Photo Flash: Daphne Rubin-Vega in La Jolla Playhouse MISS YOU LIKE HELL

La Jolla Playhouse presents the world-premiere production of Miss You Like Hell, book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes (In the Heights, Water by the Spoonful), music and lyrics by acclaimed singer/songwriter Erin McKeown, directed by Lear deBessonet (Public Theatre's The Odyssey) and choreographed by Danny Mefford(Broadway's Fun Home).

Commissioned by The Playhouse and developed during the 2016 DNA New Work Series, the production has been extended by one week, now running October 25 - December 4 in the Mandell Weiss Theatre. Tickets go on sale August 27 at LaJollaPlayhouse.org or by calling (858) 550-1010.

When a free-spirited mother convinces her whip-smart teenage daughter to join her on a drive across the country, neither can imagine where it will take them. Chance encounters with a motley crew of characters along the way brings them closer to understanding what sets them apart - and what connects them forever. A vibrant and affecting new American musical, Miss You Like Hell exudes the joy, love and frustration of being a family in a changing country.

"Since commissioning Miss You Like Hell four years ago, I have watched Quiara, Erin and Lear throw their hearts and souls into the creation of this extraordinary piece," said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. "This is exactly the right time for their powerful and moving new musical that embraces our ever-evolving identities as families and Americans."

The musical features two-time Tony Award nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega (RENT, Anna in the Tropics) as "Beatriz," along withKrystina Alabado (Broadway's American Psycho) as "Olivia,"Cliff Bemis as "Mo," Vanessa A. Jones as "Legal Clerk/Waitress," David PatRick Kelly as "Higgins," Julio Monge as "Manuel," Olivia Oguma as "Mindy," as well as local actorsVictor Chan as "Castaway," Cashae Monya (Playhouse's Memphis, 2013 WoW Festival's Counterweight) as "Pearl" and Kürt Norby (Playhouse's Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin) as "Officer."

The creative team includes Danny Mefford, Choreographer; Julie McBride, Music Director;Donyale Werle, Scenic Designer; Emilio Sosa, Costume Designer; Tyler Micoleau, Lighting Designer; Dan Moses Schreier (Playhouse's Xanadu, Restoration, Little Miss Sunshine), Sound Designer; Gabriel Greene, Dramaturg; Tara Rubin Casting, Casting andEvangeline Rose Whitlock, Stage Manager.

Quiara Alegría Hudes received the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for her play Water by the Spoonful. Previously, her play Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue was a Pulitzer finalist, and her recent work, The Happiest Song Plays Last premiered at the Goodman Theatre and then at New York's Second Stage. Hudes wrote the book to the Broadway musical In the Heights, which premiered off-Broadway and earned the Lucille Lortel Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. In the Heights transferred to Broadway where it received the Tony Award for Best Musical, a Tony nomination for Best Book of a Musical, and was named a Pulitzer Finalist. She is a resident playwright at New York's Signature Theatre, where her play Daphne's Dive premiered this spring. She has been honored with official Quiara Hudes Days, declared by both the City of Philadelphia and the City of Chicago. After graduating from public school in Philadelphia, she received a B.A. in music composition from Yale and an M.F.A. in playwriting from Brown, where she studied with Paula Vogel. Hudes is the Shapiro Distinguished Professor of Writing and Theater at Wesleyan University.

Erin McKeown is a musician, writer and producer known internationally for her prolific disregard of stylistic boundaries. Her brash and clever electric guitar playing is something to see. Her singing voice is truly unique - clear, cool, and collected. A familiar presence on NPR and the BBC, McKeown's songs have also appeared in numerous television shows and commercials. While a student at Brown University, she spent three years as an artist in residence at Providence, RI's revolutionary community arts organization, AS220. She spent the next decade playing nearly 200 shows a year while releasing 7 studio albums and refining a distinct and challenging mix of American musical styles. An active voice on social justice issues and culture, McKeown was a 2011-12 fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She is the recipient of a 2016 writing residency at The Studios At Key West. Her latest album, 2016's ACCORDING TO US, uses the intimate expressions of gospel, jazz, and hip-hop to trace a journey toward personal liberation. www.erinmckeown.com@erinmckeown.

