THIS BEAUTIFUL FUTURE Runs At Cherry Lane Theatre, September 10 - October 30

Tony and Olivier-winning OHenry Productions, in association with Seaview Productions, Eric Kuhn, and Jonathan Demar, has announced the Off-Broadway transfer of the sold-out, New York Times critic's pick production of This Beautiful Future.

Written by Rita Kalnejais and directed by Jack Serio, This Beautiful Future is a story of young love set during World War II. The production, which was twice-extended at Theaterlab and marked the playwright's New York debut, was embraced by critics and audiences alike during its limited run in January 2022. This Beautiful Future will now play the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street, Manhattan) for six weeks only, from September 10 through October 30, 2022, with an opening set for Tuesday, September 20. Tickets are now on sale at www.thisbeautifulfuture.com.

The Off-Broadway transfer of This Beautiful Future features original cast members Francesca Carpanini (All My Sons, The Little Foxes), Tony winner Angelina Fiordellisi (Zorba, Out of The Mouth of Babes), and Tony nominee Austin Pendleton (The Minutes, Fiddler on the Roof) who are joined by Uly Schlesinger (HBO Max's Genera+ion) in his New York stage debut.

"This Beautiful Future achieves a remarkable, aching alchemy," declared 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 called 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," wrote Holli Harms in Front Row Center, "Kalnejais has created a play that defies genre." "Challenging and unforgettable," mused Lane Williamson in Exeunt, adding, "I was struck by how much I felt This Beautiful Future in all its complicated wonder." Darryl Reilly in TheaterScene said, "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, and hope in the hopeless.

The sold-out 2017 world premiere of This Beautiful Future at The Yard in London was also 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 beyond thrilled that Jack's gorgeous production of This Beautiful Future is moving to the Cherry Lane Theatre," said playwright Rita Kalnejais. "Jack's instinct, intelligence, and passion as a director and the brilliance and generosity of his creative team and cast have felt miraculous to me watching from London. I'm so happy more people (myself included!!) will get to see this production. It feels like good timing. I wrote This Beautiful Future in 2016 when every election just turned out 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 in their connection that it felt revolutionary. I hope New York audiences feel some of the intensity, sweetness, and ache of that sitting together in The Cherry Lane."

"This Beautiful Future blew me away when I first read it," said director Jack Serio. "It is as challenging as it is loving, provocative as it is delicate. It's a genre-defying piece of work that reminds us why we go to the theater. Directing the U.S. premiere of the staggering play at Theaterlab was a thrill. It struck a chord with audiences, and I was overwhelmed by the response. Though the production was twice extended, people were still turned away at the door. Having the opportunity to bring this production to a wider audience at Cherry Lane, one of the most historic and beautiful theaters in New York City, is an honor."

The creative team for This Beautiful Future includes Frank J. Oliva (scenic design), Stacey Derosier (lighting design), Ricky Reynoso (costume design), Christopher Darbassie (sound design), Lacey Erb (projection designer), Ashley-Rose Galligan (production stage manager), Ryan Kane (assistant stage manager), Taylor Williams (casting), and Mott/Fischer Productions (general management). David Manella and Carol Kaplan at Loeb & Loeb LLP serve as Production Counsel.

Performances of This Beautiful Future will take place September 10 - October 30, 2022, at The Cherry Lane Theatre, located at 38 Commerce Street in Manhattan. Critics are welcome as of Friday, September 16, for a press opening on Tuesday, September 20. The performance schedule is Tuesday through Saturday at 8pm with additional performances on Saturdays at 2pm and Sundays at 2pm and 7pm. The running time is 75 minutes with no intermission. Tickets, which start at $25, can be purchased online at www.thisbeautifulfuture.com.

Cherry Lane Theatre cares about the safety of its audiences, staff, and performers. Prior to entry, proof of full vaccination will be required. Masks will also be required during the entire performance of This Beautiful Future.

Please visit www.thisbeautifulfuture.com for more information.

About the Artists

Rita Kalnejais (playwright) is an Australian writer based in London. Her work has been performed extensively in Australia and the UK, and she was a resident playwright at Sydney Theatre Company in 2011/12, as well as at Soho Theatre in 2014/15. Theatre includes: This Beautiful Future (Yard Theatre); First Love Is The Revolution (Soho Theatre); Babyteeth (Belvoir Theatre and State Theatre Company of South Australia); How to Get Very Clean (Sydney Theatre); Whistling In Bed (Sydney Theatre Company and Theatre 503) and BC (Full Tilt and The Hayloft). TV includes: The Spanish Princess; Dangerous Liaisons. Films include: Surge and Babyteeth.

