Celebration Presents Los Angeles Premiere Of Drew Droege & Matthew Wilkas In BORN TO WIN

Celebration presents the first show in its 2019 season, Drew Droege (Die, Mommie, Die!) and Matthew Wilkas starring in the Los Angeles premiere of BORN TO WIN, written by Matthew Wilkas & Mark Setlock and directed by Michael Matthews. BORN TO WIN will begin previews on Wednesday, February 13 at 8pm; will open on Friday, February 15 at 8pm, with tickets on sale through Sunday, March 31 at Celebration Theatre @ the Lex Theatre, 6760 Lexington Ave. in Los Angeles.

Pinky Corningfield has always dreamed of her daughter winning the "Supreme Queen." So when Marge, a newcomer to the child pageant circuit, shows up with her daughter and starts grabbing all the glory, Pinky will stop at nothing to get the crown.

The cast of BORN TO WIN will feature: Drew Droege as Bobby/Buddy, Matthew Wilkas as Bob/Gunner, Julanne Chidi Hill as Pinky, Daiva Duepree as Marge/Pinky's Mother.

Michael Matthews (Director) Los Angeles: Cabaret (Celebration),The Seafarer (Laguna Playhouse), The Graduate (Laguna Playhouse), End of the Rainbow (McCoy-Rigby/La Mirada),12 Angry Men (Laguna Playhouse), Failure; a Love Story (CTG/Kirk Douglas Theatre), Billy and Ray (Laguna Playhouse), Dream Boy (LA Premiere), Bootycandy (LA Premiere; LADCC Nomination, Production), Failure; a Love Story (Ovation Award Best Director) (LA Premiere), Sons of the Prophet (LA Premiere), Psyche; a Modern Rock Opera (World Premiere), Rabbit Hole (McCoy-Rigby/La Mirada), Funny Girl (3D Theatricals, Ovation Nomination Best Director), Peter Pan; The Boy Who Hated Mothers (LA Weekly Nominations Best Director and Best Production, Play; LA Premiere), Very Still and Hard To See (LA Weekly Nominations Best Director and Best Production, Play; World Premiere), The Color Purple, The Musical (Ovation and LA Weekly Awards Best Director and Best Production, Musical), What's Wrong With Angry? (Ovation Nominations Best Director and Best Production,Play), Take Me Out! (Ovation Nomination Best Director, NAACP Award Best Director), The Women of Brewster Place, the Musical (Ovation Nomination Best Director, NAACP Award Best Director, Ovation Award Best Production, Musical; West Coast Premiere), Stupid Kids (LA Premiere), Beautiful Thing (Ovation Nominations, Best Director and Best Production,Play), The Bacchae (Ovation Nominations, Best Director and Best Production,Play), Broadway: Butley (Assistant Director). Chicago: What's Wrong With Angry? (Jeff Nominations, Best Director and Best Production), In The Blood (Jeff Nominations, Best Director and Best Production), Porcelain (Jeff Nomination, Best Director), The Judas Kiss (Chicago Premiere), Being 11 (World Premiere), and...for colored girls who have considered suicide.... International: The Bacchae (Edinburgh Theatre Festival, 2010). Michael is the recipient of the 2015 LADCC Award for Career Achievement in Direction.

Matthew Wilkas (Playwright/Bob & Gunner) co-wrote with Mark Setlock Pageant Play, a satire about the world of child beauty pageants. The play was produced in July 2008 at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. In 2012, he was in the stage production Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark replacing main actor Matt Caplan. Wilkas has appeared on stage in a number of acts including Silence! The Musical, The Last Sunday in June, Far and Wide, The Pride etc. He has appeared in the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Huntington Theatre Company, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and The Sundance Theatre Institute, under the direction of Michael Greif, Anna D. Shapiro, Will Frears, Carolyn Cantor, Mark Brokaw, Nicholas Martin, and Trip Cullman. His television career started in 2003 with a role in the TV series "Hope and Faith" followed by brief appearances in "The New Twenty," and "Ugly Betty." In 2012, he had a lead role in the feature film Gayby which debuted at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. In 2012, Wilkas and Jenn Harris co-won the Award for "Best Acting Ensemble: Feature" during the Ashland Independent Film Festival for their roles in Gayby. The film won a number of other festival awards, named one of the top ten independent films of 2012 by IndieWire, and nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. For his performance in the film, Wilkas was named one of Out magazine's "Out100" and one of the Los Angeles Outfest Film Festival's "Five In Focus". In 2014, Wilkas appeared in "Undateable," that aired on NBC where he was cast as the character Brett, Justin Kearney's gay friend (pilot only). In 2017, he had a lead role in "New York Is Dead," a series that he co-wrote and produced. Also, in 2017, he appeared in a lead role as X in "Boy Culture: The Series", an episodic sequel to the original 2006 LGBT American drama film "Boy Culture."

Mark Setlock (Playwright) is actor and playwright living in New York, NY. He attended the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training of the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University. He won the 2000 Outer Critics Circle Award for best solo performance in a tie with Olympia Dukakis, and received a Drama Desk nomination for "Fully Committed", which he helped create with playwright Becky Mode, and has performed in LA, Boston, Portland (Oregon), Bay Street Theatre, and London's West End. He was featured in the 1994 workshop and the Original Broadway Company of "Rent". He collaborated with Playwright Steve Murray on an adaptation of the screenplay "It's A Wonderful Life," called "This Wonderful Life" which premiered in Portland, Oregon in 2005, and has been produced regionally. With Matthew Wilkas, Setlock is a co-author of Pageant Play, a satire about the world of child beauty pageants, produced in July 2008 at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Recent roles in New York: The Last Sunday In June, Roulette ,Tea and Sympathy", The Safety Net, and Never Tell. Television: "Law and Order: Criminal Intent," "Law and Order," "All My Children.", Film: "New Suit," "Life In Flight," "Gangster's Crib."

BORN TO WIN has assembled an award-winning design team; Scenic Design by Stephen Gifford (Cabaret, Carrie: The Musical downtown LA and La Mirada), Lighting Design by Matthew Brian Denman (Failure: A Love Story at the Kirk Douglas), Costume Design by Allison Dillard, Sound Design by Rebecca Kessin, Properties Design by Michael O'Hara (Failure: A Love Story), Choreography Consultant is Janet Roston, Fight Choreographer is Sondra Maye and Dialect Coaching by Tuffet Schmelzle. Estey DeMerchant is the Production Stage Manager.

BORN TO WIN is produced by Rebecca Eisenberg, Nathan Frizzell and Michael O'Hara.

SCHEDULE AND PRICING

BORN TO WIN will preview on Wednesday, February 13 and Thursday, February 14 at 8pm; will open on Friday, February 15 at 8pm, with tickets on sale through Sunday, March 31 at Celebration Theatre @ the Lex Theatre, 6760 Lexington Ave. in Los Angeles.

Performances are Friday & Saturday evenings at 8pm; Sundays at 2pm. (There will be no performance on Sunday, February 24.)

All tickets are $25.00 (House Seats); $30.00 (Middle Section); $35.00 (Reserved) and $75.00 (Limited Premium Onstage Seating). Gala Fundraiser performance on Saturday, June 2 with a limited number of tickets available at $150; $200 and $250 that include a cocktail reception with the cast.

For tickets, please call (323) 957-1884 or visit www.celebrationtheatre.com to purchase tickets online or to view a complete schedule or for further details.

 

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