KINGDOM COME Officially Logs On Tonight at Roundabout Underground

Kingdom Come by Jenny Rachel Weiner, the first new play of Roundabout Underground's newly expanded 2016-2017 season officially opens tonight, November 2, 2016 at the Black Box Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street).

The world premiere began preview performances Off-Broadway on Friday, October 7, 2016. This is a limited engagement through Sunday, December 18, 2016.

The world-premiere production of Kingdom Come is directed by Kip Fagan as part of Roundabout's 50th Anniversary Season and features Crystal Finn (Layne), Carmen M. Herlihy (Samantha Carlin), Alex Hernandez (Dominick Aquendo), Socorro Santiago (Delores Aquendo) and Stephanie Styles (Suz).

Samantha (Herlihy) is lonely and confined to her bed. Layne (Finn) is shy and too afraid of the world to journey into it. When both women decide that online dating might be the outlet they need, they venture into the wilds of the Internet and find deep connection in each other. The only problem: they're each pretending to be someone else. What happens when the feelings are real but the people are not?

Kingdom Come launches the tenth season of Roundabout Underground, an initiative to introduce and cultivate artists in Roundabout's 62-seat Black Box Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. Kingdom Come was presented as part of last year's Underground Reading Series at Roundabout, and is the first production in the Roundabout Underground's newly expanded two-play 2016-2017 season. Prior productions include the acclaimed world premieres of Stephen Karam's Speech & Debate (2007), Steven Levenson's The Language of Trees (2008), Adam Gwon's Ordinary Days (2009), Kim Rosenstock's Tigers Be Still (2010), David West Read's The Dream of the Burning Boy (2011), Andrew Hinderaker's Suicide, Incorporated (2011), Joshua Harmon's Bad Jews (2012), Meghan Kennedy's Too Much, Too Much, Too Many (2013), Jeff Augustin's Little Children Dream of God (2015), and Lindsey Ferrentino's Ugly Lies the Bone (2015).

Roundabout Underground is an initiative to showcase new plays that will either give a debut production to an emerging writer or director or allow an experienced director to go back to his/her creative roots. Robyn Goodman (Artistic Consultant to the Roundabout) serves as Artistic Producer, with Associate Producers Jill Rafson and Josh Fiedler, for this initiative that continues to be a creative breeding ground for nurturing new talent.

The 62-seat Black Box Theatre, below the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, allows Roundabout to take artistic risks that are better suited for a more intimate space.

The creative team for Kingdom Come includes: Arnulfo Maldonado (Sets), Tilly Grimes (Costumes), Thom Weaver (Lighting), Daniel Perelstein (Sound) and Darrel Maloney (Projections).

Roundabout Theatre Company is committed to producing the highest quality theatre with the finest artists, sharing stories that endure, and providing accessibility to all audiences. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills its mission each season through the production of classic plays and musicals; development and production of new works by established and emerging writers; educational initiatives that enrich the lives of children and adults; and a subscription model and audience outreach programs that cultivate and engage all audiences.

Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays, musicals, and new works on its five stages, each of which is specifically designed to enhance the needs of Roundabout's mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design, is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout's Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. The Stephen Sondheim Theatre offers a state of the art LEED certified Broadway theatre in which to stage major large-scale musical revivals. Together these distinctive homes serve to enhance Roundabout's work on each of its stages.

Roundabout Theatre Company's 50th Anniversary Season celebrates the company's numerous accomplishments and vision for the future with bold new productions of classic plays, a revival of the Roundabout's first musical, and new work by some of the country's most exciting young talent. Founded in 1965, Roundabout Theatre Company has grown from a small 150-seat theatre in a converted Chelsea supermarket basement to become one of the nation's most influential not-for-profit theatre companies, as well as one of New York City's leading cultural institutions. Roundabout has been recognized with 36 Tonys, 50 Drama Desks, 59 Outer Critics Circle, 12 Obie and 18 Lucille Lortel Awards for its work on five stages, reaching more than 700,000 theatergoers and employing hundreds of artists each year. Bank of America is a proud 50th Anniversary Season sponsor - a partnership that makes possible Roundabout's many productions and not-for-profit initiatives during this landmark year.

Roundabout's current 50th anniversary season in 2015-2016 includes Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical by Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge, directed by Gordon Greenberg with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin; Diane Lane, Chuck Cooper, Tavi Gevinson, John Glover, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Harold Perrineau and Joel Grey in The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, with a new version by Stephen Karam, directed by Simon Godwin; Love, Love, Love by Mike Bartlett, directed by Michael Mayer; and the national tour of Sam Mendes & Rob Marshall's Tony Award-winning production of Cabaret.

The 2016-2017 Roundabout Underground season includes Kingdom Come, a new play by Jenny Rachel Weiner, directed by Kip Fagan; and On the Exhale, a new play by Martín Zimmerman, directed by Leigh Silverman.

Roundabout's season in 2017 will include John Turturro, Tony Shalhoub, Jessica Hecht and Danny DeVito in Arthur Miller's The Price, directed by Terry Kinney; If I Forget by Steven Levenson, directed by Daniel Sullivan; Marvin's Room by Scott McPherson, directed by Anne Kauffman; Napoli, Brooklyn by Meghan Kennedy, directed by Gordon Edelstein.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus