2015 Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Studio 42, Artistic Director) has announced that on May 2nd, as part of its 15th Anniversary Season, Studio 42 will host the Final Unproducible Smackdown. This one-night only, no holds barred short-play competition will crown NYC's Most Unproducible Playwright. This year's event features the works of Meghan Deans (Ashore), - winner of the '13 and '14 Unproducible Smackdowns, Krista Knight (Salamander Leviathan), Erica Saleh (In Memory of Julie Simmons ), Adam Szymkowicz (Clown Bar), and Lauren Yee (The Hatmaker's Wife). Direction by Sarah Krohn (Horse Girls), Erik Pearson (Studio 42's Billy Witch), Danya Taymor (I Hate f-ing Mexicans), Jen Wineman (Connecticut Repertory Theatre's Lysistrata), and Pirronne Yousefzadeh (And If You Lose Your Way, or A Food Odyssey). The plays of the Smackdown are produced by Fernanda Cintra de Campos, Ying Le, Meropi Peponides, Lico Whitfield, and Leandro Zaneti.
The FINAL Unproducible Smackdown will be presented on May 2nd, from 8-10:30pm, at University Settlement, Speyer Hall, located at 184 Eldridge Street (between Forsyth and Allen) in Manhattan. An after party will be held immediately following the event, at People Kitchen & Lounge (163 Allen Street). Tickets to the Unproducible Smackdown start at $35 and can be purchased at www.brownpapertickets.com or at www.stu42.com.
"Studio 42 is stoked to have Meghan, Erica, Lauren, Krista, and Adam battle it out in this year's final Unproducible Smackdown! said in a statement, Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Studio 42 Artistic Director and director of Tony nominated Hand to God, "We can't wait to see who will take home the coveted Unproducible trophy!"
The 2015 Unproducible Smackdown will feature performances by Brian Belcinski (Studio 42's My Base and Scurvy Heart), Dana Berger (Streepshow! Episode 1), Adam Blodgett (Studio 42's Miss Lilly Gets Boned), Brian Robert Burns (War Horse, National Tour), Molly Anne Coogan (Be the Death of Me), Lucy DeVito (Bureau of Missing Persons), Kristen Harlow (Hot Season), Alex Herrald (The Public Theater's Life and Times), Polly Lee (Studio 42's Wasps), David Mitsch (Studio 42's Billy Witch), Lynne Marie Rosenberg (High Maintenance), Natalie Saibel (Studio 42's The Sporting Life), Julie Sharbutt (Twelfth Night, The Public's Shakespeare in the Park), and Liz Wisan (Yale Rep's The Caucasian Chalk Circle).
Past winners of the Unproducible Smackdown have included Meghan Deans (Ashore) and Joshua Conkel (MilkMilkLemonade). Recent Studio 42 productions: Wasps by Ken Urban (2013); Miss Lilly Gets Boned by Bekah Brunstetter (2012); Billy Witch by Gregory S. Moss (2012); My Base and Scurvy Heart by Adam Szymkowicz (2011); The Sporting Life by Nick Jones & Rachel Shukert (2010); and Spacebar: A Broadway Play by Kyle Sugarman by Michael Mitnick (2010).
Studio 42, now in its 15th season, is a nonprofit off-off-Broadway theater company founded in 2001 and New York's leading producer of "unproducible" plays. The word "unproducible" is ripped from the rejection letters of theaters all over the country. It denotes scripts in which the potential depravity, experimental structure, or scale of spectacle take them out of consideration for producers in their right minds.
For more information on Studio 42, please visit: www.Stu42.com.
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