Nick Cordero, Diane Davis, Kathryn Kates and Liv Rooth to Star in Labyrinth's NICE GIRL This Summer

Labyrinth Theater Company announces casting and creative team for the world premiere of Melissa Ross's Nice Girl. The production, May 7-June 7, reunites the Labyrinth Theater Company member with director Mimi O'Donnell, who worked together on the 2011 production of Thinner Than Water. Thinner Than Water marked both the playwriting debut of Ross and the directorial debut of O'Donnell.

Set in a small, middle class suburb outside of Boston in 1984, Nice Girl centers on Jo Rosen, a 37 seven year woman with a dead-end job who still lives at home with her mother. Jo has settled into the uncomfortable comfort of an unintended spinsterhood. But when a chance flirtation with an old classmate and a new friendship at work give her hope for the possibility of change, Jo dusts off the Jane Fonda tapes and begins to take tentative steps towards a new life. Nice Girl is a play about the tragedy and joy of figuring out who you are and letting go of who you were supposed to be.

The cast of Nice Girl includes Tony-nominee Nick Cordero as Donny, Diane Davis as Josephine, Kathryn Kates as Francine and Liv Rooth as Sherry.

The creative team includes David Meyer (sets), Japhy Weideman (lights), Emily Rebholz (costumes), Ryan Rumery (sound) and Hannah Woodward (production stage manager).

Performances of Nice Girl will take place May 7-June 7 (see schedule above) at Bank Street Theater, located at 155 Bank Street in Manhattan. Critics are welcome as of Friday, May 22 for an official opening on Wednesday, May 27 at 7:30pm. Access For All Tickets are $25 with no service fees and can be purchased by visiting labtheater.org or by calling 212.513.1080. The Access For All Ticket policy is Labyrinth's commitment to keeping theater affordable for everyone. An intimate Conversation Series will follow select performances of Nice Girl on May 12, 19, 26 and June 2.

About the Artists:

The plays of Melissa Ross (playwright) include Thinner Than Water, You Are Here, Do Something Pretty, The Allies, and Nice Girl. Thinner Than Water was originally produced by Labyrinth Theater Company and is included in the anthology "New Playwrights: Best Plays of 2011" by Smith and Kraus. It received its Chicago premiere spring 2014 at The Gift Theatre. Ross has had readings and workshops with The Amoralists, The Cherry Lane Theater, Dorset Theater Festival, The Juilliard School, Labyrinth Theater Company, LCT3, Manhattan Theater Club, Montana Rep, New York Stage and Film, The New Group, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and The Pacific Playwrights Festival. Her play, Of Good Stock, will receive its world premiere at South Coast Repertory in 2015. Ross is a graduate of Bennington College, was a Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at The Juilliard School, and is a two-time recipient of the Le Comte Du Nouy Award. She is a proud member of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages and Labyrinth Theater Company.

Mimi O'Donnell (director) is the Artistic Director at Labyrinth Theater Company, where she directed the world premiere of Thinner Than Water, as well as a number of workshops and readings. As a producer with the Company, she was nominated for a Tony Award for the Broadway production of The Motherf**ker with the Hat and curated the annual Barn Series of new plays in development. Her acclaimed career as a Costume Designer includes many Labyrinth productions, including The Motherf**ker With The Hat, Jack Goes Boating, The Little Flower of East Orange, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, and the Off-Broadway, West End, and Donmar Warehouse productions of Jesus Hopped The A Train. Other notable productions include Modern Terrorism (Second Stage), Rapture, Blister, Burn (Playwrights Horizons), and The Blue Deep (Williamstown Theater Festival). Her film and TV credits include Jack Goes Boating, Jonathan Demme pilot "A Gifted Man," (directed by Jonathan Demme), and four seasons as an assistant designer on Saturday Night Live.

