Gregory Bastien, Michael Carlsen Lead Rattlestick Playwrights' THE WOOD

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater has announced the cast and creative team for the world premiere of The Wood, a new play written by award-winning filmmaker Dan Klores. Opening the company's 17th season, performances of The Wood will begin Wednesday, August 31 at Rattlestick Theater (224 Waverly Place - off Seventh Avenue South, between Perry & West 11th Streets). The official opening night is set for Thursday, September 8. The production is scheduled to run through October 9. David Bar Katz directs.

Dan Klores, whose first play, Little Doc, premiered at Rattlestick last season, has written a funny, riveting new play about Mike McAlary, the larger than life columnist for the Daily News and the New York Post and his missionary zeal to ferret out the truth. A Pulitzer Prize-winner for his exposé of the New York polIce Torture of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima in 1997, McAlary died of colon cancer on Christmas Day 1998 at the age of 41.

"Mike's life was made for theatre," says Klores. "He was filled with energy, genius and courage. He was a tough and shrewd New Yorker with a b.s. barometer that clicked in from the get go."

The cast features Gregory Bastien, Michael Carlsen, Melanie Charles, David Deblinger, Kim Director, Thomas Kopache, John Viscardi and Sidney Williams.

The creative team features John McDermott (scenic design), Kalere A. Payton (costume design), Joel Moritz (lighting design), Janie Bullard (sound design), Steve Channon (projection design) and Nina Alexander (properties). Jamie Wolfe is Production Stage Manager and Sam Horwith is Assistant Stage Manager.

The performance schedule is as follows: Wednesday - Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm and Monday at 8pm. Tickets are $55 and are available through TicketCentral.com/212- 279-6200.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater is a multi-award-winning company which has produced over fifty world premieres in the past sixteen seasons and was the recipient of the 2007 Ross Wetzsteon Memorial OBIE Award for its work developing new and innovative work. Rattlestick's Advisory Board participates in The Emerging Playwrights Project, which matches a new playwright with an established artist for an experienced eye and creative support. Playwright and artist mentors have included Edward Albee, Jon Robin Baitz, Zoe Caldwell, Arthur Kopit, Craig Lucas, Joe Mantello, Terrence McNally and Marsha Norman. Previous plays include Two Boys in a Bed, Message to Michael, Carpool, Volunteer Man, A Trip to the Beach, Ascendancy, Stuck, Vick's Boy, The Messenger, Saved or Destroyed, Neil's Garden, My Special Friend, Faster, Bliss, St. Crispin's Day, Where We're Born, Five Flights, Boise, Finer Noble Gases, God Hates The Irish: The Ballad of Armless Johnny, Miss Julie, Acts of Mercy: passion-play, Cagelove, It Goes Without Saying, Dark Matters, Stay, American Sligo, Rag and Bone, War, Geometry of Fire, That Pretty Pretty; or The Rape Play, The Amish Project, Killers and Other Family, Post No Bills, Blind, Little Doc, underneathmybed, There Are No More Big Secrets, The Hallway Trilogy, Carson McCullers Talks About Love, the Off-Broadway GLAAD Award-nominated hit The Last Sunday in June, Craig Wright's The Pavilion (Drama Desk nominee - Outstanding Play of 2005) and Lady (Drama Desk nominee - Outstanding Play of 2008), as well as The Aliens by Annie Baker (2010 Obie Award winner for Best New American Play).

Bios

Dan Klores (Playwright) is an Award-winning director and playwright who has made six films during the last eight years, four of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. These Films include The Boys of 2nd Street Park (2003), Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story (2005), and most recently, Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks. Mr. Klores has received widespread recognition for his work and has been awarded the 2008 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary for Crazy Love (2007) and the Peabody Award for his film Black Magic (2008). Mr. Klores made his debut as a playwright in 2010 with his play, Little Doc, which premiered at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Klores is a regular columnist for Grantland.com, Bill Simmons and ESPN's new sports and pop culture web magazine. His first feature film, Dance to the Music, produced by GreeneStreet Films, is about to begin shooting. Mr. Klores grew up in Brooklyn and resides in Manhattan with his wife Abbe and their three sons, Jake, Sam and Luke.

