New Shows from Award-Winning Emerging Directors on Sale Today

Two comic Chekhov shorts The Bear and The Proposal will be directed by Lucy J Skilbeck Dael Orlandersmith's incisive drama Yellowman will be directed by Nancy Medina Skilbeck and Medina are the winners of Genesis Future Directors Awards for 2017.

The Bear/The Proposal

Plays by Anton Chekhov

Translated by Michael Frayn

Directed by Lucy J Skilbeck

Wednesday 22 March - Saturday 1 April 2017

The Clare

Genesis Future Directors Award winner Lucy J Skilbeck directs two one-act comedic shorts: The Bear and The Proposal.

Translated from Chekhov by Michael Frayn, The Bear and The Proposal playfully explore the absurdity of gender divisions. Skilbeck's new production will feature a company of queer and trans performers.

In The Bear, inconsolable widow Elena has vowed to spend the rest of her days at home, grieving. Seven months into her mourning, an intrusion from an unknown and headstrong stranger forces her to re-engage with the outside world.

In The Proposal, a bachelor asks a neighbour for his daughter's hand in marriage. It's a practical move: time is marching on for Lomov, and he believes Natalya is as good a match as he can hope to find. Though her father is delighted, a misunderstanding leads to wild accusations and Lomov's plan risks being thrown off course.

Further casting and creative team details for The Bear and The Proposal are still to be announced.

Lucy J Skilbeck is a writer and director and the Artistic Director of Milk Presents, an Associate Company of Derby Theatre. Lucy's directing credits for theatre include: JOAN (Milk Presents and Derby Theatre); Penelope Retold (Derby Theatre and UK Tour); and 3 Wise Monkeys (Hiccup Theatre and UK Tour). As an Assistant/Associate Director their credits include: Herons (Lyric Hammersmith); The Complete Deaths (Spymonkey and UK tour); Islands (Bush Theatre) and Brassed Off, The Odyssey (Derby Theatre). Lucy was the recipient of a BBC Legacy Award 2015 and a Scotsman Fringe First 2016. Their current work with Milk Presents, Passing in Elysian Fields, is commissioned by the Jerwood Home Run Commission, will premiere at Camden People's Theatre in September 2017.

Anton Chekhov was born in 1860 in Taganrog, Russia. He supported his family by writing hundreds of comic sketches for newspapers while training to be a doctor. He also wrote a series of comic one-acts and full-length plays which were ahead of their time. His credits include: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.

Michael Frayn is an award-winning English playwright and novelist. His writing credits for theatre include: Copenhagen, Afterlife, Benefactors, Donkeys' Years, and Democracy. Michael has also translated works by Anton Chekhov and other Russian playwrights, and adapted Chekhov's first untitled play as Wild Honey. He has written a number of screenplays including: Clockwise, starring John Cleese. His eleven novels include: The Tin Men, Towards the End of the Morning, Headlong, Spies, and Skios. His other published work includes articles: Collected Columns, Stage Directions and Travels with a Typewriter; works of philosophy: Constructions, The Human Touch; and a memoir: My Father's Fortune. His most recent book, Matchbox Theatre, a collection of thirty short stories, was produced by Hampstead Theatre in 2015. A revival of his play, Noises Off, was presented by Roundabout Theatre Company on Broadway this year at the American Airlines Theatre.

Established in 2012, the Genesis Future Directors Award was created to nurture emerging directors by providing them with an opportunity to explore and develop their craft while creating their first fully resourced production at the Young Vic, recognised for its engagement with young directors. The Award will provide Lucy J Skilbeck with mentoring and support from the theatre's unique creative network, which includes Artistic Director David Lan, Genesis Fellow Gbolahan Obisesan, Lead Producer Daisy Heath and Associate Artistic Director Sue Emmas.

The Bear/The Proposal by Anton Chekov and translated by Michael Frayn is directed by Lucy J Skilbeck, recipient of the Genesis Future Directors Award 2017.

Due to the nature of the Genesis Future Directors Award, no press night will be held for The Bear/The Proposal.

Yellowman

By Dael Orlandersmith
Directed by Nancy Medina

Wednesday 22 November - Saturday 2 December 2017

The Clare

Genesis Future Directors Award winner Nancy Medina directs Pulitzer Prize-nominated drama Yellowman

As children Alma and Eugene struck up a friendship, blissfully unaware of their differences. But growing up their developing affection is met with opposition from close quarters, and prejudice and violence complicates their changing relationship.

Set in South Carolina in the 1970s, this powerful play reflects on internal racial prejudice and colourism within the black community.

Casting and creative team details for Yellowman are still to be announced.

Nancy Medina is originally from Brooklyn, New York and received her MA in Drama Directing from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Her recent theatre credits include: Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It (UK tour); Curried Goat and Fish Fingers (Bristol Old Vic); and Dogtag (Theatre West). As an Assistant Director, Nancy has worked for Shakespeare's Globe, New Vic Theatre, and Salisbury Playhouse. Nancy is also a workshop facilitator for various theatre companies in the South West and is a visiting director/tutor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and Bristol Acting Academy. In September 2017, she will be part of launching a Professional Acting Diploma for 16-18 year olds with boomsatsuma.

Dael Orlandersmith won an Obie Award for Beauty's Daughter, which she wrote and starred in at American Place Theatre. She was a Pulitzer Prize Award finalist and Drama Desk Award nominee for Yellowman which premiered at Manhattan Theatre Club in 2002. Film and television credits include: Hal Hartley's Amateur, an episode of Spin City and Get Well Soon with Courteney Cox. Dael has toured extensively with the Nuyorican Poets Café (now known as Real Live Poetry) throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia. In November 1996 she premiered Monster at New York Theatre Workshop and appeared in Romeo and Juliet at Williamstown. Dael has attended Sundance Theatre Festival Lab four times developing new plays. The Gimmick, commissioned by the McCarter Theatre, premiered on their Second Stage on Stage and went on to great acclaim at the Long Wharf Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop. Yellowman was commissioned by and premiered at the McCarter in a co-production with the Wilma and Long Wharf Theatres. Vintage Books published Yellowman and a collection of earlier work. Dael was a Susan Smith Blackburn Award finalist in 1999 and is the recipient of a NYFA Grant and The Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award. Her latest play Until the Flood received its premiere at the St Louis Repertory Theatre in October 2016, and she is currently finishing her first novel, a new play commissioned by the Wilma Theatre and the screenplay version of Yellowman at Sundance Screenwriters Lab.

Established in 2012, the Genesis Future Directors Award was created to nurture emerging directors by providing them with an opportunity to explore and develop their craft while creating their first fully resourced production at the Young Vic, recognised for its engagement with young directors. The Award will provide Nancy Medina with mentoring and support from the theatre's unique creative network, which includes Artistic Director David Lan, Genesis Fellow Gbolahan Obisesan, Lead Producer Daisy Heath and Associate Artistic Director Sue Emmas.

Yellowman by Dael Orlandersmith is directed by Nancy Medina, recipient of the Genesis Future Directors Award 2017.

Due to the nature of the Genesis Future Directors Award, no press night will be held for Yellowman.

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