Ars Nova and WP Theater Present SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON

Ars Nova and WP Theater are pleased to present the world premiere of Sundown, Yellow Moon (February 28-April 1), a nighttime play, with songs, by Rachel Bonds, directed by Anne Kauffman (OBIE and Drama Desk Award winner), with songs by the indie-folk duo The Bengsons (Hundred Days) and additional lyrics by Bonds. The cast includes Eboni Booth (Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.), Lilli Cooper (The Wildness: Sky-Pony's Rock Fairy Tale), Peter Friedman (Synecdoche, New York; The Savages), Greg Keller (Our Mother's Brief Affair), Anne L. Nathan (It Shoulda Been You), Michael Pemberton (Veep) and JD Taylor (Off-Broadway Debut.)

While navigating the unsettling waters of young adulthood, twin sisters Ray (Lilli Cooper) and Joey (Eboni Booth) return home to find their father (Peter Friedman) in a moment of crisis. Under the cover of late-night, small-town shadows, sleep is elusive, connections are frayed, and the southern summer heat presses in. Sundown, Yellow Moon is an ethereal, honest, funny-sad play about seeing old faces with new eyes, and the liminal space between loss and letting go.

The creative team includes Lauren Helpern (scenic design), Jessica Pabst (costume design), Isabella Byrd and Matt Frey (lighting design), Leah Gelpe (sound design) and Erin Gioia Albrecht (production stage manager). Casting by Caparelliotis Casting/ Lauren Port, CSA and Kelly Gillespie, CSA.

From 2011-2012, Bonds was part of Ars Nova's Play Group. In 2014, she was commissioned by Ars Nova to write Sundown, Yellow Moon, as part of their 2014 The Writers Room group, where she met director Anne Kauffman and where the play was further developed. In 2016, Bonds became Ars Nova's Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence, which includes a full salary, health insurance and access to personal and artistic development.

Performances of Sundown, Yellow Moon will take place February 28-April 1 (see above schedule) at the McGinn/Cazale (WP Theater), located at 2162 Broadway at 76th Street in Manhattan. Critics are welcome as of Thursday, March 9 for an official opening on Tuesday, March 14 at 7pm. Regular priced tickets are $35 and can be purchased by visiting arsnovanyc.com, wptheater.org, or by calling 212-352-3101.

Ars Nova's Ticket Initiative, generously supported in part by New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs, underwrites the cost of tickets for all performances, allowing them to make theater accessible to the next generation of theater-goers. Through that initiative, $20 tickets are available with code SISTER for performances February 28- March 4, $25 tickets are available for performances March 6-11 with code TENNESSEE, and $35 tickets are available for all other performances.

About the Artists

Rachel Bonds' (playwright and additional lyrics) plays have been developed or produced by South Coast Rep, Ars Nova, Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre, Roundabout Underground, Atlantic Theater Company, Studio Theatre, New Georges, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Williamstown Theatre Festival and New York Stage & Film, among others. Her plays include: Curve of Departure (South Coast Rep commission, PPF 2016, Kilroys List 2016); Five Mile Lake (South Coast Rep, McCarter, Weissberger Award); The Wolfe Twins (Studio Theatre, Kilroys List 2015); Swimmers (Marin Theatre Co., Rella Lossy Award, Sky Cooper Prize, Kilroys List 2014); Sundown, Yellow Moon (Ars Nova/WP Theater); Alma (Atlantic Theatre Company commission); Firecracker (Kilroys List 2016); At the Old Place (Arden); Michael & Edie (NY Times Critic's Pick, 2010); Winter Games (Actors Theatre of Louisville, Heideman Award); and Anniversary (EST, Sam French OOB Festival Winner). She is an Alumna of the EST's Youngblood, Ars Nova's Play Group and SPACE on Ryder Farm's Working Farm Writers' Group. She was recently named the 2016 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence at Ars Nova. Current commissions include The Geffen and McCarter. Bonds is a graduate oF Brown University.

