Studio Theatre to Open Studio X Series with ANIMAL

Studio Theatre will inaugurate its Studio X series with Animal, a new play by British playwright Clare Lizzimore, commissioned for Studio's stage. "Clare is a director turned playwright whom I commissioned after reading her first play," says Artistic Director David Muse. "She has a tremendous theatrical imagination paired with an understanding of the subtle skill of actors to animate characters. Animal is an intimate and character-driven domestic drama, full of twists and humor. I've known GT Upchurch for years, and she has the craft and imagination to realize Clare's work in all its complexity and beauty."

ABOUT THE PLAY

Rachel has it all: marriage, house, career. So why does she suddenly have this creeping feeling? Did she leave something behind? Or is there something in the walls...? Her husband thinks she needs time; her psychiatrist suggests positive thinking. But then the visions start. Apparitions of doubts, past decisions, future mistakes. Is it time for Xanax? Prozac? Or perhaps she just needs to forget it all, follow her instinct, and kiss a stranger. A darkly comic play about the underside of domesticity, the complexity of the brain in chaos, and the thin line between sinking and survival.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Clare Lizzimore is a playwright and an Olivier-Award winning director. Her first play, Mint (2013), was produced at the Royal Court's Open Court Season and long-listed for the prestigious Bruntwood Prize. Her first radio play was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014, 2016. She is currently under commission with the Royal Court Theatre and the Almeida Theatre.

As a director, she has worked extensively in new writing, and her latest production-Bull by Mike Bartlett- won the 2015 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in An Affiliate Theatre for its production at The Young Vic; it premiered at Sheffield Theatres and also toured to 59E59 in New York. Other recent directing credits include One Day When We Were Young by Nick Payne in the Roundabout Season at Paines Plough at Sheffield Theatres and Shoreditch Town Hall; Lay Down Your Cross by Nick Payne and On the Rocks by Amy Rosenthal at Hampstead Theatre; Pieces of Vincent by David Watson at Arcola Theatre; Faces in the

Crowd by Leo Butler at the Royal Court Theatre; War and Peace and Fear and Misery by Mark Ravenhill at the Royal Court Theatre; Jonah and Otto by Robert Holman at the Royal Exchange Theatre; and Tom Fool by Franz Xaver Kroetz at Glasgow Citizens Theatre and the Bush Theatre, which was nominated for four CATS Awards. Lizzimore's directing awards include the Channel 4 Theatre Directors Award and the Arts Foundation Theatre Directing Fellowship. She has been resident director at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, and a staff director at the Royal National Theatre.

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