INVASION! Alters Performance Schedule Off-Broadway

INVASION! - the new play by the Swedish playwright and novelist Jonas Hassen Khemiri being presented Off-Broadway by The Play Company - will play an altered performance schedule starting Monday, February 28 at Walkerspace (46 Walker St.) in Manhattan, it has been announced by Kate Loewald, Founding Producer, and Lauren Weigel, Executive Producer of The Play Company.

The four regularly scheduled performances previously set for Monday, February 28 through Thursday, March 3 have been rescheduled, as follows:
Sunday, March 6 at 2 and 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 13 at 2 and 7:30 p.m.

Ticketholders for the performances Feb. 28-March 3 may contact Ovationtix at 212 352 3101 to exchange at no charge.

INVASION!, which had previously enjoyed great success in numerous European productions, has become an instant favorite with audiences in New York, where INVASION! began previews on February 9 prior to its official opening night on February 21.

WHAT THE CRITICS HAVE HAD TO SAY ABOUT "INVASION!":
"Set in an urgently contemporary New York, a slyly entertaining comedy with a sharp political edge." New York Times - Critic's Pick

"If you've ever wished somebody would write a razor-sharp play anatomizing lazy paranoia about the Middle East - somebody has." Village Voice

"Unfolds with lightning-like rapidity...theatergoers find themselves hooked from the show's opening moments". Theatermania

"Provocative, daring and often startlingly insightful. It's one of the best social commentaries in dramatic form of the past few years, and you owe it to yourself to see it as soon as you can." Curtain Up

"This is a high-energy experience, with theatrical and political ideas bouncing off each other like pinballs." Backstage

"It's a stimulating, challenging, and rewarding ride." NYTheatre.com

"A must see for anyone who's sick of America's political dead weight and the present dramatic doldrums." Theasy.com

"Exceptionally put together by the playwright who has entertainment as well as enlightenment on his mind. INVASION! is the perfect production to wake you from those winter doldrums." OscarMoore.com

INVASION! is directed by Erica Schmidt. The play has been translated in English - to considerable acclaim - by Rachel Willson-Broyles.

INVASION! is a subversive comedy that centers on "Abulkasem," a name that bears seemingly magical powers, and a series of characters who assume the name for their own reasons. Who is "Abulkasem"? Is he a character in a fairy tale, or an international super-spy? Is she a renowned auteur director? Does he/she pose a clear and present danger? And is there more than one? That all depends on who you ask.

Featured in the cast of INVASION! are Francis Benhamou (THREE WOMEN at 59E59 Theaters), Andrew Guilarte (MARAT/SADE at Classical Theatre of Harlem), Bobby Moreno (REENTRY at Center Stage Baltimore) and Debargo Sanyal (QUEENS BOULEVARD at Signature Theatre).

Mr. Khemiri is an acclaimed author and playwright of Tunisian and Swedish parentage. INVASION!, his first play, has enjoyed considerable success in Sweden, Norway, Germany, France, Austria and the United Kingdom. He won Sweden's top prize for best literary debut with his novel "One Eye Red," and his newest novel "Montecore: The Silence of the Tiger," was awarded Sweden's highest honor, the Per Olov Enquist Prize. "Montecore" will be published in the U.S. by Random House in Spring, 2011, marking Mr. Khemiri's English-language literary debut and coinciding with the run of INVASION!.

PlayCo's production of INVASION! is translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles, who also translated "Montecore." INVASION! is the second production - following last season's acclaimed production of Toshiki Okada's ENJOY -- of PlayCo's Universal Voices Translation Program, which commissions American translations of foreign-language plays.

Scenic design for INVASION! is by Antje Ellermann; costume design is by Oana Botez Ban; lighting design is by Matthew Richards; and sound design is by Bart Fasbender.

Erica Schmidt co-created and directed Lorenzo Pisoni's multiple award-winning HUMOR ABUSE, as well as PlayCo's production of TRUST by Gary Mitchell, THE BURNT PART BOYS at Vineyard Theatre and New York Stage and Film, and HONEY BROWN EYES presented by The Working Theater.

The Play Company is dedicated to adventurous new writing by playwrights from the U.S. and around the world, linking NYC artists and audiences to a whole world of plays. Recent productions include the U.S. premiere of ENJOY (Japan), the NY premiere of Lloyd Suh's AMERICAN HWANGAP (U.S.), the U.S. premieres of Przemyslaw Wojcieszek's MADE IN POLAND (Poland); Robert Farquhar's BAD JAZZ (England), Vijay Tendulkar's SAKHARAM BINDER (India); Yoji Sakate's THE ATTIC (Japan); and The Presnyakov Brothers' TERRORISM (Russia); as well as world premieres of the American plays SMASHING by Brooke Berman, HIGH DIVE by Leslie Ayvazian and EDGEWISE by Eliza Clark. Play Co. received a 2007 Obie Award for its "unique contribution to the theatre community."

Now scheduled through March 13, tickets to INVASION! are $30 and $40 and can be purchased at www.theatermania.com or by calling 212 352 3101.

For more information visit www.playco.org

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