Playwrights Horizons Presents KIN, Previews 2/25

Previews begin Friday, February 25 for the Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) World Premiere production of KIN, a new play by Bathsheba Doran (Living Room in Africa, her adaptation of Great Expectations at The Lortel). Directed by Obie Award winner Sam Gold (Circle Mirror Transformation at PH, Tigers Be Still, The Aliens, The Coward), the production has an Opening Night set for Monday, March 21 at 7PM. The fourth production of the theater company's 2010/2011 40th Anniversary Season, the limited engagement will play through Sunday, April 3 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).

The cast will feature Tony Award nominee Suzanne Bertish (The Moliére Comedies, the original London and Broadway Nicholas Nickleby), Bill Buell (On the Bum at PH, HBO's "John Adams"), Kristen Elizabeth Bush (Broadway's A Touch of the Poet, King Lear at The Public, Photograph 51 at EST), Patch Darragh (Roundabout's The Glass Menagerie and Crimes of the Heart), Laura Heisler (Doris to Darlene at PH, Coram Boy), Matthew Rauch (Broadway's The Merchant of Venice and Prelude to a Kiss), Cotter Smith (Broadway's Next Fall, X2: X-Men United), Concetta Tomei (Broadway's The Elephant Man, The Clean House at Lincoln Center, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead) and Molly Ward (The Seagull and Three Sisters at ART).

In KIN, Anna (Ms. Bush), an Ivy League poetry scholar, and Sean (Mr. Darragh), an Irish personal trainer, hardly seem destined for one another. But as their web of disparate family and friends crosses great distances - both psychologically and geographically - an unlikely new family is forged. Bathsheba Doran's play sheds a sharp light on the changing face of kinship in the expansive landscape of the modern world.

The production will feature scenic design by Paul Steinberg, costume design by David Zinn, lighting design by Jane Cox and sound design by Matt Tierney. Production Stage Manager is Alaina Taylor.

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

A ticketing initiative created as part of Playwrights Horizons' Arts Access program, LIVEforFIVE makes available $5 tickets for the first preview performance of each Playwrights Horizons production through a lottery via the company's website. The LIVEforFIVE lottery for KIN will be for tickets to the first preview on Friday, February 25 at 8PM. Details for the lottery are as follows: beginning Wednesday, February 16 at 10AM, theatergoers can enter the lottery by filling out an entry form at www.playwrightshorizons.org. Entries will be accepted until Monday, February 21 at 12 Noon. Winners of the lottery will be notified via email no later than 3PM on Monday, February 21 with instructions on how to book their $5 tickets. Unclaimed tickets will be offered via email starting at 12 Noon on Tuesday, February 22 on a first-come, first-served basis. One or two tickets may be purchased for $5 each. At least 50 tickets will be available for Mainstage shows via the lottery.

Reflecting Playwrights Horizons' ongoing commitment to making its productions more affordable to younger audiences, the theater company will offer HOTtix, $25 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. STUDENT RUSH, $15 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before curtain to full-time graduate and undergraduate students. One ticket per person, per purchase. Valid student ID required.

LIVEforFIVE, HOTtix and STUDENT RUSH are some 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, The McGraw-Hill Companies and the Elroy and Terry Krumholz Foundation.

A special open captioned performance of KIN for theatergoers who are deaf and hard of hearing will be held on the Saturday, March 12 matinee at 2:30 PM. Funding for this program is provided, in part, by the Theodore H. Barth Foundation and the Theatre Development Fund's TAP Plus program in cooperation with the New York State Council on the Arts.

How to order tickets for the open captioned performance:
? Online: log on to www.playwrightshorizons.org
? Phone: call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily) via Relay Service (800) 421-1220
? TTY: call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 (noon-8pm daily) via Relay Service (800) 662-1220
? By fax: a printable order form may be found online at www.playwrightshorizons.org/tickets.html

 

In addition, special Post-Performance Discussions with members of the creative team will take place immediately after the following three performances: Wednesday evening, March 2 at 8PM, Sunday matinee, March 6 at 2:30 PM and Friday evening, March 11 at 8PM.

Playwrights Horizons' season productions are generously supported by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Playwrights Horizons is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New

York State Assembly and the New York State Senate. In addition, Playwrights Horizons receives major support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Time Warner Inc., the Charina Endowment Fund and the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation.

Following KIN, the two remaining productions for Playwrights Horizons 2010/2011 Season will be:

GO BACK TO WHERE YOU ARE, the World Premiere of a new play by David Greenspan, directed by Leigh Silverman, beginning performances Thursday, March 24 at Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theater.
Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop and South Ark Stage present THE SHAGGS: PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORLD, the New York premiere of a new musical with book by Joy Gregory; music by Gunnar Madsen; lyrics by Ms. Gregory & Mr. Madsen; and story by Ms. Gregory, Mr. Madsen & John Langs; directed by Mr. Langs; beginning performances Thursday, May 12 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater.

