FUTURITY Makes New York Premiere with Soho Rep. and Ars Nova Tonight

At the Connelly Theater (220 E. 4th St.), Soho Rep. and Ars Nova present the New York premiere of César Alvarez's Futurity, a new, avant-Americana musical with music by Alvarez and The Lisps, and lyrics and book by Alvarez. Directed by Soho Rep. Artistic Director Sarah Benson, the production will feature 13 actor-musicians. The production is presented in association with Carole Shorenstein Hays. Performances begin tonight, October 6, 2015.

In FUTURITY, two people try to imagine their way out of impossible circumstances. Julian is a Civil War soldier dreaming of a technological utopia. Ada is a mathematical genius thousands of miles away. Together, they're going to invent a machine to end one of the darkest periods in our history. Anelectrifying concert-story featuring an army of actor-musicians, including Alvarez, Andrew R. Butler, Fred Epstein, Eric Farber, Eamon Goodman, Karen Kandel, Kristine Haruna Lee, Mia Pixley, Jessie Shelton, Kamala Sankaram, Darius Smith, Storm Thomas and Sammy Tunis.

The creative team includes David Neumann (Choreography), Emily Orling and Matt Saunders (Set Design), Eric Farber (Percussion and Contraption Design), Emily Orling (Costume Design), Yi Zhao (Lighting Design), Matt Tierney (Sound Design), Noah Mease (Props Design), , J. David Brimmer (Fight Choreography), César Alvarez (Music Director), Jackie Sibblies Drury (Dramaturg), and Terri K. Kohler (Production Stage Manager), with Story Development and Additional Text by Molly Rice.

Performances of Futurity will take place through November 8 (see schedule above) at the Connelly Theater, which is located at 220 East 4th Street in Manhattan. Critics are welcome as of October 15 for an official opening on Tuesday, October 20 at 8pm. General admission tickets are $35/$55 and can be purchased by visiting sohorep.org or or arsnovanyc.com or calling 212.352.3101. $30 general rush and $20 student rush (valid school ID) tickets are available at the box office one hour prior to curtain for each performance, no advance sales. $0.99 Sunday tickets will be offered on October 11 and 25 at 8pm and are available first come, first served at the box office only. $0.99 Sundays for Futurity are sponsored by Jody Falco & Jeffrey Steinman.

FUTURITY was developed, in part, through a commission from Walker Arts Center. Futurity was originally produced in 2012 by the American Repertory Theater. Support for this production provided by the National Fund for New Musicals, a program of National Alliance for Musical Theatre and the National Endowment of the Arts.

In conjunction with performances of FUTURITY, Soho Rep's FEED Humanities program will present a series of post-show discussions with experts from various fields. On October 17, award-winning author and renowned international relations scholar Joshua S. Goldstein will explore how peacekeeping is working and what we can learn from the decline of armed conflict around the world. On October 24, César Alvarez and Tony Award-winner Lisa Kron (Fun Home) will talk about dreaming up and putting together boundary-pushing new musicals. And on November 7, the Lisps' drummer and Percussion and Contraption Designer, Eric Farber, will give a "touch tour" of a large-scale instrument that is featured prominently in Futurity. All events are free and take place at The Connelly Theater immediately after matinee performances.

About the Artists:

César Alvarez is a New York-based composer, lyricist and writer. His recent composition credits include Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' An Octoroon (Soho Rep., TFANA; Drama Desk nomination); Washeteria (Soho Rep.); The Foundry Theatre's Good Person of Szechwan (LaMaMa, Public Theater; Drama Desk nomination); Mac Wellman's 3 2's; or AFAR (Dixon Place); and Full Still Hungry for Contra-Tiempo (Ford Amphitheater, Dance Motion USA). In development: The Universe is a Small Hat, a multi-player participatory musical (Berkeley Rep Ground Floor, Civilians R&D Group, PRELUDE NYC, Babycastles), The Elementary Spacetime Show (Ars Nova Uncharted, EST/Sloan Commission, Polyphone) and Castro with Lucas Hnath (Berkeley Rep Ground Floor and Space at Ryder Farm). Alvarez is an Artist-in-Residence at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the Artistic Director of Polyphone, a festival of the emerging musical at UArts.

