EDGEWISE Plays Off- Broadway Walkerspace

EDGEWISE -- a new play by Eliza Clark, directed by Trip Cullman -- will be given its world-premiere this fall in a co-production by the Off-Broadway companies Page 73 and The Play Company, with previews set to begin November 9 and opening night set for November 17 at the Walkerspace (46 Walker St.) in Tribeca.

War sucks. Flipping burgers sucks harder. In new playwright Eliza Clark's suspenseful drama, it's just another morning at the suburban burger joint where Ruckus, Marco and Emma smoke up, talk smack, and - oh yeah - work. But when a bloodied stranger staggers in, the three teens are forced to choose sides in the grueling war advancing just outside the door.

Featured in the cast of EDGEWISE are Brandon Dirden, Philip Ettinger, Aja Naomi King, Alfredo Narciso and Tobias Segal.

Eliza Clark is the author of the plays RECALL, and PUPPY. Her work has been developed at Manhattan Theatre Club, the Studio at Cherry Lane Theatre, Page 73, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Provincetown Playhouse and The New York International Fringe Festival. She is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre's emerging writers group, Youngblood, where her short plays can often be seen in the Youngblood monthly brunch series. She was a member of the Page 73's 2008-2009 Interstate 73 writers group. She is the 2010 P73 Playwriting Fellow. She is currently a writer for the new AMC television series "Rubicon".

Trip Cullman most recently directed Leslye Headland's BACHELORETTE at Second Stage. His numerous credits include Adam Bock's THIS DRUNKEN CITY at Playwrights Horizons and SWIMMING IN THE SHALLOWS at Second Stage, along with DOG SEES GOD and THE LAST SUNDAY IN JUNE Off-Broadway. He directed Lloyd Suh's AMERICAN HWANGAP for The Play Company and Ma-Yi Theatre Off-Broadway in 2009. He is an Associate Artist at The Play Company, where he has also directed BAD JAZZ, ARABIAN NIGHT, and SMASHING. Upcoming productions include A SMALL FIRE by Adam Bock at Playwrights Horizons and NURSING by Adam Rapp at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

Tobias Segal appeared on Broadway in THE MIRACLE WORKER, and at Kevin Spacey's Old Vic in THE BRIDGE PROJECT directed by Sam Mendes. He won a Barrymore Award for his performance in EQUUS in 2002. Brandon Dirden appeared on Broadway in ENRON and PRELUDE TO A KISS, and Off-Broadway in Signature Theatre's revival of THE FIRST BREEZE OF SUMMER. Alfredo Narciso appeared in Trip Cullman's production of DRUNKEN CITY at Playwrights Horizons, and IS CURRENTLY in Ma-Yi Theater's MICROCRISIS at HERE. Philip Ettinger has appeared on television in the series "Mercy" and "The Closer." Aja Naomi King has performed in "Boleros for the Disenchanted" and "Trouble in Mind" at Yale Repertory and "In the Blood" at Baltimore's Center Stage.
EDGEWISE design credits are: Andromache Chalfant (set), Jenny Mannis (costumes), Nicole Pearce (lights) and Bart Fasbender (sound).
About their decision to collaborate as producers on EDGEWISE, Page 73 Executive Directors Liz Jones and Asher Richelli say, "We've been working with Eliza Clark for two years as a member of our writing group and now as our playwriting fellow. We couldn't be more thrilled about presenting her first professional work. For years we've been talking with The Play Company about collaborating and EDGEWISE, directed by Play Company's long-time associate Trip Cullman seemed like the perfect co-production opportunity for this vertiginous ride about adolescence, violence and war."

Kate Loewald, Founding Producer of The Play Company adds, "We are dedicated new writing with an international view, and in our American work, we especially like to provide opportunities to new playwrights. This will be Trip Cullman's fifth show with our company, and when he showed us the script of EDGEWISE, we were blown away by Eliza's gutsy writing. The play has a raw energy that we love and it's a theatrical roller coaster. And it's a great project for our long-awaited collaboration with Page 73."

PAGE 73 (Liz Jones and Asher Richelli, Executive Directors) produces and develops the work of early-career playwrights who have yet to receive professional production opportunities in New York City. Each year, Page 73 offers four programs to early-career playwrights: two New York City or world premiere productions of new plays by early-career playwrights that represent the playwrights' first professional productions in New York; the P73 Playwriting Fellowship which provides cash, development and career support to one writer for a full year; a week-long summer residency program on the Yale University campus for 3 to 4 playwrights; and Interstate 73, a writing group that consists of six to eight playwrights. Past P73 Playwriting Fellows are Kirsten Greenidge, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Jason Grote, Krista Knight, Tommy Smith and Heidi Schreck. Eliza Clark is the 2010 P73 Playwriting Fellow. Page 73 produced the world premiere of ELLIOT, A SOLDIER'S FUGUE by Quiara Alegria Hudes (directed by Davis McCallum; 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist), the New York premiere of 1001 by Jason Grote (directed by Ethan McSweeny and "Top 10 of 2007" - TIME OUT NY), the world premiere of SIXTY MILES TO SILVER LAKE by Dan LeFranc (2010 New York Times Playwriting Award;directed by Anne Kauffman and co-produced with Soho Rep), the world premiere of CREATURE by Heidi Schreck (directed by Leigh Silverman and co-produced with New Georges) and the world premiere of JACK'S PRECIOUS MOMENT by Samuel D. Hunter (directed by Kip Fagan). www.p73.org.

The Play Company is dedicated to adventurous new writing by playwrights from the U.S. and around the world, linking NYC artists and audiences to a whole world of plays. Recent productions include the U.S. premiere of Toshiki Okada's ENJOY (Japan), the NY premiere of Lloyd Suh's AMERICAN HWANGAP (U.S.), the U.S. premieres of Przemyslaw Wojcieszek's MADE IN POLAND (Poland); Robert Farquhar's BAD JAZZ (England), Vijay Tendulkar's SAKHARAM BINDER (India); Yoji Sakate's THE ATTIC (Japan); and The Presnyakov Brothers' TERRORISM (Russia); as well as world premieres of the American plays SMASHING by Brooke Berman and HIGH DIVE by Leslie Ayvazian. Play Co. received a 2007 OBIE Award for its "unique contribution to the theatre community." Kate Loewald is Founding Producer of The Play Company; Lauren Weigel is Executive Producer. www.playco.org

EDGEWISE will run November 9-December 4, 2010. Mon - Sat @7:30pm, Sat @2 (beginning 11.20). No performance Thanksgiving (11/25). Tickets are $30 general admission and $40 reserved. All matinees $12. Student rush $5. Purchase tickets at www.theatermania.com or call 212.352.3101.