Pioneer Theatre Company Presents IN by Bess Wohl

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the drama In, a world premiere by Bess Wohl, February 18 through March 5, 2011.

Bess Wohl, the author of the show Touch(ed) that ushered in PTC's New Plays Initiative last season, returns with another humorous, insightful and witty world premiere drama: In.

Sara has been working on her novel for five years. In the meantime, she tutors the children of affluent families in order to improve their chances of getting into elite colleges. Pammie desperately wants her son to get into Harvard, and has hired Sara to make sure it happens. Jordy's not so sure he belongs at Harvard...but then he's not sure about a lot of things. IN examines the complicated relationships of three people who are trying, in very different ways, to find their place in the world.

Playwright Bess Wohl's other plays include Touch(ed), Fake and Cats Talk Back. Her screenplay adaptation of In was included on Hollywood's "Black List of Best Scripts." Since its premiere at Pioneer Theatre Company last season, Touch(ed) has been nominated for the American Theatre Critics Association Steinberg New Play Award. Cats Talk Back, a comedy, won the award for Best Overall Production at the NYC International Fringe Festival. Wohl recently wrote an original drama pilot for Fox, and is currently at work on a drama about meat for HBO. Her plays have been developed at The Vineyard Theater, The Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Northlight Theater, TheaterWorks, and The Geffen Playhouse. As an actress, Wohl has appeared onstage in New York, regionally and at Williamstown Theater Festival (five summers) and in numerous films and TV shows. She holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, as well as a degree in English Literature, magna cum laude, from Harvard, where she studied writing with both Seamus Heaney and Jamaica Kincaid.

The part of Sara, the tutor and aspiring novelist, is played by Julie Jesneck. Jesneck's Broadway credits include Tom Stoppard's Rock ‘n' Roll; her many off-Broadway credits include Walls, Green Girl, The Nightshade Family, Romania, Kiss Me!, Mr. Marmalade and Abu Ghraib Triptych, among others. She has also appeared at regional theatres across the country, including Denver Center, Intiman Theatre and Alabama Shakespeare Festival. A graduate of Julliard, this marks Jesneck's PTC debut.

The student Sara tutors, Jordy, is played by JASON RALPH. A recent graduate of the Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film at SUNY Purchase, Ralph was most recently seen on CBS's The Good Wife. Previous theatre credits include: All's Well That Ends Well, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Mad Forest, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Marisol. This marks his PTC debut.

The part of Pammie, the mother who will do anything to get her son into Harvard, is played by Alexandra Neil. Neil's Broadway credits include Tom Stoppard's Rock ‘n' Roll and Match with Frank Langella. Other New York theatre credits include the Barrow Street Theatre, LaMama, Soho Repertory Theatre and St. Clement's Theatre. She has also appeared regionally across the country. Her films include Simon Killer, Pretty Happy, Twelve, Nonames, Afterschool, Something's Gotta Give, Marci X and Suits, among others. On television, she has appeared in Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI, Madigan Men, The Sopranos, Dudley, Laurel Canyon, Ed and five contract roles on the daytime dramas Texas, Ryan's Hope, Another World, Guiding Light and As the World Turns. Neil makes her PTC debut.

PTC Artistic Director CHARLES MOREY directs the production. Morey has directed over eighty productions for PTC since he joined the theatre in 1984, including the world premiere of Touch(ed), and the first regional productions of Les Misérables, The Producers, and The Vertical Hour. He is the author of nine plays including the adaptation of this season's Dracula. He is a Fellow of the MacDowell Colony.

Scenic design is by guest artist James Wolk. Wolk's New York designs include The President and Her Mistress, Summer of the Swans at TheatreworksUSA, Pagans at the Abingdon Theatre, Boys' Life at Lincoln Center and Three Sisters, both directed by William H. Macy. He has been nominated for the Helen Hayes, Barrymore, and American Theatre Wing Awards. His recent PTC design credits include The Yellow Leaf, The Heiress, Lost in Yonkers and Is He Dead.

Susan Branch TOWNE returns to PTC to design costumes for this production after designing Hamlet, Our Town, A Chorus Line, Romeo and Juliet, My Fair Lady, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Chicago and many others. Among her New York credits are Griffelkin for New York City Opera and the off-Broadway productions of Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!, She Loves Me, Fortinbras and Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Lighting design is by guest designer Ann G. Wrightson. Wrightson designed the Broadway production of Souvenir, and she was a Tony nominee for her work on the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning August: Osage County, which she designed for Broadway, London, Sydney and the national tour. Wrightson's recent work includes Fences at the Huntington Thetare, The Unmentionables at Yale Rep, Up at Steppenwolf Theatre, and Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf at the ALLIANCE THEATRE. She will also design the upcoming PTC production of The Diary of Anne Frank.

Sound design is by PTC resident designer MATTHEW TIBBS. Tibbs has previously worked as a sound designer or engineer at Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre, Salem Repertory Theatre and Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. He received his M.F.A. in Sound Design from University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and his B.A. from George Fox University. Tibbs has also been the sound designer on several award-winning films and video projects.

Pioneer Theatre Company, Utah's premier resident professional theatre, performs at Roy W. and Elizabeth E. Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, located on the University of Utah campus at 300 South and 1400 East in Salt Lake City, easily accessible by TRAX light rail. Free parking is also available and the theatre is equipped with an elevator, handicap parking, hearing assistance devices and other easy-access features.

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