Ars Nova's THE NETFLIX PLAYS to Begin, Jan 30

Ars Nova kicks off its 2013 season with The Netflix Plays, which begins performances January 30. This production, the newest installment from Ars Nova's Play Group, is set to play 10 performances from January 30 - February 9. The Netflix Plays, this year's incarnation of Ars Nova's annual Play Group production, features original short plays and live music inspired by the recommendation categories on the Netflix website.

The Netflix Plays features Kyle Beltran (Off-Broadway: 10 Things to Do Before I Die), Deonna Bouye (Alligator and The Tall Girls - 2012 Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference; How We Got On - 2012 Humana Festival); Barrio Grrrl! by Quiara Alegria Hudes - The Kennedy Center), Nadia Bowers (Broadway: The Farnsworth Invention, Doubt, Metamorphoses; Off-B'way: Wildflower), Megan Byrne (Off-B'way: The Voice of the Turtle - Keen Company), Ben Graney (B'way: War Horse; Off-B'way When the Rain Starts Falling), Drew McVety (B'way: Cyrano de Bergerac, Billy Elliot, Sunday in the Park with George, others), Sarah Steele (Off-B'way: Slowgirl, Russian Transport, All-American, Speech and Debate; Film: Margaret) and Eddie Kaye Thomas (B'way: The Diary of Anne Frank; Off-B'way: Golden Age, The Submission, Bachelorette; Film: American Pie).

The Netflix Plays features new works by Rachel Bonds, Sarah Burgess, Sarah Gancher, Nick Gandiello, Dipika Guha, Stephen Karam, Jon Kern, Josh Koenigsberg, Michael Mitnick, Sharyn Rothstein, A. Zell Williams and Bess Wohl. (bios follow)

The directors for The Netflix Plays are Jess Chayes, Wes Grantom, Jesse Jou and Portia Krieger. (bios follow) Costume Design is by Tilly Grimes. Lighting Design is by Driscoll Otto. Sound Design is by Josh Millican. Projection Design is by Dan Scully. Prop Design is by Noah Mease. Live Music by Brandon Goodman, Ryan Henry, Chris Moses Kinlow and Jo Lampert. The Production Stage Manager is Amy Ehrenberg.

The Netflix Plays are as follows (each evening features the full slate of plays):

· Because You Watched Weekend at Bernie's 2: A Kantian Morality Tale
by Josh Koenigsberg, directed by Wes Grantom
· Because You Watched Sherlock: Jack of Hearts
by Rachel Bonds, directed by Portia Krieger
· Understated Foreign Coming of Age: December 2011, Budapest
by Sarah Gancher, directed by Jess Chayes
· Inscrutable European-Set Thrillers: Bolzano
by Sarah Burgess, directed by Jesse Jou
· Because You Watched Downton Abbey: Violently Overstated British Period Drama for ages 19-100
by Dipika Guha, directed by Jesse Jou
· Watch It Again: Happy New Year
by Bess Wohl, directed by Jess Chayes
· Heartfelt Noncontroversial Political Tearjerkers: October Surprise!
by Sharyn Rothstein, directed by Jess Chayes
· Inspiring Fight-the-System Movies Based on Real Life: The Cable Bill
by Jon Kern, directed by Wes Grantom
· Emotional Foreign Father-Daughter Films: The Foreign Affair
by A. Zell Williams, directed by Jesse Jou
· Hip-Hop Documentaries: How I Feel
by Nick Gandiello, directed by Portia Krieger
· Because You Watched Frasier: BECAUSE YOU WATCHED FRASIER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Michael Mitnick, directed by Portia Krieger
· Watch It Again!
by Stephen Karam, directed by Wes Grantom

