Primary Stages Announces 2018/19 Season

Primary Stages (Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Shane D. Hudson, Executive Director; Casey Childs, Founder) is proud to announce its complete 2018/19 Season, which will kick off in Fall 2018 with FINAL FOLLIES, by A.R. Gurney (Love Letters, Sylvia, Black Tie at Primary Stages) and directed by David Saint (Clever Little Lies). DOWNSTAIRS by Theresa Rebeck ("Smash," Dead Accounts, Poor Behavior at Primary Stages), directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt (What We're Up Against) in November 2018 will star Tyne Daly (Mother & Sons, Master Class) and Tim Daly ("Wings," "Madam Secretary") sharing the New York stage for the first time. Early 2019 will bring GOD SAID THIS by Leah Nanako Winkler (Two Mile Hollow), directed by Morgan Gould (Kentucky); and the season will conclude in Spring 2019 with LITTLE WOMEN, written by Kate Hamill (Pride and Prejudice), based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott, and directed by Sarna Lapine (Sunday in the Park with George). Performance schedules, additional casting, and full creative teams will be announced at a later date.

"For the past few seasons, the Primary Stages family has been exploring what it means to be a true home for our artists and our patrons," says Primary Stages Artistic Director, Andrew Leynse. "At the same time, the very question of where and what we each call 'home' has become a front-and-center debate, locally and abroad. What defines a home? Where do we feel most at home? We hope our new season will answer some of those questions."

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FINAL FOLLIES
Three One-Act Plays written by A.R. Gurney
Directed by David Saint

Join us as we bid farewell to a beloved member of the Primary Stages family and one of the most prolific playwrights of the 20th century with FINAL FOLLIES, a uniquely curated selection of three one-act plays by master writer A.R. Gurney. The plays specifically chosen for this special engagement include: The Love Course, an observation of the culminating meeting of an undergraduate romantic literature course, co-taught by two of academia's most eccentric professors; The Rape of Bunny Stuntz, an enigmatic story of an overburdened woman anxiously trying to keep her personal life from the throes of chaos while leading a rowdy community meeting; and the titular Final Follies, the last chapter in Gurney's oeuvre of short plays examining WASP life in America, about a forlorn Manhattanite searching for the key to adulthood in the most truly, and literally, adult place imaginable. (September-October 2018)

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DOWNSTAIRS
Written by Theresa Rebeck
Directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt

Theresa Rebeck, one of the country's most acclaimed and widely-produced playwrights, returns to Primary Stages with the gripping new family drama, DOWNSTAIRS. This thrilling production will star real-life siblings Tyne and Tim Daly, who will be appearing together for the first time on the New York stage. In Downstairs, Teddy is a bit lost and has found himself staying in his older sister Irene's unfinished basement, which has infuriated her husband Gerry (played by John Procaccino). As Irene and Teddy struggle with this less-than-ideal living arrangement, they quickly find themselves grappling with the burden of their family's troublesome history. While trying to mend the past, the pair unearths a foreboding danger threatening to break the perilously thin bonds holding them together. (November-December 2018)

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GOD SAID THIS
Written by Leah Nanako Winkler
Directed by Morgan Gould

Proudly developed during award-winning playwright Leah Nanako Winkler's tenure as part of the Primary Stages Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, GOD SAID THIS is a provocative and surprisingly funny new drama about five Kentuckians facing mortality in very different ways. With her mom undergoing chemotherapy, Hiro, a NYC transplant, returns home to Kentucky after years away, struggling to let go of the demons she inherited. Sophie, her born-again Christian sister, confronts her faith while tackling inevitable adversity. James, their recovering alcoholic father, wants to repair his fractured relationship with his daughters. And John, an old classmate and thirty-something single dad, worries about leaving a lasting legacy for his only son. Wry and bittersweet, GOD SAID THIS is a portrait of five Godless and God-loving people finding that their struggles bring them together in unexpected ways. GOD SAID THIS will have its world premiere at The Actors Theatre of Louisville in February 2018. (January-February 2019)

LITTLE WOMEN
Written by Kate Hamill
Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott
Directed by Sarna Lapine

In the spring, Primary Stages will welcome back Kate Hamill, playwright and star of our hit production of Pride and Prejudice, with her fresh new take on Louisa May Alcott's classic novel of love and duty, LITTLE WOMEN. Jo March doesn't want to be like other girls; in fact, she's not even sure that she wants to be a girl. Jo is ambitious, rough around the edges, headstrong, and yearns for a future she can't yet articulate. As the nation is torn apart by civil war, Jo and her sisters struggle with what it means to grow up. Gender roles, political beliefs, poverty, and even love itself threaten to break family ties, as the March sisters try to reconcile their identities with society's demands. How do you stay true to yourself when the world wants you to become a perfect little woman? (May-June 2019)

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All productions are to be performed at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street). New subscriptions for the 2018/19 Primary Stages season are $125 ($120 for renewals) if purchased by April 1, 2018 and offer one ticket to each production. Subscriptions are available at primarystages.org or by calling OvationTix at 212.352.3101.

Currently in performances at the Cherry Lane Theatre as part of Primary Stages 2017/18 season is A WALK WITH MR. HEIFETZ, written by James Inverne, directed by Andrew Leynse, and running through March 4, 2018. The season began with THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens AND COUNT Leo Tolstoy: DISCORD, written by Scott Carter and directed by Kimberly Senior; followed by PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, written by Kate Hamill, adapted from the novel by Jane Austen, directed by Amanda Dehnert, and presented in a co-production with Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. The 2017/18 will conclude with FEEDING THE DRAGON, written and performed by Sharon Washington, directed by Maria Mileaf, and presented in a co-production with Hartford Stage. FEEDING THE DRAGON begins performances on March 21, 2018, with opening night set for Tuesday, April 3, and runs through April 27, 2018.

Primary Stages is an Off-Broadway not-for-profit theater company dedicated to inspiring, supporting, and sharing the art of playwriting. We operate on the strongly held belief that the future of American theater relies on nurturing playwrights and giving them the artistic support needed to create new work. Since our founding in 1984, we have produced more than 130 new plays, including In Transit by James-Allen-Ford, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Russ Kaplan, and Sara Wordsworth (on Broadway last season); Horton Foote's The Roads to Home, The Day Emily Married, Harrison, TX, and Dividing the Estate (two Tony nominations); Donald Margulies' The Model Apartment (1995 premiere and 2013 revival); David Ives' Lives of the Saints and All in the Timing (original 1993 production and 2013 revival); Billy Porter's While I Yet Live; Deborah Zoe Laufer's Informed Consent; Charles Busch's The Tribute Artist and Olive and the Bitter Herbs; Ike Holter's Exit Strategy; Tanya Saracho's Fade; Michael McKeever's Daniel's Husband, A.R. Gurney's Black Tie; Theresa Rebeck's Poor Behavior; Tanya Barfield's The Call, Terrence McNally's Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams and The Stendhal Syndrome; Dan O'Brien's The Body of an American; Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter's In the Continuum (which went on to tour the U.S., Africa, and Scotland); and Conor McPherson's St. Nicholas (which marked the playwright's U.S. debut). Our productions and artists have received critical acclaim, including Tony, Obie, Lortel, AUDELCO, Outer Critics' Circle, Drama League, and Drama Desk awards and nominations. Primary Stages supports playwrights and develops new works through commissions, workshops, readings, and our education and training programs: The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, the Marvin and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA), the Fordham/Primary Stages MFA in Playwriting, and the newly launched Primary Stages Off-Broadway Oral History Project. Through these programs, Primary Stages advocates for our artists, helping them make important-and often transformative- connections within the theater community.

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