Ensemble Studio Theatre kicks off the New Year with the world premiere of Maggie Bofill's Winners, a wild roller coaster ride for a modern family reeling from the Great Recession, presented in partnership with The Radio Drama Network. Winners begins previews Wednesday, January 14, at 7:00pm at Ensemble Studio Theatre, 549 West 52nd Street, for an opening Thursday, January 22, at 7:00pm. Winners is directed by Pamela Berlin and features Curran Connor, David Gelles, Arielle Goldman, Stephanie Hsu, Polly Lee, Florencia Lozano, Scott Sowers and Grant Shaud.
The chaos, hilarity, war, love -- and regular mayhem -- of family life, is thrust into high gear when the financial crisis hits and the Mackey family is forced to make big changes. Everything is off. Winners races from one family crisis to another and takes us into the special anarchy of a family struggling to survive and stay together in today's rapidly changing world.
"When we produced Maggie's first play, a one-act in our Marathon, about four years ago we realized we were hearing a voice like no other," said
William Carden, Artistic Director of
Ensemble Studio Theatre. "Funny, daring and passionate, it just took over the stage in the most surprising way. We knew then we wanted and hoped to hear more. Winners has more than fulfilled that promise with its exhilaration, wild humor and equal doses of compassion and truth. Maggie celebrates the craziness that makes us human and gives us a family where in order to make it through everyone has to grow up."
"The director and most of the wonderful cast have been involved in developing the play over the last year so there is a particular thrill to beginning the New Year with Maggie's unique and generous hearted play, Mr. Carden added.
Maggie Bofill is a playwright, actor,
Ensemble Studio Theatre Artist and a founding member of
LAByrinth Theater Company. As a writer, her first production was Face Cream in the
Ensemble Studio Theatre's 2009 One-Act Marathon. Her second play was Drawn And Quartered at INTAR and was anointed a New York Times Critics' Pick. She has also appeared as an actor in several NYC theaters, including The Public,
Ensemble Studio Theatre, LAByrinth Bank St. Theater, INTAR, Clubbed Thumb, Repertorio Español, and The Vineyard, among others.
Pamela Berlin's New York directing credits include Endpapers at the Variety Arts Theatre, Steel Magnolias (ran for three years off-Broadway at the
Lucille Lortel Theatre), To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday (
Ensemble Studio Theatre and Circle in the Square Downtown), The Cemetery Club (Broadway), Crossing Delancey (Jewish Rep), Joined At The Head and Pretty Fire (Manhattan Theatre Club), The Family of Mann and The Red Address (
Second Stage), Three in The Back, Two in The Head (MCC), Black Ink and Elm Circle (
Playwrights Horizons), Snowing at Delphi and Club Soda (WPA), Family Ties and numerous one-acts in the Marathon at the
Ensemble Studio Theatre. Regionally, she has directed at the Kennedy Center,
Seattle Rep, Long Wharf, Huntington, Pittsburgh Public,
Pasadena Playhouse, Theatreworks Palo Alto, Virginia Stage Co. and Portland Stage. She is a long time member of the
Ensemble Studio Theatre and has served as the President of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers from 2000 to 2006.
Designing the world for Winners are
Jason Simms, set;
Seth Reiser, lighting;
Sydney Maresca, costumes;
M. Florian Staab, sound and Meagan Miller, props. The production stage manager is Carly Levin.
Tickets are $40 for reserved seats, $30 for general admission seats, $20 for students/seniors, and $15 for general admission seats bought before the first preview (January 14). To order tickets call
866.811.4111 or visit
www.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/134.
