Stanton and Jenkins to Star in Primary Stages' NY Premiere of 'Love Child'

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director), in association with Martin Hummel, present the New York premiere of the new comedy, Love Child, written and performed by Daniel Jenkins (Mary Poppins, Big River) and Robert Stanton (The Coast of Utopia, All in the Timing), as an added event of the 2008-2009 season.  Under the direction of Carl Forsman, performances are set to begin Sunday evening, October 12, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. and will run in repertory with A Body of Water by Lee Blessing for a limited engagement through November 19, 2008.  Opening night is October 26, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.

"It's opening night.  The cast is unruly, the crowd is restless, and the play is obscure, but Joel has a larger worry: his mother is in the front row.  Real and theatrical worlds collide in Love Child, the new comedy about the night a classic play spoke so loudly to its audience that its audience felt compelled to talk back.   Daniel Jenkins and Robert Stanton  take you on a wild ride when they portray everyone on stage, backstage and in the house, all coming together on one riotous night in the theater," describe press notes.

Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director, said, “Daniel and Robert have created a truly unique piece of theater! They were able to transport me to their zany world filled with exuberant characters during a simple workshop reading. I am happy that Primary Stages is able to give Love Child the attention it deserves.”

The creative team includes Neil Patel (Set), Candice Donnelly (Costumes), and Jeff Croiter (Lights).  The Production Stage Manager is Joanne E. McInerney.

Love Child will play in rotating repertory with A Body of Water, as follows:  Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m., Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m., and Sundays 2:00 p.m. & 5:00 p.m., except  October 12th  & November 16th when the performance  times will be  5:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m.  There will be a special Wednesday matinee, November 19th at 2:00 p.m.  Please note:  No performance Tuesday, November 4th or Wednesday evening, November 19th.

Single tickets for Love Child are priced at $15 with a special Primary Stages Subscriber/Student  ticket priced at $10.  Tickets and may be purchased by calling Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, online at www.ticketcentral.com, or in person at the 59E59 THEATERS Box Office.  Please visit the website at www.primarystages.org, or call (212) 840-9705 for more information.

Primary Stages continues the 2008-2009 season with the New York premiere of A Body of Water by Lee Blessing (October 3, 2008 – November 16, 2008) performing in a rotating repertory with Love Child.  The second half of the season begins with Shipwrecked! An Entertainment — The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (As Told By Himself) by Donald Margulies (January 27, 2009 - March 7, 2009) and concludes with the world premiere of a new comedy Chasing Manet by Tina Howe (March 24, 2009 - May 2, 2009), featuring Tony Award-Winner Jane Alexander.

Subscription packages start at $128 (Love Child is not included) and are available by calling Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or online at www.ticketcentral.com.   For additional information about Primary Stages, please visit the website at www.primarystages.org.

Daniel Jenkins  (Performer) Broadway: George Banks in Mary Poppins, Clifford Pike in Wrong Mountain, Josh Baskin in Big (Drama Desk Nomination), Prior Walter in Angels in America, Huck Finn in Big River (1985 Tony and Drama Desk Nominations) and Mark Twain in the revival of Big River (2005).  Off-Broadway: Albert in Bye Bye Birdie, Prez in Pajama Game (Encores!); Spinning Into Butter (Lincoln Center); Dream True, The Maiden’s Prayer and composer/performer in Feast Here Tonight (Vineyard Theatre); Triumph of Love (CSC); Johnny in Johnny Pye (The Lamb’s).  Regional:  Title roles in The Education of Randy Newman (ACT), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Hangar Theatre), and Fortinbras (La Jolla); Citizen Tom Paine (Philadelphia Theatre Company/Kennedy Center); Actors’ Theatre of Louisville: The Grapes of Wrath, A Christmas Carol, Rites of Passage, Little People (playwright), Fast Women, Julius Caesar, Coup/Clucks, Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music, Neutral Countries.  O’Neill Playwrights Center, 5 years at Sundance Playwright’s Lab.  Films: For Robert Altman, “O.C.” in O.C. and Stiggs, “Stringer” in Gary Trudeau’s Tanner ’88, “Willie Keith” in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.  Other film:  Joshua, Cradle Will Rock, Glory, In Country, What Comes Around, Infested, The Perfect You, and Five Corners.  Television: “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Law & Order: SVU,”  “Cracker,” “The Knife and Gun Club,” “Florida Straits,” and Alex in “Going to Extremes.”  

