Soho Rep Presents U.S. Premiere of BORN BAD, 4/17

Soho Rep presents the highly anticipated U.S. Premiere of debbie tucker green's landmark play BORN BAD Winner of the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer. Featuring a powerhouse cast that includes: Crystal A. Dickinson (RUINED, CLYBOURNE PARK), Heather Alicia Simms (GEM OF THE OCEAN, A RAISIN IN THE SUN), LeRoy McClain (CYMBELINE, THE HISTORY BOYS), Quincy Tyler Bernstine (RUINED, IN THE NEXT ROOM), Michael Rogers (JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE, BREAKFAST WITH MUGABE), and Elaine R. Graham (Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe," PLAYBOY OF THE WEST INDIES)

Following its critically acclaimed and sold-out production of Jomama Jones' RADIATE this past January, Off-Broadway's eleven-time Obie Award-winning Soho Rep - which the New York Times calls the "downtown powerhouse" - will conclude its 2010-2011 season with the U.S. premiere of debbie tucker green's landmark play BORN BAD directed by Leah C. Gardiner and featuring an ensemble cast, which includes Obie Award-winner Quincy Tyler Bernstine (RUINED), Heather Alicia Simms (Broadway's GEM OF THE OCEAN), Crystal A. Dickinson (CLYBOURNE PARK), etc. with previews beginning March 31, 2011 prior to an official press opening of April 7 - at Soho Rep (46 Walker Street).

Just as Soho Rep has done with producing the debuts of theatre artists such as: Jomama Jones, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Dan LeFranc, Young Jean Lee, and Sarah Kane's BLASTED in 2008, the company now presents the US premiere of the acclaimed British play BORN BAD, and gives voice - for the first time in the US - to its playwright debbie tucker green.

In debbie tucker green's Olivier Award winning play BORN BAD, "Dawta says it's the truth, but other family members remember differently." At once epic and domestic, laced with humor and told with inventive form, tucker green's explosive drama follows one family trying to make sense of their past.

"I am thrilled to be able to share debbie tucker green's extraordinary, urgent work with New York audiences, and that Soho Rep is producing her long-awaited premiere with BORN BAD," said Soho Rep Artistic Director Sarah Benson. " I was compelled from the first time I read the play-- tackling thorny family and social issues with inventive form & dark humor -- and am delighted that we have such a phenomenal cast and director to bring to life green's remarkable words."

When it debuted at The Hampstead Theatre in London in 2003, The Telegraph called BORN BAD "a dynamite-blast," The Guardian called BORN BAD "exquisitely torturous...[it] displays Green's ability to bend language," and The Independent said that "Tucker Green's work is already making its mark."

Directed by Leah C. Gardiner, the cast of BORN BAD features Crystal A. Dickinson (RUINED, CLYBOURNE PARK), Heather Alicia Simms (GEM OF THE OCEAN, A RAISIN IN THE SUN), LeRoy McClain (CYMBELINE, THE HISTORY BOYS), Obie Award-winner Quincy Tyler Bernstine (RUINED, IN THE NEXT ROOM), Michael Rogers (JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE, BREAKFAST WITH MUGABE), and Elaine R. Graham (Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe," PLAYBOY OF THE WEST INDIES).

Design team for BORN BAD is Michael Chybowski (Lighting Designer), Mimi Lien (Set Designer), and Paul Tazewell (Costume Designer).

For FEED - their Literary and Humanities program - Soho Rep Literary and Humanities Manager Raphael Martin will curate and produce a mini festival of plays by contemporary Black-British playwrights - that, like BORN BAD, have never been presented in New York. Dates for the mini festival - which is a co-presentation between Soho Rep and CUNY's Martin E. Segal Theatre Center - are Wednesday April 6th at CUNY/Segal Theatre and Saturday April 9th at Soho Rep, with additional details to be announced at a later date.

debbie tucker green arrived with a bang in 2003 with DIRTY BUTTERFLY, which she quickly followed up with BORN BAD. Her other plays include: STONING MARY and RANDOM, both produced by the Royal Court.

Leah C. Gardiner has directed FENCES for Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the world premieres of BULRUSHER by Eisa Davis at Urban Stages (Pulitzer finalist), BLUE DOOR by Tanya Barfield at South Coast Rep (Pulitzer finalist), and ORANGE FLOWER WATER by Craig Wright at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival. Other notable New York credits include WIT at Union Square Theater (the installation of the 2nd & 3rd casts), Molly Smith Metzler's TRAINING WISTERIA at the Cherry Lane Theatre; John Augustine's KENT, CT at The Zipper Theater; EARTHQUAKE CHICA by Anne García- Romero as part of the Summer Play Festival, Cheri Magid's THE GHOST OF ENOCH CARLTON for the Keen Company's Keen Teens Program; and, Karen Hartman's THE MOTHER OF MODERN CENSORSHIP at the Tiny Mythic Theater for Lincoln Center Director's Lab.

BORN BAD is made possible by major support from John A. Selzer.

Now in its 34th year, Soho Rep's 2010-11 season is the fourth under the leadership of Artistic Director, Sarah Benson, and the third for Executive Director, Tania Camargo. Soho Rep is dedicated to cultivating and producing visionary, uncompromising, and exuberant new plays. They perform to one of the youngest adult audiences in New York City, with over three-quarters of its audience aged 18-40.

Critics continue to herald Soho Rep as the go-to theatre destination for new and original works. New York Magazine states, "this indispensable theater offers more excitement per chair than any space in town," Time Out New York says, "Soho Rep is the best theater in NYC (official)," Variety exclaims "[Soho Rep] has claimed an increasingly vital spot...the venue has suddenly become one to watch for Manhattan theatergoers starved for new work," and the New York Times declares Soho Rep to be "one of the most daring companies."

Dan Le Franc was recently awarded the New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award for the Soho Rep production of his play SIXTY MILES TO SILVER LAKE in 2009. Over the last decade, Soho Rep productions have garnered eleven OBIE Awards -- most recently for Sarah Benson (director) and Louisa Thompson (set designer) for the critically acclaimed New York premiere of Sarah Kane's BLASTED and Nature Theater of Oklahoma's NO DICE; six Drama Desk nominations, two for BLASTED (Outstanding Director of a Play - Sarah Benson and Outstanding Actor in a Play - Reed Birney) and four for their critically acclaimed production of FRANKENSTEIN, the Oppenheimer Award for EVERYTHING WILL BE DIFFERENT, and two Kesselring Awards for Melissa James Gibson and Mark Schultz. In recent years, Soho Rep has presented plays by established and emerging theatre artists such as Richard Maxwell, Mac Wellman, Dan LeFranc, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Young Jean Lee and The Flying Machine.

Scheduled March 31 through April 24 performances of BORN BAD run Tuesdays - Sundays at 7:30pm at Soho Rep. (46 Walker Street - between Broadway & Church, 2 blocks south of Canal Street). Tickets are 99 cents for all Sunday performances, $30 for general admission and $40 for premium reserved seating and can be reserved by calling TheaterMania at 212-352-3101 or online at www.sohorep.org. For additional information about Soho Rep., call 212-941-8632 or visit www.sohorep.org

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