AUBERGINE Finds Cast, THE PROFANE Taps Director at Playwrights Horizons

Playwrights Horizons has announced new details for its upcoming 2016/2017 Season.

The announcement features complete casting for the season opener, AUBERGINE, the New York premiere of a new play by Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner Julia Cho (BFE at PH, The Language Archive, The Piano Teacher, Durango, The Architecture of Loss), directed by Kate Whoriskey (Fabulation, Inked Baby at PH; Ruined; Her Requiem).

It also announces Kip Fagan (Grand Concourse at PH, Exit Strategy, The Revisionist, Asuncion; pictured, left) will direct THE PROFANE, the world premiere of a new play by Zayd Dohrn (Outside People, Reborning).

AUBERGINE

The cast of AUBERGINE will feature Tim Kang (Kimball Cho on "The Mentalist," "The Vampire Diaries," Aubergine at Berkeley Rep), Sue Jean Kim (Assistance, The Drunken City, BFE at PH; Water by the Spoonful), Jessica Love (Broadway's The River, The Snow Geese, Grace), Stephen Park ("The Mindy Project," "Person of Interest," "Elementary"), Obie Award winner Michael Potts (Grey Gardens; Mud, River, Stone at PH; The Book of Mormon; The America Play; HBO's "True Detective") and Joseph Steven Yang (Aubergine at Berkeley Rep, Eden, Deface).

AUBERGINE will begin previews Friday, August 19 at 8PM with an Opening Night set for Monday, September 12 at 7PM. The limited engagement will play through Sunday evening, October 2 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).

A man (Mr. Kang) shares a bowl of berries, and a young woman (Ms. Kim) falls in love. A world away, a mother prepares a bowl of soup to keep her son (Mr. Park) from leaving home. And a son (Mr. Park) cooks a meal for his dying father (Mr. Kang) to say everything that words can't. In Julia Cho's poignant and lyrical new play, the making of a perfect meal is an expression more precise than language, and the medium through which life gradually reveals itself.

The production will feature scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Jennifer Moeller and lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski. Production Stage Manager is Cole P. Bonenberger.

AUBERGINE had its world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in February 2016. In the San Francisco Chronicle, Robert Hurwitt raved, "Sweet, savory and uncommonly nourishing, AUBERGINE is a deeply moving tale of caring, loss and reconciliation that never loses its sense of humor. A combination of theatrical ingredients so fulfilling that a standing ovation is in order!"

The performance schedule for AUBERGINE will be Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7PM, Thursdays and Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2:30 PM & 8PM and Sundays at 2:30 PM & 7:30 PM. The Thursday evening, September 15 performance has an early 7PM curtain for a special 30&Under Night. Beginning July 19, single tickets, $75-90, may be purchased online via www.TicketCentral.com and www.Facebook.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily) and in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues).

THE PROFANE

THE PROFANE will begin previews Friday, March 17 at 7:30 PM with an Opening Night set for Sunday, April 9 at 7PM. The limited engagement will play through Sunday evening, April 30 at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street).

Safe in the liberal fortress of Manhattan, Raif Almedin is a first-generation immigrant who prides himself on his modern, enlightened views. But when his daughter falls for the son of a conservative Muslim family in White Plains, he discovers the threshold of his tolerance. In Zayd Dohrn's sharp and timely tale, two families are forced to confront each other's religious beliefs and cultural traditions, and to face their own deep-seated prejudice.

Casting and additional details for the production will be announced in the coming weeks.

ABOUT THE TEAM - AUBERGINE

Julia Cho (Playwright). At Playwrights Horizons: BFE (Long Wharf Theatre co-production). Her other plays include Office Hour, The Language Archive, The Piano Teacher, Durango, The Winchester House, The Architecture of Loss and 99 Histories. Her work has been produced in New York at Roundabout Theatre Company, The Public Theater, The Vineyard Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop, and regionally at theaters such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, South Coast Repertory and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Honors include the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Barrie Stavis Award, the Claire Tow Award for Emerging Artists and the L. Arnold Weissberger Award for Playwriting. She has also been the recipient of a New York Foundation for The Arts grant, a Van Lier Fellowship from New York Theatre Workshop and residences at Hedgebrook, the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Sundance Theatre Lab and the MacDowell Colony. Julia is an alumna of Amherst College, New York University, The Juilliard School and New Dramatists.

