Katelynn Kenney's WENDELL & PAN To Premiere at The Tank

The Tank in association with The Skeleton Rep(resents) will present the World Premiere of Wendell & Pan by Katelynn Kenney (2017 Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference semi-finalist for Void), directed by Ria T. DiLullo at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues), January 10-20. Performances will be on Thursday, January 10 at 7pm, Friday, January 11 at 7pm, Saturday, January 12 at 7pm, Sunday, January 13 at 7pm, Monday, January 14 at 7pm, Wednesday, January 16 at 7pm, Thursday, January 17 at 7pm, Friday, January 18 at 7pm, Saturday, January 19 at 7pm, and Sunday, January 20 at 7pm. Tickets ($25 General; $15 Student) are available for advance purchase at www.thetanknyc.org. The performance will run approximately 100 minutes, with an intermission.

Life's hard when you're 11, your only friend is the ghost of your 12-year-old dead aunt, your sister wishes she could be on the other side of her cellphone, your parents make every room frigid, and your sick grandpa wants you to kill him. WENDELL & PAN is a magical dramedy about loneliness, the strange nature of grief, and that moment in your childhood that reverberates with every step you take into the adult world.

The cast will feature Shavana Clarke (Basic Bitch of the Resistance at The PIT), Nya Noemi (Hairspray with The Argyle Theater), Nick Ong (Midsummer with Tiltyard), Anuj Parikh(Julius Caesar with Old Hat Theatre Company), and Margot Staub (Sydney Pollack's The Interpreter) with Set Design by Caitlynn Barrett (The Property with New Light Theatre Project), Costume Design by Sophie Costanzi (My Parents Are Here Tonight with Three Girls and a Boat Productions), Choreography by Gavin Myers (The Inconvenient Miracle: A Mysterious Birth with Skeleton Rep), Lighting Design by Miranda Poett, and Original Composition by Emily Rose Simons (You're The Only One That Gets It at EST). The production Stage Manager will be Olivia Hrko with Producer Benjamin Ernest-Abraham.

Katelynn Kenny (Playwright) is a Filipino-American playwright from the Midwest who grew up running around Air Force bases across the US and overseas. Her produced plays include Void (The Skeleton Rep), Aswang (Claire Donaldson New Play Festival), Games (Augustana Collaborative Theatrical Society's Nightmare on Student Street), and Muse (Manhattan Repertory Theatre). Her full-length plays Void and Goblin Girls both had readings at Primary Stages' Einhorn School of Performing Arts. Goblin Girls and Wendell and Pan were further developed as a part of The Skeleton Rep's Salon Series. Void was a 2017 Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference semi-finalist and had a Workshop Production at The Tank (dir. Benjamin-Ernest Abraham) in June of 2018. Kenney was also a semi-finalist for Ars Nova's 2018 Play Group and a finalist for the 2018 Greenhouse Residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm. She continues her studies at Primary Stages (Rockwell Scholar '17-'18), with industry professionals including Leah Nanako Winkler, A. Rey Pamatmat, Melissa Ross, and Edwin Sanchez, and received her B.A. from Augustana University, with majors in theatre, English, and a minor in journalism.

Ria T. DiLullo (Director) is a theater director and creative developer based in NYC, her hometown. As Artistic Director of The Skeleton Rep, her mission is to explore modern myth, in particular through new works and a specific attention to the body. The Salon Series is The Skeleton Rep's development lab, where Ria opens up her home to a new script that's ready to be heard by a supportive community, which ends in a party. Many of the shows that she has produced and directed originated as a salon. Ms. DiLullo is also the recipient of a directing fellowship at MTC ('17 - '18) and a Rockwell Scholarship for directing at Primary Stages ESPA ('16 - '17). She is currently in residence at The Tank, a Manhattan-based multi-disciplinary arts presenter and producer. Favorite full productions include Devices of Torture by Caroline Bennett, Hungry by Lia Romeo, and the still in-development The Inconvenient Miracle: A Mysterious Birth Musical, by Emily Claire Schmitt, Emily Rose Simons, and Ria T. DiLullo, which was part of BEAM 2018 in London and New York New Works Festival 2018.

The Tank is a non-profit arts presenter and producer. Our mission is to remove economic barriers from the creation of new work for artists launching their careers and experimenting within their art form, and to do so in an environment that is inclusive and accessible. We serve over 2,000 artists every year in over 800 performances, and work across all disciplines, including theater, comedy, dance, film, music, puppetry, and storytelling. The heart of our services is providing free performance space in our two-stage theater complex Manhattan, and we also offer a suite of other services such as free rehearsal space, promotional support, artist fees, and much more. We support work at all phases of development, from readings and residencies to fully-produced world premieres. We keep ticket prices affordable and view our work as democratic, opening up both the creation and attendance of the arts to all.

Recent Tank-produced work includes Drama Desk-nominated productions Ada/Ava (2016), youarenowhere (2016), The Paper Hat Game (2017), the ephemera trilogy (2017), and The Hunger Artist (2018), as well as New York Times Critics' Picks The Offending Gesture by Mac Wellman, directed by Meghan Finn (2016) and Red Emma & The Mad Monk by Alexis Roblan, directed by Katie Lindsay (2018). www.thetanknyc.org

Photo: Margot Staub, Anuj Parikh, Shavana Clarke, Nick Ong, and Nya Noemi

Photo credit: Ria T. DiLullo

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