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."

Beth Henley (Playwright) was born in Jackson, Mississippi. Her plays have been produced internationally and translated into over ten languages. Crimes Of The Heart (The Golden Theatre) and The Wake Of Jamey Foster (Eugene O'Neill Theatre) were performed on Broadway. Off-Broadway productions include: The Miss Firecracker Contest, Am I Blue, The Lucky Spot, The Debutante Ball, Abundance, Impossible Marriage and Family Week. Her play Ridiculous Fraud was produced at McCarter Theatre as well as South Coast Repertory Theatre. Ms. Henley's newest work The Jacksonian premiered at the Geffen Theatre in January 2012 to great acclaim. Robert Falls directed and the cast included Ed Harris, Bill Pullman, Amy Madigan and Glenne Headly. Beth Henley was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play for Crimes Of The Heart. Other awards include: American Theatre Wing 1998 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Playwrighting; Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist for Crimes Of The Heart and Ridiculous Fraud; Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award, 2000; New York Stage and Film Honoree, 2007; ATHE Career Achievement Award, 2010. Ms. Henley wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed film version of Crimes Of The Heart for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. The film starred Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek and Sam Shepard. Bruce Beresford directed. She also wrote the screenplay for Miss Firecracker starring Holly Hunter, Mary Steenburgen and Tim Robbins. She wrote the screenplay for Nobody's Fool, and co-wrote David Byrne's True Stories. Her television credits include "Surviving Love" a film for CBS starring Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen as well as a teleplay for the PBS series, "Trying Times", directed by Jonathan Demme. Ms. Henley has the honor of serving as Theatre Arts Presidential Professor at LMU, Los Angeles. She is a member of The Fellowship of Southern Writers, the Dramatist Guild and the Academy of Arts and Science.

HOP Theatricals (Producer) and lead producer Larry Kaye have been nominated for two Tony Awards for How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying with Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette, and for Green Day's American Idiot. Other productions with which HOP and Mr. Kaye have been involved include Broadway's Oleanna with Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles, and Blithe Spirit with Angela Lansbury, as well as Rooms Off-Broadway, and Pippin at London's Menier Chocolate Factory. Upcoming projects include The Velocity Of Autumn, a new play by Eric Coble starring Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella coming to Broadway this spring, and the new Broadway-bound musical The Tapioca Miracle.