Project: Theater to Present UNITY (1918)

Project: Theater (producers of the critically acclaimed Occupation and the monthly Our Bar series) has announced the US premiere of UNITY (1918), written by Kevin Kerr and directed by KJ Sanchez. UNITY (1918) begins performances on Thursday, August 6 for a limited engagement through Sunday, August 23. Press opening is Sunday, August 9 at 7 PM. The performance schedule is Wednesday - Friday at 8 PM; Saturday at 2 PM and 8 PM; and Sunday at 2 PM. (Please note there are no matinee performances on Sunday, August 9 and Saturday, August 15.) Performances are at The Gene Frankel Theatre (24 Bond Street at Lafayette). Tickets are $18. Tickets are available by calling Smartix at (212) 868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com. For more information, visit www.projecttheater.org.

In the fall of 1918, a world ravaged by World War I was blindsided by a mysterious and deadly plague. The "Spanish Flu" cut down not only the very young and very old, but people in the prime of their lives, killing far more than had been killed in battle during the war.

The small town of Unity takes drastic action. The town is under quarantine and the borders are sealed-no one can enter, no one can leave. Even mail from overseas is burned. When the disease descends despite their precautions, the town-folk of Unity have only each other to turn to - in terror and in hope and, amidst this apocalyptic landscape, when death is knocking at the door, perhaps even in love.

Part Gothic romance, part pandemic horror story, and infused with biting dark humor, Kevin Kerr's UNITY (1918) (winner of the Canadian Governor General's Award for Drama) is an epic chronicle of this remarkable chapter of human history.

The cast features Wendy Bagger; Alicia Dawn Bullen; Jessi Blue Gormezano (ReEntry at Actors Theater of Louisville and international tour); Doug Harris (We Are Animals series at HERE/The Brick Theater); Beth Ann Hopkins; Joshua Everett Johnson (The Farnsworth Invention, dir. Des McAnuff, at La Jolla Playhouse); Joe Jung (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at the Public Theatre & Broadway; the Stephen King/John Mellencamp musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, Atlanta & tour; Steve Martin and Edie Brickel's Bright Star at the Old Globe); Alexandra Perlwitz (Occupation and Mangella with Project: Theater); and Melanie Rey (Bridge to Terabithia at the Kennedy Center).

The design team includes Douglas Clarke (scenic and costume design); Kenton Yeager (lighting design); and Alicia Bullen (prop design). The production stage manager is Marcus Denard Johnson.

KJ Sanchez (director) is the founder of American Records, dedicated to making theater the chronicles our time. Directing credits include ReEntry by Emily Ackerman and KJ Sanchez at Urban Stages (Off-Broadway), The world premiere of Kristoffer Diaz's The Upstairs Concierge at The Goodman, Venus in Fur and Martin Zimmerman's Seven Spots on the Sun (LCT Award, Best Direction) at Cincinnati Playhouse, Harvey, Noises Off and The Diary of Anne Frank at Milwaukee Rep, and two plays by Quiara Hudes: Water by the Spoonful at Studio Theatre (DC) and 26 Miles at Round House Theatre. KJ is also a playwright and her plays have been produced at Berkeley Rep, Baltimore's Center Stage, Asolo Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Two River Theater Company, Round House Theatre, Cornerstone Theater Company, and HERE (NYC). KJ is the voice of many characters on the Nickelodeon cartoons Go, Diego, Go!, and Dora the Explorer. She is a Fox Fellow, Douglass Wallop Fellow, and a recipient of the 2014 Rella Lossy Playwright Award.

Kevin Kerr (playwright) is a playwright currently living in Victoria, British Columbia where he teaches writing for stage and screen in the faculty of fine arts at the University of Victoria. He was the Lee Playwright in Residence at the University of Alberta in Edmonton from 2007 - 2010. His plays have been widely produced across Canada as well as in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and France. In 2002 Unity (1918) received the Governor Generals Literary Award, Canada's most prestigious recognition for playwriting. Kevin Kerr is also a founding member of Electric Company Theatre, a celebrated artist-driven ensemble based in Vancouver, BC, that has been creating, producing, and touring original works of theatre since 1996. With Electric Company he's collaborated on the creation of numerous plays including The Wake, The Score, Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Flop, The Fall, You Are Very Star, Brilliant! The Blinding Enlightenment of Nikola Tesla, Studies in Motion and Tear the Curtain! Other works include Skydive and Spine (Realwheels Theatre), The Secret World of Og (Carousel Theatre), The Night's Mare (Caravan Farm Theatre).