Bobby Steggert, Heidi Armbruster and More Headline Anna Ziegler's BOY, Beginning Tonight Off-Broadway

BOY, Keen Company's spring production, features Bobby Steggert (Ragtime, Mothers & Sons) Heidi Armbruster (Time Stands Still, Disgraced), Paul Niebanck (A Walk in The Woods, Barbecue, In the Next Room or the vibrator play), and Rebecca Rittenhouse (Commons of Pensacola,"Blood & Oil").

BOY, a co-production with the Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Ensemble Studio Theatre (William Carden, Artistic Director, Paul A. Slee, Executive Director)/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Project (Doron Weber, Vice President, Programs and Program Director), begins performances tonight, February 23rd, with opening night set for March 10th. Performances for this limited Off-Broadway engagement at The Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues) will continue through April 9th only. The performance will run two hours, including intermission.

Design team will include Sandra Goldmark (set design), Sydney Maresca (costumes), Nick Francone (lighting), Shane Rettig (sound), and Ricola Wille (props); Calleri Casting serves as casting agents for Keen Company.

"We are thrilled to present Keen's first World Premiere in almost eight years: BOY by Anna Ziegler, a co-production with Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Project. I have long been a fan of Anna's work and when I saw this play on Kilroy's "The List" last year, I was immediately intrigued. Boy is a beautiful and timely tale that I look forward to sharing with our audience," said Silverstein.

"It was so fortuitous that this came together the way it did -- the Kilroy list piqued Jonathan Silverstein's interest in the play; he came to see a reading at EST and a partnership was born. I couldn't be more thrilled to be working with this team -- the amazing director Linsay Firman, who was so instrumental in the development of this play, EST and Sloan who are longtime collaborators, and the terrific Keen Company, a new collaborator I couldn't be more excited to work with on this project," said Anna Ziegler.

"Since we first produced her beautiful, haunting play Photograph 51, we recognized that Anna Ziegler has a unique sensibility and a special voice. So we were eager to begin working with her on Boy. Now after numerous readings and workshops we are thrilled to be able to partner with the Keen Company to give this remarkable and deeply affecting play the full production it deserves," said William Carden.

Inspired by a true story, BOY explores the tricky terrain of finding love amidst the confusion of sexual identity, and the inextricable bond between a doctor and patient. In the 1960s, a well-intentioned doctor convinces the parents of a male infant to raise their son as a girl after a terrible accident. Two decades later, the repercussions of that choice continue to unfold. A story of the blinding power of love and the complicated mystery of one's perception of self, Boy is a moving play that calls into question how we become who we are. Boy was included in Kilroy's 2014 "The List," the results of their annual industry survey of new plays by female or trans playwrights.

Anna Ziegler's plays include Photograph 51 (directed on the West End by Michael Grandage and starring Nicole Kidman; previously produced at Ensemble Studio Theatre; Seattle Repertory Theatre and Theater J, among others), The Last Match (upcoming at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, CA and City Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA), Boy (upcoming at Keen Company/Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City), A Delicate Ship (The Playwrights Realm at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, New York City; Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), Another Way Home (upcoming in Washington DC at Theater J; previously produced at The Magic Theatre, San Francisco, CA), Dov and Ali (Theatre503; The Playwrights Realm at the Cherry Lane Theatre), The Minotaur (Rorschach Theatre; Synchronicity Theatre) and BFF (WET Productions at the DR2 Theatre, New York City). She has been commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Virginia Stage Company and New Georges. Her plays have been developed at The Sundance Theatre Lab, The O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, New York Stage and Film, The Araca Group, Old Vic New Voices, and Soho Rep's Writer/Director Lab, among others. Anna is a graduate of Yale College and holds an M.F.A. in dramatic writing from the Tisch School of the Arts.

