GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES Comes to the Players' Ring Theatre

 In collaboration with Bardo Theatre Company, “Gruesome Playground Injuries” will be on stage at the Players’ Ring Theatre Feb. 28 through March 16. Written by Rajiv Joseph and directed by Tyler Christie, this unconventional drama tells of a different kind of love through sharp humor and even sharper insights into the human condition.

After the success of “Is Edward Snowden Single?” and “The Aliens,” Players’ Ring and Bardo present a thrilling and atypical love story. Doug (played by Dylan S. Wallach) and Kayleen (Kari Buckley) meet at the nurse’s office in their elementary school. Kayleen has a painful stomach ache, and Doug is all banged up from a running dive off the roof of the school. 

Over the next 30 years, these scar-crossed lovers meet again and again, brought together by injury, heartbreak, and their own self-destructive tendencies. With great compassion and humor, playwright Rajiv Joseph (Broadway’s “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”) crafts a compelling and unconventional story about the intimacy between two people when they allow their defenses to drop and their wounds to show.

Director Tyler Christie is a New Hampshire native, based in Brooklyn, New York, where he works as the Playwrights' Lab Associate Director for New Dramatists, the country's oldest playwright center. 

“I am a champion of contemporary voices in playwriting and supporting new work,” he said. “My career as a freelance director spans the country with productions in Chicago, California's Bay Area, New York City, as well as New England. Some of my favorite productions have been on the NH Seacoast including the New England premiere of ‘Is Edward Snowden Single?’ at the Players' Ring.”

Christie said, “The best theater is immediate and vital; it's not something you can pop on, like Netflix, sit back and watch. It demands that we acknowledge the fact we have gathered in a real place, in real time to have a conversation with the story – I strive for this kind of immediacy in all of my work as a director.”

“My favorite collaboration as a theater-maker is with actors, which draws me to plays that challenge the performers. I have had ‘Gruesome’ in my mind as a creative endeavor for many years specifically to work with Kari, an artistic partner of mine, who I've always known would be fantastic in this role,” he said. 

“This play soars when brought to life by nuanced and honest acting – which is incredibly challenging. What's in it for me as a director is the process of working alongside actors to create together and build a production that is as much from their point of view as it is mine.

“Audiences should expect to witness truthful performances, complicated and contradictory characters that reflect the ways in which pain both alienates and brings us together. They should expect to go on a roller coaster of a journey through time with these characters and hopefully leave with a new perspective on how our pain and trauma informs the relationships in our life. I think audiences will witness fantastic performances by two professional actors whose journey began in the Seacoast theater scene.”

Christie added that the Rings’s production of “Gruesome” aims to be just as nuanced and immediate with honest performances as “Is Edward Snowden Single?”

“During ‘Snowden,’ the audience was an active participant, and in ‘Gruesome,’ the audience will bear witness to very small and intimate moments, more like observers in a medical examination room,” he said.

The Bardo Theatre Company, based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was founded in 2020 with the goal of creating bold, expressive, and deeply human theatre, said artistic director Tim Hackney.

“We focus on ensemble-driven work that engages the body, mind, and spirit, bringing audiences into experiences that feel alive and immediate,” Hackney said. 

“Our mission is to ignite a passionate new generation of theatergoers—especially those who may not have previously seen themselves reflected in theatre. We also believe in building a strong sense of community, both within our ensemble and with our audiences. That’s why education and professional development are integral to our work. We want actors to keep evolving and audiences to feel deeply engaged, and theatre to remain essential.”

Hackney said through Bardo’s collaborations with the Players’ Ring, “they’ve built something truly special.”

“We staged ‘Is Edward Snowden Single?’ by Kate Cortesi, a sharp, darkly funny play that explores the lies we tell ourselves and the complexities of identity—themes that resonate deeply with generations shaped by social media and the internet.”

Bardo also partnered with The Players’ Ring to produce “The Aliens” by Annie Baker, an intimate and unfiltered exploration of connection and loss.

“Beyond these productions, we’ve launched free monthly acting classes, providing professional training to local artists and fostering a growing community of passionate performers,” Hackney said. 

“We’ve also introduced Community Classics, an initiative designed to make theatre more accessible and dynamic, featuring a rehearsal process with professional workshops in movement, text analysis, and stage combat. Through these efforts, we’re not just producing theatre—we’re building an artistic home where actors can grow, audiences can engage deeply, and theatre remains a vital, transformative experience.

“This partnership (with the Ring) enables us to create high-quality theatre at an affordable price while paying our performers a fair wage. Every collaboration with them has been an opportunity to challenge ourselves artistically and create something meaningful. We’re excited for this production of ‘Gruesome Playground Injuries,’ and for our future, and we invite everyone to be part of it.

Along with the main actors, Kari Buckley and Dylan S. Wallach, set and sound designer for the play is Tyler Christie; Costume Designer, Kari Buckley; lighting designer, Lauren Stetson; and NY stage manager, Clay Cates.

The Players' Ring is grateful for the support of its Main Sponsors: The Eppes-Jefferson
Foundation, Rosamond Thaxter Foundation, The Puddle Dock Restaurant, Tour Restaurant, Southport Printing Company, Meredith Village Savings Bank, and Supporting Partners: Portsmouth Recreation Department, Kittery Art Association, Port City Makerspace, Business Cents, Dowling HVAC and Media Partners: PortsmouthNH.com and the Chamber Collaborative of Greater Portsmouth.

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