Rob Nagle, Nadia Bowers, Christa Scott-Reed and More Announced For New York Premiere Of CHURCH & STATE

Producers Charlotte Cohn, Brierpatch Productions, Neil Gooding Productions and SCS Innovations LLC, in association with NewYorkRep and The Telling Company, announced today the complete cast and creative team for the upcoming New York Premiere of Church & State, the critically acclaimed play by Jason Odell Williams. Directed by Markus Potter (Stalking the Bogeyman), performances are set to begin on Friday, March 3, 2017 with an official opening night of Monday, March 20th for an open-ended engagement at New World Stages (340 W. 50th Street - between 8th & 9th Avenues).

Joining the previously announced Rob Nagle ("Castle," "Mad Men"), the cast will include Nadia Bowers (The Farnsworth Invention, "Orange is the New Black"), Christa Scott-Reed (The Pitman Painters, Relativity) and Jonathan Louis Dent (The Broken Record,Romeo and Juliet).

The creative team will be comprised of David Goldstein (scenic design), Burke Brown (lighting design), Dianne K. Graebner(costume design), and Erik T. Lawson (sound design). Sofia Montgomery is Production Stage Manager.

Church & State is a fast-paced, seriously funny take on faith, politics, and "The Twitter." It's three days before Charles Whitmore's Senate reelection and he's decided to finally tell the public exactly what's on his mind, no filter. What could possibly go wrong?

Originally developed with Artistic director Ralph Meranto and JCC CenterStage, Church & State was produced as a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere at JCC CenterStage in Rochester and The Skylight Theatre in Los Angeles where it recently received three Ovation Award nominations including Best Playwriting for an Original Play, Best Production (Intimate Theatre), and Best Lead Actor in a Play.? The Los Angeles Times praised it as "gripping entertainment," and "simply superb," while The Huffington Post called it "powerful, humorous and highly contemporary" and named it one of the Top Ten L.A. Theatre Productions of 2016.

Church & State is produced by Charlotte Cohn, Brierpatch Productions, Neil Gooding Productions and SCS Innovations LLC, in association with NewYorkRep and The Telling Company. Casting is by Wojcik | Seay Casting and Brierpatch Productionsprovides General Management.

Church & State will play the following performance schedule: Monday at 8pm, Wednesday - Friday at 8pm, Saturday 2pm & 8pm,Sunday 3pm & 7:30pm.

Tickets are $59 - $105 and are available for purchase through Telecharge.com/212-239-6200. They may also be purchased in person at the New World Stages Box Office (340 West 50th Street) Monday through Friday from 12noon until 8pm.

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Bios

Jason Odell Williams (Playwright) is an Emmy-nominated writer and producer. His latest play, Church & State, was recently nominated for three L.A. Ovation Awards including Best Playwriting for an Original Play. His play Handle With Care (published by Dramatists Play Service) was a New York Times Critics' Pick and has been produced 21 times in the last five years in the U.S. and Canada. Other plays: Baltimore in Black & White (the cell theatre); Someone Else (NC Stage); and The Science of Guilt (DR2). Readings: Primary Stages, The Blank Theatre, The Lark and EST. Jason's first novel, Personal Statement, was optioned for a three-picture deal. He is currently adapting it for the screen along with developing two new musicals and a new play about family, climate change and the Oscars.

Markus Potter (Director) is a NYC based director, and the producing artistic director of NewYorkRep. Recent directing: Stalking the Bogeyman at London's Southwark Playhouse and Off-Broadway at New World Stages (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination, NY Times Critics' Pick), Lost Boy Found In Whole Foods by Tammy Ryan at The Portland Stage Company, Why You Beasting by David Don Miller (Best of FringeNYC - "Time Out" NY critic's pick), Someone Else by Jason Odell Williams at NC Stage, as well as directing at Luna Stage and the Weston Playhouse. Potter received his MFA from Columbia University and has taught and guest directed at many MFA/BFA programs around the county including the Guthrie, The Denver Center, AMDA, and Adelphi University. He is currently a mentor to the MFA playwrights at the New Hampshire Institute of Art. MarkusPotter.com

