Second Stage Premieres Work by Nottage, Doyle, Ellis et al. in 2010-2011 Season

Following an acclaimed season which included the New York Premiere of Anna Deavere Smith's Let Me Down Easy and the Broadway transfer of the musical hit Everyday Rapture, Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced three plays for its upcoming 32nd Season. For subscription or ticket information, please call the Second Stage Box Office at 212-246-4422 or visit the company's website, www.2ST.com. All productions are staged at Second Stage Theatre, 305 West 43rd Street (just west of Eighth Avenue).

Second Stage Theatre's upcoming season will continue the company's mission of producing bold new plays and musicals by American Playwrights as well as second stagings of the best of Contemporary Theatre.

The 2010-2011 season will feature the World Premiere of BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK, the new comedy from Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage (Ruined, Intimate Apparel). BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK is Ms. Nottage's first play to be produced in New York since she won the Pulitzer Prize for Ruined in 2009.

The season will also include the New York Premiere of Rajiv Joseph's GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES, directed by Tony nominee Scott Ellis. Mr. Joseph returns to Second Stage where his plays All This Intimacy and Animals Out of Paper (Lortel nomination for Outstanding Play) premiered as part of the company's Uptown Series. This production marks Mr. Joseph's mainstage debut.

Arthur Kopit's 1978 drama WINGS, directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle (Sweeney Todd, Company), will also receive a second staging as part of the upcoming season. A fourth production is still to be announced.

More detailed information on Second Stage Theatre's upcoming season follows:

WINGS

Written by Arthur Kopit
Directed by John Doyle
Previews begin early October; opening TBA

Arthur Kopit's 1978 Tony-nominated play, WINGS, is a journey through the eye of Emily Stilson, a 1920's wingwalker who discovers her life's journey is a series of courageous adventures, proving that even when her mental self fails her, her daredevil spirit proves unflappable.

Arthur Kopit is the author of the plays Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad; Indians (finalist for Pulitzer Prize); End of the World with Symposium to Follow; a new translation of Ibsen's Ghosts; the book for the musical Phantom and Nine (both with scores by Maury Yeston); Road to Nirvana; the book for the musical High Society; Because He Can (originally entitled Y2K); Chad Curtiss, Lost Again; and numerous one-act plays. Other projects include Discovery of America, a new play based on the journals of Cabeza de Vaca; an original musical, Lewis & Clark (score by Donald Alan Siegal); an original musical, Tom Swift and the Secrets of the Universe (score by David Yazbek); and an original film, Miami. Besides teaching playwriting at NYU, Mr. Kopit heads the Lark Theatre's Playwrights' Workshop and is on the council of the Dramatists Guild.

John Doyle received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards as Outstanding Director of a Musical for his Broadway debut, Sweeney Todd. He also directed the recent Broadway productions of Company (Tony for Best Musical Revival) and A Catered Affair. Opera credits include Peter Grimes (Metropolitan Opera), Mahagonny (L.A. Opera) and Lucia (Scottish Opera). He won UK Best Musical Awards for The Gondoliers (West End), Fiddler on the Roof and Moll Flanders with nominations for four other productions including Mack and Mabel (also West End). John has been artistic director of four prestigious UK regional theatres and has directed numerous new and classic plays, most recently Amadeus (Wilton's Music Hall).

GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES
New York Premiere
Written by Rajiv Joseph
Directed by Scott Ellis
Previews begin early January, 2011; opening TBA

Rajiv Joseph's dark romantic saga, GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES, explores the cost of wounded friendships. Over the course of 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the physical calamities that keep drawing them together.

Rajiv Joseph returns to Second Stage Theatre where his plays Animals Out of Paper (Lortel
nomination for Outstanding Play) and All This Intimacy premiered as part of the Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series. Rajiv is also one of Second Stage's Time Warner Commissioned Playwrights and participated in the company's New Works Festival in 2008. His play, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, was produced by L.A.'s Center Theatre Group at the Kirk Douglas Theatre during the 2008-09 season and was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize. The recipient of the Vineyard Theatre's Paula Vogel Award, Rajiv's other productions include: in New York: The Leopard and the Fox (adaptation), Alter Ego; Huck & Holden, Cherry Lane Theatre, 2006. Los Angeles: Huck & Holden, The Black Dahlia Theatre, 2006. Rajiv is a Founding Member of the New York-based Theatre Company, The Fire Department, and has been a contributing writer on their first two theatrical events, Speakeasy and At War: American Playwrights Respond to the War in Iraq. He is a former Lark Playwriting Fellow and Dramatist Guild Fellow. He received his B.A. in Creative Writing from Miami University and his M.F.A. in Playwriting from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa.

