U.S. Premiere of Josh Azouz's BUGGY BABY to be Presented at the Astoria Performing Arts Center

Astoria Performing Arts Center, in association with Dutch Kills Warehouse and Lawryn LaCroix, will present the U.S. premiere of Buggy Baby by Josh Azouz, which marks the playwright's American debut. Directed by Rory McGregor, Buggy Baby is a surreal horror comedy about trying to build a normal life when nothing about life is normal. The U.S. premiere features Erin Neufer (HBO Max's Julia, Broadway: Ink), Rana Roy (Hulu's Ramy, HBO Max's Gossip Girl, Broadway: Ink), and Hadi Tabbal (The Public's The Vagrant Trilogy, The Atlantic's English, NBC's The Brave) with Jeffrey Brabant. Performances begin June 2 at the Astoria Performing Arts Center (44-02 23rd Street, Long Island City), with an opening set for Sunday, June 5, for a limited run through June 26. Tickets are now on sale at www.apacny.org/buggybaby.

 

Jaden (Hadi Tabbal) and Nur (Rana Roy) have escaped another country and ended up in a rotting room in London with Baby Aya (Erin Neufer). While Nur is at college, Jaden chews leaves and has visions of giant rabbits with burning red eyes. He thinks Aya is someone else, someone dangerous. But she's just a baby. Isn't she?

 

The sold-out 2018 world premiere of Buggy Baby at London's The Yard was greeted with critical acclaim.

 

"I am overjoyed Buggy Baby is receiving a US debut," said playwright Josh Azouz. "The play speaks to how people invent their futures in order to escape their pasts. Its dreams and nightmares feel ripe for the people of New York."

"Buggy Baby is unlike anything you can see on a New York stage right now," said director Rory McGregor. "It's surreal, poignant, electrifying - it has everything from menacing bunny rabbits to a talking baby. Josh has created a brilliant horror-comedy that's equal parts hilarious and horrifying about the terror of parenthood and the social isolation, dreams, and fears of finding yourself in a foreign land."

The creative team for the U.S. premiere of Buggy Baby includes Brendan Gonzales Boston (set design), Avery Reed (costume design), Stacey Derosier (lighting design), and Audrey Rush (Line Producer)

 

Sixteen performances of Buggy Baby will take place June 2-26, 2022, at Astoria Performing Arts Center, located at 44-02 23rd Street in Long Island City. The performance schedule is Thursday through Saturday at 7:30pm and Sundays at 6pm. Critics are welcome as of June 3 for an opening on June 5. General admission tickets, which start at $30, can be purchased online at www.apacny.org/buggybaby.

About the Artists

Josh Azouz (playwright) is an award-winning writer from London. Plays include: Once Upon A Time In Nazi Occupied Tunisia (Almeida Theatre) The Mikvah Project (Orange Tree Theatre / Yard Theatre/ BBC Radio 4); Buggy Baby (Yard Theatre); Victoria's Knickers (National Youth Theatre / Soho Theatre) 10,000 Smarties (Three Streets Productions / Oxford Festival Of the Arts) Television credits include: The Night After (BBC/ Century Films/ Headlong) & The Box (NENT Group). Azouz is currently under commission to The National Theatre, the Almeida & BBC Radio 3 for new plays as well as developing tv shows with Big Talk & Babka films. Theatre directing credits include: Come in! Sit Down! (Tricycle Theatre/Muslim Jewish Theatre Company) & The Man Who Almost Killed Himself (Summerhall, Edinburgh/ Odeon cinemas/ BBC iPlayer). Before embarking on a career in theatre, Azouz studied anthropology at Manchester University, trained at Ecole Philippe Gaulier & worked as a teacher.

Rory McGregor (director) is a British director based in New York. Recent directing credits include the world premiere of Interior by Nick Payne (59E59 Theaters), Ransom (Arts on Site), Vigil, Conway (Both theaterlab), Building Pain (Origin Theatre), Macbeth (Connelly Theatre) and the world premiere of Alix Sobler's The Great Divide (Finborough Theatre). He has served as associate director to the world's leading theatre directors including Sam Mendes on The Lehman Trilogy, Julie Taymor on the Broadway revival of M. Butterfly, Rupert Goold on the Broadway transfer of Ink and Carrie Cracknell on The Public Theater & Broadway productions of Sea Wall/A Life. Rory has taught at Columbia University, guest directed for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Bucks County Playhouse Youth Company, and mentored undergraduate directing students at NYU/Playwright's Horizons Theatre School. He was previously a Directing Fellow at Manhattan Theatre Club, a script reader at Roundabout Theatre Company, the Artistic Associate of Classic Stage Company, an Artistic Apprentice at Roundabout and is currently the Artistic Representative on the Young Partners Board at The Public Theater. Rory holds an undergraduate degree in History from the University of York and graduated from the MFA Directing Program at Columbia University, under the tutelage of Anne Bogart and Brian Kulick. https://rorydmcgregor.com/

