Hannah Bos to Bring Spirit of Invention Off-Broadway in THE LIGHT YEARS; Full Cast Announced!

Playwrights Horizons has announced complete casting for THE LIGHT YEARS, the world premiere of a new play written by Drama Desk Award winner Hannah Bos (The Open House, Jacuzzi, Blood Play, Buddy Cop 2) and Obie Award winner Paul Thureen (Jacuzzi, Blood Play, Buddy Cop 2), directed and developed by Obie Award winner Oliver Butler (Jacuzzi, The Open House, Blood Play), made by The Debate Society. The production will be the fourth production of the theater company's 2016/2017 Season.

Ms. Bos, Mr. Thureen and Mr. Butler are co-founders and co-Artistic Directors of The Debate Society.

The cast of THE LIGHT YEARS will feature Ken Barnett (Fun Home, Wonderful Town, Plenty, The Fortress of Solitude), Aya Cash (Three Changes and The Pain and the Itch at Playwrights, Happy Hour, The Other Place), Brian Lee Huynh (War Horse, "The Witches of Oz," "Madam Secretary"), Erik Lochtefeld (Misery, Metamorphoses, A Funny Thing...of NYC, Small Mouth Sounds), three-time Obie Award winner Rocco Sisto (Demonology at Playwrights, Quills, The Winter's Tale, The King & I, Seminar, Amadeus) and Graydon Yosowitz (You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Honk, Jr.; The Odyssey).

The production will begin previews Friday, February 17 with an Opening Night set for Monday, March 13 at 7PM at the company's Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). The limited engagement is currently scheduled to play through Sunday, April 2.

Behold The Spectatorium: an audacious, visionary 12,000-seat theater designed for the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 by Steele MacKaye (Mr. Sisto), the now forgotten theatrical impresario around whom this haunted, 40-year love story spins. From the minds of celebrated play-making company The Debate Society, THE LIGHT YEARS is an epic, intimate tale of two families struggling to meet their future, and a spectacular tribute to man's indomitable spirit of invention.

The production will feature scenic design by Laura Jellinek, costume design by three-time Tony Award nominee Michael Krass, lighting design by Obie Award winner Russell H. Champa, sound design by Lee Kinney and original music by Daniel Kluger. Production Stage Manager is Ryan Gohsman.

The performance schedule for THE LIGHT YEARS will be Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7PM, Thursdays and Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2:30 & 8PM and Sundays at 2:30 & 7:30 PM. Beginning Tuesday, January 17, single tickets, $49-89, may be purchased online via www.TicketCentral.com and www.Facebook.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily) and in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues).

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Hannah Bos (Playwright). Playwrights Horizons debut. She is a founder and co-Artistic Director of The Debate Society. She has co-written and starred in all of the company's plays, most recently, Jacuzzi. She starred in the premiere of Will Eno's The Open House at the Signature Theatre Company (Drama Desk Award; Lortel nomination, Featured Actress). Regional: premieres of Will Eno's Gnitand Lisa Kron's The Veri**on Play at Humana Festival, Andrei Serban's Lysistrata (ART) and Janos Szasz' Marat/Sade (ART). TV/Film: "High Maintenance," Timeless Seasons, How to Follow Strangers, Next Life. Hannah is a Sundance Theatre Institute fellow and a recipient of The Six Points Fellowship. BA, Vassar College. MFA, The Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University/Moscow Art Theater.

Paul Thureen (Playwright). Playwrights Horizons debut. He is a founder and co-Artistic Director of The Debate Society, co-writing and starring in all of the company's plays, including Blood Play (Obie Award, Performance) and Jacuzzi. Other New York City performances include Annie Baker's Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep.), Jenny Schwartz's 41-derful (Clubbed Thumb) and Steven Levenson's Core Values(Ars Nova). Regional: The Description of the World, Façade, Pulcinella (Theatre de la Jeune Lune) and The Odyssey Experience (McCarter). TV: "The Late Show with David Letterman" (recurring), "The Revolution" (History Channel). Paul is a Sundance Institute Fellow. B.A. Vassar College.

