Dirt [contained] Theatre Company to Stage New York Premiere of EASY LAUGHTER

Dirt [contained] Theatre Company announced today they will present the New York premiere of EASY LAUGHTER, the Sunday Times Award-winning play written by Robert Shearman, a Shirley Jackson and World Fantasy award winning author and Hugo-nominated writer for the hit BBC series Doctor Who. The controversial satire, directed by Stephen Massaro, will open on April 30 at the Alchemical Theatre Laboratory on 104 West 14th Street in Manhattan and run through May 10. Dirt [contained] co-founders Tana Sirois and Maria Swisher said EASY LAUGHTER was perhaps "more relevant today than when it was written: boldly confronting xenophobia, extremism, state surveillance and government control." Tickets are available at: easylaughter.brownpapertickets.com and for more information visit: dirtcontained.com.

Robert Shearman has written for television, radio and the stage. His award-winning plays include Fool to Yourself, which premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 1997 and won the inaugural Sophie Winter Memorial Trust Award. Easy Laughter, which was produced in Los Angeles by Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope group and won the Sunday Times Playwriting Award. His play Coupling won the World Drama Trust Award and Binary Dreamers was given the Guinness Award for Theatre Ingenuity, in association with the Royal National Theatre. He has written many radio plays for the BBC, and his interactive drama series for them, The Chain Gang, ran for three seasons and won two Sony Awards. He has written five short story collections, and collectively they have won the World Fantasy Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and three British Fantasy Awards. He is best known as a writer for the television series Doctor Who, reintroducing fan-favorite villains the Daleks to the screen in its BAFTA winning first series in an episode nominated for a Hugo Award.

Dirt [contained] was founded in 2011 by Maria Swisher and Tana Sirois, who met at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). The pair "believe in storytelling for a purpose" and envisioned a company that would produce socially and environmentally conscious theatre as well as the writing and devising of new works. They produced the world premiere of The Last Eden, written by Maria Swisher, at the Kazimier in Liverpool in 2011 with the support of the Arts Council England. Dirt [contained] has also performed as a visiting company at the invitation of the Liverpool Shakespeare Festival in their collaborative production of "Come And Have A Go: Richard III" in 2011. Festival Director Max Rubin called their work " original, high quality art...they have shown remarkable acumen and dedication in creating their company."

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