage's Time Warner Commissioned Playwrights and participated in the company's New Works Festival in 2008. His play, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, will be produced on Broadway this spring, starring Robin Williams. The recipient of the Vineyard Theatre's Paula Vogel Award, Rajiv's other productions include: in New York: The Leopard and the Fox (adaptation), Alter Ego; Huck & Holden, Cherry Lane Theatre, 2006. Los Angeles: Huck & Holden, The Black Dahlia Theatre, 2006. Rajiv is a Founding Member of the New York-based Theatre Company, The Fire Department, and has been a contributing writer on their first two theatrical events, Speakeasy and At War: American Playwrights Respond to the War in Iraq. He is a former Lark Playwriting Fellow and Dramatist Guild Fellow. He received his B.A. in Creative Writing from Miami University and his M.F.A. in Playwriting from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa.

SCOTT ELLIS returns to Second Stage Theatre where he directed Douglas Carter Beane's Mr. & Mrs. Fitch last season. Other Second Stage credits include Good Boys and True, The Little Dog Laughed, The Waverly Gallery with Eileen Heckert, and That Championship Season. Broadway credits include Curtains, Twelve Angry Men (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), Arthur Miller's The Man Who Had All the Luck with Chris O'Donnell, The Boys From Syracuse, The Rainmaker with Woody Harrelson and Jayne Atkinson, 1776 (Drama Desk, Tony nomination), Picnic (Outer Critics Circle nomination), Company, A Month in the Country with Helen Mirren, Steel Pier (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle awards, Tony nomination), She Loves Me (Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations, Outer Critics Circle Award and Olivier Award for Best Director and Best Revival, London production). Off-Broadway: Entertaining Mr. Sloane with Alec Baldwin; Dark Rapture; And the World Goes' Round: The Songs of Kander & Ebb (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle awards); among others. NYC Opera: 110 in the Shade, A Little Night Music. TV: director/co-conceiver of "Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall" and Great Performances' "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies," "30 Rock," Frasier," "Hope and Faith," "Stacked," and "Out of Practice." Mr. Ellis is the associate artistic director for the Roundabout Theatre Company. Mr. Ellis is the Executive Producer/Director of the Showtime series "Weeds."

GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES will have scenic design by Neil Patel; costume design by Jeff Mahshie; and sound design by Ryan Rumery.