THIS BEAUTIFUL FUTURE Adds Performances at Theaterlab

Theaterlab, in association with Lawryn LaCroix, is thrilled to announce that three additional performances (Jan 22 at 3pm, Jan 23 at 7pm, Jan 26 at 8pm) have been added to the limited engagement of Rita Kalnejais' This Beautiful Future, which must close on January 30. Directed by Jack Serio, This Beautiful Future is a story of young love set during World War II and marks Kalnejais' New York debut. The "wonderfully cast production" (New York Times) includes 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 in her New York Times critic's pick review, adding, "with an ending that's gentle and wondrous and fragile as new life, it is a play about choosing, step by step, a genuinely better future." Helen Shaw in Vulture calls This Beautiful Future "a handsomely produced work decorated with tasteful bells and theatrical whistles. Director Jack Serio has polished the production so it shines." "Exquisite," writes Holli Harms in Front Row Center, "Kalnejais has created a play that defies genre." Darryl Reilly in TheaterScene says, "The eternal notion of 'boy meets girl' is taken to ravishing heights in This Beautiful Future."

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.

The sold-out 2017 world premiere of This Beautiful Future at The Yard in London was greeted with critical acclaim. Lyn Gardner in The Guardian called it an "exquisite portrait of young love in the heat of war... idiosyncratic, yet direct and truthful." Alice Saville in Time Out declared "it's brilliant, and Day-Glo brite." "An extraordinary work... daringly unconventional," wrote Fergus Morgan in The Stage, adding "one of Kalnejais' play's most powerful tools is its refusal to be pinned down, its insistence that nothing is straightforward."

"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 20-22 and 26-28 at 8pm, January 22 and 23 at 7pm, January 23 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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