Women's Project Presents HOW THE WORLD BEGAN 12/28-1/29

Women's Project's follow-up to its widely-acclaimed co-pro Milk Like Sugar is Catherine Trieschmann's How The World Began, her first play produced in New York since her highly-acclaimed and award-winning crooked and her debut film Angels Crest.

Ms. Trieschmann's How The World Began, directed by Daniella Topol and produced by Women's Project in association with South Coast Rep, will grace The Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 416 West 42nd Street, December 28 through January 29 with an opening set for Thursday, January 5 at 7:00 pm.

How The World Began, featuring Heidi Schreck (Circle Mirror Transformation), Adam LeFevre and Justin Kruger, is the story of a high school biology teacher (Ms. Schreck) who leaves Manhattan for a job in rural Kansas who is unprepared for the firestorm that ensues after she makes an off-handed comment about the origins of the universe, i.e. how the world began.

. Ms. Trieschmann and her director, Ms. Topol, mounted a production of How The World Began on the left coast at South Coast Rep in association with Women's Project in September and the play had its London premiere this month (November) at the Arcola Theatre.

Catherine Trieschmann’s plays include the widely-acclaimed crooked, The Bridegroom of Blowing Rock (recipient of the L. Arnold Weissberger Award), Before the Fire, The World of Others, and Hot Georgia Sunday. Her work has been produced and/or developed at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Atlanta's Theatre in the Square, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, LARK, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and LAByrinth, among others. Originally from Athens, Georgia, she received her M.F.A. from the University of Georgia but currently resides in a small town in western Kansas. Her screenplay Angels Crest, from a novel by Leslie Schwartz and directed Gaby Dellal, premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival last spring and will soon be released by Magnolia Pictures.

Daneilla Topol’s New York credits include Sheila Callaghan's Lascivious Something and Trista Baldwin’s Sand at Women’s Project, Sheila Callaghan’s Dead City (New Georges), Judith Thompson’s Palace of the End (Epic Theatre), Susan Yankowitz’s Night Sky (Baruch Performing Arts Center/Power Productions), Nicki Bloom’s Tender (Summer Play Festival), Leslie Ayvazian’s Carol and Jill (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Jakob Holder’s Housebreaking (Cherry Lane Mentor Project), Zakiyyah Alexander’s Sick? (Summer Play Festival), Peter Gil-Sheridan’s Topsy Turvy Mouse (Cherry Lane Mentor Project), Stanton Wood’s Snow Queen (Urban Stages), Lloyd Suh's Jesus in India (Magic Theatre, SF), Stefanie Zadravec's Electric Baby (Quantum Theatre, PA), Rajiv Joseph's Monster at the Door (Alley Theatre, TX), and Carla Ching's Sugarhouse at The Edge of the Wilderness opening soon at Ma-Yi Theatre, NYC .

Heidi Schreck was last seen in Circle Mirror Transformation at Playwrights Horizons in 2010 for which won or shared a Theatre World Award, OBIE Award (for ensemble), and Drama Desk Award (for ensemble). She also appeared in The Language Archive at The Roundabout, Drum of the Waves of Horikawa at HERE (for which she won an OBIE Award for her performance). She also performed in productions with Target Margin, The Foundry, Clubbed Thumb, 13P, The Talking Band, and SP in New York and around the country with Center Theatre Group; Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Empty Space, Bay Street Theatre, Sundance Theatre Lab, On the Boards and Printer's Devil Theatre.

Adam LeFevre has performed on Broadway in the plays The Devil's Disciple, Our Country's Good, Summer And Smoke, and the musicals Footloose, Mamma Mia, and the 2009 revival of Guys And Dolls. Off-Broadway credits include Turnbuckle, The Boys Next Door, The View From Here, The Doctor's Dilemma, Frank Langella's Cyrano, The Marriage of Bette And Boo, and Herman Kline's Mid-Life Crisis. He has appeared in numerous television shows including Empire Falls and Recount for HBO. His many films include Return of the Secaucus 7, Only You, The Bounty Hunter, and Romance and Cigarettes.

Justin Kruger is a recent graduate of Rutgers Mason Gross School of and is making his New York debut with Women's Project.

Scenery and costumes are designed by Clint Ramos, lights by Brian H Scott, and Sound by Darron L West. Jack Gianino is the production stage manager.

How The World Began is a recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award. This production is generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, JAnn Leeming/Little Family Foundation, New York Community Trust, Shubert Foundation, and Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. In addition, this production is supported by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and the Department of Cultural Affairs in the City of New York, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Speaker Christine Quinn, and Council Member Gale A. Brewer.

34 Years of Presenting Women Theater Artists
Women's Project is playing a hot hand this fall season with its widely acclaimed Milk Like Sugar by Kirsten Greenidge recently extended through November 27 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater co-presented by Playwrights Horizon and La Jolla Playhouse.

Founded in 1978 by Julia Miles, and now under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Julie Crosby, Women's Project provides a stage for women playwrights and directors, who even today receive fewer than 20% of professional production opportunities nationwide.

Women ' s Project produces theater created by women, providing a forum for women's perspectives on political, social, and cultural topics. During its 33 years, countless artists have achieved significant recognition through WP productions, including Anne Bogart, Eve Ensler, Maria Irene Fornes, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Leigh Silverman, and Anna Deavere Smith, among the many. Women's Project has produced staged over 600 mainstage productions and developmental projects, and published eleven anthologies of plays by women.

Recently acclaimed plays include Freshwater, Aliens with Extraordinary Skills, crooked, Sand, Or, Smudge, Lascivious Something and Apple Cove.

Women's Project moves to the Cherry Lane Theatre for the world premiere of We Play For The Gods, conceived and created by the sixteen artists of the Women's Project Lab for playwrights, directors, and producers. The show runs June 1 through 23.

Box Office
How the World Began performs Tuesday through Sunday evenings at 7:30pm with matinees Sundays at 3:00pm.. There are no performances New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.

Tickets for How The World Began are $60 and may be purchased from Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, noon to 8:00 pm daily or online at ticketcentral.com. Post-show discussions will follow performances on December 29, January 3, 12, 19, and 26.