Tony Nominee Constantine Maroulis Will Lead Second Stage Theatre Uptown's FRIEND ART; Full Cast Set!

Second Stage Theatre will begin the 2016 Uptown Series with the world premiere of Sofia Alvarez's FRIEND ART, directed by Portia Krieger. FRIEND ART will feature ZOE CHAO, AARON COSTA GANIS, ANABELLE LEMIEUX and Tony Award nominee CONSTANTINE MAROULIS (Rock of Ages, "American Idol"). FRIEND ART will begin previews on Tuesday, May 17th and will officially open on Thursday, May 26th.

FRIEND ART is presented at Second Stage Theatre's uptown home, the McGinn/Cazale Theatre on Broadway at 76th Street.

Kevin and Molly are a 30-something couple about to get married. Their best friend Nate just broke up with Lil, his much younger performance artist girlfriend. The group is navigating Gotham living at varying levels of success, which inevitably means attending friends' basement art shows. In this comedy we're confronted with what it means to support the art and decisions your friends make, regardless of what it does to your friendships.

The fourteenth annual SECOND STAGE THEATRE UPTOWN SERIES also includes the New York premiere of Lucy Teitler's ENGAGEMENTS, directed by KIMBERLY SENIOR. Previews being Monday, July 18, with an opening night set for Thursday, July 28.

ZOE CHAO (Molly). Theatre credits include: Sideways, Surf Report, and Our Town (La Jolla Playhouse), Amadeus (Ensemble Theatre Company), Girls on the Clock, and The Kitchen Painting (Brown/Trinity). She has been seen on TV in "The Comeback" (HBO), "Rizzoli and Isles" (TNT), "Hart of Dixie" (CW), "The Protector" (Lifetime), and the upcoming "Strangers." Education: MFA, UC San Diego; BA, Brown University.

AARON COSTA GANIS (Kevin) has been seen Off-Broadway in Bareknuckle, The Mnemonist of Dutchess County, 365 Days/365 Plays, and regionally in Off the Main Road with Kyra Sedgwick, Moon for the Misbegotten with Audra McDonald, Whaddabloodclot!!! (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Lion In Winter, Moonchildren, Macbeth, The Night of the Iguana (Berkshire Theatre Festival), The Cure (Prithvi Theatre, India), Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Oxford Playhouse), and How I Learned to Drive (Edinburgh Fringe). Aaron has also been on film in Straight Outta Tompkins, Price For Freedom, A New York Love Story and will appear in the upcoming Lazy Eye; First Love; and Blood, Sand, and Gold. His television credits include "Friday's" (TBS/Super Deluxe), "Jessica Jones" (Netflix), "Odd Mom Out" (Bravo), "American Odyssey" (NBC), and "Unforgettable" (CBS). Education: MFA, NYU Graduate Acting Program; BA, Brandeis University, University of Oxford.

ANABELLE LeMIEUX (Lil) studied theatre in the rolling green hills of Vermont at Bennington College. Since moving to New York, she has appeared in both theatre and film. As a dancer, she went on tour with Brittany Bailey Dance Company last summer performing at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C and as part of Block Universe in London. She recently finished directing her own short film titled "Love is the Pearl" adapted from an M.F.K Fisher novel. She currently splits her time between New York and California.

CONSTANTINE MAROULIS (Nate) is an accomplished actor, producer, singer and songwriter best known for his Tony-nominated performance in Rock of Ages and his epic run as a finalist during the heyday of "American Idol." Currently, Constantine is developing a number of creative projects in TV and film, notably having taken on the role of producer for the acclaimed show Spring Awakening, as well as recently releasing the singles, "Here I Come" and "She's Just Rock N Roll," from his upcoming album.

SOFIA ALVAREZ (Playwright) is a playwright and screenwriter. Her plays include Between Us Chickens (SCR, EST LA), Life Drawing, The Fish Bowl, NYLON, Friend Art, The Orphan's Club and Corpse Pose. Work in television includes the first two seasons of "Man Seeking Woman" (FXX) and the first season of "Sirens" (USA). She is currently writing a feature for Sony and working with composer Daniel Roland Tierney on a musical adaptation of William Steig's classic children's book, Amos & Boris, for South Coast Repertory. The project will be developed this spring as part of the Kennedy Center's New Visions/New Voices festival. Sofia is a member of Primary Stages' Dorothy Strelsin New American Writer's Group and an alumna of the Ars Nova Playgroup, New Georges' Jam, and the Royal Court Young Writer's Program in London. She is a graduate of Bennington College and The Juilliard School's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. She teaches in the Tisch department of dramatic writing at NYU and has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts.

PORTIA KRIEGER (Director) is a New York-based theatre director who mostly works on new plays and musicals. Recent productions include Caroline V. McGraw's The Bachelors for Lesser America, Gabrielle Reisman's site-specific outdoor King Lear adaptation Storm, Still for Brooklyn Yard, Peggy Stafford's 16 Words or Less, Clare Barron's Baby Screams Miracle for Clubbed Thumb, Caroline V. McGraw's The Vaults for New Georges, and Eager to Lose, a burlesque farce Portia co-created with writer Matthew-Lee Erlbach, director Wes Grantom, and burlesque starlet Tansy for Ars Nova. Upcoming projects: Sarah Einspanier's The Convent of Pleasure for the Cherry Lane Mentor Project. Portia has workshopped new plays with Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage Theatre, Roundabout Underground, New York Stage & Film, Rattlestick, Page 73, Ars Nova, the Lark, the Juilliard School, and many others. She is an inaugural O'Neill/NNPN National Director's Fellow, a 2015-2016 New Georges Audrey Resident, an alumna of the Drama League Directors Project and the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, a former Ars Nova Director-in-Residence, and a co-founder of the New Georges Jam. She's also the Associate Director of Fun Home on Broadway. Education: BA in Theater, Smith College.