'Len, Asleep in Vinyl' Starts Second Stage's Uptown Series

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director) will kick off this summer's Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series with the world premiere of Carly Mensch's LEN, ASLEEP IN VINYL. Directed by Jackson Gay, LEN, ASLEEP IN VINYL will feature Michael Cullen, Megan Ferguson, Daniel Eric Gold, Leslie Lyles, and Dan McCabe.   Opening night is Monday, June 2 at 7:00pm.

LEN, ASLEEP IN VINYL is presented at Second Stage Theatre's uptown home, the McGinn/Cazale Theatre on Broadway at 76th Street.  Ticket are $50 and can be purchased by calling the Second Stage Theatre Box Office at 212-246-4422 or online at www.2ST.com.

In this darkly funny play, Len (Michael Cullen), a legendary but disillusioned music producer has retreated to a cabin in the woods,
comforted by his mountains of records.  When his estranged son (Daniel Eric Gold) and an ambitious but self-destructive pop star (Megan Ferguson) both arrive on his doorstep, Len finds himself caught between their dreams and his own demons lurking in the woods.

Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series will also present the world premiere of Rajiv Joseph's Animals Out of Paper later this summer.  Commissioned by the Time Warner Commissioning Program at Second Stage Theatre, Animals Out of Paper will be performed July 15 - August 23, with an official opening scheduled for August 4.

Carly Mensch is currently in her final year at the Juilliard School's Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrights Program. She is a playwright-in-residence at Ars Nova and is a graduate of Dartmouth College. Her play, All Hail Hurricane Gordo, recently received its world premiere at this year's Humana Festival in a co-production with the Cleveland Playhouse.

Jackson Gay's recent directing credits include the workshop of David Adjmi's Marie Antoinette for the inaugural Sundance Institute Theatre Lab in Residence at the Public Theater, as well as Portland Center Stage's JAW/West Festival. At the Atlantic Theater Company, she directed Lucy Thurber's Scarcity, Kia Corthron's Master Disaster, and Rolin Jones's The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow. Other credits include Thurber's Stay (Rattlestick), Nicoleta Esinencu's Fuck You, Eu.ro.pa! (Play Co.), and a collaboration with Jennifer Tipton at the Guggenheim Museum as part of the Works & Process series.  Jackson is a co-founder of the film production company YARN, whose upcoming projects include Thurber's Sugar Land, and the Resident Production Dramaturg for NYC's Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Company. MFA Directing Yale School of Drama.

Len, Asleep in Vinyl will have scenic design by Wilson Chin, costume design by Jessica Ford, lighting design by Matthew Richards, and sound design by Mark Huang.

Michael Cullen has been seen in New York in Bus Stop (Broadway, Circle in the Square) and in Mark Medoff's Majestic Kid. His regional work includes appearances at Buffalo Studio Arena, Denver Center Theatre, Dallas Theatre and The Wilma Theatre. His movie credits include Dead Man Walking, Spike Lee's Malcolm X and Clockers, NBC's Movie of the Week Murder Live. His TV credits include "Law & Order," "Now and Again," "Third Watch" and "New York Undercover."

Megan Ferguson was recently seen Off-Broadway in BOOM by Peter Nachtrieb, directed by Alex Timbers at Ars Nova.  Other credits include Life Science by Anna Ziegler (Theater 54), Frogs by Sam Marks (Theatre Masters Aspen), Theophilus North (Dorset Theatre Festival).

Daniel Eric Gold returns to Second Stage Theatre, where he appeared in Eric Bogosian's subUrbia.  His many off-Broadway credits include The Paris Letter (Roundabout Theatre Company), Small Tragedy (Playwrights Horizons, OBIE award, Lortel nomination), Cagelove (Rattlestick), This Thing of Darkness (Atlantic Theater Company), Beautiful Thing (Cherry Lane Theatre).  He has
appeared in the films Definitely, Maybe; Charlie Wilson's War, Birds of America, and Spinning Into Butter, among others.

Leslie Lyles' recent Off Broadway credits include Passion Play, Down The Garden Paths, and Perpetual Patient, among many others. Credits also include (Broadway) Ah! Wilderness, directed by Dan Sullivan; The Garden District, directed by Hal Scott; and The Real Thing, directed by Mike Nichols. Off-Broadway: Imperfect Love (N.Y.P.W), Scotland Road, and Brutality of Fact (Primary Stages); Dark Ride and Limbo Tales (Soho Rep); The Work Room and Angel of Death (A.J.T); Life During Wartime (MTC); Highest Standard of Living (Playwrights Horizons); Nebraska (Naked Angels); Sea Marks (Players Theatre); E.S.T. Marathons.

Dan McCabe appeared in the Second Stage Theatre Uptown production of Dan O'Brien's The Dear Boy during the 2005 season.  He received the 2005 CT Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Debut in Kimberly Akimbo at Hartford TheatreWorks.  Regional credits include Donna Morelli (New York Stage & Film), A & J Rule the Universe (Barrow Group), and The Dead Eye Boy (Cincinnati Playhouse).

Created as a program to help develop and provide exposure for the voices of a new generation of theatre artists, the Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series seeks to develop the skills of emerging playwrights, to provide early-career artists with the support of a major artistic institution, and to create new plays for the American Theatre.  Each show has a limited rehearsal period, as well as a streamlined budget.  The series has helped launch and advance the careers of several up-and-coming playwrights, including Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (whose play, Good Boys and True, is currently in previews as part of Second Stage's mainstage season); Adam Bock (The Receptionist, The
Drunken City), and Brooke Berman (Hunting and Gathering).

LEN, ASLEEP IN VINYL is performed at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre (Broadway & 76th Street) through Saturday, June 22 on the following schedule:
Tuesday-Saturday at 8:00pm, Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00pm, and Sunday at
3:00pm.  NOTE: There are no matinees on Wednesday, May 14 and June 18.
There is no performance on Tuesday, June 3..

Tickets can be purchased at the Second Stage Theatre Box Office (307 West 43rd Street) or by calling (212) 246-4422.  Advance tickets are not available at the McGinn/Cazale Theater.  Single tickets are $50; advance youth tickets (age 25 and under) are $20; and student RUSH tickets are $10 (available 30 minutes prior to curtain).  A 2-play subscription is available
for $60.

For more information, please visit www.2ST.com