Playwrights Realm to Present THE HATMAKER'S WIFE at Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Begin. 8/27

By: Jun. 26, 2013
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Lauren Yee's new play The Hatmaker's Wife will have its New York premiere directed by recent OBIE Award winner and Drama Desk nominee Rachel Chavkin and produced by critically-acclaimed not-for-profit theatre company The Playwrights Realm, Katherine Kovner, Artistic Director and Renee Blinkwolt, Producing Director. The Hatmaker's Wife begins previews at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 416 West 42nd Street, Tuesday, August 27, for an opening Thursday, September 5, at 7:30 pm.

The Hatmaker's Wife is a wonderfully weird and whimsical tale about a young woman's relationship with true love. When moving in with her boyfriend isn't as easy as she expects, her new magical home opens up its past to her, telling her a goofy and tragic tale about the hatmaker and his wife who lived in the house long ago.

"Lauren is amazingly imaginative and from the moment I read her play I was entranced by the vivid magic of the world, a world filled with walls that talk, money-finder golems, and babies that float," says Artistic Director Katherine Kovner.

One of New York's hottest emerging playwrights, Ms. Yee is headed to the O'Neill Playwriting Conference this summer to develop her play Samsara, which was also nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the L. Arnold Weissberger Award. Ms. Yee has been a Dramatists Guild fellow, a MacDowell fellow, a MAP Fund grantee, and a member of The Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group. She is a three-time Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Playwriting Award winner and received Kumu Kahua Theatre's Pacific Rim Prize. Her work has been published by Samuel French and she is currently under commission from Lincoln Center Theatre/LCT3 and Encore Theatre Company (with support from the Gerbode Foundation). Ms. Yee's full-length work has been produced at AlterTheater, Artists at Play, City Lights Theatre Company, Company One, fu-GEN, the Hub Theatre, Impact Theatre, Moxie Theatre, Mu Performing Arts, Pan Asian Rep, and others.

Rachel Chavkin is joining the creative team of The Hatmaker's Wife fresh off of directing Dave Malloy's Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812(Kazino - commercial transfer; World Premiere: Ars Nova - New York Times, Time Out New York, and New York Post Critics' Picks and Top Ten 2012), for which she recently received an OBIE Award and a Drama Desk nomination. Ms. Chavkin is the founding Artistic Director of the TEAM and directed/co-authored eight of their works, including Mission Drift (Winner 2011 Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Prize, Scotsman Fringe First, Herald Angel, Best of 2011 The Guardian) andArchitecting (co-produced by The National Theatre of Scotland, Winner 2008 Scotsman Fringe First, Top Ten 2009 Portugal's Publico). Her other credits include Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy, and Dave Malloy's Three Pianos (A.R.T., NYTW, Ontological Incubator Series - 2011 OBIE Award) and collaborations with playwright/performer/activist Taylor Mac, including his extravaganza The Lily's Revenge (World Premiere, Act II at HERE Arts Center, 2010 OBIE Award).

Lauren Yee is Playwrights Realm's second Page One playwright following on the heels of Ethan Lipton (Red-Handed Otter, No Place to Go). Page One is a program that guarantees one playwright a sweep of services for one year to aid in the advancement of his or her career. Page One services include a competitive stipend, health insurance, travel/professional development funds, a full Off-Broadway production, readings of script(s) in development, theatre tickets, and midtown office space. More than just a residency for the development of one play, Page One provides a comprehensive tool kit a playwright can use to build his or her entire career. After the year residency, the playwright receives continued support through The Realm's Alumni Playwrights Group, which meets monthly and entitles each playwright to a public reading of a new work in The Realm's Next Edition Festival in January.

Playwrights Realm produces one Off-Broadway play each year. Last season, the company produced the world premiere of Ethan Lipton's Red-Handed Otter, which played to packed houses and received rave reviews (New York Post's Year-End Top Ten List, Four Stars from Time Out New York). Previous Playwrights Realm productions include Jen Silverman's Crane Story (2011), Gonzalo Rodriguez Risco's Dramatis Personae (2010), Christopher Wall's Dreams of The Washer King(2009), Anna Ziegler's Dov and Ali (2008), and Anton Dudley's Substitution (2007).

The Hatmaker's Wife runs through September 21. Performances are Monday through Saturday evenings at 7:30pm, with no performance on Monday, September 2.

For more information, visit www.playwrightsrealm.org or call (212) 255-3089.



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