NCTC to Present THE KID THING

This fall, award-winning playwright Sarah Gubbins makes her Bay Area debut at New Conservatory Theatre Center with the West Coast premiere of The Kid Thing, to be directed by Becca Wolff. Hailed by Variety as "a work of significant depth," The Kid Thing proves good news isn't all it's cracked up to be. When two lesbian couples who have been close friends for years get together for a dinner party, the unexpected news of an impending pregnancy manages to rock both relationships. Emotions run deep in this biting, witty piece about what it means to have a child today.

The Kid Thing runs November 6 - December 13, 2015. Opening Night is Saturday, November 14, 2015 at 8pm. Tickets are $25-45 and available at nctcsf.org or by calling (415) 861-8972.

As the playwright shared with us, "I wrote The Kid Thing in response to the question all childless women in their mid-thirties face, 'So, are you thinking about the kid thing?' Being a gay woman, the question seemed even more complicated. But this play was also a response to the deep questioning I observed from so many women on the brink of motherhood --- educated, mid-class, career-oriented, partnered women wrestling with whether they had the resources to be parents. This play examines how gay individuals and couples make life-altering decisions and how ideas about child-raising are often exacerbated by economic insecurities and internalized homophobia."

The Kid Thing was the winner of the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play 2012 and an Edgarton Foundation New American Play Prize upon its premiere, produced by Chicago Dramatists & About Face Theater and developed by Steppenwolf Theatre.

Playwright Sarah Gubbins is a Chicago playwright. Her full length plays include: The Kid Thing, The Drinking Problem, I am Bradley Manning, fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life, In Loco Parentis, and Fair Use. fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life was commissioned and produced by the Steppenwolf Theater in 2012. Her latest play, The Drinking Problem won the 2012 Global Age Project sponsored by the Aurora Theater in Berkeley California. Her plays have been read or developed at the Public Theater, New York Theater Workshop, The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theater Company, American Theater Company, About Face Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, The Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis, The Aurora Theater Company, Timeline Theater, Pine Box Theater, American Theater Company, Next Theatre Company, Actor's Express and Collaboraction. Sarah is the recipient of two City of Chicago CAAP Individual Artist Grants and is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and an Artistic Associate at About Face Theatre. She was the 2010-2011 Carl J. Djerassi Playwriting Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a 2011-2012 Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. She has additionally been commissioned by Actors Express. She collaborated with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange on A Matter of Origins. In 2012 Sarah was named, Best Playwright of 2012 by Chicago Magazine. She holds an M.F.A. in Writing for the Screen + Stage from Northwestern University and currently lives in Los Angeles.

Director Becca Wolff is a cross-media director committed to developing new forms and attracting new audiences to the theater. She is currently developing new work with Annie Saunders of Wilderness (Antigone, SF Playhouse/Getty Villa), The Kilbanes (Weightless, Z Space), & Word for Word (Night Vision & The Long Way Home, Z Space). Recent Bay Area productions include Hookman (Z Space, world premiere), The Book Club Play (Center Rep, West Coast premiere), Status Update (Center Rep, world premiere) & Rocked by Woman (Sarah Bush Dance Project, world premiere). Past work in NYC includes No Static At All (Tilted Field Productions/NYC Fringe--world premiere, winner Outstanding Solo Performance) & Usher (NYC Fringe-world premiere, winner Outstanding Musical). She is co-founder of Tilted Field Productions (LA/NYC/SF, Featured in Weekly's Best of LA issue, 2013), Artistic Director Emeritus IAMA Theatre Company (2014 Ovation award for Outstanding Ensemble, Intimate Theatre, Los Angeles), and received an MFA from Yale School of Drama, Directing.

The cast of The Kid Thing features Desiree Rogers, Sarah Coykendall, Nick Mandracchia, Jaq Nguyen Victor, and Kimberly Ridgeway.

The creative team of The Kid Thing includes scenic design by Yusuke Soi, lighting design by Christian Mejia, and sound design by James Ard. Full design team to be announced.

New Conservatory Theatre Center is San Francisco's premier LGBTQIA and allied performing arts institution and progressive arts education conservatory since 1981. NCTC is renowned for its diverse range of innovative, high quality productions, touring productions and shows for young audiences; its foundational anti-bullying work with youth and educators through YouthAware; and its commitment to nurturing emerging artists and playwrights to expand the canon of queer and allied dramatic work.

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