About Ars Nova's Play Group: Twice a month, members of Ars Nova's vibrant and eclectic writers' group, Play Group, gather at Ars Nova to share new work and get peer feedback, affording them the opportunity to develop their plays with peer support, form collaborative relationships, and build a strong sense of community within Ars Nova. Each year, Play Group creates an original production - an evening of short plays with a central theme devised by the group. This annual event debuted with The Wikipedia Plays in 2007. More recent Play Group productions include Playlist, Missed Connections NYC, The Wii Plays, and last year's The Urban Dictionary Plays. Play Group alumni include Annie Baker, Mike Batistick, Chad Beckim, Bekah Brunstetter, Evan Cabnet, Jenny Connell, Kara Lee Corthron, Dylan Dawson, Kristoffer Diaz, Zayd Dohrn, Ron Fitzgerald, Liz Flahive, Sam Forman, Etan Frankel, Tasha Gordon-Solmon, Amy Herzog, Samuel D. Hunter, Kyle Jarrow, Nick Jones, Jon Kern, Josh Koenigsberg, Steven Levenson, Barry Levey, Matthew Lopez, Liz Meriwether, Carly Mensch, Molly Smith Metzler, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Greg Moss, Janine Nabers, Rachel Shukert, Mat Smart, Aurin Squire, Adam Szymkowicz, Joe Tracz, Samuel Brett Williams and Beau Willimon.

About Ars Nova: Ars Nova is committed to developing and producing theater, comedy and music artists in the Early Stages of their professional careers. Its unique development programs are designed to support outside-the-box thinking and encourage innovative, genre-bending work. By providing a safe environment where risk-taking and collaboration are paramount, Ars Nova gives voice to a new generation of artists and audiences, pushing the boundaries of live entertainment by nurturing creative ideas into smart, surprising new work.

Producing credits include: most recently, the critically-acclaimed, sold-out extended engagement of Dave Malloy's electro-pop opera Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, directed by Rachel Chavkin, ANT Fest, The Urban Dictionary Plays, The Lapsburgh Layover, Be a Good Little Widow, The Wii Plays, Now Circa Then, Bloodsong of Love, Missed Connections NYC, Sax & Dixon: We Thee Wed, Mel & El: Show & Tell, Two Girls for Five Bucks and the Ten Dollar Heartbreakers, Playlist, Jollyship the Whiz-Bang, boom, From Up Here, The Wikipedia Plays, Dixie?s Tupperware Party, At Least It?s Pink, 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, Holy Cross Sucks!, Freestyle Love Supreme and The Wau Wau Sisters.

For more information on Ars Nova's programs, visit www.arsnovanyc.com. Ars Nova was founded in memory of Gabe Wiener.

The Netflix Plays schedule: January 30 through February 9, Monday - Saturday at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $15 and are available at www.arsnovanyc.com, 212-352-3101 or the Ars Nova box office starting 30 minutes prior to each show (subject to availability). Ars Nova is located at 511 West 54th Street, New York, NY.

Playwright Bios

Rachel Bonds' plays have been developed/produced by New Georges, Ars Nova, EST, Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theater Festival, American Theater Company, McCarter Theatre and Roundabout Theatre Company (upcoming). Winner of the 2012 Sam French OOB Festival; Affiliated artist of New Georges'; Member of EST's Youngblood.

Sarah Burgess' plays include: Earthsiege: Commence (Steep Theatre workshop, Chicago; First Mondays, New York) and FAIL: Failures (ANT Fest). She was a writer for The Tenant (Woodshed Collective), and currently writes for "Naked Radio" (Naked Angels). Screenwriting credits include Nate (Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker's Award) and These Things Happen (Malcolm Ross Award). NYU Film - 2007 Faculty Commendation for Body of Work.

Sarah Gancher's work has been produced/developed at London's National Theatre Studio, Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, Budapest's Quarter6Quarter7 Festival, PS122, Ars Nova, NYC SummerStage and the Great Plains Theater Conference, among others. She has worked as a collaborating playwright with devising ensembles including The TEAM, Hand2Mouth, and Telluride Theatre. She is a 2012-2014 Time Warner Fellow at the Women's Project Playwrights Lab.

Nick Gandiello's NYC credits include Travis Winters (American Globe Theatre) and Screen (Samuel French OOB Festival). He was selected as a finalist for Page 73's 2013 Playwriting Fellowship. Nick is the Literary Manager of Young Playwrights, Inc. MFA Playwriting, The New School For Drama.

