2016 Primus Prize Winner IN A WORD Premieres Tonight at Cherry Lane Theatre

Lesser America (Half Moon Bay, The Bachelors, Carnival Kids, Trevor) presents the New York Premiere of IN A WORD by Lauren Yee, winner of the 2016 Francesca Primus Prize and a finalist for the ATCA/Steinberg Award. Directed by Tyne Rafaeli (The Bridges of Madison County national tour, Actually at Geffen Playhouse), previews began June 16 at Cherry Lane Theatre, where Lesser America continues its run as the inaugural Company in Residence. Opening night is slated for tonight, June 21.

IN A WORD begins on the two-year anniversary of Fiona's son's disappearance, and still, nothing makes sense to her. Not her blasé husband, the incompetent detective, or the neighborhood kidnapper who keeps introducing himself in the checkout line. As Fiona delves back into her memories of that fateful day, to uncover that crucial missing piece, grief and comedy collide, and ordinary turns of phrase take on dangerous new meanings.

IN A WORD stars Jose Joaquin Perez (Drama Desk Award nominee for My Manana Comes), Justin Mark (TV's "Gotham") and Laura Ramadei (Bekah Brunstetter's The Oregon Trail) with scenic and lighting design by Oona Curley (Underground Railroad Game), costumes by Andrea Hood (As You Like It, Romeo & Juliet and Twelfth Night at The Public) and sound by Stowe Nelson (The Wolves, Small Mouth Sounds).

Lauren Yee's The Great Leap will premiere in 2018 at Atlantic Theater Company, Denver Center and Seattle Rep. Her other plays include King of the Yees (The Goodman Theatre, Center Theatre Group, ACT Theatre and Canada's National Arts Centre), Ching Chong Chinaman (Pan Asian, Mu Performing Arts), The Hatmaker's Wife (Playwrights Realm, Moxie, PlayPenn), Hookman (Encore, Company One), and Samsara (Victory Gardens, O'Neill Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival). She was a Dramatists Guild fellow, a MacDowell fellow, a MAP Fund grantee, a member of The Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group, a Time Warner Fellow at the Women's Project Playwrights Lab, the Shank playwright-in-residence at Second Stage Theatre, a Playwrights' Center Core Writer, and the Page One resident playwright at Playwrights Realm. She has been a finalist for the Jerome Fellowship, the PONY Fellowship, the Princess Grace Award, the Sundance Theatre Lab, and the Wasserstein Prize. Samsara has been a nominee for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the L. Arnold Weissberger Award. The Hatmaker's Wife was an Outer Critics Circle nominee for the John Gassner Award for best play by a new American playwright. Her work has been published by Samuel French. Lauren is a member of the Ma-Yi Theatre Writers Lab. She is currently under commission from the Denver Center, the Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Lincoln Center Theatre/LCT3, Mixed Blood Theatre, Portland Center Stage, South Coast Rep, and Trinity Rep.

Tyne Rafaeli was born in London and trained at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Columbia University. She has directed classics, new plays and musicals in London and the U.S. Her work has been seen at Classic Stage Company, the Atlantic Theater Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Two River Theater, New York Stage & Film, The Playwrights Realm, PlayMaker's Rep, Goodspeed, Julliard, Great Lakes Theater, American Players Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Playwrights Conference and PlayPenn, among others. Rafaeli is a 2016-2018 Time Warner Directing Fellow at the Women's Project Theater and was awarded the 2013-2014 SDCF Sir John Gielgud Fellowship for Classical Direction. She has served as Associate Director on the Broadway productions of The King & I, Fiddler on the Roof, The Bridges of Madison County and Golden Boy; and the West End's Women on the Verge; and directed the first U.S. national tour of The Bridges of Madison County. She is currently directing Anna Zeigler's Actually at The Geffen Playhouse.

Lesser America's past productions include Half Moon Bay by Dan Moyer, Directed by Jess Chayes, as part of the company's residence at Cherry Lane Theatre, a Time Out New York Critics' Pick;d Caroline V. McGraw's The Bachelors at Rattlestick, directed by Portia Krieger; BrIan Watkins' Wyoming, directed by Danya Taymor, featuring original music by NeAl Morgan and Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes); Lucas Kavner's Carnival Kids, directed by Stephen Brackett, a New York Times Critic's Pick that was published by Samuel French; and Nick Jones' Trevor starring Steven Boyer, Geneva Carr and directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Tony Nominees for Hand to God), a New York Times Critic's' Pick and one of Time Out NY's Best of 2013 Honorable Mentions. Trevor was published in Playscripts' Downtown Anthology, where Lesser America was featured alongside P73, Soho Rep, HERE and other notable Off-Broadway institutions. The Lesser Americans are members of the Indie Theater Hall of Fame and the company has multiple NY Innovative Theater Award nominations. Recent and upcoming productions have been supported in part by grants from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and the NYSCA ART/NY Creative Opportunity Fund. Lesser America, founded in 2010, and co-run by Daniel Abeles, Nate Miller, and r, Laura Ramadei, and Claire Siebers, is dedicated to affordable, accessible theater with high entertainment value.

Cherry Lane Theatre: In 1924, a group of theater artists, colleagues of Edna St. Vincent Millay, created Cherry Lane Playhouse. The Downtown Theater movement, The Living Theatre, and Theatre of the Absurd all took root and it proved fertile ground for 20th century dramaturgy's seminal Voices, Inc. F. Scott Fitzgerald, O'Neill, Odets, Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, William Saroyan, Beckett, Albee, Pinter, Ionesco, LeRoi Jones, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, Joe Orton and David Mamet. In 1996 Angelina Fiordellisi revived Cherry Lane, founded the Cherry Lane Alternative and created a number of programs to launch the next generation of American Playwrights. Visit www.cherrylanetheatre.org for an entire production history.

IN A WORD runs June 16 - July 8, Wednesday - Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 3pm & 8pm with additional performances June 18 at 2pm, June 20 at 8pm and July 2 at 8pm. Note: no 3pm performance on June 17. Cherry Lane Theatre is located at 38 Commerce Street (three blocks south of Christopher Street, just west of Seventh Avenue - accessible from 1 train to Christopher Street). Tickets are $25, available at 212-352-3101 or www.lesseramerica.com.

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