Cash, Chimo, Ellington & More Cast In Second Stage's BACHELORETTE, Opens 7/26

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) continues this summer's Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series with the New York premiere of Bachelorette, written by Leslye Headland. Directed by Trip Cullman, Bachelorette will feature Aya Cash, Tracee Chimo, Tate Ellington, Carmen M. Herlihy, Celia Keenan-Bolger and Eddie Kaye Thomas. Preview performances begin at Second Stage Theatre's uptown home, the McGinn/Cazale Theatre (Broadway at 76th Street) on Monday, July 12 with an opening night set for Monday, July 26 at 7:00pm.

On the eve of her wedding, Becky has arranged the perfect bachelorette celebration - but after two party crashers, one manipulative maid of honor, and a bathtub of booze, things don't go according to plan. This New York premiere play is a brutally comic look at friendship and betrayal on the way to the altar.

Created as a program to help develop and provide exposure for the voices of a new generation of theatre artists, the Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series seeks to develop the skills of emerging playwrights, to provide early-career artists with the support of a major artistic institution, and to create new plays for the American Theatre. Each show has a limited rehearsal period, as well as a streamlined budget. The series has helped launch and advance the careers of several up-and-coming playwrights, including Rajiv Joseph (Pulitzer Prize finalist Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Animals Out of Paper), Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Good Boys and True, HBO's "Big Love"), Adam Bock (The Receptionist, The Drunken City), and Brooke Berman (Hunting and Gathering).

Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series 2010 kicked off earlier this summer with the New York premiere of Michael Golamco's Year Zero directed by Will Frears.

ABOUT THE COMPANY
Leslye Headland holds a B.F.A. in Drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She studied directing at Playwrights Horizons Theater School where she was awarded the Robert Moss Prize. She is the artist-in-residence at the IAMA Theatre Company in Los Angeles. Her playwriting credits include the Seven Deadly Plays, a series that explore ancient vices in an unfortunately modern generation. The series includes Cinephilia (lust), Bachelorette (gluttony), Assistance (greed), Surfer Girl (sloth) and Reverb (wrath). She is currently writing for the new FX series "Terriers" created by screenwriter Ted Griffin (Ocean's 11) and produced by Shawn Ryan ("The Shield").

Trip Cullman returns to Second Stage Uptown where he staged the acclaimed play Swimming in the Shallows by Adam Bock, as well as Second Stage Theatre's mainstage production of Terrence McNally's Some Men. Other directing credits include The Drunken City (Playwrights Horizons), Dog Sees God (Century Center for the Performing Arts), Roulette (EST), Smashing (The Play Company), The Last Sunday in June (Century Center for the Performing Arts and Rattlestick Theatre), The Vortex (Innocent Theatre), The Propaganda Plays (Dixon Place), and Atom & Devorah (Lincoln Center Directors Lab).

ABOUT THE CAST

Aya Cash (Gena). New York Theater: Killers and Other Family (Rattlestick), Offices (The Atlantic), Three Changes (Playwrights Horizons), From Up Here (Manhattan Theatre Club), The Pain and the Itch (Playwrights Horizons), Not Waving, Whore (SPF), Playlist, Missed Connections (Ars Nova), Cookie Crumble (DirectorFest), Jasper Lake (Fringe NYC). Regional: The Three Sisters (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Glass Menagerie (Berkshire Theatre Festival), The Diary of Anne Frank (Denver Center, Ovation Award Best Actress), two seasons at GRSF: A Winter's Tale, Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing and Richard III. Television: "Strange Brew" (pilot), "Spellbound" (pilot), "Mercy," "Law and Order," "Law and Order: CI," "Law and Order: SVU," "In Men We Trust" and "Brotherhood." Film: Deception, Off Jackson Avenue, Winter of Frozen Dreams, January, and the upcoming The Bits in Between and The Oranges. Education: UM/Guthrie BFA Actor Training Program.

Tracee Chimo (Reagan) was last seen as Lauren in Circle Mirror Transformation (Lucille Lortel nomination, Drama Desk award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance). Broadway: Irena's Vow. Off-Broadway: Circle Mirror Transformation, Vendetta Chrome, Guilty, Bushwhackin', Vamp. Regional: SUNDANCE '08, Humana Festival/Actor's Theatre of Louisville, The Cleveland Play House and Philadelphia Theatre Company. TV: Guest star in the upcoming show "Louie" which will debut in June on FX, "Guiding Light." Film: Evening, What Would Jesus Do?, Daughters of Liberty and Wasted Time. Last year Tracee was honored by actress Marian Seldes and The O'Neill Studio, where she studied, with the EuGene O'Neill Award for her work in Irena's Vow.

