TheaterWorks Hartford to Present East Coast Premiere of Matthew López's ZOEY'S PERFECT WEDDING

TheaterWorks Hartford will present the East Coast premiere of Zoey's Perfect Wedding by Tony-winner Matthew López, the first Latiné playwright to win the Tony Award for best play. Directed by Artistic Director Rob Ruggiero, the production marks López's return to TheaterWorks Hartford following the celebrated 2018 production of The Legend of Georgia McBride. Zoey's Perfect Wedding is a wildly funny play about love, relationship, expectations, and the courage it takes to find what truly makes us happy. Running April 30 - June 5, 2022, in-person, with an opening on May 6, and streaming on demand May 23 - June 5, Zoey's Perfect Wedding stars Esteban Carmona, Hallie Eliza Friedman, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka, Rachel B. Joyce, Blair Lewin, and Daniel José Molina. Tickets are now on sale at www.twhartford.org.

Saying "I do" was the easy part. From the 2021 Tony-Winning playwright of The Inheritance, this hilarious commentary on commitment is every bride's worst nightmare. Disaster after disaster follow her down the aisle, from brutally honest boozy speeches to a totally incompetent wedding planner and friends too preoccupied to help with the wreckage around them.

Director Rob Ruggiero commented, "At its heart, Zoey's Perfect Wedding is about how we manage expectations. It's about the difference between what we think society tells us will make us happy, versus what actually does. Zoey hopes for this amazing fairytale wedding, then realizes during the disaster that it becomes what is truly important: marrying someone she loves and who loves her in return. It's no longer about impressing people or wearing the perfect dress-it's about celebrating love and focusing on making your partner feel heard and supported. What begins as a fabulous comedy, ends up an unexpected reckoning of marriage, love, and friendship. That's the brilliance of Matthew's writing. It's smart, funny, and delightfully disarming."

The additional creative teams includes Brian Sidney Bembridge (set and lighting design), Harry Nadal (costume design), Melanie Chen Cole (sound design), and Nicole Wiegert (production stage manager)

Performances of Zoey's Perfect Wedding will take place April 30 - June 5, 2022, at TheaterWorks Hartford's beloved home, located at 233 Pearl Street, Hartford, CT. Critics are welcome starting Thursday, May 5 for an opening on Friday, May 6.

The performance schedule is Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 2:30pm and 8pm, and Sundays 2:30pm with no 2:30pm performance on May 15 and May 21.

In-person tickets are priced at $25-$65. On demand streaming tickets, priced at $20, are available March 7-20. All tickets can be purchased online at www.twhartford.org or by calling 860.527.7838.

Zoey's Perfect Wedding contains mature themes and sexual language. The running time is 90 minutes with no intermission.

TheaterWorks Harford is a fully vaccinated house and requires all patrons to show proof of vaccination and to be fully masked inside the building.

Please visit www.twhartford.org for more information.

About the Artists

Matthew López (playwright, Zoey's Perfect Wedding) is the first Latiné playwright to win the Tony Award for best play for The Inheritance in 2021. He is the author of The Whipping Man, one of the most widely produced new American plays of the last several seasons. Since its world premiere at Luna-Stage/">Luna Stage in 2006, it has played at over two dozen theatres across the country. The play premiered in New York in 2010 at Manhattan Theatre Club, directed by Doug Hughes and starring Andre Braugher. The sold-out production extended four times, ultimately running 101 performances off-Broadway and garnering Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards. Matthew was awarded the John Gassner New Play Award from the New York Outer Critics Circle for the play. His play Somewhere premiered at The Old Globe and has been subsequently produced at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, CA and most recently at Hartford Stage Company. Other plays include The Legend of Georgia McBride (World Premiere: Denver Center Theatre, 2014), Reverberation (World Premiere: Hartford Stage Company, 2015), The Sentinels (World Premiere: Headlong Theatre, London, 2011). His play The Inheritance, directed by Stephen Daldry, premiered at London's Young Vic in 2018, where it was called "the most important American play of the century." It transferred to the West End later that year, opened on Broadway in 2019, and was awarded the Tony Award in 2021. López currently holds new play commissions from Hartford Stage Company, Manhattan Theatre Club and South Coast Rep. He worked as a staff writer on the HBO series The Newsroom.

