The Play Company to Open 2015-16 Idea Lab During ABYSS

The Play Company's (PlayCo) 2015-16 Idea Lab features three curated events, November 18 & 28 and December 4, following performances of award-winning, German playwright Maria Milisavljevic's Abyss. The critically acclaimed U.S. premiere, directed by Maria Mileaf, runs through December 6 at Theaterlab, 357 West 36th Street. Writing about Abyss for The New York Times, Ben Brantley praised the "poetic drama," as "genuinely artful...And it will take you places you didn't expect to go." Speaking about the play's painfully current themes, he said it considers, "some very topical questions of European national identities in a time of permeable and shifting borders."

For Idea Lab, PlayCo gathers together artists, scholars and community leaders to contemplate the themes and issues raised by plays in their season programming. On November 18, Milisavljevic, Mileaf and Dramaturg Linda Bartholomai will talk with PlayCo Founding Producer Kate Loewald on their collaboration for Abyss. On November 28, Marianne Scharf (the Center for the Integration and Advancement of New Americans) and Jennifer Sime (International Rescue Committee), two leaders at the forefront of immigrant and refugee issues, will discuss the global migrant and resettlement crisis and how it resonates with Abyss. For the final event,on December 4, performance artist Aisha Cousins will present, I <3 Cops, an interactive performance piece where participants envision together their ideal versions of law enforcement.

Idea Lab expands this year with a new strand of conversations titled Playback, a series of twice weekly open and informal conversations to share responses and connect with the issues and themes of the work. PlayCo staff members, ambassadors and special guests will kick off these intimate 20-30 minute post-show chats, as an opportunity to reflect together on what has been heard and seen, and what can be taken away. Playback will take place every Thursday evening and Saturday matinee performance, unless otherwise noted.

All Idea Lab and PlayBack conversations will be at Theaterlab, 357 West 36th Street, 3rd Fl immediately following the performance. All are free and open to the public. It is not required to attend the performance the same day as the post-show conversation. ABYSS will run approximately 90 minutes.

Milisavljevic's Abyss 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 18 - December 6 at Theaterlab located at 357 W. 36th Street, 3rd floor, Manhattan.Tickets are$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. 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).

Abyss is presented in collaboration with, and with the generous support of the Goethe Institut

Idea Lab Programming

Artists in Conversation
Wednesday, November 18
9.45pm

Playwright, Maria Milisavljevic, Director Maria Mileaf and Dramaturg Linda Bartholomai will talk with PlayCo Founding Producer Kate Loewald on their collaboration for Abyss.

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.

Linda Bartholomai is a freelance producer, translator and dramaturg. She has worked for many years with The Play Company in New York City, where she developed and produced new plays from all over the world, including the Obie-award winning Swedish play INVASION! by Jonas Hassen Khemiri. Currently she is the Literary Consultant for PlayCo. She is also an Adjunct Lecturer at Barnard College, where she teaches New York Theatre and Dramaturgy. Linda is a 2008 recipient of the Doris Duke, Andrew W. Mellon and TCG New Generations, Future Leaders grant. She has a MFA degree from the Yale School of Drama.

Panel Discussion
The Migrant Crisis at Home and Abroad
Saturday, November 28 (Matinee)
3.45pm

Marianne Scharf (the Center for the Integration and Advancement of New Americans) and Jennifer Sime (International Rescue Committee), two leaders at the forefront of immigrant and refugee issues, will discuss the global migrant and resettlement crisis and how it resonates with Abyss.

This event will begin immediately following the 2pm performance. The discussion will last between 45-60 mins and will include a Q&A with the audience.

Marianne Scharf has worked on immigrant and refugee issues since 2005, beginning her career with the US Refugee Resettlement Program, in Columbus, Ohio. Other experience includes working as coordinator for London Refugee Voice, an advocacy network of over 80 community based organizations in the UK; IREX, as a program manager in Northern Iraq, and as a program manager at The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Marianne studied Economics at the Ohio State University and Arabic at The University of Damascus. She holds a post graduate certificate in Holistic Approaches to Refugee Care, and an MSc in International Development, with a focus on Post Conflict Institutional Development. She currently works as Program Director at CIANA (the Center for the Integration and Advancement of New Americans) in Astoria, NY.

Jennifer Sime is Senior Vice President for US Programs at the International Rescue Committee. She is a humanitarian specialist with more than eighteen years of experience, including fifteen years working with the IRC at both field and headquarters level. For the last two years Jennifer has overseen all of IRC's domestic programs throughout 26 offices in the United States. In addition to this, Jennifer has played an integral role in the development of IRC's five-year Strategic Plan which focuses on improving outcomes for its clients and generating evidence to strengthen programs. Previously, Jennifer served as Senior Director of Business Development. Under Jennifer's leadership from 2006 - 2013, the IRC won more than $600 million in competitive grants and contracts. Before moving to IRC's New York headquarters, Jennifer held Country Director posts for IRC in Georgia and for Mercy Corps in Kyrgyzstan and Kosovo. Jennifer also worked as Deputy Director for Programs for Catholic Relief Services in South Sudan and for the IRC in Kosovo. Additionally, she has completed assignments in Bosnia, Panama, Guantanamo Bay-Cuba, Palestine, Liberia, Rwanda, DR Congo, Thailand, and Pakistan. She holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Boston University and a graduate degree in Latin American Politics from New York University.

Interactive Performance
Aisha Cousins
I <3 Cops
Friday, December 4
9.45pm

Partly inspired by her own experience when an acquaintance disappeared, playwright Maria Milisavljevic's Abyss touches on one community's relationship with the local police in Berlin. Join us as Brooklyn-based artist, Aisha Cousins brings her work, I<3 Cops originally designed to engage black audiences in processing their own history of abuse at the hands of police officers, into conversation with Abyss. I <3 Cops takes audiences through an interactive performance piece where participants envision together their ideal versions of law enforcement.

Aisha Cousins is a Brooklyn based artist. She writes performance art scores (do-it-yourself art projects) that engage black audiences from different backgrounds in exploring their ideas about beauty and processing the changes taking place in their worlds. Her interactive, public performance art scores have been performed on the streets of historically black neighborhoods from BedStuy to Brixton, as well as inside institutions such as the Museum Of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Houston's Project Row Houses, and the internationally renown Kitchen. Her score "How to Listen to Lil Wayne: For Nia, Nya, and Kamaria" was recently exhibited at MoMA PS1 as a part of "Clifford Owens: Anthology" an abstract compendium of notable black performance artists. Cousins' project "Story Skirts" was recently awarded a grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs via the Brooklyn Arts Council's ReGrant program. In addition, her project "SAY IT LOUD!: Performance Art Scores for the Young, Gifted, and Fabulous" was recently awarded a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts. Cousins' work has been featured on television and in print, including coverage in New York's Daily News, The New York Times and The Studio Museum in Harlem's Magazine.