THIS BEAUTIFUL FUTURE Adds Final Additional Performance

A final additional performance on Friday, January 28 at 3pm has been added to the limited engagement of Rita Kalnejais' This Beautiful Future. Directed by Jack Serio, This Beautiful Future is a story of young love set during World War II. The production marks Kalnejais' New York debut and and must close on January 30. It features Francesca Carpanini (All My Sons, The Little Foxes) and Justin Mark (Lauren Yee's In a Word) with Angelina Fiordellisi (Zorba, Out of the Mouths of Babes) and Tony nominee Austin Pendleton (The Little Foxes, The Minutes). Tickets are now on sale at www.theaterlabnyc.com.

"This Beautiful Future achieves a remarkable, aching alchemy," declares Laura Collins-Hughes.

Caught in the middle of a war, two teenagers take shelter from a divided world. Elodie is French and 17. Otto, a German soldier, is 16. Safe from the debris outside, they meet secretly for one night. They talk, tease, and touch. They fall in love and fall through time. Kalnejais' kaleidoscopic play is a story of uncomplicated first love in a very complicated world. It seeks out tenderness amidst tragedy. Hope in the hopeless.

"I am so happy that Jack Serio is directing This Beautiful Future now," said playwright Rita Kalnejais. "And I'm thrilled the play is in New York! I think it's a good time to sit in a theater and be with people falling in love. We've all been stuck in rooms and the future feels so unstable and this play is sort of about that but also hope and the possibility of connection. When I wrote it-in 2016, when every election turned out just so badly-I wanted to write something tender that held the vulnerability of the characters beyond their politics. I wanted the young characters-so shaped by the violence around them-to experience something so pure it felt revolutionary."

"I've been obsessed with This Beautiful Future ever since I first read it in 2017," said director Jack Serio, "and I couldn't be more thrilled to be introducing Rita Kalnejais' work to an American audience. In the wake of the destruction and isolation of the last year and a half, Rita's stunning and deeply human play could not be more urgently needed. A love story that is both complicated and simple, fragile and gorgeous, This Beautiful Future encourages us to look back in order to look forward. It offers no easy answers and inspires us to sit with our discomfort and the world's contradictions. At the same time, it dares us to have hope and insists that beauty can still exist, even during unspeakable violence and turmoil."

The creative team for the U.S. premiere includes Frank J. Oliva (scenic design), Stacey Derosier (lighting design), Ricky Reynoso (costume design), Christopher Darbassie (sound design), Lacey Erb (projection designer), Emily Erickson (music director), and Kerry Concannon (production stage manager).

Performances of This Beautiful Future continue through January 30, 2022, at Theaterlab, located at 357 W 36th Street, 3rd Floor in Manhattan. Upcoming performances take place on January 26-28 at 8pm, January 28 at 3pm, and January 30 at 2pm. General admission tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at www.theaterlabnyc.com or by calling (212) 929.2545.

Theaterlab is following strict COVID safety protocols. All patrons must show proof of a Covid booster shot for all those eligible to receive it. Those not yet eligible will be required to show proof of vaccination. Additionally, all audience members must wear an N95 or KN95 mask at all times. Cloth masks will not be permitted and KN95 masks will be available on request. The venue has also been outfitted with an updated air filtration system and air purifiers.

Please visit https://www.theaterlabnyc.com/this-beautiful-future/ for more information.

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