Kate Whoriskey (Director). At Playwrights Horizons: Fabulation, Inked Baby. Other New York credits include the recent Her Requiem at LCT3, The Miracle Worker on Broadway, Dear Elizabeth at The Women's Project, Tales from Red Vienna and Ruined at Manhattan Theatre Club (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel nominations), How I Learned to Drive at Second Stage Theatre, The Piano Teacher at the Vineyard Theatre, Oroonoko at TFANA and Massacre at the LAByrinth Theatre Company (of which she is a member). Recent Regional credits include Lynn Nottage's Sweat at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Arena Stage.

Tim Kang (Ray). Playwrights Horizons debut. NYC Theater: The Dumb Waiter, Baghdad Burning, Tempodyssey, 100 Aspects of the Moon, Glow, Masha No Home, Museum. Regional: world premiere of Aubergine (Berkeley Rep). Film: Traces, Rambo, What Remains, The Forgotten, Two Weeks Notice. TV: Kimball Cho on "The Mentalist," Oscar on "The Vampire Diaries," "Criminal Minds," "The Unit," "The Office," "Monk," "The Sopranos," "Chappelle's Show."

Sue Jean Kim (Cornelia). Playwrights Horizons: Assistance, The Drunken City, BFE. Off-Broadway: 10 out of 12 (Soho Rep.), Water by the Spoonful (Second Stage), The Hallway Trilogy (Rattlestick). Regional: The Chinese Room (Williamstown). Film: Maggie's Plan, James White, Bachelorette. TV: "Girls," "Elementary," "Falling Water," "High Maintenance," "Delocated," "Cop Show," "Alpha House," "Nurse Jackie." MFA: NYU.

Jessica Love (Diane/Hospital Worker). Playwrights Horizons debut. Broadway: The River, The Snow Geese, Grace. Off-Broadway: The Rivals (Pearl), Bottom of the World (Atlantic). Regional: As You Like It, Measure for Measure (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival); The Moors (Yale Rep); Anna Christie (Old Globe); Bachelorette (Studio Theater); Map of Heaven, When Tang Met Laika (Denver Center). Training: Juilliard. She's also a children's book author and illustrator.

Stephen Park (Ray's Father). Playwrights Horizons debut. Off-Broadway: Aunt Dan and Lemon, Eating Chicken Feet, The New Paradigm, Paternity. Regional: East of Eden, Dumb Waiter, Ivanov, A Language of Their Own, Big Hunk O' Burnin' Love. Film: The Gambler, Snowpiercer, A Serious Man, State of Play, Fargo, Falling Down, Kindergarten Cop, Do the Right Thing. TV: "Person of Interest," "The Mindy Project," "Elementary," "White Collar," "Law & Order."

Michael Potts (Lucien). Playwrights Horizons: Grey Gardens; Mud, River, Stone. Broadway: The Book of Mormon, Lennon. Off-Broadway: Mother Courage, The Tempest, Richard III, Arms and the Man, The Persians, Cabin in the Sky, The America Play, Twelfth Night, Rent. Film/TV: Conspiracy Theory, Stonewall, The Peacemaker, "True Detective," "The Wire," "Damages," "Gotham." Obie, Grammy awards. Kennedy Center Fellow. Graduate: Yale School of Drama.

Joseph Steven Yang (Uncle). Playwrights Horizons debut. Regional: Aubergine (Berkeley Rep); A Single Shard, Tibet Through the Red Box (Seattle Children's Theatre); Take Me Out (Mixed Blood Theatre); Making Tracks (Village Theater); A Language of Their Own, A Chorus Line (Repertory Actors Theater) Film: Eden, Behind Enemy Lines II, Alien Raiders, BFE, A Life That Matters, Kissing Cousins, Deface. TV: "Gilmore Girls," "Zoey 101."

ABOUT THE TEAM - THE PROFANE:

Zayd Dohrn (Playwright). Playwrights Horizons debut. His plays include Outside People (The Vineyard/Naked Angels), Want (Steppenwolf First Look), Sick (Berkshire Theatre Festival/National New Play Network) and Reborning (The Public/SPF). Zayd received Lincoln Center's Lecomte du Nouy Prize, the Kennedy Center's Jean Kennedy Smith Award, the Sky Cooper American Playwriting Prize and Theatre Master's Visionary Playwrights Award, and was an Artist in Residence at New York Stage & Film, the Orchard Project, the Chautauqua Institute, Stella Adler Studios and Theatre for One. He received his MFA from NYU, was a Lila Acheson Wallace Fellow at Juilliard, and currently teaches playwriting and screenwriting at Northwestern University. www.zayddohrn.com.