Rob Ruggiero (Producing Artistic Director/Director) has been part of TheaterWorks Hartford artistic leadership for 29 seasons. He has directed over 65 shows, including TWH productions of The Sound Inside, American Son, The Legend of Georgia McBride, Constellations, Next to Normal, Relativity (starring Richard Dreyfuss) and Christmas on the Rocks, which he also conceived. His Broadway credits include Looped (starring Valerie Harper in a Tony-nominated performance) and High (starring Kathleen Turner) which had its world premiere at TWH. He also conceived and directed the musical revue Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn which moved off-Broadway and was nominated for Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Rob conceived and directed Ella, a musical about Ella Fitzgerald, which saw sold-out runs in 24 regional theaters and was produced as a National Tour. His work on plays and musicals has received multiple awards in Connecticut and around the United States. Rob recently directed A Grand Night for Singing at Goodspeed Musicals where over his 14-year relationship he has directed many award-winning musical productions. Internationally he directed Fiddler on the Roof in Athens, Greece.

Esteban Carmona (DJ) is a Puerto Rican bi-coastal actor born & raised in Philadelphia, PA. Theater credits: Oedipus in Oedipus el Rey at The Magic Theater (Best Performance Nomination), Ensemble in Julius Caesar at The Public Theater (w/ Oskar Eustis), plus leading roles in Dream of the Burning Boy and Really, Really at Medicine Show Theater. TV credits: 7 episodes as Julito in HBO's The Deuce (w/ David Simon & Maggie Gyllenhaal), Prodigal Son on FOX, Guest Star in Street Justice: The Bronx (Discovery).

Hallie Eliza Friedman (Missy) is ecstatic to being making her TheaterWorks Hartford debut. She will be graduating this May, in the class of 2022, from the Hartt School where she is getting her BFA in Acting. Hartford Stage (staged reading): Long Christmas Dinner (Cousin Ermengarde); Playhouse On Park: Into The Woods (Rapunzel), Midsummer Nights Dream (Fairy, u/s Helena); The Hartt School: Three Sisters (Masha); New Works: SHEL (workshop), The Kids Table (Lin).

Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (Sammy) is making his TheaterWorks Hartford debut. He is a Dallas native and Carnegie Mellon graduate. Herdlicka is best known for his nearly two years starring on Broadway as Henrik in the Tony Award-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury, followed by Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch. Other New York credits include the recent revival of Once Upon a Mattress (the Minstrel) starring Jackie Hoffman and Jerry Herman's Dear World (Julian) starring opposite Tyne Daly. Herdlicka has appeared in many regional productions including The Tempest (Ariel) at the Dallas Theater Center, Candide (Maximillian) at the Alliance Theatre with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Ragtime (Younger Brother) at Barrington Stage, and Something's Afoot (Geoffrey) at the Goodspeed Opera House among others, as well as many workshops, readings, and concerts in New York working and singing alongside Liza Minnelli, Hugh Jackman, Michael Feinstein, David Hyde Pierce, Linda Lavin, Nathan Lane, Michael C. Hall, amongst others.

Rachel B. Joyce (Zoey) is making her TheaterWorks Hartford debut. New York Theatre: The Collision (59E59), Fuck Marry Kill (The New Ohio), Lysistrata (Two Headed Rep), Let's Get Ready Together (The Tank), Pussy Sludge (HERE), Our Town (Green-Wood Cemetery). TV: I'm Dying Up Here, The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show, Younger, Modern Love, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Love Life. For her digital comedy series Royally, she won Best Actress in a Comedy at both the New York Television Festival and the Indie Series Awards. She is the Co-Artistic Director of Less Than Rent Theatre. BA: Fordham University.

Blair Lewin (Rachel) is thrilled to be making her debut at TheaterWorks Hartford this season. She is a recent graduate of NYU Grad Acting and was last seen as Kimber in Stick Fly at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Other credits include the Off-Broadway premiere of Nancy Bleemer's Providence at 59E59 Theaters and on Netflix in The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Daniel José Molina (Charlie) is making his TheaterWorks Hartford debut. Broadway: Fish in the Dark (Cort Theatre). Off-Broadway:Terra Firma (BPAC. Regional: APT: Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew St. Louis Shakespeare: Edgar in King Lear Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Henry V in Henry V; Ferdinand in Love's Labor's Lost; Hal in Henry IV, Part One and Two; Ferdinand in The Tempest; Elliot in Water by the Spoonful; Posthumus in Cymbeline; Romeo in Romeo and Juliet; Three seasons at Utah Shakespeare Festival. Film: The Yellow Birds Recipient of 2011 National Irene Ryan Acting Award. BFA: Savannah College of Art and Design

About TheaterWorks Hartford

Celebrating its 36th season, TheaterWorks Hartford (TWH) produces high quality, contemporary theater that is relevant to our audiences, engages a diverse community, and provides insight into the human experience. TWH is committed to the power of storytelling in creating community. Founded in 1985, TWH has produced over 170 plays and presents approximately 225 performances per season. TWH also owns and manages the historic property at 233 Pearl Street, known as City Arts on Pearl. City Arts provides an affordable home and services to a diverse family of non-profit arts organizations.

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