'Insomnia' and 'Calamity' Plays to Run in Rep, 7/5-7/29

The Babel Theatre Project will present not one but two world premieres this season: The Insomnia Play by Jessica Brickman, directed by Geordie Broadwater and The Calamity of Kat Kat and Willie by Emily Young, directed Heath Cullens. The shows will perform in rep, beginning performances on Wednesday, July 5th, opening on Saturday, July 8 and running through July 29 at the Medicine Show Theatre (524 West 52nd Street).

In Jessica Brickman's The Insomnia Play, Georgia can't fall asleep. "She wants to. She needs to. But try as she might, she can't. Instead, she spends her nights lying beside her slumbering husband, flirting with the Sandman, and communing with the spirit of her dead mother. Join Babel Theatre Project for the world premiere of this absurdist examination of one woman's battle with the things that go bump in the night," state press notes.

Brickman is a graduate of Yale University. She is a recipient of Juilliard's Lila-Acheson Wallace writing fellowship and a Lecompte du Nouy prize. she is currently working for Aaron Sorkin as a writer on "Studio 60."

In Emily Young's The Calamity of Kat Kat and Willie, "an English ex-pat named Kat Kat needs the help of her sometime boyfriend, Willie, to pull off one last heist. Only problem is, Willie's gone straight. At weekly meetings with the Ex-pat Fraternity and through much mishap, Kat Kat asks herself whether she should stay with Willie in the little flat on the corner of Broad and Sinister Streets or hop a train to somewhere new."

Young is pursuing her MFA at the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium. Recent credits include Amy in the Consortium production of Tape, Lauren in Babel's production of Pilgrims, both in New York and Edinburgh, Tracy in the 2004 SPF production of Colorado, also in New York, and Emma in the original musical Emma, which she performed while she was an undergrad at Brown and also at the Kennedy Center.

The Insomnia Play runs: Tuesday 7:00pm / Wednesday 7:00pm / Thursday 7:00pm / Saturday 7:00pm. The Calamity of Kat Kat and Willie runs: Tuesday 9:00pm / Wednesday 9:00pm / Thursday 9:00pm / Saturday 9:00pm. An additional show has been added on Friday, July 7 for both shows, which each have a running time around 1 hour and 15 minutes.

The Medicine Show Theatre is located at 549 West 52 Street, 3rd Floor

To purchase tickets, which are $15 (and $25 for both shows), please visit www.theatermania.com or call 212-352-3101. For more information, visit www.babeltheatreproject.org.