Stark Naked Theatre to Stage American Classic WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

Stark Naked Theatre presents the classic, yet ever-relevant dark comedy Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf? by Edward Albee. Winner of both the Tony Award and the Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play in 1963, and the Tony again for Best Revival in 2013, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a thought-provoking masterpiece that exposes marital discontent, dysfunction and delusion through a war of verbal attrition between a university professor, his wife, and their unwitting guests. The New York Times noted that when this "landmark drama first exploded like a stealth bomb on Broadway, [it] establish[ed] Mr. Albee as the most important American playwright of his generation...setting a brave new standard for truth-telling." The Times went on to say about the recent Broadway revival: "Mr. Albee's scalding drama of marital discord still retains the bantam energy and strong bite of its youth."

Running March 3rd through March 26th, 2016 at STUDIO 101, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf features Houston favorites, Philip Lehl and Kim Tobin-Lehl as George and Martha, the leading roles. Set and light design will be by Tony nominated, and Steppenwolf founding member, Kevin Rigdon. Matt Hune and Teresa Zimmerman round out the cast as Nick and Honey, the unsuspecting late night party guests. Direction will be by Jennifer Dean, who most recently directed the critically acclaimed production of 12 Angry Men at AD Players. At Stark Naked, Ms. Dean also directed last season's stunning regional premiere (also featuring the Lehls) The God Game by Suzanne Bradbeer.

Join Stark Naked Theatre Company for Edward Albee's riveting American classic, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Directed by Jennifer Dean, the production features Houston's favorite acting couple-Kim and Philip Lehl-in the leading roles, with Matt Hune and Teresa Zimmerman rounding out the cast. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? previews on March 3rd, opens on March 4th, and runs through March 26th, 2016. Performances will be held at Stark Naked's STUDIO 101, located at Spring Street Studios, 1824 Spring Street, Houston, Texas, 77007. Regular show times are as follows: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3:00 pm and a special "Pay What You Can" performance on March 21st at 7:30 pm. Individual tickets (priced at $29 for adults, $23 for seniors and $15 for students) and $49 reserved Gold Seat tickets are available for all performances. To purchase individual tickets for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woof? please visit the theatre's website at www.starknakedtheatre.com or by phone at 832.866.6514.

Cast and Creative Team of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?*

Kim Tobin-Lehl (Martha) is co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of Stark Naked Theatre Company, and has appeared in the company's productions of Small Mouth Sounds, Stage Kiss, Ho Ho Humbug, The God Game, Faith Healer, Macbeth, All Girls, God of Carnage, Body Awareness, Dinner with Friends, and Debt Collectors. A Houston native, Kim studied acting and directing at the University of Houston and, in addition to appearing in numerous regional productions, she won the "Actress Excellence" award at the Texas College Play Festival for her portrayal of Sarah in Children of a Lesser God. After relocating to New York, Kim became an officer with the New Mercury Theatre Company, where (among other roles), she produced and starred (as Sally) in the 1995 revival of Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind. Kim later became the Artistic Director of the Blue Sphere East theatre company (the New York sister company to the acclaimed Blue Sphere Alliance theatre company based in Los Angeles). Her favorite Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway credits include: Talk to Me Like the Rain..., A Streetcar Named Desire, The Fifth of July, Fool for Love, Savage in Limbo, The Smell of the Crowd, Bed, Bawd & Beyond, Impassioned Embraces (Emotional Recall), Ctrl, Alt, Delete and Trust and most recently, the Barrow Group's production of Short Stuff Two and their production of her original One Woman Show, Inside Out. Kim spent over three years in Los Angeles studying with Sandy Marshall and Larry Moss, and highlights of her LA theatre productions include: the world premiere of Children of Shame, The Interrogation, Masseur, Baby with the Bathwater, Check to Check, and The Foreigner. Kim's film credits include roles in The Big Lebowski, The Alarmist, and Sex Maniac, as well as the television series Sunset Beach. In addition to her extensive body of work, Kim is a highly sought-after acting teacher, and her studio (based on the teaching principles of Meisner, Adler and The Barrow Group) offers an array of courses (from beginner to advanced levels) in acting technique, improvisation, script analysis and scene study. More details about Kim's background and her current class offerings can be found at her studio website: www.kimtobinactingstudio.com.