Rob Nagle (Senator Charles Whitmore) is a proud member of the Antaeus Theatre Company and the Troubadour Theater Company. Recent credits include the world premieres of Jason Odell Williams' Church & State (Ovation nominee, Best Lead Actor in a Play, Skylight Theatre Company), Meghan Brown's The Kill-Or-Dies (Electric Footlights and Moving Arts), Melissa Ross' Of Good Stock and Samuel D. Hunter's Rest (both at South Coast Repertory), as well as James Still's Appoggiatura at Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Other credits include Samuel D. Hunter's Pocatello at Rogue Machine, Itamar Moses' Completeness at Vs. Theatre Company, andJames Joyce's The Dead at Open Fist Theatre Company. Other theaters include Portland Center Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Old Globe Theatre, Centerstage, San Jose Repertory and Shakespeare Theatre Company. Film includes Bad Samaritan, Mother's Day, Boost, Fishing Naked, New Year's Eve, Life As We Know It, The Soloist, Fun With Dick and Jane, Cellular, and American Wedding. Television includes recurring roles on "Eli Stone," "Lincoln Heights" and "Dawson's Creek," as well as guest appearances on "The Librarians," "Grey's Anatomy," "CSI," "Criminal Minds," "Castle," "Major Crimes," "NCIS," "Mad Men," "Cold Case," "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," "Without A Trace," "Everwood," "The Guardian," and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer." Training: Northwestern University. Wife: Heather Allyn. Pug: Roosevelt. Geek: www.robnagle.com

Nadia Bowers (Sara Whitmore) is a New York City based actress who also spends time in Los Angeles. Since receiving her M.F.A from NYU's Graduate Acting Program, she has had a varied and expansive career in theater, television, and film. BROADWAY: The Farnsworth Invention, Doubt, Metamorphoses. NEW YORK: Collapse (Women's Project), The Netflix Plays (Second Stage), Wildflower,The Delling Shore (Sundance Theater Lab), Julius Caeser (Public Theater), The Way West (Lark Theatre), Dog and Wolf(Watson Arts @ 59 E. 59), Tempest Tossed (Continuum Company), Romania. Kiss Me!?/Fuck You, Europa! (The Play Company), Eyes of the Heart (NAATCO), Doubt (Manhattan Theater Club), Not Waving (SPF), In Your Shoes (NY Fringe). REGIONAL: Chapter Two (Bucks County Playhouse), Sideways (LaJolla Playhouse), Circle Mirror Transformation (Huntington Theatre), Tartuffe (Westport County Playhouse). FILM & TELEVISION: "The Strain" (FX), "Orange is the New Black" (Netflix), "NCIS," "Law & Order," "Law & Order Criminal Intent," "Law & Order SVU," "The Young and The Restless," "As The World Turns," "All My Children," Non-Stop, Little Ones, Year of the Sublets (web series), Every Dogs Day. Nadia has some writing projects in the works: a feature horror movie, H In Hollywood and Tri-Me, a comedy, co-written with Stephanie DiMaggio and a mini-series based on a work by her late father. nadiabowers.com

Christa Scott-Reed (Alex Klein) most recently starred opposite Richard Dreyfuss in the critically acclaimed production of Mark St. Germain's Relativity at TheatreWorks. BROADWAY: The Pitman Painters. NATIONAL TOUR: C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. OFF-BROADWAY: The Talls (world premiere, Second Stage); The Freedom of the City (Irish Repertory Theatre); Celebration and The Room, The Bald Soprano and the Lesson, 10x20, 10x25 (Atlantic Theatre Company); The Great Divorce (Fellowship for Performing Arts); Beasley's Christmas Party, PULLMAN CAR HIAWATHA, Museum (Keen Company); Deathbed (world premiere, McGinn-Cazale Theatre); Marion Bridge (Urban Stages); The Voysey Inheritance (Mint Theater Company). FILM & TELEVISION: 30 Rock, The Impossibilities, Eden, Gossip Girl, 666 Park Avenue, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Love Life, New Amsterdam, As the World Turns. REGIONAL THEATRE: On Golden Pond (with Keir Dullea, Bucks County Playhouse); Argonautika, Honour (with Kathleen Chalfant, Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Restoration Comedy, The Food Chain (The Old Globe); The Little Dog Laughed (Intiman Theatre); The Diary of Anne Frank (Papermill Playhouse); As You Like It, Crimes of the Heart, the world premiere of Charles L. Mee's Limonade Tous les Jours (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Other Regional: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Pioneer Theatre, Barrington Stage, Syracuse Stage, Denver Center Theatre Company, Cleveland Playhouse, Olney Theatre Center, and many more.

Jonathan Louis Dent (Tom/Marshall) is a New York based actor and writer. Jonathan appeared in Sons of the Prophet at the Roundabout Theatre. Regional: ??Romeo and Juliet ?(Hartford Stage Company), Sons of the Prophet (The Huntington Theater Company), The Good Negro (Company One), The Etymology of Bird (The Providence Black Repertory Company). Jonathan wrote and performed in The Broken Record, which won an award for Best Overall Play at the 2015 International New York Fringe Festival. Credits at NYU include Free Man of Color and Describe the Night (Rajiv Joseph world premiere). TV: "Elementary." Training: NYU Grad Acting.