Linsay Firman is Director of Play Development at EST, where she has directed the World Premiere of Lucas Hnath's Isaac's Eye and the NY Premiere of Anna Ziegler'sPhotograph 51, as well as EST Marathon plays by Rachel Bonds, Garrett M. Brown, Darcy Fowler and and Jose Rivera. Other NYC productions include Chairs and a Long Table by Han Ong (Ma-Yi Theatre), Perdita by Pierre Diennet (Lion Theater), Anne Washburn's Apparition (chashama), Joy Tomasko's Unfold Me, Catherine Trieschmann's Crooked and Heather Lynn MacDonald's Pink (all at Ariel Tepper's Summer Play Festival). Linsay began working in new play development as the Associate Director of Soho Rep, where she was a founder and chair of Soho Rep's Writer/Director Lab. Alumna of the Women's Project Director's Lab, the New Dramatists's Resident Director Program and multiple programs at the Lark.

Bobby Steggert has appeared on Broadway in Terrence McNally's Mothers & Sons opposite Tyne Daly, Big Fish (Drama Desk nomination), Ragtime (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle & Drama League nominations, Dorothy Loudon Award), 110 in the Shade alongside Audra McDonald (Outer Critics Circle nomination), and Master Harold...and the boys. Most recently he created the role of Henri Tolouse-Lautrec in Alfred Uhry and Charles Aznavour's My Paris at the Goodspeed Opera House. Other favorites include Big Love(Signature Theater), Giant (The Public), Assistance (Playwrights Horizons), A Minister's Wife and The Grand Manner (Lincoln Center Theatre), Yank (Drama Desk & Drama League nominations, York Theatre), The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island (Drama Desk and Drama League nominations, The Vineyard Theatre), columbinus (New York Theater Workshop), and Mordred in Camelot (NY Philharmonic). TV/film appearances include "The Good Wife," The Namesake (Mira Nair), Kinsey (Bill Condon), "Sondheim: The Birthday Concert" and "Camelot" (both for PBS Live at Lincoln Center), Night Swimming, and a year as Sam Grey on "All My Children." He is proud to have just completed his first year as an adjunct professor at Pace University.

Heidi Armbruster's credits include Broadway (Time Stands Still), LCT3 (Disgraced) (Pulitzer Prize), Primary Stages (Poor Behavior), The Atlantic (Sea of Tranquility), Keen Company (Drama League Nomination for Tea and Sympathy, Good Morning, Bill!), The Mint (The Fifth Column, Love Goes To Press, Susan and God). Red Bull (Duchess of Malfi), New Georges (Hillary), Playwright's Realm (Dov and Ali), as well as extensive regional credits. Film and TV: Poor Behavior (upcoming, directed by Theresa Rebeck), My Man Is A Loser with John Stamos, Michael Clayton, The Northern Kingdom, The Smurfs, "Louie," "The Blacklist," "Blue Bloods," "30 Rock," "Unforgettable," "Law and Order SVU," "House of Cards," "Elementary," and Michelle on TV Land's "Younger." MFA from ACT (ACT's 2013 Rising Star Award recipient).

Paul Niebanck has appeared in New York in A Walk in The Woods (Keen); Barbecue (The Public); Blood and Gifts, In the Next Room or the vibrator play (Lincoln Center Theater); RX (Primary Stages); A Picture of Autumn (Mint); The Changeling (Red Bull); Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre for a New Audience); The American Clock (Signature); Shockheaded Peter; Great Expectations; Our Lot (Clubbed Thumb); Bill W. and Dr. Bob; Richard III (Pearl); Leaving Queens (Women's Project). TV/Film: "Blacklist," "A Person of Interest," "Burn Notice," "One Life to Live." MFA, Yale.

Rebecca Rittenhouse made her Off-Broadway debut in Commons of Pensacola, written by Amanda Peet, at Manhattan Theatre Club. On television, Rebecca starred in the Fox series "Red Band Society" opposite Octavia Spencer, and also guest starred in the pilot episode of Showtime's "The Affair." Rebecca was most recently seen on ABC's primetime series "Blood & Oil" alongside Chase Crawford & Don Johnson. She is a recent graduate of the Atlantic Theatre Company's Conservatory program and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

All performances will be at The Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues) and will be Tuesday through Thursday evenings at 7pm; Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm; and Sunday matinees at 3pm. Tickets will be $61.25 (plus a $1.25 Restoration Fee) or $80 for Premium Seating. Student and rush discounts available (visit Box Office for details). Tickets are on sale now! To purchase tickets go to Telecharge.com or call 212/239-6200 or visit the Theatre Row Box Office.

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