Anne Kauffman (director) New York: A Life, Marjorie Prime (Lortel Nomination, Drama League Nomination); Detroit, Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Sutra and Maple and Vine (Playwright's Horizons); The Nether, Smokefall (MCC); Buzzer (The Public); Belleville (Lortel Nomination, NYTW, Yale Rep); You Got Older (Drama Desk Nomination, P73 Productions); The Muscles in Our Toes (LAByrinth Theater Company); Somewhere Fun, God's Ear (New Georges and Vineyard Theater); Stunning, Slowgirl (LCT3). Regional: The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, Smokefall (Goodman Theatre); And No More Shall We Part, You Better Sit Down: Tales from My Parents' Divorce, Six Degrees of Separation (Williamstown Theater Festival); 100 Days (Z Space, The Know Theater); Belleville (Yale Rep, Steppenwolf). Artistic Associate and Founding Member of The Civilians, Sundance Program Associate, Clubbed Thumb Associate Artist and co-creator of the CT Directing Fellowship, New Georges Associate Artist, Artistic Council of Soho Rep, SDC Executive Board Member. OBIES (Directing and Sustained Excellence), the Joan and Joseph Cullman Award for Exceptional Creativity from Lincoln Center, the Alan Schneider Director Award and two Barrymore Awards.

The Bengsons (music & lyrics) have performed around the world. Their music was featured in Sonya Tayeh's you'll still call me by name (New York Live Arts), The National Theater of Scotland and The Team's Anything That Gives Off Light (Edinburgh Theater Festival), Sarah Gancher's The Place We Built (The Flea), Anne Washburn's Iphigenia in Aulis (Classic Stage Company) and their concert musical Hundred Days at the Under the Radar festival at The Public Theater. They have had three singles featured on So You Think You Can Dance (FOX). Abigail Nessen Bengson has toured as a member of tUnE-yArDs, including an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Upcoming work includes commissions with Ars Nova and Lincoln Center Theater.

Eboni Booth (Joey) is very excited to make her debut with Ars Nova and WP Theater. Previous appearances include Ultimate Beauty Bible (Page 73); On a Clear Day I Can See to Elba (ICE FACTORY/New Ohio); Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (Soho Rep.); Family Play, 1979-Present (Collaboration Town); Motel Cherry (Clubbed Thumb/New Georges); Girls in Trouble (Flea Theater); and The Cider House Rules (Atlantic Theater Company). Television: Show Me a Hero and Daredevil.

Lilli Cooper (Ray) Broadway: Wicked (Elphaba), Spring Awakening (Original Cast). NYC and regional: Tick, Tick...Boom! (Keen Company), The Spongebob Musical (Sandy Cheeks, Broadway in Chicago), The Wildness (Ars Nova), Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (A.R.T.), Noir (NYSAF & NAMT), The Threepenny Opera (Atlantic Theater), LMNOP (Goodspeed). Television/Web: Bull (CBS), Creator of Glamour.com's web shorts "It's Not Okay, Cupid." LaGuardia Arts High School and Vassar alum.

Peter Friedman (Tom) Theater: Her Requiem, The Nether, Jacuzzi, Fly By Night, The Open House, The Hatmaker's Wife, End Days, Circle Mirror Transformation, Body Awareness, Uncle Vanya, The Shaggs, After the Revolution, The Great God Pan, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, The Heidi Chronicles, Ragtime, The Common Pursuit, A Soldier's Play, and a Nightingale Sang..., The Loman Family Picnic, Twelve Angry Men. Films: The Savages; Safe; Single White Female; The Messenger; Breaking Upwards; Love and Other Drugs. Television: The Muppet Show, Brooklyn Bridge, The Affair, High Maintenance, The Path.

Greg Keller (Ted Driscoll) Broadway: Our Mother's Brief Affair, Wit. Off-Broadway: Of Good Stock (MTC), The Who and The What (LCT3), Belleville (NYTW), Somewhere Fun (Vineyard), Cradle and All (MTC), The Seagull (CSC with Dianne Wiest), That Pretty Pretty, Steve & Idi (Rattlestick), Smudge (WP Theater) Regional: Seminar with Jeff Goldblum, 33 Variations with Jane Fonda (Ahmanson), Scenes From Court Life, War, Elevada (Yale Rep). Greg was a Playwriting Fellow at The Juilliard School and has an MFA in acting from NYU.

Anne L. Nathan (Jean) Broadway: It Shoulda Been You, Once, Sunday in the Park With George, Chicago, Assassins, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Ragtime. Off-Broadway: Taming Of The Shrew (Public Theatre), Wings (2ST), Music In The Air (Encores), Road Show (Public Theatre). Regional: McCarter Theatre, Kansas City Rep, The Huntington, The Citadel. Film & TV: You Must Be Joking, Sugar, Baby Mama, King of California, The Good Wife, Dirt, Law & Order, Veronica Mars, Bull, Submissions Only.

