Geva's Fielding Studio Series Begins With QUEEN By Madhuri Shekar

Geva Theatre Center's 2019-2020 Fielding Studio Series begins with Queen, written by Madhuri Shekar and directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh. The production begins performances on November 6 and runs in the Fielding Stage through November 24.

Two PhD candidates, Sanam and Ariel, have spent the last seven years exhaustively researching vanishing bee populations across the globe. Just as these close friends are about to publish a career-defining paper, Sanam stumbles upon an error which could jeopardize everything. Both women must make an impossible choice - look the other way and save the bees, or tell the truth and face the consequences.

Playwright Madhuri Shekar was born in California and grew up in India, and after a couple of quick detours in Singapore and London, made her first grown-up home in Los Angeles. She currently shuttles between Jersey City, Los Angeles and Chennai. Her new audio play, Evil Eye, debuted on the Audible best-seller in May 2019. Her play, House of Joy, had its world premiere at Cal Shakes in August 2019. Also upcoming in the 2019/2020 season is her new commission from Victory Gardens, Dhaba on Devon Avenue. She has received two commissions from Atlanta's Alliance Theatre (Bucket of Blessings and Antigone, Presented by the Girls of St. Catherine's) which were both produced in subsequent seasons. She has also been commissioned by the Kennedy Center, South Coast Rep and Victory Gardens. She is the 2013/14 winner of the Kendada Graduate Playwriting contest held by the Alliance Theatre for her play In Love and Warcraft, for which they did the world premiere production. It is published by Samuel French and has been produced around the country and abroad. She was also the second place winner of the East West Players 2012 Face of the Future Playwriting contest for her play A Nice Indian Boy. They subsequently produced the play, which has been produced by the Rasaka Theatre Company (Chicago) and EnActe Arts (Cupertino). Her plays have been developed or showcased at Center Theatre Group, The Old Globe, the Kennedy Center, the Hedgebrook Playwrights Festival (in conjunction with Seattle Rep) and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She has been a finalist for the Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship. Bucket of Blessings won the Suzi Bass Award for Outstanding Original Work - Theatre for Young Audiences. She has an M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from USC, and a dual Master's degree in Global Media and Communications from the London School of Economics and USC. She is a 2018 Alumnus of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights program at Juilliard. She is an alumna of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, the Ars Nova Play Group and the Center Theatre Group Writers Workshop, and a co-creator of the Shakespeare web series, Titus and Dronicus. She became a member of New Dramatists in 2019. She is a staff writer for the upcoming HBO show, The Nevers.

Queen premiered in 2017 at Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago and was nominated for a Joseph Jeff Award for Best New Play. In 2018 it was produced in Seattle (Pratidhwani with ACT) and the Bay Area (EnActe Theatre), and had its New York premiere in February 2019 at the Astoria Performing Arts Center. Queen placed 2nd in the Kennedy Center's 2017 Paul Stephen Lim playwriting contest, and is an Edgerton Grant awardee.

The cast of Queen all make their Geva Theatre Center debuts. Ezra Barnes (Off-Broadway productions of Breakfast with Mugabe, In White America, English Bride) is Dr. Philip Hayes; Nikhaar Kishnani (Off-Off- Broadway production of Veil'd and TV's Brown Nation, Code Switched, Geeta's Guide to Moving On and Nepotism) is Sanam Shah; Nik Sadhnani (Off-Broadway productions of India Pale Ale and The Trial of the American President and Hulu's The Path) is Arvind Patel; and Marina Shay (NYC productions of Miss Julie, Eurydice and A Glorious Vision, TV's The Good Fight) is Ariel Spiegel.

Queen is directed by Geva's Director of Engagement/Associate Artistic Director Pirronne Yousefzadeh (director of Geva productions of The Royale, Heartland and The Lake Effect). The creative team includes Reid Thompson (Scenic Design), Valérie Thérèse Bart (Costume Design), Reza Behjat (Lighting Designer), Kate Marvin (Sound Design), J.C. Meyer Crosby (Intimacy Director), and Jenni Werner (Dramaturg).

Queen begins performances on November 6 and runs in the Fielding Stage through November 24

For more information call or visit: (585) 232-GEVA (4382), www.gevatheatre.org

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