Playwrights Horizons Opens Online Lottery for First Preview of FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70th BIRTHDAY

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) begins accepting entries today, Monday, August 7 at 12 Noon, for the LIVEforFIVE online lottery for $5 tickets to The New York premiere production of For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, a new play by two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony Award nominee Sarah Ruhl (Stage Kiss, Dead Man's Cell Phone at Playwrights; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; The Clean House). Directed by Obie Award winner Les Waters (The Christians, Doris to Darlene at Playwrights; Ms. Ruhl's In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; 10 Out of 12; Big Love; Artistic Director, Actors Theatre of Louisville), the play is the opening production of the theater company's 2017/2018 Season.

The LIVEforFIVE lottery for For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday will be for tickets to the first preview on Friday evening, August 18 at 7:30 PM at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). The production has an Opening Night set for Wednesday, September 13 at 7:30 PM and will play a limited engagement through Sunday, October 1.

Celebrating over a decade, LIVEforFIVE was created by Playwrights Horizons in 2007 as part of their Arts Access program to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket. The ticketing initiative makes a limited number of $5 tickets available for the first preview performance of each Playwrights Horizons production through a lottery via the company's website (www.phnyc.org). Since its inception, over 2,000 theatergoers have been able to attend the theater thanks to the LIVEforFIVE initiative.

Details for the LIVEforFIVE lottery are as follows: beginning today, Monday, August 7 at 12 Noon, theatergoers can enter the lottery by filling out an entry form at www.phnyc.org/L45. Entries will be accepted until Thursday, August 10 at 12 Noon. Winners of the lottery will be notified via email no later than 3PM on Thursday, August 10 with instructions on how to book their $5 tickets. Unclaimed tickets will be offered via email to a limited standby list starting at 12 Noon on Friday, August 11 on a first-come, first-served basis. One or two tickets may be purchased by winners for $5 each.

The cast of For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday features Tony Award nominee and three-time Obie Award winner Kathleen Chalfant in the title role (Ms. Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone at Playwrights, Wit, Angels in America, Ms. Ruhl's Dear Elizabeth), David Chandler (Doris to Darlene, Black Sea Follies at Playwrights; Lost in Yonkers; Death of a Salesman), Ron Crawford (The Grapes of Wrath, Outside Mulligan), two-time Obie Award winner Lisa Emery (Marjorie Prime, Marvin's Room at Playwrights; Casa Valentina; Iron; Curtains; Six Degrees of Separation), Tony Award nominee Daniel Jenkins (Ms. Ruhl's Stage Kiss at Playwrights, Big, Big River, Oslo) and Keith Reddin (Baby with the Bathwater at Playwrights as Actor; Highest Standard of Living, Life and Limb at Playwrights as Author; on Broadway in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike), as well as the canine talents of Macy.

Playing Peter Pan at her hometown children's theater is one of Ann's (Ms. Chalfant) fondest, most formative memories. Now, fifty years later, Neverland calls again, casting her and her siblings back to this faraway dreamscape where the refusal to grow up confronts the inevitability of growing old. In her highly anticipated return to Playwrights, Sarah Ruhl conjures a tender, yearning tale that flies in the face of time, in the search for a second youth.

The production features scenic design by Tony Award winner David Zinn, costume design by Kristopher Castle, lighting design by Matt Frey, sound design and original music by Obie Award winner Bray Poor and Charles Coes. Animals by Tony Award-winning William Berloni Theatrical Animals, Flying Effects by ZFX, Inc. and Fight and Fly Director is Ryan Bourque. Production Stage Manager is Amanda Spooner.

FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70th BIRTHDAY had its world premiere at The 2016 Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. (Louisville, KY) in March 2016, also directed by Les Waters. Writing in The New York Times, Charles Isherwood called it, "A work that is equal parts dark and light, recalling the ebullient excitement of youth, but also confronting the hard fact of mortality. Ruhl's imagination is among the most adventurous at play today in the theater."

Ms. Chalfant, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Crawford, Ms. Emery and Mr. Reddin appeared in the Humana production. Ms. Chalfant, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Crawford and Mr. Reddin also appeared in the subsequent production at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in May 2016.

The performance schedule for For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday will be Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30 PM, Saturdays at 2 & 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2 & 7PM. Single tickets, $59-99, may be purchased online via www.TicketCentral.com and www.Facebook.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily) and in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues).

Also reflecting Playwrights Horizons' ongoing commitment to making its productions more affordable to younger audiences, the theater company will offer HOTtix, $30 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before showtime, to patrons aged 30 and under. Proof of age required. One ticket per person, per purchase. Cash only.

LIVEforFIVE and HOTtix are two of Playwrights Horizons' popular Arts Access initiatives, which allow the institution to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket. This program is supported, in part, by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, McGraw Hill Financial and an anonymous Individual Donor.