Scott Ellis returns to Second Stage Theatre where he recently directed Douglas Carter Beane's Mr. & Mrs. Fitch and The Little Dog Laughed. Other Second Stage credits include Good Boys and True, The Waverly Gallery with Eileen Heckert, and That Championship Season. Broadway credits include Curtains, Twelve Angry Men (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), Arthur Miller's The Man Who Had All the Luck with Chris O'Donnell, The Boys From Syracuse, The Rainmaker with Woody Harrelson and Jayne Atkinson, 1776 (Drama Desk, Tony nomination), Picnic (Outer Critics Circle nomination), Company, A Month in the Country with Helen Mirren, Steel Pier (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle awards, Tony nomination), She Loves Me (Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations, Outer Critics Circle Award and Olivier Award for Best Director and Best Revival, London production). Off-Broadway: Entertaining Mr. Sloane with Alec Baldwin; Dark Rapture; And the World Goes' Round: The Songs of Kander & Ebb (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle awards); among others. NYC Opera: 110 in the Shade, A Little Night Music. TV: director/co-conceiver of "Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall" and Great Performances' "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies," "30 Rock," Frasier," "Hope and Faith," "Stacked," and "Out of Practice." MR. Ellis is the associate artistic director for the Roundabout Theatre Company. MR. Ellis is the Executive Producer/Director of the Showtime series "Weeds."

BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK
World Premiere
Written by Lynn Nottage
Director TBA
Previews begin early April, 2011

BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK is a seventy year journey into the life of Vera Stark, a headstrong African-American maid and budding actress, and her tangled relationship with her boss, a white Hollywood star desperately grasping to hold on to her career. When circumstances collide and both women land roles in the same Southern epic, the story behind the cameras leaves Vera with a controversial legacy scholars will debate for years to come.

Lynn Nottage'S relationship with Second Stage Theatre dates back to 1995, when the company commissioned and produced Ms. Nottage's breakthrough work, Crumbs From The Table of Joy, which has since had over 30 productions around the country. Ms. Nottage is also one of Second Stage Theatre's Time Warner Commissioned Playwrights and participated in the company's New Works Festival in 2008. Her other plays include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ruined, which is currently being produced in London's West End; Intimate Apparel (AT&T OnStage Award); A Walk Through Time (a children's musical); Mud, River, Stone (finalist, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize); Por'knockers; Poof! (Heideman Award), and Las Meninas (AT&T OnStage Award).

ABOUT Second Stage Theatre

Second Stage Theatre is currently represented on Broadway by two acclaimed musicals: the Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal, which celebrated its one-year Anniversary at the Booth Theatre On April 15th, and Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott's Everyday Rapture, currently at the American Airlines Theatre. The company's current mainstage production, the Pulitzer finalist The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz, directed by Edward Torres, will officially open on May 20.

Founded in 1979 under the leadership of Artistic Director Carole Rothman, Second Stage Theatre produces a diverse range of premieres and new interpretations of America's best Contemporary Theatre, including Tiny Alice and Peter and Jerry by Edward Albee; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Little Murders by Jules Feiffer; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; A Soldier's Play by Charles Fuller; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo's Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Painting Churches and Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants and On the Stem by Ricky Jay; Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; Living Out by Lisa Loomer; This Is Our Youth and The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan; Some Men by Terrence McNally; eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; Everyday Rapture by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Let Me Down Easy by Anna Deavere Smith; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Crowns by ReGina Taylor; Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein; Spoils of War by Michael Weller; Before It Hits Home, Jar the Floor and Birdie Blue by Cheryl L. West; Jitney by August Wilson; Lemon Sky, Serenading Louie and Sympathetic Magic by Lanford Wilson; and Metamorphoses and The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci by Mary Zimmerman.

The company's more than 130 citations include the 2010 Pulitzer prize for Next to Normal, the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Score, Best Orchestrations, and Best Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley) for Next to Normal, the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed), 2005 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, ...Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, ...Spelling Bee), 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses), the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 26 Obie Awards, six Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Clarence Derwent Awards, 12 Drama Desk Awards, nine Theatre World Awards, 11 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 15 AUDELCO Awards.

In 1999, Second Stage Theatre opened its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theatre, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched "Second Stage Theatre Uptown" series to showcase the work of up and coming artists at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre. The Theatre supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs.

Second Stage Theatre AT THE Helen Hayes

Second Stage Theatre has acquired the right to purchase the historic Helen Hayes Theatre, located at 240 W. 44th Street. With this new home, Second Stage will be the only theatre company on Broadway dedicated exclusively to the development and presentation of contemporary American theatrical productions. Second Stage will also become one of only four non-profit theatre companies that own and operate theatres on Broadway. The company will continue to lease and operate their original theatres on the city's Upper West Side and in Midtown Manhattan.

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