Schreiber & Carpenter Lead GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES at 2nd Stage in 2011; Ellis Directs

By: Nov. 09, 2010
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Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Founder & Artistic Director; Casey Reitz, Executive Director) will present the New York premiere of Rajiv Joseph's GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES, featuring Jennifer Carpenter ("Dexter") and Pablo Schreiber (Tony nominee for Awake and Sing!). Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph returns to Second Stage Theatre, which premiered his plays All This Intimacy and Animals Out of Paper as part of the company's Uptown Series. Directed by Tony nominee Scott Ellis, GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES will begin previews on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 and officially open on Monday, January 31 at 7:00pm at Second Stage Theatre (305 West 43rd street). For subscription or ticket information, please call the Second Stage Box Office at 212-246-4422 or visit the company's website, www.2ST.com.

The dark romantic saga, GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES, explores the cost of wounded friendships. Over the course of 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the physical calamities that keep drawing them together.

JENNIFER CARPENTER is best known for her performance as Debra Morgan, Dexter's ambitious sister, in the acclaimed Showtime series, "Dexter." She last appeared on the New York stage as Mary Warren in the Broadway production of The Crucible opposite Liam Neeson and Laura Linney. Other theatre credits include: Lincoln Center Theater: Everett Beekin, Director's Lab (Orphan of Zhao, Shi-Zheng); Actors Theatre of Louisville: Julie Johnson (Humana Festival), Trudy Blue (Humana Festival); O'Neill Playwrights Conference: Lucy and the Conquest (Lucy). A graduate of the Juilliard School, Jennifer has appeared in the films The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Quarantine, Battle in Seattle, Dog Problem, Lethal Eviction, Nice Guys Sleep Alone, White Chicks, and D.E.B.S., among others. She can be seen in the upcoming films, The Factory, opposite John Cusack, and Hungry Rabbit Jumps, opposite Nicolas Cage, Guy Pearce, and January Jones.

PABLO SCHREIBER received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in Awake and Sing! His many other theatre credits include Desire Under the Elms, Reasons to be Pretty (Drama Desk Award), Dying City, Mr. Marmalade, Manuscript, Sin: A Cardinal Deposed, Blood Orange, and Julius Caesar at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He is well known to TV audiences for his role as Nick Sobotka on HBO's critically acclaimed series "The Wire." Schreiber has appeared in many films, including Woody Allen's Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Lords of Dogtown, Michael Cuesta's Tell Tale, Nights in Rodanthe, The Manchurian Candidate, Breaking Upwards, Into the Fire, The Mudge Boy, and Invitation to a Suicide. He will next be seen starring in Josh Radnor's Happythankyoumoreplease, which won the Audience Award at Sundance in 2010, and on the upcoming FX series "Lights Out."

RAJIV JOSEPH returns to Second Stage Theatre where his plays Animals Out of Paper (Lortel
nomination for Outstanding Play) and All This Intimacy premiered as part of the Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series. Rajiv is also one of Second Stage's Time Warner Commissioned Playwrights and participated in the company's New Works Festival in 2008. His play, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, will be produced on Broadway this spring, starring Robin Williams. The recipient of the Vineyard Theatre's Paula Vogel Award, Rajiv's other productions include: in New York: The Leopard and the Fox (adaptation), Alter Ego; Huck & Holden, Cherry Lane Theatre, 2006. Los Angeles: Huck & Holden, The Black Dahlia Theatre, 2006. Rajiv is a Founding Member of the New York-based Theatre Company, The Fire Department, and has been a contributing writer on their first two theatrical events, Speakeasy and At War: American Playwrights Respond to the War in Iraq. He is a former Lark Playwriting Fellow and Dramatist Guild Fellow. He received his B.A. in Creative Writing from Miami University and his M.F.A. in Playwriting from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa.