Nick Cordero (Donny) is thrilled to be making his Labyrinth Theater debut. Broadway: Bullets Over Broadway (Tony Award, Drama Desk nominations, Outer Critics Circle, Theater World Awards), Rock Of Ages. Off Broadway: The Toxic Avenger (New World Stages), Brooklynite (Vineyard Theater). Other select theater credits include: Rock Of Ages (1st National Tour), Little Shop Of Horrors (KC Rep), Pirates Of Penzance (BRT), Equus (Citadel Theater), The Last Five Years (Heritage Theater); Film/TV: Queer As Folk (Showtime), Lilyhammer (Netflix), Killer Set (2B Films).

Diane Davis (Josephine). Broadway: Golden Boy, Festen, Old Acquaintance; Off-Broadway: The Model Apartment (Primary Stages; Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations, Outstanding Actress in a Play), Regrets Only (Manhattan Theater Club), The Young Left (Cherry Lane). Regional: The Qualms (Steppenwolf), Abigail/1702 (Pittsburgh City Theater), All My Sons (Huntington), Dying City (Hartford Stage), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles), Mother of Invention (Williamstown Theater Festival). Television: Person of Interest, Blue Bloods, Power, Michael and Michael Have Issues, The Beautiful Life, Fringe, Without A Trace, Law and Order, and Filthy Gorgeous. M.F.A, NYU.

Kathryn Kates (Francine) can currently be seen on the Netflix series Orange is the New Black as Jason Biggs' mother, but is probably best known for her recurring role on Seinfeld in the iconic "Babka" and "Marble Rye" episodes. She stars with Judd Hirsch in the soon-to-be-released series Small Miracles. Kathryn returned to NYC after spending over 25 years in L.A. where she was a Founding Member (and producer, actor and co-general manager) of the award winning Colony Theatre. Since relocating to New York, she has appeared in over 25 plays and 3 musicals, most recently in Gertrude, The Cry at The Atlantic2, The Last Seder with Gaby Hoffmann and Greg Mullavey, and at NY Theatre Workshop in Food and Fadwa. She is a member of Daniel Talbott's Rising Phoenix Rep.

Liv Rooth (Sherry). Broadway: Venus In Fur, Born Yesterday, Is He Dead? Off-Broadway: Lives Of The Saints; All In The Timing (Primary Stages); Blood and Gifts (Lincoln Center Theater); Beyond Therapy (TACT); Jane Eyre (The Acting Company); Wife to James Whelan (Mint Theater); Women Beware Women (Red Bull Theater Company); The Obstruction Plays (Slant Theatre Project); A Doll's House (Studio Tisch). Regional: Venus in Fur (Hartford TheaterWorks); Nora, Suddenly Last Summer, Loot (all at Westport Country Playhouse); Noises Off (Hartford Stage); Boeing-Boeing (Old Globe and Dorset Theater Festival); Surf Report (La Jolla Playhouse); Pride and Prejudice (Geva Theater); Much Ado About Nothing (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival). TV: "The Good Wife"; "Person Of Interest"; "Elementary." Film: Hank Boyd Is Dead, The Wrong Girl, ichannel, 80/20. Training: MFA, NYU Graduate Acting Program.

Labyrinth Theater Company (Artistic Director, Mimi O'Donnell, and Executive Director, Danny Feldman) is a home for diverse artists who have changed the face of American theater through groundbreaking productions of provocative new plays. Founded in 1992 by a group of actors who wanted to push their artistic limits and tell new, more inclusive stories that expanded the boundaries of mainstream theater, Labyrinth has grown into an award-winning, nationally renowned company of actors, directors, playwrights and designers from a wide array of cultural perspectives. Over the past 20 years, Labyrinth has developed hundreds of original works and premiered 58 new American plays here in New York including Jack Goes Boating, Jesus Hopped The A Train, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Our Lady of 121st Street, Sailor's Song, Thinner Than Water and the Company's multi-Tony nominated Broadway debut, The Motherf**ker With The Hat.

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