Page 73 Productions Will Present Four Plays as Part of Page 2 Workshop

Page 73 Productions, an Off-Broadway theatre company dedicated to developing and presenting works by early-career playwrights, will support the development of four new plays by playwrights Mary Hamilton, Kait Kerrigan, Kimber Lee, and Cori Thomas as part of their 2013 Page 2 Workshop, it has been announced by Liz Jones and Asher Richelli, Co-Executive Directors of Page 73 Productions.

Each playwright will receive a week or more of rehearsal, culminating in a final presentation. Please note, not all presentations are open to the public, some are invitation only and will be thus noted. The Page 2 Workshop was designed to offer writers resources beyond a one-day reading to develop their work.

Kicking off the 2013 Page 2 Workshop will be the semi-staged reading of DIFFERENT WORDS FOR THE SAME THING by Kimber Lee, directed by Thomas Kail (IN THE HEIGHTS, LOMBARDI, MAGIC/BIRD). The reading will feature a cast of 12: David Ayers, Jenni Barber, John Behlmann, Jordyn DiNatale, Alfredo Narciso, Kelley Rae O'Donnell, Larry Pine, Brian Quijada, Phyllis Somerville, Samantha Soule, Joe Urla, and Amy Kim Waschke. The play will receive two readings that will be free and open to the public on Monday, January 14 at 7:30pm and Tuesday, January 15 at 3pm. Both readings will be held at the 4th Street Theatre at 83 East 4th Street. Reservations are required, to RSVP please visit page73.org/differentwords.

In DIFFERENT WORDS FOR THE SAME THING, it's summertime in a small town in southwestern Idaho. Past and present reside uneasily in a complicated web of relationships among people living in the town, and the return of a prodigal child may or may not provide the release they all seek.

Kimber Lee has twice been a semifinalist for the P73 Playwriting Fellowship. She recently received her MFA from the University of Texas at Austin Playwriting Program. Plays include FIGHT, DIFFERENT WORDS FOR THE SAME THING, and BROWNSVILLE SONG, and her work has been produced and developed by the Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival (2012), the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program (2011-2012), Represent Playwrights Festival at ACT Theatre/Seattle (2012), The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis (Core Apprentice 2010-2011), Theatre of the 1st Amendment/First Light Discovery Program (2011), Great Plains Theatre Conference (2010, Mainstage Playwright), Theatre Masters National MFA Playwriting Competition (2009), Southern Rep (2011 Ruby Prize Finalist Reading), UT Austin Theatre & Dance (2010 Mainstage), and Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company (2007). Her play FIGHT received the 2010 Holland New Voices Award. Kimber has been a two-time Finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights' Festival, a Finalist for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, the Ruby Prize, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, and the PONY Fellowship at the Lark Play Development Center. She is currently a Fellow in the 2012-2013 Playwrights' Workshop at the Lark, and a member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab.

Thomas Kail's recent directing credits include the Broadway shows IN THE HEIGHTS, LOMBARDI, and MAGIC/BIRD. Off-B'way: IN THE HEIGHTS. Lincoln Center Theater: BROKE-OLOGY, WHEN I COME TO DIE. New York City Center: THE WIZ. Paper Mill: ONCE ON THIS ISLAND. National tour: IN THE HEIGHTS. Co-creator and director of hip-hop improv group Freestyle Love Supreme, which played the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, HBO Comedy Festival, Montreal Comedy Festival and Melbourne Comedy Festival. Recipient of the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center. Graduate of Wesleyan University, CT.

Following the reading of DIFFERENT WORDS FOR THE SAME THING, will be Cori Thomas' new play, AKOSUA MEANS SUNDAY directed by Lisa Peterson, with an invitation-only reading on Monday, January 21; Kait Kerrigan's new play DISASTER RELIEF directed by Stephen Brackett, with an invitation-only reading on Saturday, January 26; and Mary Hamilton's new one-man performance THE BUILDING AND UNBUILDING OF THE SAXOPHONE SUNSET, currently slated for an invitation-only reading on Monday, January 28. Email info@page73.org for more information about any of these projects.