For subscription and ticket information to all Playwrights Horizons productions, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, Noon to 8 pm daily, or purchase online at the Playwrights Horizons website at www.playwrightshorizons.org.

BIOGRAPHIES

Bathsheba Doran's (Playwright) plays include Parents' Evening (Flea Theater); Living Room in Africa (Off-Broadway for Edge Theater); Nest (commissioned and produced by Signature Theater DC); Until Morning (BBC Radio 4); adaptations of The Blind, Peer Gynt and Dickens' Great Expectations; and her play for young audiences, Ben and The Magic Paintbrush (South Coast Rep). She is a recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, three Lecomte du Nouy Lincoln Center playwriting awards, a Cherry Lane Mentor Project Fellow as and a Susan Blackburn Award finalist. Her work has been developed by MTC, the O'Neill Theatre Center, Lincoln Center, Sundance Theater Lab, and Playwrights Horizons. Ms. Doran studied at Cambridge and Oxford universities before working as a television comedy writer with the BBC. She moved to the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship in 2000, and received her M.F.A from Columbia University and went on to become a playwriting fellow of The Juilliard School. She is currently under commission from Atlantic Theater and Playwrights Horizons, and Schtanhaus in London. Her work is available from Samuel French and Playscripts Inc.

Sam Gold (Director) won an Obie Award for his direction of Annie Baker's acclaimed productions of Circle Mirror Transformation at Playwrights Horizons and The Aliens at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Other credits include Nick Jones' The Coward (Lincoln Center Theater); Jollyship the Whiz-Bang (Ars Nova); Kim Rosenstock's Tigers Be Still (Roundabout Theatre Company); Stephen Belber's Dusk Rings a Bell (Atlantic Theater Company); Noah Haidle's Rag and Bone (Rattlestick); Sam Marks' The Joke (Studio Dante); Betty Shamieh's The Black Eyed (New York Theater Workshop); Colin McKenna's The Secret Agenda of Trees (Cherry Lane Theatre); The Threepenny Opera, Twelfth Night, Suddenly Last Summer and Edward II (Juilliard); and Anne Carson's translation of Electra (Williams College). Sam is the Resident Director at the Juilliard School, where his credits include Beau Willimon's War Story, Twelfth Night, Suddenly Last Summer, Willimon's Farragut North, Suzan-Lori Parks's In the Blood, and Marlowe's Edward II for the Juilliard Centennial Tour (REDCAT, LA/Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago). From 2003 to 2006, Sam served as Dramaturg at The Wooster Group. He is a Roundabout Associate Artist, a NYTW Usual Suspect, a Drama League Directing Fellow, a former Playwrights Horizons Directing Resident, a recipient of the Princess Grace Award and a graduate of The Juilliard Directing Program.

Suzanne Bertish (Linda) most recently played the title role in Mrs. Warren's Profession at the McCarter Theatre and Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra for the Harman Center for the Arts, Washington DC. Broadway: Salome, The Molière Comedies (Tony nomination), The Life and Times of Nicholas Nickleby. New York: Measure for Pleasure (Public Theater); The Memory of Water, Art of Success, Skirmishes (MTC). As well as extensive credits for the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre, her West End credits include An Inspector Calls, The Vagina Monologues, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Hamlet. Her extensive television credits include "Rome," "Love Soup," "Trial and Retribution," "Mumbai Calling," "Silent Witness" and "Coronation Street." On film, her work includes Holy Money, The Upside of Anger, The Toybox, Déjà Vu, The 13th Warrior and Bent.

Bill Buell (Max). Playwrights Horizons: On the Bum. Broadway includes Equus, The History Boys, Inherit the Wind, Urinetown, 42nd Street, Titanic, Tommy, Taking Steps, Big River, Annie. Off-Broadway includes The Fourth Sister, Eight Days Backwards (Vineyard); Andorra, Waste (TFNA); Bad Habits, Aristocrats (MTC); Queens Boulevard (Signature); Picasso at the Lapine Agile, The Common Pursuit. NYSF: Tartuffe, The Winter's Tale, Twelfth Night. Film includes Across the Universe, Dark Water, Kinsey, Spy Game, Welcome to the Dollhouse, The Love Letter, Requiem for a Dream, Quiz Show. TV includes "Boardwalk Empire," "John Adams," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Jamie Kennedy Experiment," "Law & Order," "Ed," "Cosby."

