Molly Ranson, Tracee Chimo and More Set for Roundabout's BAD JEWS

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced the cast for the next Roundabout Underground production Bad Jews, a new play by Joshua Elias Harmon, directed by Daniel Aukin, featuring Tracee Chimo (Daphna), Philip Ettinger (Jonah), Molly Ranson (Melody) & Michael Zegen (Liam).

Bad Jews will begin preview performances on October 5 and will open officially on Tuesday, October 30, 2012. This is a limited engagement through December 30, 2012. All tickets for Roundabout Underground productions are $20.

The creative team includes Lauren Helpern (Sets), Mark Barton (Lights), Dane Laffrey (Costumes).

Bad Jews is a world-premiere comedy about the holy and the holier-than-thou. Daphna Feygenbaum (Chimo) is a Real Jew—just ask the Israeli boyfriend she met on Birthright. So when her cousin Liam (Zegen) brings home his shiksa girlfriend Melody (Ranson) and declares ownership of their grandfather’s Chai necklace, it sparks a viciously hilarious brawl over family, faith and legacy.

Bad Jews launches the sixth season of Roundabout Underground, an initiative to introduce and cultivate artists in Roundabout’s 62-seat Black Box Theatre, at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street, NYC, NY, 10036). Prior productions include the acclaimed world premieres of Stephen Karam’s Speech & Debate (2007), Steven Levenson’s The Language of Trees (2008), Adam Gwon’s Ordinary Days (2009), Kim Rosenstock’s Tigers Be Still (2010), David West Read’s The Dream of the Burning Boy (2011) and Andrew Hinderaker’s Suicide, Incorporated (2011).

Roundabout Underground is an initiative to showcase new plays that will either allow an experienced director to go back to his/her creative roots or give a debut production to an emerging writer or director. Robyn Goodman (Artistic Consultant to the Roundabout), who has significant artistic development experience, curates the initiative that continues to be a creative breeding ground for nurturing new talent.

The 62-seat Black Box Theatre, below the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, allows Roundabout to take artistic risks that are better suited for a more intimate space.