George Brant's GROUNDED with Hannah Cabell Opens Off-Broadway Tonight

Winner of the 2012 Smith Prize, which recognizes an outstanding play that focuses on American politics Page 73 Productions, now in its 16th year premiering the next generation of American Playwrights - who have included Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes, Drama Desk Award winner Sam Hunter, New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award recipient Dan LeFranc, and more - presents the New York premiere of George Brant's gripping new play GROUNDED, directed by two-time Obie Award-winning director Ken Rus Schmoll (TELEPHONE, A MAP OF VIRTUE) and starring Hannah Cabell (3C, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS opposite Frank Langella) with preview performances beginning Off-Broadway on January 8 prior to an official press opening of January 16 at Walkerspace (46 Walker Street) in Manhattan. GROUNDED has a runtime of 70 minutes, with no intermission.

"We are proud to present George's first New York City premiere, and to introduce New York audiences to his writing and this remarkable new play. We're especially excited to produce GROUNDED at a time when its questions mirror those in the national news every day," said Page 73 Executive Directors Liz Jones and Asher Richelli. "We're also thrilled to work with director Ken Rus Schmoll and actress Hannah Cabell, whose tremendous bodies of work with new plays we have long admired."

Winner of the 2012 Smith Prize, presented by the National New Play Network to honor a new play that focuses on American politics, GROUNDED is the story of an ace fighter pilot (Cabell) whose unexpected pregnancy ends her career in the sky. Reassigned to operate military drones from a windowless trailer outside Las Vegas, she hunts terrorists by day and returns to her family each night. As the pressure to track a high-profile target mounts, the boundaries begin to blur between the desert in which she lives and the one she patrols.

GROUNDED has had productions at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Fringe First Award) and the Gate Theatre in London, and received its world premiere earlier this year in critically acclaimed productions through the National New Play Network's Rolling World Premiere program in San Francisco (San Francisco Playhouse), Tucson (Borderlands Theater) and upcoming in Kansas City (Unicorn Theater). Additionally, productions of GROUNDED have been announced for dates later in 2014 in Pittsburgh (City Theatre) and Chicago (American Blues Theater).

The production design team for GROUNDED includes set and costume design by Arnulfo Maldonado (NOT WHAT HAPPENED), lighting design by Garin Marschall (DOT), and sound design by Jane Shaw (JACKIE).

George Brant was a 2013 P73 Playwriting Fellowship finalist. His plays include ELEPHANT'S GRAVEYARD, THE MOURNERS' BENCH, ANY OTHER NAME, SALVAGE, GRIZZLY MAMA, THREE VOYAGES OF THE LOBOTOMOBILE, and DARK ROOM. A Core Writer at the Playwrights' Center, George's scripts have been produced internationally by Trinity Repertory Company, City Theatre, London's Gate Theatre, and the Traverse Theatre, among others. He has received a Kennedy Center National Playwriting Award, the Smith Prize (for GROUNDED), an Edinburgh Fringe First Award (for GROUNDED), an OAC Individual Excellence Award, and the Keene Prize for Literature. George has been awarded writing fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the McCarter Theatre Center, and the Michener Center for Writers. He is published by Samuel French, Oberon Books and Smith & Kraus.

Ken Rus Schmoll is a two-time Obie Award-winning director, primarily of new plays, whose credits include NOT WHAT HAPPENED (BAM); RED DOG HOWLS (New York Theatre Workshop); LUTHER, TELETHON, AMAZONS AND THEIR MEN, DEMON BABY (Clubbed Thumb); THE PERIPHERALS (The Talking Band); DEATH TAX (Humana Festival); A MAP OF VIRTUE, Mark Smith, APHRODISIAC, THE INTERNATIONALIST (13P); SEVEN HOMELESS MAMMOTHS WANDER NEW ENGLAND (Two River Theater); FUREE IN PINS AND NEEDLES, TELEPHONE (Foundry Theatre); MIDDLETOWN, THE INTERNATIONALIST (Vineyard Theatre); WHAT ONCE WE FELT (LCT3); OCTOBER/NOVEMBER (EST Marathon); MILLICENT SCOWLWORTHY, HONOR AND THE RIVER (SPF); and APHRODISIAC (Long Wharf). He staged the world premiere of Charles Wuorinen's cantata IT HAPPENS LIKE THIS (Tanglewood) and the American premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's opera PROSERPINA (Spoleto Festival USA). He is an affiliated artist with Clubbed Thumb, a Sundance Theatre Institute alum, and co-chair of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab.

Hannah Cabell has appeared on Broadway opposite Frank Langella in A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (Roundabout). Off-Broadway credits include: COLLAPSE (Women's Project), 3C (Rattlestick), COMPULSION (Public Theater), ZERO HOUR (13P), PUMPGIRL, (Manhattan Theatre Club), JANE EYRE (Acting Company), MILLICENT SCOWLWORTHY (SPF), GENTLEMAN CALLER (Clubbed Thumb), Mark Smith (13P). Regional and International credits include: World premieres of MARIE ANTOINETTE (ART and Yale Repertory Theater), COMPULSION (Yale Repertory Theater and Berkeley Repertory Theater; BACCA nom), and Sarah Ruhl's adaptation of THREE SISTERS (Cincinnati Playhouse); AS YOU LIKE IT (Continuum Company, Florence); world premiere of Sarah Ruhl's IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY (Berkeley Rep; BACCA nom); SEDITION and MARY'S WEDDING (Westport Country Playhouse). She is a recent recipient of the Annenberg Fellowship for the Arts.

Scheduled January 8 through February 1, GROUNDED will have a performance schedule of Mondays through Wednesdays at 7:30pm and Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm (at Walkerspace -- 46 Walker Street). Tickets range from $25 to $35, with $15 preview tickets and $15 Student tickets available with valid ID. Tickets can be purchased online at: page73.org/tickets, or by phone: 1-866-811-4111.

For more information about Page 73 Productions, visit www.page73.org.

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