Lear deBessonet is the founder/director of Public Works at The Public Theater, for which she has directed pageant-style musical adaptations of The Tempest, The Winter's Tale, and The Odyssey at the Delacorte, each featuring over two hundred New Yorkers from all five boroughs with appearances from diverse groups including gospel choirs, marching bands, park rangers, and taxi drivers. She received Obie and Lilly Awards and a Drama Desk nomination for her direction of Good Person of Szechwan (Foundry Theatre at LaMaMa; Public Theater). Her previous large-scale community projects include The Odyssey at The Old Globe (2011) and her site-specific Don Quixote, a collaboration with homeless shelter Broad Street Ministry and the punk-gypsy ensemble The Psalters (2009). She has directed shows for Encores! Off-Center, LCT3, the Intiman, the Guthrie, Joe's Pub, Women's Project, Performance Space 122, 13p, and Clubbed Thumb. Recipient of the Doris Duke Impact Award, TCG's Peter Zeisler Award, LMCC's Presidential Award for Artistic Excellence, and the Meadow's Prize, she has also acted as a visiting professor at NYU-Tisch School of the Arts.

Daphne Rubin-Vega is a two-time Tony and Drama Desk Award nominee and recipient of the Theater World, Obieand Blockbuster Awards. She has been a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company since 1992. She is perhaps best known for originating the roles of Mimi in RENT and Conchita in Anna in the Tropics, both Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway shows, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award. She also originated the roles of Inez in Quiara Alegría Hudes' Daphne's Dive at Signature Theatre, Rahmi in Gum, Sofia in Nilo Cruz' Two Sisters and a Piano, Canary Mary in Suzan-Lori Parks' f-ing A (Lucille Lortel nomination) and Lucy (Jack Goes Boating) at The Public Theater, as well as starred in the Broadway revivals of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Magenta) and Les Miserables (Fantine). Film credits include detective Gloria Perez in Wild Things, starring Kevin Bacon and Matt Dillon (Blockbuster Award for Best Supporting Actress),Tia in Flawless, opposite Robert De Niro, and most recently, reprising the role of Lucy in the film version of Jack Goes Boating, Phillip Seymour Hoffman's film directorial debut. Other film and TV credits include Smash, Justice, Skeleton Woman (New York Independent Film award), Virgin, Sex and the City and I Like It Like That. Rubin-Vega is recognized for her singing as much as her acting. She was a member of the girl group Pajama Party, whose single "Yo No Se" was #1 on the Billboard dance charts. They made two albums on Atlantic Records before she began writing and recording solo singles for the indie dance label Maxi. In 1997, Rubin-Vega cut her first album of original music, "Souvenirs" on the subsequently defunct Mercury label and in 2006; she produced, performed, and primarily wrote "Redemption Songs" (Sh-K-Boom). She has contributed to various musical projects, including her notorious version of "Feliz Navidad" for Broadway Cares and her club smash cover of "Rocketman." In 2005, she received an Honorary Doctorate from Kean University.

The Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is internationally-renowned for creating some of the most exciting and adventurous work in American theatre, through its new play development initiatives, its innovative Without Walls series, artist commissions and residencies, including BD Wong, Daniel Beatty and Kirsten Greenidge. Currently led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg, The Playhouse was founded in 1947 byGregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and reborn in 1983 under the artistic leadership of Des McAnuff. La Jolla Playhouse has had more than 25 productions transfer to Broadway, garnering 35 Tony Awards, among them Come From Away (March, 2017),Jersey Boys, Memphis, The Who's Tommy, Big River, as well as Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays and the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, both fostered as part of The Playhouse's Page To Stage Program. LaJollaPlayhouse.org.

Photo credit: Jim Carmody