Maddie Jo Landers, Laura Lapidus, Alec Silberblatt and Amos VanderPoel to Star in BAD JEWS at George Street Playhouse

George Street Playhouse today announced the cast of Bad Jews, the smash hit comedy by Joshua Harmon, on stage March 21-April 9, 2017, at the New Brunswick theatre.

The cast will feature Maddie Jo Landers (TV's Boardwalk Empire, Royal Pains), Laura Lapidus (Bad Jews in Chicago and Washington, DC; TV's Chicago PD), Alec Silberblatt (New York productions of The Cherry Orchard and Graduation Day) and Amos VanderPoel (Delivery Man with Vince Vaughn, TV's Mozart in the Jungle).

Jessica Stone, who appeared in the Broadway revivals of Anything Goes (2011) and Grease (1994) and has gone on to helm many productions, makes her GSP directorial debut with Bad Jews.

Liam is a self-proclaimed "bad jew" -- he may actually be an atheist. It's the night after their grandfather's funeral - Liam and his high-strung and unbending cousin Daphna are arguing over who should inherit "Poppy's" Chai necklace. The verbal battle rages until Liam stakes his claim to the heirloom, and a vicious and hilarious brawl over family, faith and legacy ensues.

Bad Jews premiered at the Roundabout Underground to critical acclaim in October 2012 before transferring to Roundabout's larger off-Broadway Laura Pels Theatre in October 2013. The New York Times selected it as a Critic's Pick and called it "THE BEST COMEDY OF THE SEASON" in October 2013. Bad Jews earned a 2012-2013 Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play, as well as a John Gassner Award nomination for playwright Joshua Harmon. It also received a 2014 Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Play.

The set is designed by Charlie Corcoran (Two River Theatre's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom), with costumes by Sarah Laux (The Humans, Fully Committed). The creative team also includes lighting designer and production manager Christopher J. Bailey (GSP's Daddy Long Legs, My Name is Asher Lev) and Sound Designer Drew Levy (Broadway's Honeymoon in Vegas, Chaplin). The production stage manager is Libby Unsworth (assisted on Broadway's The Visit, LES MISERABLES, Scandalous). Casting is by McCorkle Casting, Ltd.

Individual tickets, starting at $20, and discount ticket packages are also available. Contact the George Street Playhouse Box Office at 732-246-7717 or visit www.GSPonline.org for tickets and information. George Street Playhouse is located at 9 Livingston Avenue in the heart of New Brunswick's vibrant downtown dining and entertainment district, steps away from plentiful parking and dining options for every palate and pocketbook.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Playwright Joshua Harmon's work has been produced and developed by Manhattan Theatre Club, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Hangar Theatre, Ars Nova, and Actor's Express, where he was the 2010-2011 National New Play Network Playwright-in-Residence. He has received fellowships from MacDowell, Atlantic Center for the Arts, SPACE at Ryder Farm, and the Eudora Welty Foundation. Joshua is a recent graduate of Juilliard and at work on commissions for Roundabout Theatre Company and Lincoln Center Theater.

Jessica Stone (Director) has worked as an actress on Broadway and off-Broadway, and in television and film, for the last 25 years. She performed in the Huntington Theatre's productions of She Loves Me, Betty's Summer Vacation, and Springtime for Henry. Ms. Stone's directing credits include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Two River Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival), 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Bucks County Playhouse), Arms and the Man (The Old Globe), Absurd Person Singular (Two River Theater), Charlotte's Web (TheatreWorksUSA), and June Moon and Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Williamstown Theatre Festival).

Maddie Jo Landers (Melody) is part of the Brooklyn-based Oh Force Theatre Company. Favorite theatre roles include Vanda in Venus in Fur, Catherine in The Foreigner, Edwin Drood in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Kate in Uncommon Women and others. TV credits include Boardwalk Empire, Royal Pains, and Person of Interest. She is a Texas native and a graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Laura Lapidus (Daphna Feygenbaum) will be playing a familiar role, having also appeared as Daphna in productions of Bad Jews at Washington, DC's Studio Theatre and Chicago's Theater Wit. She recently played Masha in The Artistic Home's production of The Seagull. Her Chicago credits include Balm in Gilead (Jeff nomination for Best Ensemble), Golden Boy, and Port with the Griffin Theatre; Women Beware Women with Two Pence; Pains of Youth with Odradek/Oracle Theatre; breaks & bikes and Amuse Bouche with Pavement Group; and The Beautiful Dark, a workshop at Redtwist Theatre. Her television credits include Chicago PD.

Alec Silberblatt (Liam Haber) has been seen regionally in Lungs (Carnegie Stage - Off the Wall Theater), Driftless (a world premiere) with Hatch Arts Collective, Chickens in the Yard at Quantum Theater, Orphans at the Lake Dillon Theater Company, Sharon's Grave as Neelus and A Skull in Connemara as Mairtin both at PICT Classic Theater, Rabbit Hole as Jason at both Pittsburgh Public Theater and Hartford TheaterWorks, and Love's Labour's Lost as the clown Costard at Cincinnati Outdoor Classics. He is a member of the Middle Voice Theater Company at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and Greenhouse Theater Company, both in New York.

Amos VanderPoel (Jonah Haber) played Taylor in the 2013 film Delivery Man starring Vince Vaughn and has appeared in the award-winning Amazon original series Mozart in the Jungle.

George Street Playhouse is a nationally recognized theatre, presenting an acclaimed mainstage season while providing an artistic home for established and emerging theatre artists. Its leadership consists of Artistic Director David Saint, Resident Artistic Director Michael Mastro and Managing Director Kelly Ryman. Founded in 1974, The Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway, including the Outer Critics' Circle Best Musical Award-winner The Toxic Avenger; the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League nominated production of The Spitfire Grill; and the Broadway hit and Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn, which was developed at GSP during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays. In 2015, George Street Playhouse was represented by two productions in New York with the Broadway production of It Shoulda Been You and Joe DiPietro's Clever Little Lies, which opened off-Broadway that same year. Both shows received their premieres at The Playhouse. In addition to its mainstage season, GSP's Touring Educational Theatre features three issue-oriented productions that are seen by more than 40,000 students annually. George Street Playhouse programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

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