Warehouse Theatre to Present GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES, 4/10-18

Warehouse Theatre Company will present the Columbus premiere of Rajiv Joseph's dark comedy Gruesome Playground Injuries as part of its 2015 POP-UP Theatre series. The production will open Friday, April 10 and continue through Saturday, April 18, 2015 at AJ's Cafe, 152 East State Street.

Truly a different kind of love story, Gruesome Playground Injuries follows the decades spanning relationship of an accident prone dare devil and a corrosive masochist. After meeting in the school nurse's office at the age of eight, the two navigate a 30-year relationship that have their lives intersecting at the most bizarre times and places. The two friends are lead to compare the scars and calamities, both physical and mental, that continue to draw them together.

The premise, that we can quite literally map our lives by our scars, came to playwright Rajiv Joseph during a conversation with a friend over drinks. "He was telling me stories about the many bizarre mishaps that have left scars all over his body, and I realized that if you were like him, you could mark the chapters of your life with injuries. As soon as he got up to get us more drinks, I took out a piece of paper and wrote down the title of the play."

Gruesome's twosome, longtime friends Doug and Kayleen, measure their life in stitches, scars and hospital stints. In an empathetic effort to match Kayleen's internal agony, which includes intense stomach aches, daredevil Doug makes himself susceptible to an array of disfiguring accidents. "When Doug cracks his head open or loses an eye, he feels he can share Kayleen's pain," Joseph explains.

Warehouse Theatre Artistic Director Kristofer Green directs Kelsey Hopkins and Kevin Tate, who play the damaged duo from ages 8 to 38 in a series of non-chronological scenes. "Not only must the actors portray such a wide range in ages, but they literally never leave the stage which makes the work so much more emotionally and physically demanding," says Green.

"These characters grapple with existential questions in Gruesome, but they also clearly recognize the absurdities of their situations. Joseph writes so successfully about spiritual clarity, about moments in life that are bigger than our own selves, but he does it with such a strong eye for comedy and an obvious desire to entertain," Green adds. "Without humor, you'd be faced with a pretty grim narrative."

The play, originally produced by the Alley Theatre in Houston, premiered Off-Broadway in 2011 at Second Stage Theatre. Joseph, a 40 year old Cleveland native and graduate of Ohio's Miami University, premiered his first play Huck & Holden at the Cherry Lane Theatre in 2005 followed by All This Intimacy (2006) and Animals Out of Paper (2008) at Second Stage Theatre. In 2011, Joseph's Pulitzer Prize Finalist play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo made its Broadway debut with a production directed by Moisés Kaufman and starring Robin Williams. That same year Joseph had two more plays make their premieres, The North Pool with TheatreWorks and The Monster at the Door at the Barrington Stage Company. In 2015, South Coast Repertory is presenting the world premiere of Mr. Wolf and Atlantic Theater Company will premiere Joseph's new play Guards at the Taj. Joseph also wrote for seasons 3 and 4 of the Showtime series "Nurse Jackie" and in 2014 co-wrote the feature film "Draft Day".

Gruesome Playground Injuries will feature Kelsey Hopkins, a graduate of the renowned BFA Acting program at Wright State University as Kayleen and Kevin Tate, a fourth year student in The Ohio State University Theatre Program.

Kelsey Hopkins (Kayleen) has spent the last 4 years traveling around the country and living in NYC doing professional theatre including Cabaret (Sally Bowles), Avenue Q (Kate/Lucy), August Osage County (Ivy), Hairspray (Penny), and next to normal (Natalie).

Kevin Tate (Doug) has performed for the OSU Department of Theatre in several productions including As You Like It, Twelfth Night, and the musical Zombie Prom and for Columbus Children's Theatre in Hairspray.