Tate Ellington (Joe) most recently starred opposite Robert Pattinson in the Summit feature film Remember Me. He also starred in the The Elephant King, which was selected for the Tribeca Film Festival, and for which he won Best Actor at the Brooklyn International Film Festival. His theatre credits include The Philanthropist on Broadway opposite Matthew Broderick and Steven Weber, The Shape of Things for the Rising Sun Performance Company, and the 2004 Fringe Festival-winning Dog Sees God at the SoHo Playhouse. Other film and TV credits include CBS's "The Good Wife," ABC's "The Unusuals," Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson's Invention of Lying, HBO Film's "Taking Chance," the independent film Red opposite Brian Cox, and the independent film Breaking Upwards.

Carmen M. Herlihy (Becky). New York Credits include: Five Genocides (Clubbed Thumb), Buffalo Gal (Primary Stages), crooked (Women's Project, Lucille Lortel Nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress), The Piano Teacher (Vineyard Theatre), The Thugs (Soho Rep), columbinus (NYTW, Drama League Nomination for Ensemble), The House of Bernarda Alba (NAATCO), Misterioso 119 (Act French/Lark), Romeo and Juliet (RTW),Regional: Centerstage, Hartford Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival, McCarter, RMT, Mark Taper Forum. TV:"The Unusuals," "Cold Case," "Six Degrees." Film: Please Give, Two Lovers, Burn After Reading, Trouble with Cali, Tiny Dancer. Upcoming: Morning Glory, The Switch, The Rebound. Training: BFA NYU Tisch, ETW Amsterdam, The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

Celia Keenan-Bolger (Katie). Second Stage: Little Fish, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Broadway: Spelling Bee (Tony Award Nomination, Drama Desk Award for Best Ensemble, Theatre World Award), Les Miserables (Drama Desk Nomination). Off-Broadway Juno (City Center Encores), Summer of ‘42 (Variety Arts), Kindertransport (MTC). Favorite regional credits include Johanna in Sweeney Todd (Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration), Emily in Our Town (Intiman Theatre), Clara in The Light in the Piazza (Goodman Theatre), Molly in Peter and the Starcatchers (La Jolla Playhouse) and most recently Abigail in Creating Claire (George Street Playhouse). Recordings: Spelling Bee, Bright Lights Big City, Summer of ‘42 and Broadway Musicals of 1930. TV: "Law & Order," "Heartland." Celia is a graduate of the University of Michigan Musical Theater Department.

Eddie Kaye Thomas (Jeff). Broadway: The Diary of Anne Frank, Four Baboons Adoring The Sun. Off-Broadway credits include Jack's Precious Moments, Dog Sees God, The Happy Sad, Smelling A Rat (New Group), Talking Pictures (Signature) and others. Film credits include: American Pie 1-3, Harold and Kumar...1-2, Black and White, Freddy Got Fingered, Stolen Summer, Dirty Love, illtown, Wasted, Blind Dating, On The Road With Judas. Currently starring on HBO's "How to Make it in America." Other television credits include: "Til Death," "Off Centre," "CSI," "Law & Order."

ABOUT Second Stage Theatre UPTOWN

The series premiered in 2002 with three new American plays: ...in the absence of spring..., written and directed by Joe Calarco; The Notebook, written by Wendy Kesselman and directed by Evan Yionoulis; and Hunt Holman's Spanish Girl, directed by Erica Schmidt. Second Stage Theatre Uptown was on hiatus in 2003 due to theatre repairs. The 2004 season saw the New York premiere of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's The Mystery Plays, as well as Brooke Berman's The Triple Happiness, starring Ally Sheedy. In 2005, the series presented the New York premiere of the critically acclaimed comedy Swimming in the Shallows, written by Adam Bock and starring Logan Marshall-Green, as well as the world premiere of Dan O'Brien's The Dear Boy. The 2006 series featured two world premiere comedies: Getting Home, written by Anton Dudley and directed by David Schweizer, and Rajiv Joseph's All This Intimacy, directed by Giovanna Sardelli. The 2007 series featured Marisa Wegrzyn's The Butcher of Baraboo, directed by Judith Ivey, and Joshua Tobiessen's Election Day, directed by Jeremy Dobrish. The 2008 series featured Carly Mensch's Len, Asleep in Vinyl, directed by Jackson Gay, and Rajiv Joseph's Animals Out of Paper, directed by Giovanna Sardelli.

Last season's Uptown Series featured two world premiere plays: Zakiyyah Alexander's 10 Things To Do Before I Die, directed by Jackson Gay, and Lila Rose Kaplan's Wildflower, directed by Giovanna Sardelli.

SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION

Bachelorette will be performed at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre (Broadway & 76th Street, 3rd floor) from Monday, July 12 - Saturday, August 7 on the following schedule: Monday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00pm. There will be no matinee performance on July 14 and July 21.

Tickets for performances of Bachelorette can be purchased at the Second Stage Theatre Box Office (305 West 43rd Street), by calling (212) 246-4422 or online at www.2st.com. Advance tickets are not available at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre. Single tickets are $50; advance youth tickets (age 30 and under) are $20; and student RUSH tickets are $10 (available 30 minutes prior to curtain).

For more information, please visit www.2ST.com

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