Mad Dog Theatre Company Presents THIS IS NOT THE PLAY, 6/22-7/3

Mad Dog Theatre Company concludes its exciting inaugural season with the world premiere of THIS IS NOT THE PLAY, a commission by 2011 Dramatists Guild Fellow Chisa Hutchinson. Directed by Joel Waage and designed by Richard T. Chamblin III, THIS IS NOT THE PLAY begins performances on Wednesday, June 22 at the Theaterlab, located at 137 West 14th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues).

THIS IS NOT THE PLAY is an AEA-approved showcase. General admission is $18, or free with a current Actors Equity Association membership card (pending availability).

The cast of THIS IS NOT THE PLAY includes Chisa Hutchinson (2011 Dramatists Guild Fellow), Heather Kelley (Don Carlos, Prospect Theater Company), Jennifer Logue (Tale of Two Cities, Asolo Repertory Theatre), Kevin O'Callaghan (The Argument, Attic Theater Company), and Nicole Samsel (Eclipsed, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin).

THIS IS NOT THE PLAY is... well, not really a play. It's an inside look at the controversial process by which one playwright constructs characters and ultimately a story. Problem is, the playwright has no idea who the characters really are. She isn't even sure she wants to tell their story. And it doesn't exactly help that the characters go on strike mid-brainstorm. Watch to see how she gets them to reveal themselves - and their deep, dirty issues - despite deep distrust and mutual prejudice. The bonus? You get a say in what the actual play will be.

BIOGRAPHIES

Chisa Hutchinson (2011 Dramatists Guild Fellow) earned a B.A. in Playwriting from Vassar College, and an M.F.A. from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Her plays, which tend to probe social issues, include She Like Girls, Sex on Sunday (or How to Make a Man Stay, Beg and Roll Over), The Subject, Dirt Rich, Momma's Gonna Buy You, and Somebody's Daughter; they have been presented by such companies as the Lark Play Development Center, Vital Theater, The BE Company, Working Man's Clothes, City Parks Theater, the Atlantic Theater Company, and Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Chisa was most recently honored with a GLAAD Award for the Working Man's Clothes production of her play, She Like Girls, and was selected to be the first recipient of the Lilly Award for Outstanding Emerging Playwright. Her first musical (with puppets!), Tunde's Trumpet, will premiere this July at City Parks' Summerstage.

JOEL WAAGE (Director) hails from Seattle, Washington. Previous directing credits include All The Way From China (Gene Frankel Theatre); Waiting for Godot, Titus, Step 3, Flood Story (FSU); Julius Caesar, The Zoo Story, The Retreating World (Asolo Late Night Series); Pippin, Godspell, The Wiz, In Your Eyes, Lost in Yonkers (Village Theatre); The Dying Gaul, Sylvia (WWU); The Fantastics (Tahoma); Noises Off (Green River CC). Joel has a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Arts from Western Washington University. Joel can solve a Rubik's cube in less than two minutes.

RICHARD T. CHAMBLIN III (Designer) has worked with Goodspeed Musicals, Long Wharf Theatre, Two River Theater Company, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Mad Dog Theatre Company, Hudson Guild, Ars Nova, Gallery Players, and the Texas Shakespeare Festival. Richard holds an M.F.A. from Florida State University and a B.F.A. from Sam Houston State University.

MAD DOG THEATRE COMPANY is a group of artists who tell stories. We believe the best way to do this is to make the stories our own. Stories that are funny, ferocious, unlikely, sexy, rough, inconvenient, loud, unsightly, and - ultimately - provoke questions. We are committed to producing new work, and strive for passionate collaboration from inception through performance. We welcome the possibility of creating a monster. If we do, we'll smile, shake its many hands and offer it some enchilada lasagna.

Founded in 2010 by seven theatre artists who met at the Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training between 2006-2009, we are experienced (and aspiring) actors, directors, playwrights, theatre administrators, teaching artists and bartenders. We work as an ensemble and encourage each other to wear a number of hats so that we - like our audience - are always evolving. The idea to use "Mad Dog" as the name of our theatre company was born, as so many ideas are, over a drink in a bar. But what started as a joke quickly turned into something else: we realized we like the idea of a Mad Dog. We see ourselves, and the work we want to create, as a kind of Mad Dog: hungry, unpredictable, and dangerous. And so we've stolen this nickname of an acquaintance we all have in common to embrace this shared commitment and identity as a company, and to mark the serendipitous moment when seven very different paths crossed in - of all places - Sarasota, Florida.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKETS
The performance schedule for THIS IS NOT THE PLAY is Wednesday through Saturday at 8PM and Sunday at 2PM. Tickets are available online at www.theaterlabnyc.com, and in person at the Box Office (137 West 14th Street).