PlayCo to Open 15th Season with ABYSS

The Play Company (PlayCo), led by Founding Producer Kate Loewald and Executive Producer Lauren Weigel, kicks off its 15th Anniversary season with the U.S. premiere of Abyss, which marks the U.S. debut of the award-winning German playwright Maria Milisavljevic. Abyss, directed by Maria Mileaf, is a poetic thriller centered on the mysterious disappearance of a young woman. The play exemplifies PlayCo's unique commitment to premiering work from around the world to advance a dynamic, international experience of contemporary theater in New York. Abyss is an exploration of what it means to be an outsider. Speaking about the play Milisavljevic says, "making a new home means finding a new kind of honesty. Otherwise the old lies will follow you."

In Abyss, Karla's been missing from her Berlin apartment since Monday. Frustrated by the indifference of the local police, three of Karla's closest friends (I, She, and He) launch a search of their own. As they delve into the mystery, we're drawn ever more deeply into the profound bond they share in the heritage of the former Yugoslavia. The trauma of the last Balkan War is an ever-present backdrop to the search for Karla. As days pass and the mystery deepens, this turbulent past emerges as a powerful force driving both suspicions and revelations. The mystery ultimately reveals a deeper exploration of how we go on with our lives after profound loss. Winner of Germany's prestigious Kleist Promotional Award, Abyss is a poetic thriller that leads us through a world where people make their own justice, to the brink of irrevocable loss.

Presented by The Play Company, Abyss will take place November 7 - December 6 (see above schedule) at Theaterlab located at 357 W. 36th Street, 3rd floor, Manhattan. Critics are welcome as of November 13 for an official opening on Monday, November 16 at 7:30pm. Tickets are$20 for the previews, $35 for general admission, and $45 for premium reserved tickets; tickets can be purchased by visiting playco.org or calling 866-811-4111. PlayCo is offering a $75 season PlayPass that grants the buyer three tickets to be used as desired in the 15-16 season. Tickets to Abyss are now available for groups of 10 or more. Please email Keisha Salmon at ksalmon@playco.org for more information.

Abyss is performed by Nicole Balsam, Flora Diaz, and Carter Hudson . The creative team for Abyss includes Neil Patel (Set Design), Katherine Roth (Costume Design), Matthew Richards (Lighting Design) Bart Fasbender (Sound) and Linda Bartholomai (Dramaturg).

About The Artists

Born in Arnsberg, Germany, Maria Milisavljevic is an award-winning playwright, theatre creator and director. She is the International Playwright-in-Residence at Tarragon Theatre.

Over the past fourteen years, Milisavljevic has worked with various theatres and companies across Germany, Canada and the UK. She is the artistic director of the TheaterTruppe, which she founded in 2005. Through the TheaterTruppe she has directed, created and written a lot of her work. Milisavljevic's work includes productions of classics, modern classics and her own plays Annas Fest (2008), hell/warm (2009) and Hero of the Day (2010). In 2011, Milisavljevic directed The Visit at Landestheater Niederbayern. She has worked as a script reader, script coordinator and assistant director at Tarragon Theatre.

Maria's play Brandung (Abyss) won the prestigious 2013 Kleist Promotional Award for Young Dramatists and opened at Deutsches Theater Berlin, where it played in repertory until 2015. In 2015, the English language version of Abyss opened at Tarragon Theatre and at Arcola Theatre, London (UK). Abyss was nominated for the Dora Mavor Moore Award 2015 in the category 'Outstanding New Play'. Milisavljevic is the recipient of a three-year scholarship grant by the Bavarian Ministry for Sciences and the Arts. In 2009, she also received the John McGrath Scholarship in Theatre Studies of the Scottish Universities for Hero of the Day.

Maria Mileaf's directing credits include the New York premieres of Lee Blessing's Going to St. Ives at Primary Stages, Kira Obolensky's Lobster Alice at Playwrights Horizons, Vijay Tendulkar's Sakharam Binder and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran for The Play Company, Oren Safdie's Private Jokes Public Places at the Center For Architecture, Neena Beber's Hard Feelings at the Women's Project and her Tomorrowland for New Georges, Erik Ehn's Maid for the Lincoln Center Festival, Julia Cho's 99 Histories at the Cherry Lane, Brighde Mullins' Those Who Can Do at Clubbed Thumb, Jeannie Hutchins' Laugh I Thought I'd Die at P.S. 122 and Dawn Saito's HA at DTW. Regionally she has worked at the La Jolla Playhouse, The Geffen, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Theatre X, Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival and New York Stage and Film. This past summer she directed Lucy Prebble's The Sugar Syndrome for the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Nicole Balsam is excited to be making her Play Co. debut! Other theater credits include the world premiere of Spirits of Exit Eleven at TheaterRow. Recent television credits include a guest star on Law and Order: SVU and the upcoming NBC drama Shades of Blue. Nicole will also star in the upcoming feature films Frat Star, Abnormal Attraction, and Central Park. She is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Flora Diaz's theater credits include: OFF-BROADWAY: Enfrascada and Crumble (Clubbed Thumb), Flowers and Tooth And Claw (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Jailbait and Girl (Cherry Lane Theatre), War (Rattlestick Theatre), With Love, Gabe (INTAR Theatre), Women on Love (The Culture Project),The Secret of Survival (The Soho Playhouse), SCAB (Women's Expressive Theatre) REGIONAL: So Go The Ghosts of Mexico (Sundance Theatre Lab), Boleros For The Disenchanted (Huntington Theatre Company), Donnie Darko (American Repertory Theater), A Christmas Carol (Actors Theatre of Louisville), The Rest of your Life (Axial Theatre), Once Removed (Coconut Grove Playhouse), Crippled Sisters (Baltimore Center Stage), How to Act Around Cops (SOHO Theatre, London). TV/FILM: "Elementary", "Law & Order" (classic, "Criminal Intent" and "SVU"),"Over/Under" (pilot), Rodger Dodger, Apparition, You Were Never Here, and upcoming: The Eyes of My Mother. Ms. Diaz grew up in Chicago and studied acting at Northwestern University. www.floradiaz.com

Carter Hudson's Off-Broadway credits include: The Substance of Fire (Second Stage),Wyoming (Lesser America), The Boogeyman Thumbs A-1-A (NY Fringe/Glass Bandits), '68 (LAByrinth workshop). Regional: Unbuilt City (New York Stage and Film) The Chosen and The Whipping Man (Both at Portland Center Stage), Mai Dang Lao and DB (JAW West Festival), Honus and Me (Mountain Playhouse), Empire Comics Presents . . . (Strangemen & Co.). Upcoming television: Crime (HBO), Codes of Conduct (HBO). Hudson is a Founding member of Glass Bandits Theater Company and a graduate of SUNY Purchase Acting Conservatory.