Kim Katzberg's DARKLING & Nora Woolley's HIP to Begin Performances 12/21 at IRT

Eat a Radish Productions has announced that two of downtown's most audacious playwrights and performers will unite for the off-off Broadway run of DARKLING and HIP, two dark comedies that explore the inside world of the outsider. DARKLING, written and performed by Kim Katzberg, is a far-out, bitingly funny journey through teen angst that will play alongside Nora Woolley's HIP, a heart-wrenching comedy about longing for fame while steeped in the discomfort of self-consciousness. Previews begin on Saturday, December 21st at IRT Theater, 154 Christopher St. DARKLING & HIP officially opens on Saturday, January 4th at 7PM. Raquel Cion directs.

In DARKLING, it's 1987, and thirteen-year-old Trinity is obsessed with three things: Goth figurines, losing her virginity and being just like her troubled older sister. When her sister commits a daring escape from a boarding school for wayward girls, Trinity must decide whether to follow her into fantasy and madness, or remain in the affluent suburban world that drained her mother's soul. Could there be another choice? A one-girl show about growing up without giving up.

HIP is set in the early aughts, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, ground zero for the modern hipster movement. Wythe, a struggling musician, is convinced his songs have been co-opted by the increasingly popular buzz-band, The Strokes. His single-minded quest for fame is diverted by three women who are also longing for their own brand of recognition. In an increasingly self-aggrandizing community, Wythe must decide what is lasting and what is simply--hip. A story for anyone who has ever wanted it so bad they could practically fake it.

Kim Katzberg (writer/performer) is a NYC based actor and writer. Of her breakout solo show, The New York Times wrote, "Penetrating the Space has a glowing, vulnerable, haunting center." Penetrating the Space was nominated for two 2012 NYIT Awards and ran at HERE Arts Center in repertory with Tom X. Chao's Callous Cad. Prior to that, Penetrating... was developed at Dixon Place through two engagements: as an official selection of the 2010 HOT! Festival and in a featured run as a 2010 Artist-In-Residence. Katzberg performed excerpts from her solo show Darkling in CATCH Performance Series at The Bushwick Starr. Most recently she performed a work-in-progress version of Darkling on July 5th and 6th, 2013 at IRT Theater as a 3B Development Series Artist-In-Residence. Off-Broadway productions include Alison in Richard and Anne directed by Anthony Nelson at the Arclight Theatre and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet directed by Tony Speciale at Classic Stage Company. Katzberg holds a BFA in Theater, NYU/Experimental Theatre Wing and a MFA in Acting, Columbia University. Kim Katzberg is also a drama teacher at Brooklyn Heights Montessori School. www.kimkatzberg.com

Nora Woolley (writer/performer) is a NYC based actor and writer. This year Nora acted in her first major role in a feature film, "Charlie Victor Romeo", which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and will begin a commercial NYC run in January, 2014. Recent Off-Broadway theatre credits include A Couple of Poor Polish-Speaking Romanians (Abrons Arts Center); Automotive (PS 122); Charlie Victor Romeo (3LD, Collective:Unconscious, touring company); A Bicycle Country (Public Theater). Regionally, Nora has performed at American Repertory Theatre, Studio Theatre, the Kennedy Center and the Theatre Alliance, where she earned the Washington DC Audience Award for her portrayal of Vivian in ¾ of a Mass for St.Vivian. Nora's original work includes Selling Splitsville, directed by Raquel Cion (PS 122, Boston Women in Comedy Festival); Are We There Yet? (Singapore International Theatre Festival); Courtesy Works (HERE); "Les Petites Tristesses (The Little Sadnesses)", a series of monologues shot as short films, directed by her brother, producer George Woolley. TV: "First Cut" (NBC). Currently Nora is a teaching apprentice under esteemed actress/ teacher, Erica Fae at the Yale Graduate Acting program. Nora holds a Certificate in Shakespeare Performance from RADA and a BFA in Theater, NYU/Experimental Theater Wing, where she received the Studio Award for Excellence in Acting. www.norawoolley.com

Raquel Cion (director) Recent projects include: Gilding the Lonely (writer/performer)-Joe's Pub, Dixon Place; Kim Katzberg's Darkling (director)-IRT Theater, CATCH Performance Series at the Bushwick Starr; Cou-Cou Bijoux Pour Vous (Writer/Performer)-Galapagos Art Space, Dixon Place; Lysistrata, La MaMa, Etc.; with Andrea Kleine Dance and Performance: Rationality (A Virtual Performance) and Memoir, LMCC Swing Space; Nora Woolley and Christine Witmer's Selling Splitsville (director)-PS 122, Boston Women in Comedy Festival; Lisa Ramirez's Exit Cuckoo (associate director), The Working Theater; Art Of Memory, Company SoGoNO, 3LD Art and Technology Center; Fête (writer/performer), Midtown International Theatre Festival. Recognition for her work includes a Dramalogue Award for Charles Mee Jr.'s Orestes, as well as a Bay Area Theatre Critic's Circle Award for the interdisciplinary work Bake Sale with the Bay Area theatre company, The Fifth Floor. She received her BFA from New York University's Experimental Theater Wing, Tisch School of the Arts and holds a Master's in Library and Information Science from Queens College. Raquel performs monthly with The Secret City Singers in the Obie Award winning The Secret City. www.raquelcion.com

DARKLING and HIP feature Lighting and Set Design by Josh Iacovelli. Stage Manager, Christine Witmer. DARKLING features Technical Engineering by Tei Blow, Property Design by Maia Cruz Palileo. HIP features Videography by Mariclare Lawson, Sound Engineering by Kevin Reilly, and Property Design by Matthew Fisher.

Performances of DARKLING and HIP are on December 21 - January 12.

12/21 at 2pm & 7pm; 12/22 at 2pm & 7pm; 1/3 at 7pm; 1/4 at 2pm & 7pm;

1/5 at 2pm; 1/8 at 8pm; 1/9 at 8pm; 1/10 at 8pm; 1/11 at 2pm & 8pm; 1/12 at 2pm.

Tickets are $12.00 if purchased online and $15.00 prior to each performance, at the IRT box office. http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/511443

This production is part of IRT Theater's 3B Development Residency Program. http://irttheater.org/

Photo Credit: Sarah Rogers