 

Rana Roy (Nur): London born, Dubai bred, New York based, with Egyptian/Nubian/Indian/Spanish blood, Rana Roy began her 22-year career in the arts as a professional dancer in the Middle East, leading to an album deal with Universal Records in the U.K, and making her way to the U.S.A, acting for film, television, and Broadway. Credits include: Upcoming on Ramy S3 (Hulu-A24), Gossip Girl reboot (HBO Max), The Blacklist (NBC), Harlem (Amazon), Queens (ABC), Queen America (FBWatch), Underground (WGN), The Night Shift (NBC), Britannia High (ITV), Broadway - Ink (MTC). She has been selected as a 2022-2024 AFI Directing Fellow and is excited to take this next step to help create more nuanced storytelling in diverse representation.

Hadi Tabbal (Jaden) is a New York based actor and writer, born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. Tabbal can be currently seen in the lead role of The Vagrant Trilogy at The Public Theater through May 15th, following his appearance in English at The Atlantic Theater (NY Times Critic's Pick). Regional credits include The Vagrant Trilogy (Mosaic Theater, DC) and The Hour of Feeling (Humana Festival, KY). Film credits include Rosa (HBO) and Circumstance (Sundance Audience Award). Tabbal starred as Amir Al-Raisani in NBC's drama The Brave. He has also had several other TV guest appearances including Law & Order SVU (NBC), Bull (CBS), and F.B.I (CBS), among others. Tabbal holds an MFA in Acting from The New School for Drama. His plays have been developed at The Lark, The Atlantic, and Berkeley Rep, among others. He is the recipient of Noor Theater's Artists Advancing Cultural Change Commission. Tabbal is a past artistic associate for The Sundance Theater Institute and recipient of a Fulbright Grant. He is represented by A3 Artists Agency and The Kravitz Company.

Erin Neufer (Baby Aya) spent her formative years in Tokyo, Japan before moving to Indiana and then New York, where she currently resides. She earned her MFA at the NYU Graduate Acting Program. Neufer has appeared on Broadway in Ink, at CSC in Nathan the Wise with F. Murray Abraham, has worked in many regional theatres including The Guthrie and Baltimore Center Stage and has developed work with The Public, New Dramatists and Ensemble Studio Theatre. Her television credits include Julia (HBO MAX), Blue Bloods (CBS), Gypsy (Netflix) and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Hulu). Neufer also makes very silly things with her clowning group Soul Potato.

Jeffrey Brabant (Rabbit) is a New York-based actor and an NYU Tisch graduate. While at NYU, Jeffrey attended the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and has since recently appeared Off-Broadway in Ransom at Arts on Site, Benvolio in Smith Street Stage's Romeo and Juliet and in Quest Players' All is Fair Pts. I & II. His film and TV credits include guest roles on ABC's For Life and Netflix's The Punisher. Brabant will also be guest-starring this year in the upcoming series City on Fire on Apple TV+.

 

About Astoria Performing Arts Center

Founded in 2001, Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC), is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to engaging the residents of Western Queens and the Greater New York City area in contemporary cultural and social issues through live performance, arts education, and community participation. On its mainstage, APAC produces premiere plays and musicals while also developing new works through readings and workshops. APAC offers a variety of free annual community programs, including a summer performance camp for children ages 8-13, an after-school playwriting program for middle-school students, and performance programs for Queens residents ages 60 and over. These programs enhance our tie with the community and develop new audiences for theater. Diverse programming and consistent quality attract a loyal and growing audience that reflects the diversity of Western Queens and draws from the other boroughs and beyond. APAC's performing venue is conveniently located in Long Island City at 44-02 23rd Street just off the Court Square station.

Photo credit: Emilio Madrid

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