Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Opens 14th Season With Wright

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (David Van Asselt, Artistic Director and Sandra Coudert, Managing Director) begins its 14th anniversary season with the New York Premiere of Lady, a provocative new play by Craig Wright (The Pavilion), directed by Dexter Bullard (Bug).  The production will be produced in association with Barrow Street Theatre. Performances begin Thursday, August 28th, 2008.  Opening night is Monday, September 8th at 7pm.  The show will run through Sunday, September 28, 2008.

Deep in the woods of Illinois, three childhood friends come together on their annual hunting trip.  Now middle aged and divided by their conflicting political attitudes, they find that the common thread of memory has begun to tear.  Lady was commissioned by and received its world premiere at Chicago's Northlight Theatre.

The cast of Lady includes Michael Shannon (Bug, The Little Flower of East Orange), Paul Sparks (Take Me Out, American Sligo) and David Wilson Barnes (Becky Shaw, St. Crispin's Day).

The creative team is comprised of John McDermott (sets), Tif Bullard (costumes), Nicole Pearce (lights), Eric Shim (sound), Mary Robinette Kowal (props), Rick Sordelet (fight choreography) and Brian Smallwood (technical director). Katrina Renee Herrmann is Production Stage Manager, Alyssa Ritch is Assistant Stage Manager, and Julie Kline will serve as Assistant Director.

Lady will have the following performance schedule: Wednesday – Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $40.00 and are available through SmartTix (212-868-4444) or www.smarttix.com. Rattlestick Playwrights Theater is located at 224 Waverly Place (off Seventh Avenue South – between West 11th & Perry Streets).

CRAIG WRIGHT (Playwright). Mr. Wright's most recent plays include Better Late (Northlight Theatre), The Unseen (Humana Festival, Stages Rep), Lady (Northlight Theatre) and Grace (Woolly Mammoth Theatre).  His other plays include The Pavilion (Rattlestick, City Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Globe Theatre), Main Street (Great American History Theatre), Orange Flower Water (CATF, the Jungle, Steppenwolf, Edge Theater Companies), Recent Tragic Events (Woolly Mammoth, Playwrights Horizons) Molly's Delicious (Arden Theatre) and Melissa Arctic (Folger Theatre).  His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts Inc., Dramatic Publishing and Smith & Kraus.  He has received several awards for his writing, including fellowships from the McKnight Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.  Craig has written episodes for HBO's "Six Feet Under" (Emmy and WGA nominations) and the hit ABC television series' "Lost" and "Brothers and Sisters." He is the creator and Executive Producer of his own series, "Dirty Sexy Money," on ABC starring Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh, The show begins its second season this September.  Upcoming productions include The Unseen (The Cherry Lane) and Mistakes Were Made (Magic Theatre). He is currently writing a play for Hartford Stage and a musical for Playwrights Horizons.  A graduate of United Theological Seminary, Mr. Wright lives in Los Angeles.

DEXTER BULLARD (Director) is pleased to return to work with Craig Wright after directing Grace at Northlight Theater in 2006.  More recently, he has directed Brett Neveu's Gas for Less at The Goodman Theatre, Marisa Wegrzyn's The Butcher of Baraboo for Steppenwolf First Look, and the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championship Opening Ceremonies at the Chicago Theatre.  In 2004, Dexter was awarded the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Direction Off-Broadway for Tracy Letts' Bug at The Barrow Street Theater, as well as a Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Director. In 1995 Dexter co–founded Plasticene – a physical theater company whose critically–acclaimed experimental works have been featured at The Steppenwolf Studio, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Storefront Theatre, and in New York City. With the Plasticene company, he has directed and collaboratively created ten original works including The Palmer Raids (2003) and One Fal$e Note (2006). Since 1996, Dexter has directed with The Second City, developing revues at E.T.C. Chicago and at Second City Detroit. For three years, he led a Second City National Touring Company to many destinations including Vienna and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston. Back in 1990, Dexter founded The Next Lab at The Next Theatre where he directed Bouncers, for which he received a Jefferson Citation and an After Dark award for his direction. As Associate Artistic Director at Next Theatre, he directed and/or created eight shows for mainstage and Lab. He has also directed projects for Famous Door, American Theatre Company, Hartford Stage Company, and many times for A Red Orchid Theatre.  Dexter is Head of Graduate Acting at The Theatre School at DePaul University and teaches acting, physical theater, and improvisation citywide.

RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER is a multi award-winning company which has produced over thirty-nine world premieres in the past thirteen seasons and was the recipient of the 2007 Ross Wetzsteon Memorial OBIE Award for its work developing new and innovative work.  Rattlestick's Advisory Board participates in The Emerging Playwrights Project, which matches a new playwright with an established artist for an experienced eye and creative support.  Playwright and artist mentors have included Edward Albee, Jon Robin Baitz, Zoe Caldwell, Arthur Kopit, Craig Lucas, Joe Mantello, Terrence McNally and Marsha Norman.  Previous plays include Two Boys in a Bed, Message to Michael, Carpool, Volunteer Man, A Trip to the Beach, Ascendancy, Stuck, Vick's Boy, The Messenger, Saved or Destroyed, Neil's Garden, My Special Friend, Faster, Bliss, St. Crispin's Day, Where We're Born, Five Flights, Boise, Finer Noble Gases, God Hates The Irish: The Ballad of Armless Johnny, Miss Julie, Acts of Mercy: passion-play, Cagelove, It Goes Without Saying, Dark Matters, Stay, American Sligo, Rag and Bone, War, the Off-Broadway GLAAD Award-nominated hit The Last Sunday in June and Craig Wright's The Pavilion, which received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Play of 2005.

BARROW STREET THEATRE is a 199 seat Off-Broadway venue located in the West Village operated by Artistic Director Scott Morfee, Executive Director Tom Wirtshafter and Managing Director Cris Buchner.  Barrow Street Theatre has been home to the following productions: No Child… by Nilaja Sun (July 2006 – June 2007), Gone Missing by The Civilians (July 2007 – January 2008), TJ & Dave (late nights first weekend of every month), an oak tree by Tim Crouch (October 2006 - January 2007), Red Light Winter by Adam Rapp (February - June 2006), Orson's Shadow by Austin Pendleton (March 2005 - December 2005), BUG by Tracy Letts (February 2004 - January 2005), Eat the Taste by Greg Kotis (October 2004 - January 2005) and Roadhouse: The Stage Play by Timothy Haskell (December 2003 - February 2004)

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