Following For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, the Playwrights Horizons 2017/2018 Season will continue with the world premiere of THE TREASURER, a Playwrights Horizons commissioned new play by Max Posner, directed by three-time Lortel Award winner David Cromer, featuring Marinda Anderson, Pun Bandhu, Tony Award winner and Olivier Award nominee Deanna Dunagan and Tony Award nominee and Obie Award winner Peter Friedman; (previews begin September 6); MANKIND, the world premiere of a Playwrights Horizons commissioned new play written and directed by two-time Obie Award winner Robert O'Hara (December 2017); THIS FLAT EARTH, the world premiere of a new play by Lindsey Ferrentino, directed by Tony Award winner Rebecca Taichman (March 2018); DANCE NATION, the world premiere of a new play by Obie Award winner Clare Barron, directed by Obie Award winner Lee Sunday Evans (April 2018); and LOG CABIN, the world premiere of a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist JorDan Harrison, directed by Tony Award and Obie Award winner Pam MacKinnon (June 2018).

A 6-Show Subscription package to Playwrights Horizons' 2017/2018 Season is now available ($288, four Mainstage and two Peter Jay Sharp Theater productions). In addition to discounts on all season productions, subscribers receive priority booking and seating, ticket exchange privileges, parking and dining discounts, and exclusive mailings of Playwrights Horizons Bulletins. Flex Passes (customizable bundle, $220+) and Memberships ($45 to join, $25 preview tickets) are also now on sale. Packages are available at www.phnyc.org.

Patron Program Memberships begin at $1,500 (all but $550 is tax-deductible) and include two reserved house seats and personalized concierge service to all six Playwrights Horizons productions, and as well as a variety of exclusive benefits including invitations to attend special events with artists, staff and board members. Complete benefit list at www.phnyc.org.

Playwrights Horizons' season productions are generously supported in part by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust and The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Playwrights Horizons is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and The New York State Legislature and The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. In addition, Playwrights Horizons receives major support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation and the Time Warner Foundation

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BIOGRAPHIES

Sarah Ruhl's (Playwright) plays include For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday; The Oldest Boy; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; The Clean House; Orlando; Late: a cowboy song; Dear Elizabeth; and Stage Kiss. She is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and a Tony Award nominee. Her plays have been produced on Broadway at The Lyceum Theatre by Lincoln Center Theater, Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage and at Lincoln Center's Mitzi Newhouse Theater. Her plays have been produced regionally all over the country and have also been produced internationally, and translated into over twelve languages. Ms. Ruhl received her M.F.A. from Brown University, where she studied with Paula Vogel. She has received the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, the Whiting Award, the Lily Award, a PEN Award for mid-career playwrights and the MacArthur "genius" award. Her book of essays 100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write was published by Faber and Faber last fall. She teaches at the Yale School of Drama and lives in Brooklyn with her family.

Les Waters (Director), Obie Award winner, recently directed Lucas Hnath's The Christians and JorDan Harrison's Doris to Darlene (both at Playwrights Horizons), Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas' Recent Alien Abductions, Macbeth, Sarah Ruhl's For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, Charles Mee's The Glory of the World, Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Will Eno's Gnit, Todd Almond's Girlfriend, Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night and Naomi Iizuka's At the Vanishing Point at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where he is Artistic Director. Waters previously directed Big Love by Charles Mee at the Humana Festival in 2000 (for which he won the 2001 Obie for Direction), as well as countless productions in New York at The Public Theater, Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, Connelly Theater, Clubbed Thumb, and BAM Next Wave Festival, and regionally at theatres such as the Mark Taper Forum, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Goodman Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, La Jolla Playhouse and American Repertory Theater. From 2003 to 2011, he served as Associate Artistic Director at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and in 2009, he made his Broadway debut with In the next room...or the vibrator play. Les' productions have ranked among the year's best in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Time Out New York, Time Magazine and USA Today..

Kathleen Chalfant (Ann) originated this role in the world premiere production of For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday at Actors Theatre of Louisville and its subsequent production at Berkeley Rep. Playwrights Horizons: Dead Man's Cell Phone. Broadway: Angels in America (Tony, Drama Desk noms.), Racing Demon, Dance with Me. Off-Broadway: Wit (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Connecticut Critics Circle, Obie awards), A Walk in the Woods (Drama Desk nom.), Talking Heads (Obie Award), Nine Armenians (Drama Desk nom.), Henry V (Callaway Award). London/Los Angeles: Ovation Awards for Wit and Red Dog Howls. Select Film: Isn't it Delicious?, The Bath, Duplicity, Kinsey, Laramie Project. Select TV: "Doubt," "Madam Secretary," "The Affair," "House of Cards," "Rescue Me," "Law & Order." Awards: 1996 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, 2004 Lortel Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance, 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award from the League of Professional Women.

David Chandler (Jim) originated this role in the world premiere production of For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday at Actors Theatre of Louisville and its subsequent production at Berkeley Rep. Playwrights Horizons: Doris to Darlene, Black Sea Follies. Broadway: Lost in Yonkers, Death of a Salesman, The American Clock. Off-Broadway: Slavs! (NYTW), The Swan (NYSF), The Peninsula (Soho Rep.), Underneath the Lintel (Soho Playhouse), Private Jokes and Private Places (La Mama), Cellini (Second Stage), The Grey Zone (MCC), Phaedra (Vineyard), Watbanaland (WPA). Film: Hide and Seek, The Undeserved, The Grey Zone. TV: "Law & Order," "Criminal Intent," "SVU," "Seinfeld," "Third Rock From the Sun."