SCOTT ELLIS returns to Second Stage Theatre where he directed Douglas Carter Beane's Mr. & Mrs. Fitch last season. Other Second Stage credits include Good Boys and True, The Little Dog Laughed, The Waverly Gallery with Eileen Heckert, and That Championship Season. Broadway credits include Curtains, Twelve Angry Men (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), Arthur Miller's The Man Who Had All the Luck with Chris O'Donnell, The Boys From Syracuse, The Rainmaker with Woody Harrelson and Jayne Atkinson, 1776 (Drama Desk, Tony nomination), Picnic (Outer Critics Circle nomination), Company, A Month in the Country with Helen Mirren, Steel Pier (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle awards, Tony nomination), She Loves Me (Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations, Outer Critics Circle Award and Olivier Award for Best Director and Best Revival, London production). Off-Broadway: Entertaining Mr. Sloane with Alec Baldwin; Dark Rapture; And the World Goes' Round: The Songs of Kander & Ebb (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle awards); among others. NYC Opera: 110 in the Shade, A Little Night Music. TV: director/co-conceiver of "Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall" and Great Performances' "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies," "30 Rock," Frasier," "Hope and Faith," "Stacked," and "Out of Practice." Mr. Ellis is the associate artistic director for the Roundabout Theatre Company. Mr. Ellis is the Executive Producer/Director of the Showtime series "Weeds."

GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES will have scenic design by Neil Patel; costume design by Jeff Mahshie; and sound design by Ryan Rumery.

Second Stage Theatre is currently represented on Broadway by the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Next to Normal. The company's current production is Arthur Kopit's Wings, directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle and starring Tony nominee Jan Maxwell.

Founded in 1979 under the leadership of Artistic Director Carole Rothman, SECOND STAGE THEATRE produces a diverse range of premieres and new interpretations of America's best contemporary theatre, including Tiny Alice and Peter and Jerry by Edward Albee; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Little Murders by Jules Feiffer; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; A Soldier's Play by Charles Fuller; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo's Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Painting Churches and Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants and On the Stem by Ricky Jay; Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; Living Out by Lisa Loomer; This Is Our Youth and The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan; Some Men by Terrence McNally; eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; Everyday Rapture by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Let Me Down Easy by Anna Deavere Smith; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Crowns by Regina Taylor; Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein; Spoils of War by Michael Weller; Before It Hits Home, Jar the Floor and Birdie Blue by Cheryl L. West; Jitney by August Wilson; Lemon Sky, Serenading Louie and Sympathetic Magic by Lanford Wilson; and Metamorphoses and The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci by Mary Zimmerman.

The company's more than 130 citations include the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Next to Normal, the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Score, Best Orchestrations, and Best Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley) for Next to Normal, the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed), 2005 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, ...Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, ...Spelling Bee), 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses), the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 26 Obie Awards, six Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Clarence Derwent Awards, 12 Drama Desk Awards, nine Theatre World Awards, 11 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 15 AUDELCO Awards.

In 1999, Second Stage Theatre opened its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theatre, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched "Second Stage Theatre Uptown" series to showcase the work of up and coming artists at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre. The Theatre supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs.

Second Stage Theatre has acquired the right to purchase the historic Helen Hayes Theatre, located at 240 W. 44th Street. With this new home, Second Stage will be the only theatre company on Broadway dedicated exclusively to the development and presentation of contemporary American theatrical productions. Second Stage will also become one of only four non-profit theatre companies that own and operate theatres on Broadway. The company will continue to lease and operate their original theatres on the city's Upper West Side and in Midtown Manhattan.

GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES will be performed through February 20 on the following schedule: Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday - Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3pm.

The following exceptions will be made to the regular performance schedule:

Wednesday, January 5 - no 2pm performance
Sunday, January 9 - 2pm and 7pm performances
Wednesday, January 12 - no 2pm performance
Sunday, January 16 - 2pm and 7pm performances
Monday, January 31 - 7pm performance (opening night)
Tuesday, February 1 - no performance

All evening performances Tuesday - Friday the week of February 1st will begin at 7pm.

Tickets are $75 and may be purchased by phoning 212-246-4422 or 800-766-6048 or online at www.2ST.com.

$30 UNDER 30 YOUTH ADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE - patrons age 30 and under may purchase a limited number of specially-priced $30 tickets in advance. Proof of age must be shown at the box office.

A limited number of student rush tickets are $18 and are available one hour prior to curtain.

Group tickets are available by phoning 212-246-4422. Box-office hours are Monday, 10:00am - 6:00pm, Tuesday 10:00am - 7:00pm, Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00am to 8:00pm, and Sunday, 10:00am to 3:00pm.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos



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