The Red Fern Theatre to Present IRREVERSIBLE

J. Robert Oppenheimer and his brother Frank battle between conscience and ambition in Irreversible, Jack Karp's gripping world-premiere drama, directed by Melanie Moyer Williams, about the physicist brothers' desperate race to beat the Nazis to the world's first atomic bomb and their confliction over its use.

Irreversible is produced by The Red Fern Theatre Company and features Jordan Kaplan as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Josh Doucette as Frank Oppenheimer. Irreversible begins previews Thursday, March 12, at 8:00pm for an opening on Saturday, March 14, at 8:00pm at the Theater at the 14th Street Y, 344 East 14th Street.

Irreversible is based on the creation of the world's first nuclear weapon. From 1942 to the end of the war, J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904 - 1967) led a team of some of the greatest physicists of the time, the most Nobel Laureates ever gathered in one place, plus engineers, explosives experts, and their families in isolation in the New Mexican desert. One of those physicists was his brother Frank (1912 - 1985). Though Frank became a physicist on the advice of his older brother, he did not always see eye to eye with him on the use of the world's first atomic bombs, "Little Boy" and "Fat Man."

August is the 70 anniversary of the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan.

Also playing historical characters in Irreversible are Amelia Mathews as Jean Tatlock, Dan Odell as Niels Bohr, Laura Pruden as Robert's wife Kitty, and Hugh Sinclair as General Leslie Groves.

Andrew Mannion is designing scenery; Rebecca L. Welles, costumes; Marie Yokoyama, lighting; Andy Evan Cohen, sound; and Deb Gouette, props. Sammee Wortham is production stage manager.

Playwright Jack Karp www.jackkarp.com has been produced in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and across the country as well as in Canada. His play, Incendiary Agents, completed a successful run at the New Ohio Theatre in New York City in 2013. Irreversible has had staged readings at the Great Plains Theatre Conference, the Ashland New Plays Festival, The Red Fern Theatre, and The Tank in New York, where it won the Theatre SLAM competition. His plays have also appeared in the Pittsburgh New Works Festival, the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival, and the New York International Fringe Festival, for which he helped conceive and write the interactive technology-driven show, The Photo Album, with his immersive theatre company, The Story Gym. Mr. Karp has also won the David Mamet Playwriting Competition at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, Best Play at MadLab Theatre's Divide & Conquer Festival, and Best Play at the Long Island City One Act Festival, among other awards.

Director Melanie Moyer Williams is also Founder and Executive Artistic Director of The Red Fern Theatre Company www.redferntheatre.org. Last year she directed the New York premiere of Shirley Lauro's The Radiant. Her credits for Red Fern include the New York premiere of Shirley Lauro's All Through the Night and the world premieres of We In Silence Hear a Whisper by Jon Kern and A Shot Away: Personal Accounts of Military Trauma by Donna Fiumano-Farley.

Josh Doucette is making his debut with The Red Fern Theatre. He has worked regionally with Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare, The Pearl Theatre, Nebraska Shakespeare, and The Blue Barn Theatre, among others. He holds an MFA in acting from The Chicago College of Performing Arts and a BFA from Creighton University. www.joshdoucette.com

Jordan Kaplan previously worked with The Red Fern Theatre Company on +30NYC. Mr. Kaplan has performed with many NYC companies including Guerrilla Shakespeare Project, Hunger & Thirst Theatre Collective, Prospect Theater Company, and Astoria Performing Arts Center. Regional credits include American Conservatory Theater, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Tennessee Shakespeare Company, Trinity Repertory Company, and Stanford Summer Theater. www.jordankaplan.net

The Red Fern Theatre Company, founded by Emilie E. Miller and Melanie Moyer Williams in March 2006, strives to provoke social awareness and change through theatrical productions and outreach. Each play produced by The Red Fern Theatre Company, a resident theater company at the Theater at the 14th Street Y, addresses social issues that range in scope from local to global, and each production is paired with a philanthropy whose work relates to the social themes of the play. A portion of the proceeds from each play produced is donated to the designated philanthropy. The Red Fern Theatre also provides its audiences with information on the philanthropy both by introducing their mission at each performance and including information about them in the play's program. By associating each production with a philanthropic organization, The Red Fern Theatre is able to respond directly to the people actually affected by the issues addressed in the play.

Irreversible is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Irreversible performs Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8:00pm and Sundays at 3:00pm. There is one additional performance on Monday March 23, at 7:00pm. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased at www.theatermania.com or 212-352-3101.