Charlotte Cohn (Producer) was born in Denmark and raised in Israel where she served in the Israeli Army as a Commanding Officer. She is a founding producer of the New York Music Theatre Festival (NYMF) and Mainstreet Musicals. Other producing credits include: Baltimore in Black & White (the cell theatre - Resident Artist), Rated P for Parenthood, The New York Times Critics' Pick Handle With Care (both at the Westside Theater Off-Broadway), and the upcoming Church & State. Charlotte has collaborated with her husband Jason Odell Williams on a variety of writing projects including their screenplay Personal Statement and their TV pilot "Birdland," which was a Top Ten Finalist in the Tracking Board's 2015 Launch Pad Pilot Competition. Charlotte's screenplay By the Book was a finalist in the NYWIFT 2015 competition, sponsored by Meryl Streep.

NewYorkRep and The Telling Company (Co-Producer) is an award-winning company committed to telling innovative stories that inspire and compel social change. Recent productions include Stalking The Bogeyman at New World Stages (Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination for New American Play, NY Times Critics' Pick).

NewYorkRep.org, thetellingcompany.org

Brierpatch Productions (Co-Producer/General Management) is the partnership of Laura Janik Cronin and Scott Newsome providing general management services for theatrical productions, tours and events. Current and previous productions include: Cagney the Musical; One Funny Mother; Dan and Phil: The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire; Phoenix; Handle With Care; Grounded; Tennessee Williams' The Two Character Play; Inner Voices III & IV; Sleeping Rough; Triassic Parq; 7th Monarch; Rest In Pieces; Wallenberg; Tales From The Tunnel; Glimpses of The Moon; The Actors' Studio Drama School MFA Repertory Season (2011 - current). Under Development: The Stone Witch (World Premiere at Berkshire Theatre Group summer 2016)

Wojcik | Seay Casting (Casting) is Scott Wojcik & Gayle Seay. Along with Holly Buczek they cast all mediums. Tours: Vocalosity, Flashdance, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Jekyll & Hyde (National & Korean), Joseph...Dreamcoat, Oklahoma! and A Chorus Line. Off- Broadway includes: Tennessee Williams' The Two Character Play with Amanda Plummer and Brad Dourif, Handle With Care with Carol Lawrence, Triassic Parq, 666 and more. Regional: Multiple seasons/shows for Riverside Theatre-FL, Arvada Center - CO, The Engeman Theatre - NY, Theatre Raleigh-NC, Stages St Louis-MO, Theatre Aspen-CO and Tuacahn PAC-UT. Pilots: "Upstate" and "Stand - In." Films: Best Man In The Dark, Tommy Battles The Silver Sea Dragon, My Prologue. Webseries: "The Fuzz." Currently: "The Hunt" with John Walsh on CNN.

Neil Gooding Productions Pty Ltd (NGP) (Co-Producer) is an independent theatre Production Company, which was established in 2002. It brings high quality theatrical experiences to Australian and international audiences. We uphold a strong emphasis on the development of new Australian work, focusing particularly on Musical Theatre. Neil Gooding Productions has become one of Sydney's most innovative production houses with many notable shows under its belt and many more exciting projects coming up and in the works. In 2015 Neil Gooding Productions produced the critically acclaimed Australian premiere of Dogfight at the Hayes Theatre Co. The company was also one of the co-producers alongside Luckiest Productions in the sell-out season of Sweet Charity at Hayes Theatre Co in February 2014. Sweet Charity went on to receive 3 Helpmann and 3 Sydney Theatre Awards. The outstanding achievements of Sweet Charity marks a huge step forward in the development of Sydney's independent musical theatre scene. In May 2014, Neil produced and directed the world premiere of Truth Beauty & A Picture of You at the Hayes Theatre Co.

SCS Innovations LLC (Co-Producer) SCS Innovations, founded by Sara Crown Star, is excited to back the playwright, producer and cast of this incredibly poignant and witty production. Handle With Care, a New York Times Critic's Pick, was also co-produced by SCS Innovations and written by Jason Odell Williams with Charlotte Cohn as a lead producer. SCS Innovations is currently also supporting the traveling and London productions of An American In Paris and Half-Time, soon to premier on Broadway.

www.churchandstatetheplay.com

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