Philip Lehl (George) is a Houston-based actor, director, and teacher. Co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of Stark Naked Theatre Company, Philip has appeared in the company's productions of Stage Kiss, The God Game, The Winter's Tale, Faith Healer, Macbeth, Dinner With Friends and Debt Collectors. As a director, Philip's productions include: Body Awareness (at Stark Naked Theatre), Almost, Maine and Reckless (with Brave Dog Theatre), Art (at Generations), Ferdinand the Bull (at Stages Repertory Theatre), On the Town (co-director, Bayou City Concert Musicals) and Debt Collectors (co-director, Stark Naked Theatre Company). On Broadway, Philip's acting credits include roles in Blood Brothers and The Kentucky Cycle, the Off-Broadway production of Hundreds of Hats as well as the first National Tour of Titanic, the Musical. Since arriving in Texas in 2001, Philip has been a mainstay of the Houston theatre scene, and he was most recently seen in AD Players' production of 12 Angry Men. Philip's extensive list of credits also includes: Oh, the Humanity, Yankee Tavern, I Am My Own Wife, Mr. Marmalade, Lady, Souvenir, Amy's View, The Pavilion, and Dirty Blonde with Stages Repertory Theatre; over thirty productions (and former resident company member) with the Alley Theatre, including: Clybourne Park, The Pillowman, The Farnsworth Invention, Eurydice, The Crucible, The Exonerated, Our Lady of 121st Street, The Mousetrap, Hamlet and The Invention of Love; Main Street Theatre's Arcadia; as well as King John, Romeo and Juliet, Love's Labours Lost, Julius Caesar, and Cymbeline with the Houston Shakespeare Festival. As a current member of the Classical Theatre Company's resident acting company, Philip has appeared in productions of Ghosts, The Tempest, Uncle Vanya, and The Merchant of Venice. With Theatre-Under-The-Stars (TUTS), Philip has appeared in A Wonderful Life, The Sound of Music, and one memorable performance as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. Other productions include: Our Town, Bat Boy, and Spring Awakening with Generations; Turn of the Screw at Unity Theatre, as well as several productions with the Bayou City Concert Musicals (BCCM), including: On the Town, Fiorello, Assassins, and She Loves Me. Philip has worked with numerous regional theatres throughout the country, including: St. Louis Repertory, Cleveland Play House, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Missouri Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Portland Stage Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The New Harmony Theatre and Weston Playhouse. Film and Television credits include Tripwire, The Nanny, Martial Law and Hollywood Off-Ramp. Philip graduated from the Drama Division of the Juilliard School and Drake University, and trained with the National Theatre Institute as well as the Moscow Art Theatre School.

Jennifer Dean (Director). She has worked in the Houston Theater scene since she graduated from Baylor University with a BFA in Theater Performance in 2000. She has directed; The God Game at Stark Naked; 12 Angry Men, Leaving Iowa, Charley's Aunt, and The First Church of Texaco at AD Players. Jennifer has appeared onstage at AD Payers in Pride and Prejudice, Anastasia, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Diary of Anne Frank, Shadowlands; at Classical Theater in Miss Julie; at Main Street Theater in Silent Sky, Coast of Utopia, I Am Barbie and Driftwood; and Stages Repertory Theater in Dollhouse.

Kevin Rigdon (Set & Lighting Design): Design credits include the Broadway productions of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Old Neighborhood, Buried Child, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, The Song of Jacob Zulu, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Grapes of Wrath, Speed the Plow, Our Town, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Caretaker and Ghetto. London credits include Waiting For Godot, You Never Can Tell and Orphans on the West End; Speed the Plow and The Grapes of Wrath for The Royal National Theatre; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Man Who Came to Dinner at the Barbican; American Buffalo, and Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants. Productions for the Peter Hall Company include The Importance of Being Earnest, Measure For Measure, Waiting For Godot, Much Ado About Nothing, and Man and Superman. Off-Broadway Mr. Rigdon's designs include Distant Fires, Orphans, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, American Buffalo, Oleanna, Edmond, Prairie Du Chein, The Shawl, Road, Balm in Gilead, and a Nightingale Sang..., and True West. He was the resident designer for Steppenwolf Theatre from 1976 to 1997 during which he designed the scenery, lighting, and costumes for more than 110 productions. He is currently the Associate Director/Design for Houston's Alley Theatre where he has designed more than 50 productions. Mr. Rigdon is the recipient of two Tony Award nominations, seven Joseph Jefferson Awards, two American Theatre Wing Design Awards, and the Drama-Logue Award. . Mr. Rigdon is the curator for the American National Exhibit for the 2015 Prague Quadrennial Sceneography Exhibition and he serves on the board of directors for USITT. In addition to his design credits, Mr. Rigdon is the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Theatre and Head of Graduate Design at the University of Houston.

Matt Hune (Nick) Matt Hune founded Hune Company in 2014 where he produces non-traditional performance and theatre. In his latest project, The Living Room Series, he converted his living room into a performance space. Original works he has written and adapted include: Inherited, Not Mad, Tis Pity She's a Whore, and Accidental Death of an Anarchist. In addition to his self-produced work, he has been an actor or director at Stark Naked, Houston Grand Opera, Alley Theatre, Stages Repertory, and The Inconvenience among others. He has been involved in the creation or rehabilitation of multiple arts organizations. He currently teaches in the theatre and creative writing departments at HS for the Performing and Visual Arts. He has also taught at Prairie View A&M University, Alley Theatre, and TUTS. He is an alumnus of The Theatre School at DePaul University and a recipient of the award.

Teresa Zimmerman will play Honey, Sound Design will be Chris Bakos and Costumes will be Macy Lyne.

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