Kristen Elizabeth Bush (Anna). Broadway: A Touch of the Poet (Roundabout). Off-Broadway: Photograph 51 (Ensemble Studio Theatre), King Lear (The Public); As You Like It (The Public/NYSF); Great Expectations (Lucille Lortel). Regional: Saturn Returns (South Coast Rep); Passion Play (Goodman); The Violet Hour (Old Globe). Film/TV: Synecdoche, New York; Calling It Quits; "Law & Order: SVU;" "Medium;" "Numb3rs," "NCIS," "Blue Bloods," "Knight Rider," "The Good Wife" and the upcoming "A Legal Mind." Training: The Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, England.

Patch Darragh (Sean). Broadway: Our Town. Off-Broadway: The Glass Menagerie (Lortel nomination), Crimes of the Heart (both Roundabout); Spin (Cherry Lane); All That I Will Ever Be (NYTW). Regional: Crimes of the Heart, Dissonance, The Sugar Syndrome (Williamstown); Mistakes Madeline Made (Yale Rep); The Violet Hour (Old Globe). Film/TV: Coach, "N.C.I.S.," "White Collar," "Mercy," "Cupid," "Damages," "Law & Order." Training: Juilliard.

Laura Heisler (Helena). Playwrights Horizons: Doris to Darlene, People Be Heard. Broadway: Coram Boy. Everything Will Be Different (Soho Rep), The Mistakes Madeline Made (Naked Angels), BFF (WET), The Given (Studio Dante), Top Girls and Bus Stop (Williamstown), Old Globe. Film: YellowBrickRoad, Forged, Cold Souls, Coach. TV: "The Middle," "Bones," "Numb3rs," "Ugly Betty."

Matthew Rauch (Simon/Gideon). Broadway: The Merchant of Venice, Prelude to a Kiss. Off-Broadway: The Winter's Tale, The Duchess of Malfi (Callaway Award), Still Life, Edward the Second, 1001, Expats, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Revenger's Tragedy, Hurlyburly, Book of Days. Film: Premium Rush, Stags, The Absence, Breaking Point, No Reservations. TV: CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC. Author (with Brad Shelton): Between Two Waves, Fever and "In Between Days" for Working Title and NBC.

Cotter Smith (Adam). Broadway: Next Fall, An American Daughter, Burn This. Off-Broadway: Next Fall (Naked Angels); How I Learned to Drive; The Dying Gaul (Vineyard); El Salvador, Borderlines, Empty Hearts, Walking the Dead (Circle Repertory); The Blood Knot (Roundabout); A Soldier's Play (Negro Ensemble Company). Los Angeles: The Tavern (L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award), The Homecoming, Endgame, The Seagull (Matrix Theatre Company, founding member). National tours: Art, McGuire. Film credits include "You Don't Know Jack" (HBO); X2: X-Men United; Lunatics, Lovers & Poets (Best Supporting Actor nomination, Method Fest Film Festival). TV includes "Brothers & Sisters," "Night Stalker," "Alias," "Judging Amy," "Oz," "Law & Order."

Concetta Tomei (Kay). Broadway: The Elephant Man, Noises Off, Goodbye Fidel. The Public Theater: Richard III (Bayfield Award) opposite Kevin Kline; original casts of The Normal Heart, Fen, A Private View. Off-Broadway: The Clean House (LCT), Cloud Nine (Lucille Lortel). Mark Taper Forum: Romance Language. ACT: Mrs. Warren's Profession. TV: "Providence," "China Beach," "Weeds," "Murphy Brown," "Judging Amy," over 50 other roles. Film: Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, Deep Impact, Out to Sea, The Muse, View from the Top. Graduate: University of Wisconsin, Madison and Goodman Theatre School, Chicago.

Molly Ward (Rachel). Recent work: American Repertory Theater's The Seagull, Romeo & Juliet, Three Sisters (Elliot Norton nomination; Edinburgh International Festival); Our House (Denver Center); Camille (Bard Summerscape); Othello (Hartford Stage). New York: The Nosemaker's Apprentice (Brick Theater); Shaving the Pickle, The Shape of Metal (Origin Theater Company). M.F.A., A.R.T. (Harvard/Moscow Art Theater School.

Playwrights Horizons, celebrating its 40th Anniversary Season, 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 40 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 four Pulitzer Prize winners: 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 Adam Bock's A Small Fire, Bruce Norris' Clybourne Park and The Pain and the Itch, Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation (three 2010 Obie Awards including Best New American Play), Edward Albee's Me, Myself & I, Amy Herzog's After the Revolution, 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'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.

 

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