Roundabout Adds Two New Plays to Off-Broadway Season; Expands Underground Program

Following the unprecedented success of Stephen Karam (Roundabout Underground's inaugural playwright) and his Roundabout-commissioned play THE HUMANS moving to Broadway, Roundabout Theatre Company has announced the Underground will now produce two new works each season. The program's expansion will begin in fall 2016 with the world premiere of Jenny Rachel Weiner's Kingdom Come.

In addition, the 2016-2017 Off-Broadway season at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold & Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre is now complete with two plays written by Roundabout Underground alumni: If I Forget by Steven Levenson (The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin), and Napoli, Brooklyn by Meghan Kennedy (Too Much, Too Much, Too Many), commissioned by Roundabout Theatre Company.

Roundabout's Underground program debuted in 2007 with Stephen Karam's hit comedy Speech and Debate. His first play commissioned by Roundabout-Sons of the Prophet - was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and his second commission The Humans is playing a critically acclaimed extended run at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold & Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre through January 3, 2016. Following that, Roundabout's production of The Humans will move to Broadway and begin performances on January 23, 2016 at the Helen Hayes Theatre.

IF I FORGET

Levenson's If I Forget will begin preview performances on January 19, 2017 at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. This is a limited engagement Off-Broadway through April 16, 2017.

In July of 2000, immediately following the failed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at Camp David, three adult siblings and their families gather in a suburb of DC for their father, Lou's, 75th birthday. Middle son Michael, a Jewish studies professor, has recently finished the manuscript he hopes will push him into tenure. Dedicated to his father, a Jewish WWII veteran, the book argues an incendiary point about American Jews, Israel, and the Holocaust - but Lou hasn't said a word about it, leaving Michael uneasy. And as the visit continues, it becomes clear that Lou isn't the only member of the family leaving things unspoken. Money, marriage, and career pressures bear down, quickly turning familial responsibility into resentment. With deep sensitivity and dark humor, If I Forget focuses an unwavering gaze on the personal politics of family, heritage, and history - and the scars and legacies they leave behind.

Roundabout is pleased to welcome back playwright, Steven Levenson. After the success of The Language of Trees in 2008 at Roundabout Underground, Roundabout commissioned Steven to write The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin that premiered at the Laura Pels Theatre in 2013.

NAPOLI, BROOKLYN

Napoli, Brooklyn will begin preview performances on May 18, 2017 at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. This is a limited engagement Off-Broadway through August 13, 2017.

The women of the Muscolino family have lived for years under the frightening temper of their husband and father. All are desperate for a life beyond their four walls, hiding dreams, loves, and longings. But when an accidental tragedy rocks the neighborhood, the family's plans are put on hold. The women fight to find their voices and struggle to hold on to them and to each other. Napoli, Brooklyn is a play about sisterhood, freedom, and forgiveness in 1960s Brooklyn.

When Meghan Kennedy's Too Much, Too Much, Too Many premiered at Roundabout Underground, Roundabout immediately commissioned Meghan to write a second play Napoli, Brooklyn.

KINGDOM COME

The world premiere of Kingdom Come by Jenny Rachel Weiner will begin preview performances on October 7, 2016 at the Black Box Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. This is a limited engagement through December 18, 2016.

Samantha is lonely and confined to her bed. Layne is shy and too afraid of the world to journey into it. When both women decide that online dating might be the outlet they need, they venture into the wilds of the Internet and find deep connection in each other. The only problem: they're each pretending to be someone else. What happens when the feelings are real but the people are not?

Kingdom Come was chosen from the Roundabout Underground Reading Series that took place earlier this year.

The cast and creative teams for these productions will be announced in the near future.

BIOS:

STEVEN LEVENSON's (Playwright, If I Forget) plays include The Unavoidable Disappearance Of Tom Durnin (Roundabout Theatre Company, Outer Critics Circle Award), Core Values (Ars Nova, Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Play), The Language of Trees (Roundabout), Seven Minutes In Heaven (Colt Coeur; Emerging America Festival/Huntington Theater Company), and the book for the original musical Dear Evan Hansen, with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Arena Stage; upcoming: Second Stage). His work has been seen and developed by Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theater Company, MCC Theater, and the Araca Group. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service and Playscripts. A graduate of Brown University and former Artist in Residence at Ars Nova, he has received new play commissions from Roundabout, Lincoln Center, MCC, and Ars Nova. Currently a writer and producer on Showtime's Masters Of Sex, he is a founding member of Colt Coeur and an alumnus of MCC's Playwrights Coalition and Ars Nova's Play Group.

MEGHAN KENNEDY (Playwright, Napoli, Brooklyn) Meghan is a playwright out of Brooklyn. Meghan's play Too Much, Too Much, Too Many received its world premiere at Roundabout Underground in New York in 2014. Dramatists Play Service recently published the play. Meghan is currently developing a newly commissioned play Napoli, Brooklyn for the Roundabout. She is also under commission from The New York State Council of the Arts/New Georges Theater in New York. Her play Light is the winner of the David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize. Meghan's plays have been developed and produced around the U.S., Sweden and Ireland. She was a Core Apprentice at The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis and a member of the Page 73 writing group, Interstate 73. She is a current member of the Ars Nova Play Group. MFA: Fellow at The Michener Center, UT Austin BFA: Tisch, NYU.

JENNY RACHEL WEINER (Playwright, Kingdom Come) is a playwright and actress based in New York City. Select plays include: diventare (The Harold & Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award), Horse Girls (Fordham/Primary Stages, the cell, Ars Nova; New York, Collaboraction; Chicago, Annex Theatre; Seattle, to be published by Samuel French in 2015), Nina (Roundabout Theatre Company Underground ?Reading, O'Neill Semi-Finalist 2015, Fordham/Primary Stages), Jason & Julia (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Stagedream (co-written with Lee Overtree?), Aunt Sylvia Is Dead (The Collective; published in The Collective Anthology 2014), Kingdom Come (Roundabout Underground Reading Series 2015). Jenny has developed plays with/been commissioned by the O'Neill Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Northlight Theatre, Piven Theatre Workshop, Primary Stages, and Roundabout Theatre. BFA: Boston University, MFA: Fordham University/Primary Stages. When Jenny isn't writing plays, you can catch her directing and performing with NYC/LA based theatre company Story Pirates. jennyrachelweiner.com?.

Major support for Roundabout Underground is provided by Jodi and Dan Glucksman.

Roundabout's work with new and emerging playwrights and directors, as well as development of new work, is made possible by Katheryn Patterson and Tom Kempner.

We gratefully acknowledge the Roundabout Leaders for New Works: Alec Baldwin, Linda L. D'Onofrio, Peggy and Mark Ellis, Jodi Glucksman, Sylvia Golden, Judith and Douglas Krupp, K. Myers, Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, Lauren and Danny Stein, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Yolanda R. Turocy, Lori Uddenberg, and Xerox Foundation.

TICKET INFORMATION:

If I Forget, Napoli, Brooklyn and Kingdom Come are first made available to subscribers and donors. Whether you are interested in the best value or VIP experiences, Roundabout has a package option for you. Visit roundabouttheatre.org or call 212-719-1300 for more info. Sign up for Roundabout's email club at roundabouttheatre.org to be notified when tickets go on sale to the public.

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