Kip Fagan (Director) most recently directed Ike Holter's Exit Strategy at Primary Stages, Erin Courtney's I Will Be Gone at the Humana Festival in Louisville and Heidi Schreck's Grand Concourse at Playwrights Horizons. At Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre: Jesse Eisenberg's The Revisionist (starring Eisenberg and Vanessa Redgrave), Halley Feiffer's How to Make Friends and Then Kill Them, Eisenberg's Asuncion, Heidi Schreck's There Are No More Big Secrets and Sheila Callaghan's That Pretty Pretty; or, The Rape Play. Other NYC credits include Carlos Murillo's A Thick Description of Harry Smith and Samuel D. Hunter's Jack's Precious Moment (Page 73); Reggie Watts and Tommy Smith's Radio Play (P.S. 122); Ariel Stess' I'm Pretty Fucked Up, Sheila Callaghan's Roadkill Confidential and Rachel Hoeffel's Quail (Clubbed Thumb); Zayd Dohrn's Reborning and Cory Hinkle's Cipher (SPF); Sheila Callaghan's Recess and Christopher Durang's Not a Creature Was Stirring (The Flea); Greg Keller's The Young Left (Cherry Lane); Sam Marks' Nelson (Partial Comfort). Regional credits include ALLIANCE THEATRE, Long Wharf Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Humana Festival, George Street Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, Marin Theatre Company and City Theatre, among others. Taught and/or directed at Juilliard, NYU, SUNY Purchase, Strasberg Institute. Upcoming: Susan Soon He Stanton's Today Is My Birthday at Sundance Theatre Lab and Sheila Callaghan's Women Laughing Alone With Salad at Woolly Mammoth. Co-founder of Printer's Devil in Seattle; affiliated artist at Clubbed Thumb.

Playwrights Horizons is dedicated to cultivating the most important American Playwrights, composers and lyricists, as well as developing and producing their bold new plays and musicals. Under Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, Playwrights builds upon its diverse and renowned body of work, counting 400 writers among its artistic roster. In addition to its onstage work each season, Playwrights' singular commitment to nurturing American theater artists guides all of the institution's multifaceted initiatives: our acclaimed New Works Lab, a robust commissioning program, an innovative curriculum at its Theater School and more. Playwrights has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including six Pulitzer Prizes, 13 Tony Awards and 39 Obie Awards. Prior artistic directors include André Bishop and Don Scardino. Robert Moss founded Playwrights Horizons in 1971 and oversaw its first decade, cementing the mission that continues to guide the institution today. Notable productions include six Pulitzer Prize winners - Annie Baker's The Flick (2013 Obie Award, 2013 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), Bruce Norris's Clybourne Park (2012 Tony Award, Best Play), Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife (2004 Tony Award, Best Play), Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles (1989 Tony Award, Best Play), Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George - as well as Ms. Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation (three 2010 Obie Awards including Best New American Play); Lisa D'Amour's Detroit (2013 Obie Award, Best New American Play); Samuel D. Hunter's The Whale (2013 Lortel Award, Best Play); Kirsten Greenidge's Milk Like Sugar (2012 Obie Award); Jordan Harrison's Marjorie Prime (2015 Pulitzer finalist); Lucas Hnath's The Christians (2016 Obie Award, 2016 Outer Critics Circle Award, 2015 Kesselring Prize); Robert O'Hara's Bootycandy (two 2015 Obie Awards); Taylor Mac's Hir; Danai Gurira's Familiar; Anne Washburn's Mr. Burns, a post-electric play; Sarah Ruhl's Stage Kiss and Dead Man's Cell Phone; Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn; Dan LeFranc's The Big Meal; Amy Herzog's The Great God Pan and After the Revolution; Bathsheba Doran's Kin; Adam Bock's A Small Fire; Edward Albee's Me, Myself & I; Melissa James Gibson's This (2010 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist); Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie's Grey Gardens (three 2007 Tony Awards); Craig Lucas's Prayer For My Enemy and Small Tragedy (2004 Obie Award, Best American Play); Adam Rapp's Kindness; Lynn Nottage's Fabulation (2005 Obie Award for Playwriting); Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero; David Greenspan's She Stoops to Comedy (2003 Obie Award); Kirsten Childs's The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (2000 Obie Award); Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey's James Joyce's The Dead (2000 Tony Award, Best Book); Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins; William Finn's March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland; Christopher Durang's Betty's Summer Vacation and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You; Richard Nelson's Goodnight Children Everywhere; Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Once on This Island; Jon Robin Baitz's The Substance of Fire; Scott McPherson's Marvin's Room; A.R. Gurney's Later Life; Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's Floyd Collins; and Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley's Violet.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride