Michael Emerson and January LaVoy Star in WAKEY, WAKEY at Signature Theatre

Casting is confirmed and tickets are now on sale for the world premiere Signature Theatre (Paige Evans, Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director; James Houghton, Founder) production of Wakey, Wakey, written and directed by Lucille Lortel and Obie Award-winner Will Eno. Eno is a Residency Five playwright at Signature.

Wakey, Wakey will begin previews on February 7 in advance of a February 27 opening and play through March 19 in The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues). All tickets for the initial run of the production are $30 as part of the Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access. To purchase tickets for all Signature Productions, call Ticket Services at 212-244-7529 (Tues. - Sun., 11am - 6pm) or visit www.SignatureTheatre.org.

The cast is Emmy Award-winner Michael Emerson ("Person of Interest," "Lost") and January LaVoy (Signature Plays, Home).

The creative team includes Christine Jones (Scenic Design), Michael Krass (Costume Design), David Lander (Lighting Design), Nevin Steinberg (Sound Design), and Peter Nigrini (Projection Design). David H. Lurie is the Production Stage Manager. Casting by Telsey + Company.

What are we here for? Is time a friend or an enemy? Do we all eventually end up in the same place, but take different routes to get there? This funny, moving, and thought-provoking new play, written and directed by Lucille Lortel and Obie Award-winner Will Eno, challenges the notion of what really matters and recognizes the importance of life's simple pleasures. (All of which might sound dreary, but there's a chance this will be a really good experience.)

Tickets to the initial runs of all Signature Productions at The Pershing Square Signature Center are $30, part of the groundbreaking Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access, a program that guarantees affordable tickets to every Signature production through 2031. Serving as a model for theatres and performing arts organizations across the country, the Initiative was founded in 2005 and is made possible by lead partner The Pershing Square Foundation. Additional support provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Margot Adams, Rhoda Herrick and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

2016-17 SEASON OVERVIEW

RESIDENCY ONE

The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA the Negro Book of the Dead

By Suzan-Lori Parks

Directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz

Final performance played on Sunday, December 18 in The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre

Venus

By Suzan-Lori Parks

Directed by Lear deBessonet

Begins April 25, 2017 | The Irene Diamond Stage

Traveling from her home in southern Africa for what she hoped would be a better life, Saartjie Baartman became an unfortunate star on the 19th Century London freak show circuit. This Obie Award-winning play gives vibrant life to the story of Baartman's journey to London, her rise to fame as the "Hottentot Venus," and her eventual relationship with a French scientist. Inspired by the true story of Baartman, Venus is a tragic-carnival, an intense and devastating journey honoring the life of Baartman and examining the way we live and love today.

The Red Letter Plays: In the Blood and f-ing A

By Suzan-Lori Parks

Directed by Jo Bonney

Theatre & Dates TBA

This production will be presented as part of the 2017-18 Signature season.

Remixing The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's seminal masterpiece, The Red Letter Plays tear open notions of gender and hypocrisy with poetic honesty and exhilarating wit. In the Blood's Hester La Negrita is a penniless mother of five condemned by the very men who loved her. f-ing A's Hester Smith is an abortionist, forced to ply her trade to save her own son. Performed together for the first time, the two plays form a thrilling and powerful indictment of the way we live now.

LEGACY PROGRAM

"Master Harold"... and the boys

Written and Directed by Athol Fugard

Final performance played on Sunday, December 11 in The Irene Diamond Stage

RESIDENCY FIVE

Everybody
(World Premiere)

By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Lila Neugebauer
Begins January 31, 2017 | The Irene Diamond Stage

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who The New York Times calls "one of this country's most original and illuminating writers," comes back to Signature for the second production of his residency with the world premiere of Everybody. Directed by Lila Neugebauer, this modern riff on the 15th Century morality play Everyman follows Everybody (chosen from amongst the cast by lottery at each performance) as he or she travels down a road toward life's greatest mystery.

Everybody is generously supported by the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Wakey, Wakey

(World Premiere)

Written and directed by Will Eno

Begins February 7, 2017 | The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre

What are we here for? Is time a friend or an enemy? Do we all eventually end up in the same place, but take different routes to get there? This funny, moving, and thought-provoking new play, written and directed by Lucille Lortel and Obie Award-winner Will Eno, challenges the notion of what really matters and recognizes the importance of life's simple pleasures. (All of which might sound dreary, but there's a chance this will be a really good experience.)

The world premiere of Wakey, Wakey is made possible through the generous support of Michael and Betty Rauch.

The Antipodes
(World Premiere)

By Annie Baker
Directed by Lila Neugebauer
Begins April 4, 2017 | The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre

Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Baker, who The New York Times has called "one of the freshest and most talented dramatists to emerge Off Broadway in the past decade," returns for the second production of her Signature residency with a world premiere play, directed by Lila Neugebauer. The Antipodes follows John, her insightful, funny and mysterious first play at Signature, which sold out an extended run and appeared on the Top 10 lists of The New York Times, New York Magazine and Time Magazine, among others.

The Antipodes is generously supported by Catherine Adler.

Additional support for Annie Baker's Residency is generously provided by Jon & NoraLee Sedmak.

Special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting the Residency Five Program. Additional support for Residency Five is provided by Time Warner Foundation, Inc.

The Residency Five Playwright Award is generously supported by the Genesis Foundation.

About Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre celebrates playwrights and gives them an artistic home. By producing multiple plays by each resident writer, Signature offers an in-depth look at their bodies of work.

Founded in 1991 by James Houghton, Signature makes an extended commitment to a playwright's body of work, and during this journey, the writer is engaged in every aspect of the creative process. By championing in-depth explorations of a playwright's body of work, Signature delivers an intimate and immersive journey into the playwright's singular vision. In 2014 Signature became the first New York City theatre to receive the Regional Theatre Tony Award.

Signature serves its mission through its permanent home at The Pershing Square Signature Center, a three-theatre facility on West 42nd Street designed by Frank Gehry Architects to host Signature's three distinct playwrights' residencies and foster a cultural community. At the Center, opened in January 2012, Signature continues its founding Playwright-in-Residence model as Residency One, a first-of-its-kind, intensive exploration of a single writer's body of work. Residency Five, the only program of its kind, was launched at the Center to support multiple playwrights as they build bodies of work by guaranteeing each writer three productions over a five-year period. The Legacy Program, launched during Signature's 10th Anniversary, invites writers from both residencies back for productions of premiere or earlier plays.

The Pershing Square Signature Center is a major contribution to New York City's cultural landscape and provides a venue for cultural organizations that supports and encourages collaboration among artists throughout the space. In addition to its three intimate theatres, the Center features a Studio Theatre, rehearsal studio, and a public café, bar and bookstore. Through the Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access, Signature has also made an unprecedented commitment to making its productions accessible by underwriting the cost of initial run tickets, currently priced at $30, through 2031.

Signature has presented entire seasons of the work of Edward Albee, Lee Blessing, Horton Foote, María Irene Fornés, Athol Fugard, John Guare, A.R. Gurney, David Henry Hwang, Bill Irwin, Adrienne Kennedy, Tony Kushner, Romulus Linney, Charles Mee, Arthur Miller, Sam Shepard, Paula Vogel, Naomi Wallace, August Wilson, Lanford Wilson, and a season celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company. Suzan-Lori Parks is the current Residency One playwright. Signature's current Residency Five playwrights are Annie Baker, Martha Clarke, Will Eno, Katori Hall, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan and ReGina Taylor. In addition to the Regional Theatre Tony Award, Signature's productions and its resident writers have been recognized with the Pulitzer Prize, Lucille Lortel Awards, Obie Awards, Drama Desk Awards, and AUDELCO Awards, among many other distinctions.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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