Jonathan Burke, Matt Walker & More to Star in LOVE + SCIENCE at New York City Center

Love + Science, a new play by scientist and writer David J. Glass, announced the cast and creative team for its May 26-July 6, 2023, premiere at New York City Center Stage (ii) (131 W 55th St, Manhattan). Directed by Allen MacLeod, Love + Science centers on two gay medical students who must navigate their love, careers, and loyalties at the height of the 1980s HIV/AIDS crisis. The production is set to open on Sunday, June 4. Tickets, starting at $25, are now on sale at www.loveandscienceplay.com.

Jonathan Burke (The Inheritance, Choir Boy) and Lortel-nominee Matt Walker (The Play That Goes Wrong) lead an ensemble of seven that includes Thursday Farrar (Aida, Parade, Once Upon a Mattress), Adrian Greensmith (Netflix's Metal Lords), Ryan Knowles (The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical), Tally Sessions (Company, Anastasia, War Paint), and Imani Pearl Williams (1776).

Set in New York City during the early 1980s, Love + Science centers on two gay medical students who connect while working in a retrovirology lab. When HIV erupts, the fallout upends their relationship as their response to the rising epidemic pushes them along different paths, raising questions about their values as scientists and doctors and their responsibilities as gay men. A sprawling drama spanning the decade, Love + Science explores the difficulties of love during a crisis, the realities of scientific progress, and how to maintain hope amid an epic struggle.

The creative team for Love + Science includes Zoë Hurwitz (scenic design), Camilla Dely (costume design), Reza Behjat (lighting design), Jane Shaw (original music & sound design), Dave Anzuelo (intimacy & movement director), and Merrick Williams (production stage manager).

"The panic at the beginning of the COVID pandemic felt eerily similar to the beginnings of the HIV/AIDS epidemic," said playwright David J. Glass. "This led me to return to playwriting after decades working in medical research. Love + Science is my attempt to shed more light on a tumultuous moment in New York history that is being forgotten."

Love + Science is inspired by Glass' time at New York Medical College, where he took care of HIV patients as a medical student, and at Columbia University where he conducted postdoctoral research on cancer in a laboratory that was focused on HIV and other emerging infectious diseases. As a native New Yorker, Glass witnessed first-hand how the HIV/AIDS epidemic radically changed the lives of gay men in New York.

Performances of Love + Science will take place May 26-July 6, 2023, at New York City Center Stage (ii), located at 131 W 55th St in Manhattan. Critics are welcome as of June 1 for an opening on Sunday, June 4. The performance schedule is Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 2:30pm and 7:30pm, and Sundays at 2:30pm with no performance on July 4. Tickets start at $25.

Please visit www.loveandscienceplay.com for more information.

About the Creative Team

David J. Glass

(playwright) trained with Peter Hedges at the Manhattan Class Company in the 1980s, and had work staged at Playwrights Horizons including five plays performed off-off-Broadway, most notably Beach Scenes, which was performed at Intar Stage II in 1989. He then took time away from theater to focus on science. Glass is currently the Vice President of Research at a local biotech company, a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Medical School, where he teaches classes on how best to perform experiments, and the history and philosophy of experimentation, and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. He is the author of Experimental Design for Biologists (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2014) and over 130 scientific manuscripts.

Allen MacLeod

(director) is a New York-based director of new plays and musicals. Recent credits include Light Switch (Spectrum Theatre Ensemble), The Trade Federation: or, Let's Explore Globalization Through the Star Wars Prequels (IRT Theater); and Prophesy (The Wild Project; best direction award, Fresh Fruit Festival). Select associate/assisting credits: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (The Kennedy Center); Frozen: A Musical Spectacular (Disney Cruise Lines); Presto Change-o, A Little More Alive, and Man of La Mancha (Barrington Stage); I Hate Hamlet (Bucks County Playhouse); We Are the Tigers (Gallery Players); Cory and Smin's Love Conquers the Universe (Smiling Hogshead Ranch).

Zoë Hurwitz

(scenic design) is a designer working in New York and London. She has designed for venues such as Hampstead Theatre, The National Theatre (Connections/New Views Festival 2022), The Orange Tree, The Park, Jermyn Street Theatre, Mercury Theatre, The New Diorama, The Royal Court, and the Director's Programme at the Young Vic. US venues include Here Arts Centre, Ars Nova (AntFest), The Wild Project, The Sheen Center and Brown/Trinity Rep. Hurwitz was a winner of the 2019 Linbury Prize for Stage Design at The National Theatre and won the 2022 JMK development award with director Emerald Crankson. She has twice been a finalist in the Off West End Awards for Best Set Design and two of her designs were selected for World Stage Design 2022, one of which taking first place in the Emerging Set Design category. She has a BA in Fine Art from Chelsea School of Art and an MFA in Set Design from NYU Tisch. www.zoehurwitz.com

Camilla Dely

(costume design) is a South African costume designer and visual artist working in theater, opera, and dance. Recent credits: A Christmas Carol (Trinity Repertory Theatre), La Traviata (City Lyric Opera), Theater for One (Signature Theater Residency), The Ding Dongs (Kitchen Theater Company). Upcoming: Mary Gets Hers (Off-Broadway), Sense & Sensibility (Northern Stage), The Little Comedies (Alley Theatre, co-design with Susan Hilferty), Hurricane Diane (People's Light). MFA: NYU/Tisch. www.camilladely.com

Reza Behjat

(lighting design) is an Obie award winning lighting designer based in New York City. He began his career in Iran - where he worked with some prominent directors for several years. Behjat's works have been shown on Off-Broadway and in regional theaters across the United States such as The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Atlantic Theater, MCC, Minetta Lane, Lucille Lortel, The Guthrie Theater, Berkeley Rep, Actors Theater of Louisville, and many more. Behjat won an Obie Award in the design category for his work on two productions of English and Wish You Were Here in 2023. In addition, alongside the cast and the creative team of English, he received a Special Citation from the Obie Award. Also, he is the winner of the prestigious award of The Knight of Illumination for Nina Simone: Four Women in 2019.