Robert Stanton (Performer) Primary Stages: The Right Kind of People, Don Juan in Chicago (director), All in the Timing (Obie and Clarence Derwent Awards). Broadway: The Coast of Utopia, A Small Family Business. Off-Broadway: The Bald Soprano (Atlantic); Stealing Sweets & Punching People (SPF); The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui with Al Pacino et al. (National Actors Theatre); Fuddy Meers, Overtime (MTC); Cloten in Cymbeline, Froth in Measure for Measure (Delacorte); A Cheever Evening (Playwrights Horizons); Five Visits from Mr. Whitcomb (Young Playwrights Festival); Owners, Traps (New York Theater Workshop); Rum and Coke (The Public). Regional: The Front Page, On the Razzle (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Hay Fever (Westport Country Playhouse); Aguecheek in Twelfth Night (Long Wharf); The Guest Lecturer (George Street Playhouse); Compleat Female Stage Beauty (Philadelphia Theatre Company); Once in a Lifetime, The Homecoming, The King Stag, The Lost Boys, Major Barabara, Aguecheek in Twelfth Night (American Repertory Theatre); Nothing Sacred, Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hartford Stage). Films: P.J. Hogan’s Confessions of a Shopaholic, Matt Aselton’s Gigantic, Luc Besson’s Arthur et al vengeance de Maltazard and Arthur et al des duex mondes (all forthcoming); Sydney Lumet’s Find Me Guilty, The Stepford Wives, Head of State, The Quiet American, Mercury Rising, Red Corner, Next Stop Wonderland, Washington Square, Striptease, Dennis the Menace, Bob Roberts, A League of Their Own. TV: multiple guest leads on “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Frasier,” Woody Allen’s Don’t Drink the Water.  M.F.A., NYU Graduate Acting Program.

Daniel Jenkins & Robert Stanton (Playwrights) first met in 1993, when Michael Mayer cast them in Carter Bay’s Five Visits from Mr. Whitcomb in the Young Playwrights festival.  When Robert confessed to being anxious about his performance, Daniel offered to take Robert’s worries and flush them down the toilet, and did so.  From then on they were friends.  They wrote Love Child in a booth at City Diner and in each other’s living rooms.  Teaming with David Warren, they did a reading sponsored by the Vineyard Theatre at the DR2, leading to a slot in New York Stage & Film’s 2005 Powerhouse Theatre season at Vassar College.  Other workshops followed at Dodger Stages, Playwrights Horizons, the Long Wharf and Primary Stages, where they are delighted Love Child has found a New York home.

Carl Forsman (Director) is the Artistic Director of New York’s Keen Company and Vermont’s Dorset Theatre Festival.  Keen Company, a New York theater devoted to the production of sincere plays, received the 2005 Drama Desk Special Award, “for moving and enlightening audiences with plays that build upon our theatrical heritage,” and was the 2008 recipient of a Village Voice Obie Grant.  His directing credits for Keen include the world premieres of Michael Murphy’s The Conscientious Objector, John Belluso’s Pyretown, Keith Reddin's Can't Let Go and David Auburn’s adaptation The Journals Of Mihail Sebastian, the American premiere of Conor McPherson's The Good Thief (Obie Award for Brian d’Arcy James), the New York premiere of Matthew Burnett’s Theophilus North based on Thornton Wilder’s novel, and revivals of Heinar Kipphardt’s In The Matter Of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Somerset Maugham’s The Breadwinner, Thornton Wilder’s The Happy Journey To Trenton And Camden (Drama Desk Nomination, Best Revival), John Van Druten's Voice Of The Turtle (Drama Desk nomination, Best Director), PG Wodehouse's Good Morning Bill, and Tina Howe's Museum.  Other directing credits include Michael Murphy’s Sin (A Cardinal Deposed) (OBIE Award, Production, Drama Desk nominations, Best Play & Best Actor) and Seth Zvi Rosenfeld’s Everythings Turning Into Beautiful for the New Group, Tina Howe’s new translations of Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano & The Lesson for the Atlantic Theater Company, and A Few Good Men (Asolo). At the Dorset Theatre Festival he oversees The Kaufman Collection, DTF’s commitment to produce all the stage comedies of George S. Kaufman, begun in 2007 with his production of Dulcy.

Primary Stages (Producer) was founded in 1984 as a New York State non-profit theater company with the mission of producing new plays and nurturing the development of new playwrights.  In 23 seasons they have produced over 90 productions of new plays by such playwrights as Brooke Berman, Lee Blessing, Charles Busch, Constance Congdon, A.R. Gurney, Michael Hollinger, Willy Holtzman, David Ives, Julia Jordan, Romulus Linney, Michele Lowe, Donald Margulies, Melissa Manchester, Terrence McNally, Connor McPherson, John Henry Redwood, Lanie Robertson, John Patrick Shanley and Mac Wellman.  Primary Stages seeks to provide a supportive environment where writers are encouraged to explore the scope of their creative vision.  Their productions and artists have received considerable critical acclaim including Obie, AUDELCO, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel (Outstanding Body of Work), Drama League, Drama Desk, Helen Hayes (Washington, DC), L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation, and Joseph Jefferson (Chicago) awards and nominations.  Many of their productions have been world premieres and all of them have been New York premieres.  Lincoln Center Theater is moving the 2007 production of Horton Foote’s Dividing the Estate to the Booth Theatre on Broadway this fall.  Primary Stages continues to nurture playwrights through commissions, weekly Prime Time Reading Series and their emerging playwrights development program, The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, now in its 13th year.  Primary Stages offers a wide array of classes and workshops at Primary Stages School of Theater, host free matinee performances for NYC public high school students, and enhance student’ appreciation of the theater through in-school programming with our Primary Voices program.  To learn more about Primary Stages please visit their website at www.primarystages.org.

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