Ron Crawford (George) originated this role in the world premiere production of For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday at Actors Theatre of Louisville and its subsequent production at Berkeley Rep. Playwrights Horizons debut. Broadway: The Grapes of Wrath, Outside Mulligan. Off-Broadway: The Invisible Hand (HERE), White Woman Street (Irish Rep). Regional: The Crucible, A Raisin in the Sun, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Of Mice and Men, Ragtime, The Night of the Iguana, A Christmas Carol. One-man show: Travels with Mark Twain. Film: Arthur and the Invisibles 1, 2 and 3; Blood Ties; Sweet Little Lies. TV: "Deadbeat," "Law & Order," "Spin City."

Lisa Emery (Wendy) originated this role in the world premiere production of For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Playwrights Horizons: Marjorie Prime (also world premiere at The Mark Taper Forum), Marvin's Room (Drama Desk nomination). Broadway: Casa Valentina, Relatively Speaking, The Smell of the Kill, The Women, Present Laughter, Jackie, Burn This, Rumors, Six Degrees of Separation. Off-Broadway: A Funny Thing...New York City, The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin, Lonely I'm Not, Sex Lives of Our Parents, Gabriel, Distracted, Abigail's Party, Hot 'N' Throbbing, Iron (Obie Award), Dinner with Friends, Curtains (Obie Award). Film: Unfaithful, In & Out. TV: "Jessica Jones," "Elementary," "Damages," "Ed," "Sex and the City."

Daniel Jenkins (John). Playwrights Horizons: Ms. Ruhl's Stage Kiss, Young Playwrights Festival-1993. Broadway: Big River (1985, Tony Award nomination & 2003), Big, Golden Boy, Mary Poppins, Angels in America, Billy Elliot, Oslo. Off-Broadway: Sex Lives of Our Parents (Second Stage); Oslo, Spinning Into Butter (Lincoln Center); Bye Bye Birdie, The Pajama Game (Encores!); Dream True, A Maiden's Prayer (Vineyard); Triumph of Love (CSC), his own Love Child (Primary Stages). Film: Cradle Will Rock, Glory. TV: "Bull," "Elementary," "Orange Is the New Black," "Happyish," "Veep," "The Good Wife," "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial."

Keith Reddin (Michael) originated this role in the world premiere production of For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday at Actors Theatre of Louisville and its subsequent production at Berkeley Rep. Playwrights Horizons as actor: Baby with the Bathwater; as author: Highest Standard of Living, Life and Limb. Broadway: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Play's the Thing, A Taste of Honey. Off-Broadway as writer: Frame 312, Brutality of Fact, Innocents Crusade, Life During Wartime, Rum and Coke; as actor: Barefoot Boy with Shoes on, Durang/Durang, Fortinbras, Angel of Death, Abundance, The Master Builder, The Entertainer. Film: Lolita, Revolutionary Road, Big.

Playwrights Horizons is dedicated to cultivating the most important American Playwrights, composers and lyricists, as well as developing and producing their bold new plays and musicals. Under Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, Playwrights builds upon its diverse and renowned body of work, counting 400 writers among its artistic roster. In addition to its onstage work each season, Playwrights' singular commitment to nurturing American theater artists guides all of the institution's multifaceted initiatives: our acclaimed New Works Lab, a robust commissioning program, an innovative curriculum at its Theater School and more. Playwrights has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including six Pulitzer Prizes, 13 Tony Awards and 39 Obie Awards. Prior artistic directors include André Bishop and Don Scardino. Robert Moss founded Playwrights Horizons in 1971 and oversaw its first decade, cementing the mission that continues to guide the institution today.

Notable productions include six Pulitzer Prize winners - Annie Baker's The Flick (2013 Obie Award, 2013 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), Bruce Norris's Clybourne Park (2012 Tony Award, Best Play), 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 Ms. Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation (three 2010 Obie Awards including Best New American Play); Lisa D'Amour's Detroit (2013 Obie Award, Best New American Play); Samuel D. Hunter's The Whale (2013 Lortel Award, Best Play); Kirsten Greenidge's Milk Like Sugar (2012 Obie Award); JorDan Harrison's Marjorie Prime (2015 Pulitzer finalist); Lucas Hnath's The Christians (2016 Obie Award, 2016 Outer Critics Circle Award, 2015 Kesselring Prize); Robert O'Hara's Bootycandy (two 2015 Obie Awards); Adam Bock's A Life and A Small Fire; Taylor Mac's Hir; Danai Gurira's Familiar; Anne Washburn's Mr. Burns, a post-electric play; Sarah Ruhl's Stage Kiss and Dead Man's Cell Phone; Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn; Dan LeFranc's The Big Meal; Amy Herzog's The Great God Pan and After the Revolution; Bathsheba Doran's Kin; 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; 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 (2000 Tony Award, Best Book); 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's Goodnight 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's Violet.