Jane Shaw

(original music & sound design). Credits include The Wanderers (Roundabout), The Art of Burning (Hartford Stage, The Huntington), A Christmas Carol (Guthrie), Amerikin (The Alley), The Railway Children (Northern Stage). New York: Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, TFANA, National Black Theatre, Repertorio Español, New York Theatre Workshop. Regional: ART, Old Globe, Mark Taper Forum, Asolo, ACT, Cleveland Play House. Awards: Drama Desk, Connecticut Critics Circle, Henry, Bessie. Member: USA 829, TSDCA. Training: Harvard University, Yale School of Drama. www.janeshaw.com

Dave Anzuelo

(intimacy & movement director) is the founder of UnkleDave's Fight-House, a team of LGBTQ fight/intimacy directors. Broadway credits: Room; Bad Cinderella; Ain't No Mo; Kimberly Akimbo; Girl From The North Country; The Great Society; Escape To Margaritaville; Tuck Everlasting; An American In Paris; Disgraced. Off-broadway: Halfway Bitches Go Straight To Heaven (Labyrinth/Atlantic Theaters; Drama Desk Nom.); Oedipus El Rey (The Public Theater; Drama Desk Nom). TV: AnnieLive!

About the Cast

Matt Walker

(Matt) is an actor and scientist from Toronto, Canada. He trained at Juilliard for a year before enrolling at Harvard for neurobiology. Matt made his New York debut in The Play that Goes Wrong, where he was nominated for a 2019 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Featured Actor. As a scientist, Matt co-founded the genetics startup Can9 Bioengineering and is currently pursuing a PhD in genetics at Columbia University as a National Science Foundation fellow.

Jonathan Burke

(Jeff) Broadway: The Inheritance (Tony Award - Best Play); Choir Boy; Tuck Everlasting. Off-Broadway: Patience (2ST); Toni Stone (Roundabout); Joan of Arc: Into the Fire (Public); Langston in Harlem (Urban Stages). Tours: Mary Poppins; A Christmas Story; Joseph...; Cats. TV: "Harlem" (Prime Video); "New Amsterdam" (NBC); "Only Murders in the Building" (Hulu); "Bridge and Tunnel" (EPIX). Co-creator of @notlookingtheseries. BFA, Ithaca College.

Thursday Farrar

(Prof. Gold, Hannah, Stella) Broadway: Aida, Parade, Once Upon a Mattress. Off-Broadway: The Bandaged Place (Roundabout), Regrets (MTC), St. Louis Woman, Golden Boy (City Center), National tours: Flashdance, Les Miserables, Carousel. Regional: First Wives Club (Old Globe), Merrily We Roll Along (Kennedy Center), Harmony (La Jolla Playhouse), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Cincinnati Shakespeare). TV: Poker Face, That Damn Micheal Che, Manifest, Modern Love, FBI, Bull. Film: The Brian Banks Story, Across the Tracks, Holiday in Harlem.

Adrian Greensmith

(Gary, Joe) This production is Adrian's stage debut, so do forgive him if he breaks the fourth wall to tell you about how exciting this all is. He recently graduated from the Acting CDT course (Collaborative and Devised Theatre) at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, but is originally from Brooklyn. He can be seen in the movie Metal Lords on Netflix, and the upcoming Amazon Prime Video show, Harlan Coben's Shelter.

Ryan Knowles

(Nicky, Technician) originated the roles of Chiron, Poseidon, Medusa, Hades, and others in the 2019 Broadway production of The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical. He also created the role of Buddy in the world tour of We Will Rock You, the Queen musical. Tours: How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Todrick Hall's OZ: The Musical. Off-B'way: Bulldozer, NEWSical, Caligula Maximus, Radio City. Regional: FTR: The Brat Pack, Disney's Hunchback, Disney's Aladdin. TV: Host of Nickelodeon's Me:TV.

Tally Sessions

(Steve Rubell, James, Dr. Stern) Broadway: Company, Anastasia, War Paint, Falsettos, Paramour, School of Rock, Big Fish, The House of Blue Leaves. Off-Broadway: Giant (Public), Queen of the Mist (Transport Group), Anyone Can Whistle (Encores!), Yank!, Godspell and Hallelujah, Baby! (York). Tour: Legally Blonde, South Pacific, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Regional: Paper Mill, Goodspeed, Old Globe, Signature, KC Rep, Asolo Rep, Westport Playhouse, Olney Theatre, Studio Theatre, Kennedy Center, Milwaukee Rep. TV/Film: Maisel, Falling Water, Elementary, Burning Man.

Imani Pearl Williams (Melissa, Jane, Nadia) was recently in the Broadway revival of 1776 as a standby. Other credits include co-starring on Law and Order, Fleishman is in Trouble, and Extrapolations, as well as numerous tours and regional musical theater productions.

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