Two River Theater Company Presents the East Coast Premiere of 26 MILES, Previews 9/5

Two River Theater Company opens its 2009/2010 season with the east coast premiere of 26 Miles, a new play, by Quiara Alegria Hudes. 26 Miles is the story of Olivia, a brilliant teenage girl, and her estranged mother Beatriz. Mother and daughter reunite on an unexpected road trip, where, together, they discover love, a common understanding, and find a part of their identity that has been missing all along.

"This is a sneaky play. It's funny, it's smart and the story unfolds effortlessly," says the plays director. "And yet, within this entertaining coming-of-age road trip lives so much love and humanity - it is so true to life - that it'll sneak up on you and go straight to the heart."

By the author of the Broadway smash In The Heights, 26 Miles is directed by TRTC's Associate Artistic Director KJ Sanchez and is being co-produced with Round House Theatre in Bethesda, MD. The cast of four includes Zabryna Guevara, Laura C. Harris, Michael Frederic, and Triney Sandoval. 26 Miles begins previews Tuesday, September 15, opens Saturday, September 19, and runs through Sunday, October 4.

Biographies
Quiara Alegria Hudes was nominated for a Tony Award for her book for In the Heights which captured the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical and was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. Her previous works include Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue (2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist); Yemaya's Belly; and the new children's musical Barrio Grrrl!. Originally trained as a composer, Hudes graduated with a B.A. in music composition from Yale and an M.F.A in playwriting from Brown. A resident writer for New Dramatists, Hudes is currently writing the second and third plays in the Elliot trilogy and the screenplay of In the Heights for Universal Pictures.

Sanchez's other directing credits include last season's Private Lives at Two River, The Giver at Asolo Repertory Theatre, Heather Raffo's 9 Parts of Desire at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and her own plays Pants on Fire at The American Repertory Theatre, Highway 47 with Working Classroom in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Handcuff Girl Saves the World at the Washington Ensemble Theatre. Her play, For All Time, produced by Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles, recently received an LA Times' Critics Pick and her play ReEntry, also part of TRTC's 2008/2009 season received rave reviews.

Zabryna Guevara, Beatriz: Off-Broadway credits include: Sonia Flew and El Paso BlueI, SPF; Santa ConcepciónI, The Public Theatre; The Cook, Tight Embrace and Now and Then, INTAR; BulrusherI, Urban Stages; Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue, Page 73 Productions. Regional: The Cook, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Connecticut Critics Circle Nomination; Twelfth Night, Actors Theatre of Louisville; Sonia Flew, Love's Labour's Lost and Breath, Boom!, The Huntington Theatre; Noises Off, Studio Arena; 1001, CATF; Hamlet, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival; Dreamlandia, Dallas Theatre Center. Film & Television: Marley and Me, All Good Things (2009), The Rebound (2009), Pariah (2009), Whispers (HBO, Sundance Film Festival, GorDon Parks Film Festival Award), 3 Lbs, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, The Sopranos, The Jury.

Laura C. Harris, Olivia: is based in Washington, D.C., where her credits include The Winter's Tale, The School for Scandal, Folger Theatre; 1984, Catalyst Theater Company; Rough Guide to the Underworld, Riverrun Theatre Company; What Remains, Source Festival; Long Beach '44, Washington Women in Theater; An Experiment with an Air Pump, Potomac Theatre Project; The Bewitched, American College Theater Festival; National Finalist, Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Competition. New York City credits include Cigarettes and Chocolate, No End of Blame (u/s), Atlantic Stage 2. Regional: On the Verge, 5 Hysterical Girls Theorem, Beirut, The Wedding Dress, Necessary Targets, Angels in America, Midwives. Training: Middlebury College, BA in Theatre and Film.

Michael Frederic, Aaron: NY theater credits include Night Over Taos ,Theatre for a New City - Estelle Parsons, dir.; Summer and Smoke, Theatre Row; The 365 Plays, Public; Thorny Bushes, INTAR; Vampire University, Ohio Theatre; Expressing Willie, West End Theatre; The Sky Over Ninevah, HERE; The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, NYU. Regional: Doubt and The Unexpected Guest, Fulton Theatre; Doubt, Cleveland Play House; Gross Indecency, As You Like It, The Threepenny Opera and Violet, PlayMakers Rep; Deathtrap and A Christmas Carol, Public Theatre of Maine; Play by Play, StageWorks/Hudson; The Comedy of Errors, Saratoga Springs Shakespeare Festival; and Assassins, Open Stage of Harrisburg. Film: MovieMoney with Andre Royo. Member: INTAR Actors' Collective and Actors' Equity Association. Training: MFA (UNC-Chapel Hill), Michael Howard (The Michael Howard Studios).

Triney Sandoval, Manuel: Broadway: A Man for All Seasons, Chapuys; Frost/Nixon, Manolo Sanchez (Both with Frank Langella). Other New York credits: The Idiot, Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue, As You Like It, and Art. Regional: Private Lives, Two River Theater Company; Death and the Maiden, Baltimore Center Stage; Day of the Kings, 26 Miles, The Alliance Theatre; Ladies of the Camillias and Taming of the Shrew, Yale Rep; Napoli Millionaria, Milwaukee Rep; Figaro Gets a Divorce, La Jolla Playhouse; The Tempest, Alabama Shakespeare; Eurydice, The Wilma (Barrymore Award); and Art, Virginia Stage. Other credits include: The Oregon Shakespeare Festival and The Old Globe. TV: The Sopranos, One Life to Live, All My Children, recurring roles on Law & Order and Law & Order SVU.

Leading the creative team is TRTC regular Scenic and Projection Designer Daniel Conway (Dirty Blonde, The Signature Theatre; the premiere of Jason Robert Brown's: Trumpet of The Swan for The Kennedy Center; One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest , The Roundhouse Theatre; The Giver, ASOLO Theatre; Macbeth, Two River Theater Company and Folger Theatre). The Lighting Design will be handled by Entertainment Design Magazine Tyro Talent award winner Thom Weaver, whose TRTC credits include Bad Dates, Macbeth, A Year With Frog and Toad and ReEntry. Sound Designer Zachary Williamson also returns to TRTC after previous productions: ReEntry, Glass Menagerie, The Charlatan's Séance and Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Rounding out the design team is longtime TRTC favorite Costume Designer Marion Williams. Audiences may remember her most recent scenic design for The Glass Menagerie and her scenic and costume designs for ReEntry.

Underwritten in part by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation and co-produced by Round House Theatre, 26 Miles is scheduled to run Tuesday, September 15 through Sunday, October 4. Tickets are $35 - $61. Get more information online at www.trtc.org, call 732.345.1400, or visit the Two River Theater Company Box Office in Red Bank, located at 21 Bridge Avenue. Box Office Hours: Monday-Saturday: 10am-6pm; Sunday: 12pm-5pm.

TRTC's Artistic Department will lead Before Play. This pre-show discussion series is scheduled 45 minutes prior to every performance and will offer an in-depth look at the production. Post-show discussions are scheduled following the 8pm performance on Wednesday, September 23 and following each of the Sunday matinees: September 20, 27 and October 4 at 3pm, as well as Wednesday, September 30 at 1pm. One student matinee performance is scheduled on Tuesday, September 29 at 10am. Discounted group rates are available through the Box Office.

TRTC is accessible to people with disabilities, including wheelchair accessibility, assistive listening devices and large print programs at every performance. Accessible seating is available by reservation. For more information call the Box Office at 732.345.1400.