Jack Serio (director) most recently directed the acclaimed U.S. Premiere of Rita Kalnejais' This Beautiful Future at Theaterlab (NYT Critic's Pick). Other credits include the world premieres of The Dark Outside (Theater for the New City) and happy & grateful (Ars Nova). His work has been seen at Playwrights Horizons, Ars Nova, Clubbed Thumb, 59e59, Cherry Lane, Theaterlab, Theater for the New City, and The Pearl Theater Company. He was the founding Artistic Director of The Boston Teen Acting Troupe, a nationally recognized professional teen theatre company. He is the Development Associate for Aasif Mandvi's Fat Mama Productions, a member of the 2019 Lincoln Center Directors Lab and the 2019-2021 SDC Foundation Observership Class. BFA: NYU. www.jackfserio.com

Francesca Carpanini was last seen on Broadway in the revival of All My Sons, alongside Annette Bening and Tracy Letts. While still a student at Juilliard, she starred in Shakespeare in the Park's production of The Tempest. Other New York theatre credits include The Little Foxes (Broadway), This Beautiful Future (TheaterLab), and Dead Poets Society (Classic Stage Company). London theatre: The Woods (Southwark Playhouse). TV/Film: The Good Wife.

Angelina Fiordellisi: Acting Credits, Broadway: Zorba. National Tours: Annie, Zorba, Nunsense. Off-Broadway: Out Of The Mouths Of Babes, Snow Orchid, The Sabbath Girl, First Love, The Traveling Lady, Savage Love, Catch the Butcher, Nunsense, The View From Here, Training Wisteria, Have I Gotta Girl For You, Truth Quotient. Regional: Blithe Spirit, With, Game of Love, The Gravity of Honey (Detroit Free Press Best Actress Award, Carbonell Award Nomination), Tamara, Man of La Mancha, Savage in Limbo, Private Lives (Detroit Free Press Best Actress Award). Film: Straight Outta Tompkins, Big Stone Gap, When A Man Loves A Woman, Walker Payne, Where The Heart Is, Out of Darkness, Delusion, Word of Honor. Television: Kennedy Center Honors Program, Star Trek: TNG, Law & Order, L.A. Law, Crime & Punishment, Roseanne, Thunder Alley, The Cosby Show. Producing Artist Credits: Cherry Lane Theatre, Executive Director 1996-2022. Cherry Lane Alternative, Founding Artistic Director 1997-2022, 100+ productions, Mentor Project Playwright Program (Obie Award, Dramatist Guild Fund Award). Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Co-producer (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League Awards), The Realistic Joneses by Will Eno (Drama Desk Award) Co-producer, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange, Co-producer (7 Tony Nominations). Training: BFA University of Detroit, MFA Asolo Conservatory of Theater, American Dance Machine, Lee Theodore, Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner, Jose Quintero.

Austin Pendleton is an actor, a director, a playwright, and a teacher of acting at HB Studio in New York, where he studied with Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof. His most recent Broadway appearance has been in The Minutes, by Tracy Letts, which has just completed its run of several months. His first Broadway appearance was as Motel in the original cast of Fiddler on the Roof; his first off-Broadway appearance was in Oh Dad, Poor Dad... by Arthur Kopit. Both of these were directed by Jerome Robbins. He is a member of the Ensemble in Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater. He has appeared in several hundred movies and on TV in such shows as "Homicide," "Oz" and "Law and Order." He has directed Tony-nominated shows on Broadway (Spoils of War, The Little Foxes) and directed extensively at other theaters, notably the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where he apprenticed and got his start under the guidance of its Artistic Director, Nikos Psacharopoulos. His plays are Booth, Uncle Bob, and Orson's Shadow, each of which has been published and produced extensively.

Uly Schlesinger is a New York based actor originally from Providence Rhode Island. He has been seen on screen leading television and feature film projects such as Nathan in Genera+ion (HBO Max), Tyler in Jerry & Marge Go Large (Paramount), Ben in Chicago Med (NBC), and recurring on Divorce (HBO), Evil (CBS) and Search Party (HBO Max). He can often be found playing pool across Brooklyn or spending time with friends. He is absolutely thrilled to be making his New York stage debut in this wonderful production.

About OHenry Productions

OHenry Productions is a Tony and Olivier Award-winning New York-based production company founded in 2014 by Oliver Roth. Situated at the intersection of art and commerce, OHenry Productions is dedicated to promoting the world's most vital voices on the world's most distinguished stages. Its mission is to produce work that is as engaging as it is inspiring, and as challenging as it is entertaining. Producing credits include - Broadway: Slave Play (Tony Nomination), Burn This (Tony Nomination), Sea Wall/A Life (Tony Nomination), The Inheritance (Tony Award ), Derren Brown: Secret, Head over Heels; West End: The Inheritance (Olivier Award); Off-Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors, Invisible Thread; National Tour: Hundred Days, Escape to Margaritaville; Studio Recording: Witness Uganda; Upcoming: Lempicka. http://ohenryproductions.com/

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