KINGDOM COME World Premiere Enters Final Weeks Off-Broadway

Roundabout Theatre Company will conclude the world-premiere production of Jenny Rachel Weiner's Kingdom Come, directed by Kip Fagan, on Sunday, December 18. The cast features Crystal Finn (Layne), Carmen M. Herlihy (Samantha Carlin), Alex Hernandez (Dominick Aquendo), Socorro Santiago (Delores Aquendo) and Stephanie Styles (Suz) as part of Roundabout's 50th Anniversary season.

At the time of closing, Kingdom Come will have played 30 preview performances and 55 regular performances. Previews began Off-Broadway on Friday, October 7, 2016 and the production opened officially on Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at the Black Box Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street).

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).

The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre opened in March 2004 with an acclaimed premiere of Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel starring Viola Davis, directed by Dan Sullivan. In the ten years since that landmark production, the center has expanded beyond the Laura Pels Theatre to include the Black Box Theatre and now a new education center. The Steinberg Center continues to reflect Roundabout's commitment to produce new works by established and emerging writers as well as revivals of classic plays. This state-of-the-art off-Broadway theatre and education complex is made possible by a major gift from The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. The Trust was created in 1986 by Harold Steinberg to promote and advance American Theatre as a vital part of our culture by supporting playwrights, encouraging the development and production of new work, and providing financial assistance to not-for-profit theatre companies across the country. Since its inception, the Trust has awarded over $70 million to more than 125 theatre organizations.

Roundabout Underground's home is a 62-seat Black Box Theatre, which is also used year-round by Roundabout's education department for its activities including student productions and professional development workshops.

Jenny Rachel Weiner is the 2016-17 Tow Foundation Playwright in Residence.

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 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 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