Cori Thomas was a member of Page 73's 2008-2009 Interstate 73 writers group, attended Page 73's 2009 retreat at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and was a resident at the Page 73 Summer Residency at Yale in 2012, where she worked on an early draft of AKOSUA. Her plays include: WHEN JANUARY FEELS LIKE SUMMER (World Premiere City Theatre Co., Pittsburgh); PA'S HAT (World Premiere Pillsbury House Theatre, MN); MY SECRET LANGUAGE OF WISHES (Mixed Blood, MN); THE PRINCESS, THE BREAST, AND THE LIZARD; THE UNUSUAL LOVE LIFE OF BEDBUGS AND OTHER CREATURES; WAKING UP (World Premiere River Crosses Rivers, EST, NYC) PLAYING ON AIR-NPR; HIS DADDY (World Premiere River Crosses Rivers, EST, NYC); OUR LIVES, OUR FORTUNES, AND OUR SACRED HONOR. Thomas is a lifetime member in Acting/Writing at Ensemble Studio Theatre (NYC). She is a New Georges Affiliated Artist, Member of 'Wright on! writing group, Lark Play Development Center. She has received a grant from the Jerome Foundation and has been a Sundance Theatre Institute Fellow and a MacDowell Fellow. She was awarded the 2011 American Theatre Critics Association Osborn Award for Best New Play (WHEN JANUARY FEELS LIKE SUMMER) and the 2005 Theodore Ward Prize (MY SECRET LANGUAGE OF WISHES).

Kait Kerrigan will be a member of Page 73's 2013 Interstate 73 writers group. She is a Brooklyn-based playwright, lyricist, and bookwriter. Her musical HENRY AND MUDGE was produced off-Broadway in 2006 and went on to win her the Kleban Award for Most Promising Librettist. Her work has been developed and performed internationally. Her plays include DISASTER RELIEF, IMAGINARY LOVE, TRANSIT and WE HAVE TO HOLD HANDS. Her musicals, written with composer Brian Lowdermilk, include THE UNAUTHORIZED AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF Samantha Brown, TALES FROM THE BAD YEARS, THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS, WRONG NUMBER, THE FRESHMAN EXPERIMENT and the forthcoming REPUBLIC. Kerrigan is an alumna of Barnard College, and a member of ASCAP, the Dramatists Guild, and founding member of NewMusicalTheatre.com. For more information, visit www.kerrigan-lowdermilk.com.

Mary Hamilton was a member of Page 73's 2010-2011 Interstate 73 writers group and attended Page 73's 2011 retreat at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. She has developed plays in Iowa City, Philadelphia, Chicago and New York City. She is currently a member of EST's Youngblood and New Georges' The Jam. The recipient of the Iowa Provost's Fellowship, she participated in the 2010 Unplugged Festival at American Theater Company, 2009 Play Penn conference, 2008 Wordbridge Playwriting Conference and 2002 Young Playwright's Incorporated. Her work has been a finalist for the Yale Drama Series, Lark Pony Fellowship, the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, the Humana Festival, the Princess Grace Award and Julliard.

PAGE 73 Productions - under the leadership of Executive Directors Liz Jones and Asher Richelli and Associate Director Michael Walkup - develops and produces the work of early-career playwrights who have yet to have their work professionally produced in New York. Page 73 produces at least one New York or world premiere by an early-career playwright each year. Page 73 also offers production-oriented development opportunities that help usher the works of early-career playwrights from first draft to final script. In addition to Page 2, the company also hosts the P73 Playwriting Fellowship, a year-long program supporting one playwright's creative and career development; Interstate 73, a year-long writers group for 7 early-career playwrights; and a weeklong Summer Residency at Yale for four playwrights.

Page 73 Production's next mainstage work will be SLEEPING ROUGH by Kara Manning, directed by Tony-nominee Sam Buntrock set for The Wild Project from April 3-27. Page 73 produced the world premieres of ELLIOT, A SOLDIER'S FUGUE by Quiara Alegría Hudes, directed by Davis McCallum (2007 Pulitzer finalist and prequel to Quiara's 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning play WATER BY THE SPOONFUL), SIXTY MILES TO SILVER LAKE by Dan LeFranc directed by Anne Kauffman and co-produced with Soho Rep (2010 New York Times Playwriting Award); CREATURE by Heidi Schreck, directed by Leigh Silverman and co-produced with New Georges; JACK'S PRECIOUS MOMENT by Samuel D. Hunter directed by Kip Fagan and EDGEWISE by Eliza Clark directed by Trip Cullman and co-produced with The Play Company, as well as the New York premieres of 1001 by Jason Grote, directed by Ethan McSweeney (Time Out New York - Top 10) and LIDLESS by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, directed by Tea Alagic. The company received from the League of Professional Theatre Women their 2008 Lucille Lortel Award for "innovative and creative work dedicated to the emerging dramatist".

For more information about Page 73 Productions, please visit www.page73.org.

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