Madeleine George, Sarah Ruhl, Will Connolly and More Set for Playwrights Horizons Panel Today

Playwrights Horizons and Symphony Space will present a panel discussion previewing the theater company's new season tonight, September 23 at 7:30 PM at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater (2537 Broadway at 95th Street). Moderated by The Washington Post's Chief Theater Critic Peter Marks, joined by Playwrights Horizons Artistic Director Tim Sanford, the 6th annual panel discussion will feature artists representing the six productions of the theater company's 2013/2014 Season.

The event will offer a first-look at the award-winning Playwrights Horizons' season line-up and an insider's perspective on the process of putting together a season of new American plays and musicals. It is also a unique opportunity to catch creative artists from the season's six productions onstage interacting together at one time. The panel will give audience members a chance to get to know the plays and players in the season and hear the writers discuss their lives, careers and each work's 'backstory.'

Offering insights into their creative processes and answering questions from the audience, the evening's artists, in season order, are:

Anne Washburn (The Internationalist) and Obie Award-winning composer Michael Friedman (Saved, The Drunken City at PH; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, the recent Love's Labours Lost), whose new play Mr. Burns - A Post-Electric Play has launched the new season. After opening last night to rave reviews, the production's limited engagement has just been extended two weeks to Sunday, October 20, 2013.

Marlane Meyer (The Chemistry of Change for PH; Etta Jenks, Moe's Lucky Seven), whose new play The Patron Saint of Sea Monsterswill begin previews on Friday, October 18, 2013

Madeleine George (The Zero Hour), whose new play The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence, commissioned by Playwrights Horizons with funds from the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, will begin previews on Friday, November 15, 2013

Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl (Dead Man's Cell Phone at PH; The Clean House, In the Next Room...), whose new play Stage Kiss will begin previews Friday, February 7, 2014

Kirk Lynn (Founder, Rude Mechanicals, Austin), whose new play Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Sutra will begin previews Friday, March 28, 2014

Co-author Will Connolly (performer, Once) and director Carolyn Cantor (The Great God Pan and After the Revolution at PH, Pumpgirl,Orange Flower Water), whose new musical Fly By Night: A New Musical, will begin previews Friday, May 16, 2014

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online at http://www.symphonyspace.org/event/8137/Theatre/playwrights-horizons-2013-2014-writers-in-conversation, by phone at (212) 864-5400 (Tues-Sun, 1-6PM) or in person at the Symphony Space Box Office at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street (Tues-Sun, 1-6PM).

Peter Marks has been Chief Theater Critic for The Washington Post since 2002, writing about theater locally, nationally and internationally. Prior to joining the Post, he spent a decade at The New York Times, serving as the paper's Off-Broadway theater critic, culture reporter, and national correspondent for the 2000 presidential campaign. He's taught theater criticism at George Washington University and three times served as the chairman of the drama jury for the Pulitzer Prizes. A graduate of Yale, he had previously been a reporter for Newsday, where he was on a team that won a Pulitzer for local news reporting.

Playwrights Horizons is a writer's theater dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American Playwrights, composers and lyricists and to the production of their new work. Under the leadership of artistic director Tim Sanford and managing director Leslie Marcus, the theater company continues to encourage the new work of veteran writers while nurturing an emerging generation of theater artists. In its 41 years, Playwrights Horizons has presented the work of more than 375 writers and has received numerous awards and honors, including a special 2008 Drama Desk Award for "ongoing support to generations of theater artists and undiminished commitment to producing new work." Notable productions include five Pulitzer Prize winners: Bruce Norris's Clybourne Park (2011 winner), 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 Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation (three 2010 Obie Awards including Best New American Play), Bathsheba Doran's Kin, Adam Bock's 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, Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, 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, 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'sGoodnight 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'sViolet.

Symphony Space traces its beginnings to a free marathon concert, Wall to Wall Bach, held in 1978 and organized by co-founders Isaiah Sheffer and Allan Miller. The music marathon then drew thousands of visitors and has since become one of the organization's signature events. Today, Symphony Space presents more than 600 events each season, including music, dance, theater, film and literature in performance. Some of its best known programs include Selected Shorts, a reading of short stories by stars of stage and screen, and one of the most popular series on public radio; the Thalia Film Club, a trendy film club hosted by Marshall Fine featuring pre-release screenings and behind-the-scenes conversations with film stars; Just Kidding, one of the most talked about family entertainment series around town; and, more recently, The Music of Now, presenting an eclectic range of music in all styles and sensibilities, focusing on emerging artists and unusual work. Uptown/ Showdownhas been called "New York's best comedy series" by New York Magazine. As a pre-eminent multi-disciplinary performing arts center, Symphony Space's mission is to offer artistic leadership that promotes innovation, excellence, engagement and accessibility to artists and audiences alike. For more information, visit www.SymphonySpace.org.

For ticket information on all Playwrights Horizons productions, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, Noon to 8 pm daily, or purchase online at www.TicketCentral.com. For more information, visit www.PlaywrightsHorizons.org, www.Facebook.com/PlaywrightsHorizons, Twitter: @phnyc, or playwrightshorizons.tumblr.com.

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