The Lisps formed in the South Bronx in 2005 as a collaboration between composer César Alvarez and actress/singer Sammy Tunis. Percussionist and kinetic sculptor Eric Farber joined in 2007. Since then they have released four albums and played hundreds of shows around the country. They created music for The Foundry Theatre's Drama Desk-nominated Good Person of Szechwan, directed by Lear deBessonet at La MaMa and the Public Theater. The Lisps' music has also been on Shameless (Showtime) and in the 2015 documentary A Woman Like Me, directed by Alex Sichel and Elizabeth Giamatti (SXSW Jury Award). The Lisps' albums include The Vain, The Modest and The Dead (2006); Country Doctor Museum (2008); Are We at the Movies? (2011); and Futurity (2012).

Sarah Benson (Director)has been the Artistic Director of Soho Rep. since 2007. For Soho Rep., she has directed Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's An Octoroon; Lucas Hnath's A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney; David Adjmi's site-specific Elective Affinities, with Zoe Caldwell; Sarah Kane's Blasted (OBIE Award, Drama Desk nomination); and Gregory Moss' Orange, Hat & Grace. She also directed Futurity at A.R.T. & Walker Arts Center, Gregory Moss' House of Gold (Woolly Mammoth) and Sophocles' Ajax (A.R.T.). Upcoming projects include Richard Maxwell's Samara.

Founded in 1975, and in its theater on Walker Street since 1991, Soho Rep. has built an outstanding reputation for being at the forefront of new and innovative theater, serving as a vital center for contemporary theatre artists.

Soho Rep. is dedicated to cultivating and producing visionary, uncompromising, and exuberant new plays, performing to one of the youngest adult audiences in New York City, with over half aged 18-40.

Critics continue to herald Soho Rep. as a go-to theatre destination for new and original works. New York Magazine has said, "this indispensable theater offers more excitement per chair than any space in town," Time Out New York says, "Soho Rep is the best theater in NYC," and The New York Times declares Soho Rep. to be "a first-class downtown company" and said, "The downtown powerhouse...regularly outclasses the work done on many of the city's larger stages." In 2013, Time Out New York declared Soho Rep. as the "Best Downtown Theater Institution."

In 2014, Soho Rep. was honored with a Drama Desk Award for Sustained Achievement. Over the last decade, Soho Rep. productions have garnered 18 OBIE Awards; nine Drama Desk nominations, two Kesselring Awards, The New York Times Outstanding Playwriting Award for Dan LeFranc's Sixty Miles To Silverlake and, a special citation in The New York Drama Critics' Circle's 2012-13 awards. In recent years, Soho Rep. has presented plays by established and emerging theatre artists such as David Adjmi, Annie Baker, Lucas Hnath, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Sarah Kane, Daniel Alexander Jones, debbie tucker green, Young Jean Lee, Nature Theater of Oklahoma and Jackie Sibblies Drury.

Ars Nova is committed to developing and producing theater, comedy and music artists in the early stages of their professional careers. Its unique development programs are designed to support outside-the-box thinking and encourage innovative, genre-bending work. By providing a safe environment where risk-taking and collaboration are paramount, Ars Nova gives voice to a new generation of artists and audiences, pushing the boundaries of live entertainment by nurturing creative ideas into smart, surprising new work.

Most recently, Ars Nova was honored at the 2015 OBIE Awards with The Ross Wetzsteon Award and received a 2014-2015 Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics' Circle "for sustained quality and commitment to the development of new work." Past productions include: the critically-acclaimed world premiere of SmallMouth Sounds by Bess Wohl, directed by Rachel Chavkin (sold-out extended run, Spring 2015); JACUZZIby The Debate Society; By The Water by Sharyn Rothstein (Produced by Manhattan Theatre Club in association with Ars Nova as part of The Writer's Room); Charlatan by Vinny DePonto and Josh Koenigsberg (Drama Desk nomination); Eager to Lose, created by Matthew-Lee Erlbach, Wes Grantom, Portia Krieger and Tansy; Core Values by Steven Levenson (Drama Desk nomination); the award-winning smash-hit Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy (Off-Broadway transfer production at Kazino); The Lapsburgh Layover by The Berserker Residents; Be a Good Little Widow by Bekah Brunstetter; Bloodsong of Love by Joe Iconis; Jollyship the Whiz Bang by Nick Jones and Raja Azar; boomby Peter Sinn Nachtrieb; From Up Here by Liz Flahive; Dixie's Tupperware Party by Kris Andersson; At Least It's Pink by Bridget Everett and Kenny Mellman; and Freestyle Love Supreme by Anthony Veneziale and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

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