Dipika Guha's plays include The Bethrothed (Wellfleet Harbour Actors Theatre, Chester Theatre), Passing (Risk Festival, Cutting Ball Theatre) and The Rules (Superlab Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb). Her plays have been developed at New Century Theatre Company, OSF, WordBRIDGE, the Flea and Tobacco Theatre (UK) among others. MFA, Yale School of Drama.

Stephen Karam is the author of Sons of the Prophet (Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Play and Finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize), Speech & Debate, columbinus and Dark Sisters, an original chamber opera with composer Nico Muhly.

Jon Kern's play Modern Terrorism, or They Who Want to Kill Us and How We Learn to Love Them recently premiered at Second Stage Theatre. Member: Ma-Yi Writers Lab. Alumnus: EST/Youngblood. Awards: 2010-2011 Van Lier Fellowship in Playwriting from New Dramatists, 2012 Laurents/Hatcher Prize. University of Chicago (BA), Columbia University (MFA). Currently, he writes on "The Simpsons."

Josh Koenigsberg's plays have been produced/developed at Atlantic Theater Company, Naked Angels, The Old Vic, The Public, Williamstown Theater Festival, and others. His plays include Al's Business Cards, Dance Lessons, Herman Kline's Midlife Crisis, and the upcoming The Mnemonist of Dutchess County. Josh also writes for "Naked Radio" a monthly podcast produced by Naked Angels.

Michael Mitnick's credits include Sex Lives of Our Parents (2ndStage Uptown), Ed, Downloaded (Denver Center), Fly By Night (TheatreWorks, upcoming Dallas Theater Center), and Lion.Pig.Wolf.Snake. (developed at Berkeley Rep and Ars Nova). He is writing the book for the Broadway musical of Animal House. Commissions: MTC and TheatreMasters with The Goodman. MFA, Yale School of Drama.

Sharyn Rothstein's musicals and plays have been produced and workshopped in New York and around the country by companies such as The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New Georges, 3Graces Theater Co., Bay Area Playwrights Foundation and Soho Think Tank. She holds an MFA in dramatic writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

A. Zell Williams' honors include NYU's Goldberg Playwriting Prize and the National New Play Networks' Smith Prize for Best Political Play. His scripts have been produced & developed by InterAct Theatre where he is Playwright-in-Residence, Marin Theatre, the Lark Play Development Center and the Kennedy Center.

Bess Wohl?s plays have been produced and developed at theaters around the country. She is currently at work on a new play commission from Manhattan Theatre Club, as well as various film and TV projects. BA, Harvard. MFA, Yale School of Drama.

Director Bios

Jess Chayes is a Brooklyn-based director and co-artistic director of The Assembly. Most recently: HOME/SICK at The Living Theater (Critic's Pick, The New York Times and Backstage). She has developed work at Studio Tisch, Ars Nova, The Culture Project, The Brick Theater, The Flea, P73, The Public Theater, The Working Theater, Old Vic/New Voices and Woodshed Collective. Affiliations: New Georges Kitchen Cabinet, Civilians R&D Group, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab.

Wes Grantom recently directed The Steadfast by Mat Smart for Slant Theatre Project, Eager to Lose at Ars Nova and Anon(ymous) for Waterwell/PPAS. Recipient of the Drama League Directing Fellowship, member of Lincoln Center Director's Lab and a graduate of the University of Evansville.

Jesse Jou's directing credits include Formosa by Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai (Ars Nova's ANT Fest 2012) and collaborations with Play Group members Dipika Guha and Kim Rosenstock. He is a 2012 Fellow of the Drama League's Directors Project. MFA, Yale School of Drama

Portia Krieger's Ars Nova credits include: Eager to Lose, The Wii Plays. Other recent projects: Sam Hunter's When You're Here (Williamstown) Kim Rosenstock's Tigers Be Still (TheaterSquared), and Too Much Too Soon (Lesser America). Alumna of the Drama League Directors Project and the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. Co-founder of the New Georges Jam.

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