Oliver Butler (Director/Developer). Playwrights Horizons debut. He is a founder and co-Artistic Director of The Debate Society, a Brooklyn-based ensemble theater company, with whom he has co-created and directed the world premieres of eight full-length plays since 2004: Jacuzzi (Ars Nova), Blood Play (The Bushwick Starr, The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival), Buddy Cop 2 (PS122), You're Welcome (The Brick), The Eaten Heart (The Ontological Incubator), The Snow Hen (Charlie Pineapple Theater) and A Thought About Raya (Red Room, The Brick, The Ontological Incubator). He most recently directed the West Coast premiere of Will Eno's Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) (Geffen Playhouse). Last year he directed Christopher Shinn's An Opening in Time (Hartford Stage) and Daniel Goldfarb's Legacy (Williamstown). In Australia, he directed the premiere of Timeshare by Lally Katz (The Malthouse, Melbourne). He also directed the premieres of Will Eno's The Open House (Obie Award for Direction, Signature Theatre Company), Lally Katz's Goodbye New York, Goodbye Heart (The Australian-American Production Company) and Hostage Song, a new musical by Kyle Jarrow and Clay McLeod Chapman (Horse Trade Theater Group). He is a Sundance Institute Fellow and a Bill Foeller Fellow (Williamstown).

The Debate Society is an Obie Award-winning, Brooklyn-based company that creates new plays through the collaboration of Hannah Bos (writer/performer), Paul Thureen (writer/performer) and Oliver Butler (director/developer). The Debate Society's plays include Jacuzzi (Ars Nova, Time Out Top 10 of 2014; published by Samuel French), Blood Play (Bushwick Starr, Under The Radar, Williamstown Theater Festival; Samuel French), Buddy Cop 2 (Ontological-Hysteric Incubator; Samuel French), You're Welcome (The Brick; published by Playscripts), Cape Disappointment (PS122; Samuel French), The Eaten Heart, The Snow Hen and A Thought About Raya. The Debate Society trio are recipients of a 2012 Obie Grant, 2013 Obie Award (Performance - Blood Play), NEFA National Theater Project Grant and proud faculty members of The National Theater Institute.

Ken Barnett (Lou). Playwrights Horizons debut. Broadway: Fun Home, Wonderful Town, The Green Bird. Off-Broadway: Plenty, The Fortress of Solitude, Too Much Sun, February House, And Baby Makes Seven, Debbie Does Dallas, Imperfect Chemistry. Other New York: A Christmas Carol (Madison Square Garden), La Ronde, The Whore of Sheridan Square. Regional: world premiere of Gentlemen's Guide.... TV: "House of Cards," "Mozart in the Jungle."

Aya Cash (Adeline/Ruth). Playwrights Horizons: Three Changes, The Pain and the Itch. Off-Broadway: Killers and Other Family, Happy Hour, The Other Place, Offices, From Up Here, Playlist. Other New York: Whore, Not Waving, Jasper Lake, Cookie Crumble. Regional: Seminar (L.A./West Coast premiere), The Diary of Anne Frank (Ovation Award, Best Actress). Film: The Wolf of Wall Street, Mary Goes Round. TV: "Easy," "You're the Worst," "Newsroom."

Brian Lee Huynh (Hong Sling). Playwrights Horizons debut. Broadway: War Horse. Off-Broadway: The Threepenny Opera, Henry V, Lysistrata, Uncle Vanya. Other New York: Measure for Measure, Titus Andronicus. Regional: The 39 Steps, Coriolanus, Cyrano de Bergerac, Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo & Juliet, Woyceck, The Glass Menagerie. Film: Dorothy and the Witches of Oz. TV: "The Witches of Oz," "Madam Secretary," "Elementary."

Erik Lochtefeld (Hillary). Playwrights Horizons debut. Broadway: Misery, Metamorphoses. Off-Broadway: A Funny Thing...of NYC, Small Mouth Sounds, Row After Row, February House, Metamorphoses, Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Other New York: Stupid F***ing Bird, He Ate the Sun, Tamar of the River, Melancholy Play, Powerhouse, But I'm a Cheerleader. Regional: The Unknown Soldier, Hamlet, Candide, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Our Town.

