YANKEE WIVES Opens August 29 at Hudson Guild Theater

Group Theatre Too's new production, Yankee Wives, opens August 29th at the Hudson Guild Theater. The company, celebrating its ten-year anniversary, is pleased to announce its third and latest collaboration with playwright David Rimmer (Pulitzer finalist for Album, author of New York).

Yankee Wives is a sexy, irreverent look behind the scenes at six women thrown together because their husbands happen to play for the same Major League baseball team. It shows the often comic side of being married to big babies with big egos, who often succumb to big temptations on the road. The play exposes the real personalities behind the smiling surface and how the wives cope with living simultaneously in the spotlight and in the shadow of their husbands. Ultimately these women create a team-within-a-team.

The production, directed by David Rimmer, features Jennifer Laine Williams, Samantha Strelitz, Cristina Marie, Regina Gibson, Chudney Sykes and Eliza Simpson. Set design is by Allison McGrath, lighting by Ian Smith, costumes by Ramona Ponce, sound by Matthew P. Morris, fight choreography by Dan Renkin, with stage management by Jackie Rivera, assisted by Stephen Perrot. Isaac Dayley acts as production manager and Ellen Sandhaus is associate producer.

The Group Theatre Too has launched a strong online campaign through Indiegogo for financial support of Yankee Wives. Donors can visit www.yankeewives.com to learn more about pledging to the production. Donation categories range from Fan, Star Rookie, MVP all the way up to Hall-of-Famer.

The Group Theatre Too has already kicked off their tenth-anniversary, 2013 season with three successful productions, including Fabulous Fanny: The Songs & Stories of Fanny Brice, The 2013 Choreographer's Canvas and the recent Broadway Performance Project at the Laurie Beechman Theater.

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David Rimmer (Playwright/Director) wrote Album (long off-Broadway run; Pulitzer finalist; published by Dramatists Play Service; continual productions and reprints in scene collections since its debut), New York (published by Samuel French; many productions in this country and internationally), Nobody Dies and The Reunion Guy, along with many one-act plays and screenplays and television scripts for major studios -- Disney, Universal, Twentieth-Century Fox and Viacom -- including Tron and Charles in Charge. Current writing projects include Bump, a theater adaptation of his novel, and screenplays, Sonnet 116, Nobody Dies and Album, which he also adapted and directed as a short film (showcased at film festivals in NYC and Iowa).

The Group Theatre TOO (Producer) was founded in 2003 by Artistic Director, Michael Blevins and Executive Producer, Justin Boccitto. GTT produces quality entertainment that stimulates and supports an ensemble group of artists as well as its patrons through productions, outreach, and educational arts programs. Past productions have included: the New York revival of Seesaw, Count To Ten (2009 NYMF), Tape, Vanities, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Love Letters, The Boyfriend, The Subject Was Roses, David Rimmer's Album and New York. Annually GTT presents The Choreographer's Canvas, an evening of choreography from all styles of dance. GTT also produced MAC Award Winner, Alisa Schiff, in Mama Said...The Songs of Cass Elliott. Generation Tap, GTT's tap company, has appeared at Tap City, Tap Extravaganza and was featured in Dancer and Dance Spirit Magazines. www.grouptheatretoo.org

JENNIFER LAINE WILLIAMS* (Sally) is a native Oklahoman and graduate of The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and Georgetown University. New York theater credits include, Off-Broadway: Whose Family Values!, Off-Off- Broadway: Barrier Island, Deep in the Jeeps of Georgia, Humans Anonymous, Psychomachia, Harlowe and Dina and Alba. Outside of NY, she has performed in Big Love, The Changeling and Mad Forest (VT) and in Five Women Wearing the Same Dress (NC). Jennifer is a founding member of The Bridge Theatre Company and has appeared in a number of independent films. www.jenniferlainewilliams.com

Chudney Sykes* (Marceline) is thrilled to be working with The Group Theatre Too for the first time. Chudney received her MFA in Acting at Harvard University/ART/MXATT, BA at Brown University and is a proud member of Actors Equity and SAG/AFTRA. Theatre credits include: Home (Lety, Red Fern Theatre) Easter (Christine, August Strindberg Repertory Theatre) Ajax In Iraq (Spc. Connie Mangus, Flux Theatre) Raft of the Medusa (Nairobi, Secret Theatre) A Photograph: Lover's In Motion (Claire, Paul Robeson Theatre) Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death (Tomboy, Classical Theatre of Harlem). Current Company Member of the Stepping Stone Theatre. American Repertory Theatre Institute: Ajax In Iraq (Spc. Connie Mangus) Aloha Say the Pretty Girls (Joy) American Repertory Theatre: Endgame (Nell u/s), Communist Dracula Pageant (Ensemble u/s) Chudney is very grateful to have the support of her family in all that she does and thanks God every day for their love. www.chudneysykes.com

ELIZA SIMPSON (Eliza) is thrilled to be a part of the Yankee Wives Family. Born and bred in Nyack, New York, she completed her BFA from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts in 2012. Since then she has performed regionally as a dancing dog in "Go, Dog. Go!" and Mary Hatch in "It's a Wonderful Life" (Mile Square Theater, Hoboken) In NYC, she played Umed in Red Fern Theater Co.'s production of "Home", and originated the role of "Girl with the Green Eyes" in the Sam Shepard's Pure Accident with Apt 29 Theater Co. This October she will play Mistress Page in "The Merry Wives of Windsor" with the Baited Bear Players. She can also be seen in "The Manchurian Candidate" (Paramount Pictures) and "Rachel Getting Married" (Sony Pictures Classic) www.elizasimpson.com

CRISTINA MARIE* (Connie) Favorite credits include, NEW YORK THEATRE: Dance/Speak (New York Theatre Ballet), The Cherry Sisters (Playwrights Horizons), Count To Ten (NYMF), Seesaw (Group Theatre Too), The Snow Queen (Abingdon Theatre). REGIONAL THEATRE: Louise in Gypsy, Mavis in Stepping Out, Pam in Full Monty, Lucy in You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. FILM: The Avengers, Duplicity, Revolutionary Road, Trust The Man. TV: "Smash", "Rescue Me", "Law & Order", "Mad Men". Graduate of NYU, Tisch School of the Arts and proud member of AEA. When not onstage, Cristina works for National Artists Management Company as the Executive Assistant on Broadway's Tony-Award Winning revival of Pippin.

SAMANTHA STRELITZ (Pam) is thrilled to premiere in an original work by Pulitzer Prize finalist, David Rimmer. Her work spans theater, film, TV, voice-over and commercials. Theater credits: Pilo Family Circus with the Drama-Desk Award winning Godlight Theater Company (New Ohio Theater), Four Dogs and a Bone (The Wild Project), After the Fall (June Havoc Theater). Film credits: Placebo Dir. Justin Ho, Plurality (Radical Media), My Ketchup Smiles for which she was awarded Best Actress at the CMF Awards. She would like to thank the amazing cast of Yankee Wives, her incredibly supportive friends, family and her mentor, Jennifer Gelfer.

REGINA GIBSON* (Ronnie) is a graduate of Stella Adler NYU TISCH and thrilled to be a Yankee Wife. She has been in new works at ArsNova, Target Margin Theatre, United Solo Theater, Edinburgh Fringe and NYC Fringe, as well as starred in the new REDRUM Murder series on IDiscovery. She is currently in production of her own comedy web series for updates check out www.reginagibson.com