Thomas Bradshaw, Erika Sheffer & Wallace Shawn Set for The New Group's THE SENSUALITY PARTY Talkbacks

The New Group has announced additional guests for post-show talkbacks at The Sensuality Party, with playwrights Thomas Bradshaw (Burning, Intimacy) and Erika Sheffer (Russian Transport) joining in the conversation at Brooklyn College following the 7:00pm performances on May 2 and May 3, respectively, and Wallace Shawn (Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Fever, Marie and Bruce) joining at LaGuardia Community College following the 2:30pm performance on May 11. Presented as part of The New Group's 2015-2016 season, this New York premiere of The Sensuality Party, a new play by Justin Kuritzkes, features Catherine Combs, Jeff Cuttler, Katherine Folk-Sullivan, Jake Horowitz, Layla Khoshnoudi and Rowan Vickers. Danya Taymor directs. A limited engagement continues through May 13, with performances at college campuses across all five boroughs of New York City, coming up at Brooklyn College, Lehman College, the College of Staten Island, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, LaGuardia Community College and Baruch College. Performances kicked off April 25 at Pace University NYC Campus, and continued at Pace University Westchester Campus and Gallatin School (New York University). The Sensuality Party was developed through The New Group's New Group/New Works play development program.

Brought to life in common rooms and student unions at colleges across all five boroughs of New York City, Justin Kuritzkes' new play The Sensuality Party depicts six college students - three women and three men - who reflect on an afternoon of group sex they shared during their first semester, and how what began as a rather casual experiment went suddenly and horribly wrong. As they internalize and even fetishize this event, they battle their own disaffection and disconnection from the wider world. Kuritzkes offers an incisive look at his own post-9/11 generation's consciousness.

The Sensuality Party features Catherine Combs (Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Gloria, Vineyard Theatre) as Stevie, Jeff Cuttler (Broadway: High; The Chosen, Barrington Stage Company) as Barry, Katherine Folk-Sullivan (These Seven Sicknesses and My Daughter Keeps Our Hammer, both The Flea Theater) as Allison, Jake Horowitz (King Lear, TFANA; A Midsummer Night's Dream, TFANA, dir. Julie Taymor) as Speaker, Layla Khoshnoudi (Men on Boats at Clubbed Thumb; My Daughter Keeps Our Hammer, The Flea Theater) as Linda, and Rowan Vickers (Bad Jews, Studio Theatre, DC) as Todd. This production includes Costume Design by Beth Goldenberg.

The Sensuality Party was developed through The New Group's New Group/New Works play development program. New Group/New Works focuses on the nurturing and development of new work and emphasizes the building of lasting relationships with artists whose work resonates with The New Group's mission of presenting works that are adventurous, stimulating and socially-relevant. The play and musical development program serves as a vital incubator that allows The New Group to produce the works of emerging playwrights as part of its season. In addition to Mainstage productions, The New Group is expanding New Group/New Works to include productions that will be presented in smaller, more intimate settings, with minimal production elements, and accessible ticket prices for audiences of no more than 99 people per performance for a limited run. The New Group believes that through these productions, the company will be able to provide the most meaningful impact to playwrights and the development of their work.

New Group Mainstage productions that were developed through New Group/New Works include Erika Sheffer's Russian Transport, David Rabe's An Early History of Fire, Thomas Bradshaw's Intimacy, Joel Drake Johnson's Rasheeda Speaking, and most recently, Mark Gerrard's Steve, earlier this season. Justin Kuritzkes' The Sensuality Party follows in The New Group tradition of introducing emerging and provocative playwrights to New York audiences.

Justin Kuritzkes' plays If...Then... and War of Attrition were recently produced by Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of the 2014 Humana Festival of New American Plays. He was a member of Ars Nova's 2014-2015 Play Group, and he has been awarded residencies from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Edward F. Albee Foundation, and Space on Ryder Farm, where he was a member of the inaugural writers group: The Working Farm. Justin is the winner of the 2011 Tennessee Williams / New Orleans Literary Festival One Act Play Contest, and he has been a finalist for: the 2014 Nick Darke Award, the 2015 Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship, the 2015 Resident Playwright Company at New Dramatists, and the 2015-2016 LMCC Workspace. His plays have been produced and developed at venues including: Ars Nova, Magic Theatre, The New Group, New York Theatre Workshop, Colt Coeur, Steep Theatre Co., The Brick, Dixon Place, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Brecht Forum, The 24-Hour Company, The New York International Fringe Festival, Farm Theater Projects, The Tennessee Williams / New Orleans Literary Festival, The Collectin, and the University of New Orleans. Justin is a graduate of Brown University, where he earned his B.A. in both Philosophy and Literary Arts and studied playwriting with Gregory Moss, Lisa D'Amour, and Erik Ehn. He is a native of Los Angeles.

Danya Taymor is a director and translator. Recent work includes Brian
Watkins' Wyoming (Lesser America, World premiere) and My Daughter Keeps Our Hammer (The Flea, World premiere, NY Times/Time Out Critics Pick), Engagements by Lucy Teitler (Ensemble Studio Theater), I Hate Mexicans (U.S. premiere, The Flea) and Shakespeare's The Tempest (NYU/Stella Adler). Translations include Alejandro Ricaño's We Are Getting Better at Saying Goodbye, Luis Enrique Guitierrez Ortiz Monasterio's I Hate Mexicans and Ettore Scola's Working on a Special Day. She is a 2014-2016 Time Warner Directing Fellow at Women's Project, a 2050 fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, an Artist in Residence at Theatre for a New Audience, an Associate Artist at The Flea Theater, New Georges Affiliated Artist and a semi-finalist for the Lange-Taylor prize with Dominic Bracco for The Northern Pass. Other awards/fellowships include: Van Lier Directing Fellowship; Gates Foundation Grant, Rough Draft Residency at the Drama League and Lincoln Center Directors Lab. Recent: Anna Moench's In Quietness at Walker Space (Dutch Kills), Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (Stella Adler) and Susan Soon-He
Stanton's Cygnus (Women's Project).

The New Group opened its 2015-2016 Season with the Off-Broadway premiere of Philip Ridley's Mercury Fur, directed by Scott Elliott, a Critics' Pick in The New York Times. The company's season continued with the world premiere of Mark Gerrard's Steve, directed by Cynthia Nixon, featuring Ashlie Atkinson, Mario Cantone, Jerry Dixon, Francisco Pryor Garat, Malcolm Gets and Matt McGrath, which enjoyed an extended run. Most recently, The New Group was represented by the hit revival of Sam Shepard's Buried Child, with Taissa Farmiga, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Larry Pine, Rich Sommer, Paul Sparks and Nat Wolff, directed by Scott Elliott, which extended twice due to demand, playing its final performance April 3.

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