Rocco Sisto (Steele MacKaye). Playwrights Horizons: Demonology. Broadway: The King and I, Seminar, To Be or Not to Be, Amadeus. Off-Broadway: Quills (Obie Award), 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Loot, Old Fashioned Prostitutes, Volpone, Measure for Measure, Iphigenia 2.0, Souls of Naples, The Harlequin Studies, The Tale of the Tiger, The Winter's Tale (Obie Award). 2010 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence. Film/TV: Donnie Brasco, "Blue Bloods," "MildrEd Pierce."

Graydon Yosowitz (Charlie). Playwrights Horizons debut. Off-Broadway: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown; The Odyssey. Other New York: Honk, Jr.; The Gold, The Trials of Alice in Wonderland, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Dear Edwina, Annie Get Your Gun. TV: "Kevin Can Wait," "The Jim Gaffigan Show."

Playwrights Horizons is dedicated to cultivating the most important American Playwrights, composers and lyricists, as well as developing and producing their bold new plays and musicals. Under Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, Playwrights builds upon its diverse and renowned body of work, counting 400 writers among its artistic roster. In addition to its onstage work each season, Playwrights' singular commitment to nurturing American theater artists guides all of the institution's multifaceted initiatives: our acclaimed New Works Lab, a robust commissioning program, an innovative curriculum at its Theater School and more. Playwrights has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including six Pulitzer Prizes, 13 Tony Awards and 39 Obie Awards. Prior artistic directors include André Bishop, Don Scardino and Robert Moss, who founded Playwrights Horizons in 1971 and oversaw its first decade, cementing the mission that continues to guide the institution today.

Notable productions include six Pulitzer Prize winners - Annie Baker's The Flick (2013 Obie Award, 2013 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), Bruce Norris's Clybourne Park (2012 Tony Award, Best Play), Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife (2004 Tony Award, Best Play), Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles (1989 Tony Award, Best Play), Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George - as well as Ms. Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation (three 2010 Obie Awards including Best New American Play); Lisa D'Amour's Detroit (2013 Obie Award, Best New American Play); Samuel D. Hunter's The Whale (2013 Lortel Award, Best Play); Kirsten Greenidge's Milk Like Sugar (2012 Obie Award); Jordan Harrison's Marjorie Prime (2015 Pulitzer finalist); Lucas Hnath's The Christians (2016 Obie Award, 2016 Outer Critics Circle Award, 2015 Kesselring Prize); Robert O'Hara's Bootycandy (two 2015 Obie Awards); Taylor Mac's Hir; Danai Gurira's Familiar; Anne Washburn's Mr. Burns, a post-electric play; Sarah Ruhl's Stage Kiss and Dead Man's Cell Phone; Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn; Dan LeFranc's The Big Meal; Amy Herzog's The Great God Pan and After the Revolution; Bathsheba Doran's Kin; Adam Bock's A Life and A Small Fire; Edward Albee's Me, Myself & I; Melissa James Gibson's This (2010 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist); Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie's Grey Gardens (three 2007 Tony Awards); Craig Lucas's Prayer For My Enemy and Small Tragedy (2004 Obie Award, Best American Play); Adam Rapp's Kindness; Lynn Nottage's Fabulation (2005 Obie Award for Playwriting); Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero; David Greenspan's She Stoops to Comedy (2003 Obie Award); Kirsten Childs's The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (2000 Obie Award); Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey's James Joyce's The Dead (2000 Tony Award, Best Book); Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins; William Finn's March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland; Christopher Durang's Betty's Summer Vacation and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You; Richard Nelson's Goodnight Children Everywhere; Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Once on This Island; Jon Robin Baitz's The Substance of Fire; Scott McPherson's Marvin's Room; A.R. Gurney's Later Life; Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's Floyd Collins; and Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley's Violet.

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