Michael Pemberton (Bobby/DJ) Broadway: The Farnsworth Invention, I'm Not Rappaport, Not About Nightingales, Mamma Mia, Picnic and Hedda Gabler. Off-Broadway: Insignificance, Dinner With Friends, Saturday Night, Outward Bound (Drama Desk Nom), You Never Can Tell and Black Snow.Film: Bridge of Spies, We the Animals, Brooklyn's Finest, The Family Stone. Television: The Affair, The Good Wife, Veep, Damages, Blue Bloods, Elementary, Conviction, Sleepy Hollow. Love to Andrea always and ever.

JD Taylor (Carver) Theater credits include: peerless by Jiehae Park (Yale Rep), The Last Match (City Theatre Company), Rich Girl (The Old Globe), The Understudy (McCarter Theatre), Ed, Downloaded (Denver Center Theatre), Leslye Headland's Bachelorette (Studio Theatre), Red (Asolo Rep & Maltz Jupiter Theatre), She Stoops To Conquer (Williamstown Theatre Festival) and various workshops with Ars Nova, LCT Directors' Lab, O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Sundance Theatre Lab. TV/Film credits include: Elementary, The Good Wife and The Mend. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting.

About Ars Nova

Ars Novais committed to developing and producing theater, comedy and music artists in the Early Stages of their professional careers. Our unique development programs are designed to support outside-the-box thinking and cross-pollination to encourage innovative work. Dubbed by the New York Times as a "fertile incubator of offbeat theater," Ars Nova blurs genres and subverts the status quo. With our feverish bounty of programming, we are the stomping ground and launching pad for visionary, adventurous artists of all stripes. 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.

Ars Nova was honored with a 2015 OBIE Award and a 2015 Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics' Circle for our sustained quality and commitment to the development and production of new work. Notable past productions include: NY Times' and Time Out New York's "Best of 2016" Underground Railroad Game created by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard; Outstanding Musical Lortel Award-winner Futurity, by César Alvarez with The Lisps; New York Times' "Best of 2015" Small Mouth Sounds by Bess Wohl, which enjoyed a commercial return engagement; Time Out NY's "Best of 2014,"Jacuzzi by The Debate Society; Drama Desk nominated Charlatan by Vinny DePonto and Josh Koenigsberg; the award-winning smash-hit Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy (Lortel, Obie, and Richard Rodgers Awards; currently on Broadway); Jollyship the Whiz-Bang by Nick Jones and Raja Azar directed by Sam Gold; the world premiere of the 2009 season's most-produced play boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and directed by Alex Timbers; Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle nominated From Up Here by Liz Flahive; audience favorite Dixie's Tupperware Party by Kris Andersson; the show that put Bridget Everett on the map, At Least It's Pink, by Everett and Kenny Mellman; and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail's first New York production, Freestyle Love Supreme, by Anthony Veneziale and Miranda.

About WP Theater

WP Theater (Formerly known as Women's Project Theater) is the nation's oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of female-identified theater artists at every stage in their careers. For nearly four decades we have served as leaders at the forefront of a global movement towards gender parity, and the example we set and the artists we have fostered have grown into to a robust and thriving community of female writers and directors in theater and beyond.

WP empowers female-identified artists to reach their full potential and, in doing so, challenges preconceptions about the kinds of plays women write and the stories they tell. As the premiere launching pad for some of the most influential female theater artists today, our work has had a significant impact on the field at large. Nearly every prolific female theater artist has been through our doors, including Eve Ensler, María Irene Fornés, Katori Hall, Pam Mackinnon, Lynn Nottage, Leigh Silverman and Anna Deveare Smith. These powerful female artists found an early artistic home at WP, and are a testament to our role as a driving cultural force.

WP was founded in 1978 by visionary producer, Julia Miles, to address the significant under-representation of women in theater. Today, WP accomplishes its mission through several fundamental programs, including: the WP Lab, a two-year mentorship and new play development program for women playwrights, directors and producers culminating in the biennial Pipeline Festival; the Playwright-In-Residence commissioning program; the Developmental series; and the Main Stage series, which features a full season of Off-Broadway productions written and directed by extraordinary theater artists.