RANTOUL AND DIE and THE CHEATERS CLUB to Debut in 'Summer of The Amoralists', 6/5-9/21

Having earned a reputation as one of New York's most daring young theater companies, The Amoralists continue to grow in size, ambition and audacity. In the seven years since its founding, the Company has successfully produced 14 productions of ten plays, including nine world premieres, and has quickly moved from basement theaters to Off-Broadway. As the company has grown to include a 50-member artistic ensemble, they've stayed nimble, showcasing their talents in works by accomplished writers (Lyle Kessler, Adam Rapp, etc) as well as by co-founder and resident playwright Derek Ahonen. In 2012, The Amoralists launched Amoralab, an ongoing new-works development initiative that recently culminated in the inaugural Amoralfest, featuring semi-staged readings of seven new plays.

On the heels of these accomplishments, The Amoralists present "The Summer of The Amoralists" (June 5 - September 21), an unprecedentedly busy summer featuring two premieres and 12 consecutive weeks of performances. The productions are signature Amoralists: plays laced with morally ambiguous, complex characters that showcase the raw, heartfelt talent of The Amoralists' ensemble.

June 5 - July 20 at the Cherry Lane Theatre, "The Summer of The Amoralists" kicks off with the New York premiere of Rantoul and Die, from writer and director Mark Roberts. In the play, Rallis and Debbie's marriage has reached its expiration date. In fact, it's soured and stuck to the bottom of the carton. She wants him to pack his stuff and hit the bricks, but he's clinging to the past like a cat on a screen door. How far will a man go to hang onto his lady? It's a thin line between love and hate, between a kiss and a punch, between an ice cream cone and a beer bottle to the back of the head.

Roberts says, "Rantoul and Die is the only one of my plays I've never directed, and I'm thrilled to be helming the New York premiere with such a daring group of theater artists as The Amoralists. Last fall, when we did the first reading of it, I got that giddy feeling a writer gets when he knows he's in the company of like-minded critters."

Immediately following Rantoul and Die, The Amoralists present the world premiere of Company co-founder and resident playwright Derek Ahonen. Running August 12 - September 21 at the Abrons Arts Center, Ahonen's The Cheaters Club is a Southern-sized Savannah murder mystery that creeps out of The Shadows. In the play, siblings Tommy, Jimmy and Cathy, along with brand-new recruit Vonn, are the Cheaters Club. Once a year, the gang gets out of town to get it on, with no spouses or strings attached, to exorcise their sexual demons. This year's destination is the haunted Chaney Inn in Savannah, run by a mysterious family and their voodoo-ing housemaid. The dark and unresolved history of the inn is still being written, and The Cheaters Club may very well be the final chapter.

"The Cheaters Club will be my ninth play that The Amoralists have brought to life," said Ahonen. "The tremendous courage and endless talent that the ensemble brings to every production has inspired me to push myself farther than I ever imagined I'd go. With last season's The Bad and the Better, The Amoralists enthusiastically encouraged me to explore large-cast, genre-driven storytelling... A request that very few companies would dare make in this current theatrical climate. With The Cheaters Club, the large-cast storytelling continues as I move my genre to horror and setting to Savannah. I'm thrilled that The Amoralists will be coming along for yet another daring ride."

Tickets, $50 with a $20 student rush option, are on sale now to both Rantoul and Die and The Cheaters Club and can be purchased at amoralists.com. $10 discount tickets are available to members of The Amoralists, who will also receive exclusive access to after-show and opening night parties. Details on memberships, which begin at $25, can be found at amoralists.com.

Derek Ahonen is the Co-Founder, Resident Playwright and Associate Artistic Director of the award-winning Amoralists Theatre Company in NYC. Ahonen is the author of the following full-length plays: The Cheaters Club (2013), The Bad and the Better (2012), Pink Knees on Pale Skin (2011), Happy in the Poorhouse (2010), The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side (2009), Amerissiah (2008), Pokin' the Bears in a Zoo (2008), Bring Us the Head of Your Daughter (2008), and While Chasing the Fantastic (2007). Ahonen is also a guest director at his alma mater, The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC, where he has directed the post-graduate company's productions of Happy in the Poorhouse (2012), No Exit (2011) and Escape From Happiness (2010). His work is often included on various New York theater best lists and he has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, The New Yorker, Daily News, Backstage and Time Out New York, amongst others. He was named a 2012 NYtheatre.com Person of the Year. His plays have been performed internationally and translated into Spanish and Bulgarian. Ahonen plays are published by Indie Theatre Now and Playscripts Inc.

Mark Roberts is an actor, writer, producer, director and stand-up comedian. As a stand-up he has appeared several times on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. As an actor he appeared on many TV shows, including "Friends," "Seinfeld" and "The Larry Sanders Show." As a playwright his other works include Welcome To Tolono, Parasite Drag, Where The Great Ones Run, Couples Counseling Killed Katie and Whitey. He is also the Creator and Executive Producer of "Mike And Molly" on CBS.

The Amoralists are a theater company that produces work of no moral judgment. Dedicated to an honest expression of the American condition, the company explores complex characters of moral ambiguity. Leaving no stone unturned, The Amoralists plunge the depths of the social, political, spiritual and sexual characteristics of human nature. Since its founding in 2007, the Company has produced 14 productions of ten plays, nine of which were world premieres.