Studio 42 Stages WASPS Workshop, Now thru 7/28

Studio 42 will present a fully-produced workshop production of Wasps by Ken Urban (Rattlestick's The Correspondent), an adaptation of Aristophanes' The Wasps. The production will be directed by Stephen Brackett (Rattlestick's Buyer & Cellar), and will feature performances by Denny Bess (HBO's "Boardwalk Empire"), Nat DeWolf (Broadway's Take Me Out), Mary Jane Gibson (FringeNYC's Fantasy Artists), Kristen Harlow (Godlight's Blindness), Boo Killebrew (59E59's The Play About My Dad), Polly Lee (LCT's Graceland), and Barry Shafrin (Goodspeed's Good News).

Wasps will run from today, July 24th through July 28th at the Connelly Theater. July 24th- 26th performances are at 8pm, July 27th at 5pm and 9pm, and July 28th at 2pm. The Connelly Theater is located at 220 East 4th Street in Manhattan (between Avenues A and B). All tickets are $18 and can be purchased at www.stu42.com.

Wasps is set in a dystopic trailer park fantasia where no dog, mail-order boy toy, or sex doll is safe. Bedazzler just wants a little refinement, but it's hard when your dad is a war vet addicted to beer, trailer park women, and jury duty. With the help of her libidinous gal pals, Bedazzler devises a plan to put her old man on the straight and narrow, but, as with most Greek comedies, Fate won't make it easy. Featuring lascivious lesbians, a New England power bottom, a militant community college feminist, and, of course, the family dog. This foretelling of the not-too-distant Disunited States of America asks the question: are those that pass judgement truly just? Also, why is that guy in a bee costume?

The creative team includes: Liz Olson (Producer), Daniel Zimmerman (Set Design), Sydney Maresca (Costume Design), Eric Southern (Lighting Design), Stowe Nelson (Sound Design), Sarah Dowling (Props Design), Brian Belcinski (Fight Direction), and Caitlin Rigney (Choreography).

KEN URBAN's plays have been produced and developed at Summer Play Festival @ The Public, Donmar Warehouse (London), TimeLine Theatre Company, Studio 42, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Playwrights Horizons, Irish Rep, Primary Stages, and The Huntington. Upcoming productions and workshops: A Future Perfect(The Huntington), Wasps (Studio 42), The Awake (kef productions/59E59 Theatres), Nibbler (Stable Cable) and Simple (Rising Phoenix Rep). Awards include the Weissberger Playwriting Award, Huntington Playwriting Fellowship, Djerassi Artist Residency, Dramatist Guild Fellowship, and MacDowell Colony Fellowships. The feature film adaptation of his play The Happy

Sad, with a screenplay by the author, premieres this summer. He is in the band occurrence and their releases are available for free from their bandcamp site.

Stephen Brackett With Studio 42: Nick Jones and Rachel Shukert's The Sporting Life. NYC credits include: Jonathan Tolins' Buyer & Cellar (Barrow Street and Rattlestick Theaters), Dan Fishback's The Material World (Dixon Place), Micheline Auger's American River (Lesser America), Bekah Brunstetter's Nothing is the End of the World (Except for the End of the World) (Waterwell), Chad Beckim's After (Partial Comfort), Brunstetter's Be A Good Little Widow (Ars Nova), The Tenant (Woodshed Collective), David Mixner's From the Front Porch (Dixon Place), Rick Viede's Whore (Summer Play Festival) and Bixby Elliot's PN1923.45LS01 Volume 2 (Culture Project). Regional credits include: The Trouble With Doug (TheatreWorks) and Kilroy Was Here: A Styx Rock Opera (Williamstown). Stephen is a company member of Lesser America and Partial Comfort, and an alumni of the Soho Rep Lab. Upcoming: Ken Urban's The Correspondent (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater).

Studio 42 has become known for its quickly-growing repertoire of "unproducible" plays, with a focus on presenting works that most of the theater industry are unlikely to consider. Recent productions include Miss Lilly Gets Boned by Bekah Brunstetter (2012); Billy Witch by Gregory S. Moss (2012); My Base and Scurvy Heart by Adam Szymkowicz (2011); The Sporting Life by Nick Jones & Rachel Shukert (2010); and Spacebar: A Broadway Play by Kyle Sugarman by Michael Mitnick (2010).

The word "unproducible" is an industry term pulled straight out of the rejection letters from theaters all over the country. Even the exciting range of playwrights that Studio 42 fosters, including notable Tony-winners and Pulitzer-nominees, often face trepidation from producers or literary departments when confronted with their more outlandish work. Studio 42 maintains that the fringe of a worthwhile writer's imagination is especially fertile ground, and that any project worth realizing can be realized, using little more than creativity and courage. For more information on Studio 42, visit www.Stu42.com.

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