David Bar Katz (Director) is a member of The LAByrinth Theater Company. His play, The History of Invulnerability, about Jerry Siegel, the creator of Superman and the Man of Steel's Jewish roots, recently premiered at The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park where it received the Acclaim Award for Outstanding Play of the Year, the Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Outstanding Premiere and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award Citation as one of the top three American plays of 2010. Mr. Katz co-wrote and directed the Broadway show, Freak, which was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play. He received an Emmy Award nomination for the HBO production of "Freak." He co-created and was a head writer for Fox TV's, "House of Buggin'," the first all-Latino network television show. LAB has presented five of his plays in their annual Barn Series Festival and produced the PublicLAB production of his play Philip Roth in Khartoum at The Public Theater. Other select theater projects include Burning, Burning, Burning, Burning (Red Bull Theater's Obie Award winning "Revelation Readings" series, 2010), and What A Way To Go (New York Playwrights Lab, 2009). He is currently developing a film set in the gaming world with Will Wright (SimCity, Spore), and is creating A New Television series with CBS Television Studios and Denis Leary's Apostle for Showtime called "Sober Coach." His ‘tween' sci-fi novel Chronicles of the Chosen will be published this fall. His play, The Atmosphere of Memory, produced by The LAByrinth Theater Company, will have its world premiere at the Bank Street Theatre in October.

Gregory Bastien (Abner Louima) was born in Haiti and moved to Brooklyn, New York at the age of 11 with his father to pursue his acting dream. Theater credits include: Dr. King in The Meeting-A Dialogue Between DR. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and Conrad in Does A Tiger Wear a Necktie? Gregory has appeared in numerous films including Shaft, Bad Boys II. Television: "One Life to Live," "Oz." Gregory currently resides in New York City. To view more of his work and demo reel, go to www.myspace/gregorybastien.

Michael Carlsen (Justin Volpe) Broadway: The Coast of Utopia (Lincoln Center Theatre, 2007 Tony Award, Best Play). Off-Broadway: WTC View (59E59), All's Well That Ends Well, Blues for Mr. Charlie. Television: "30 Rock," "Law and Order-Criminal Intent" "Rescue Me." Film: Mentor, Lefty Loosey, Righty Tighty, Construction.

Melanie Charles (Micheline Louima/Nurse) is a Brooklyn-born Haitian-American singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. She graduated from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary in 2010 with a BFA in Vocal jazz performance. Melanie has toured the US and overseas with soul singer Laura Izibor opening up for acts such as John Legend and Maxwell. Melanie has done a number of productions with the Classical Theatre of Harlem, including Dream on Monkey Mountain starring Andre DeShields. Last Christmas season, Melanie starred in the Off-Broadway musical production of Black Nativity at The Theatre at St. Clements.

David Deblinger (Tommy) co-founded LAByrinth Theater Company, whose first mainstage production Nobody's Home was a solo show he wrote and performed and was directed and developed by John Ortiz. Also at LAByrinth, Deblinger created a multimedia solo piece at LAByrinth called Shmoo produced by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Recent regional work: Sirens (World Premiere, Penguin Rep), The History of Invulnerability (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Acclaim Award Winner-Best Actor), Animals Out of Paper (San Francisco Playhouse), In This Corner (The Old Globe), Moonlight and Magnolias (Capital Rep), Villa America (Williamstown Theater Festival). New York credits: Philip Roth in Khartoum (LAByrinth/The Public Theater), Dirty Story (LAByrinth), Our Lady of One Hundred and Twenty First Street (LAByrinth), Where's My Money? (LAByrinth and Manhattan Theater Club), The Flatted Fifth (The New Group). Television: "Damages" (FX), "Walker Texas Ranger" (CBS), "Sex and the City," "Sopranos" (HBO), "Club Land" (Showtime-with Alan Alda produced by Dustin Hoffman), "Law and Order S.V.U.," "Law and Order" (NBC). Film: Remember Me (Starring Robert Pattinson), Kiss Me Guido, Frogs for Snakes, Kicked in the Head, A Price Above Rubies, Ten Benny, Jungle Juice. Writer/director of short films The Call Back (with Sam Rockwell--Audience Award of best short at San Diego Int'l Film Festival) and Shakespearean Minute (with David Zayas-New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Award).

Kim Director (Alice McAlary) has appeared in 5 films for director Spike Lee, most notably in the role of Stevie the bank robber in Inside Man. Other film credits include Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows, Summer of Sam, He Got Game, Live Free or Die, Tony N Tina's Wedding, Bamboozled, She Hate Me, Errand Boy and Life is Short. Television credits include "CSI: Miami," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Cold Case," "Cavemen," "Life," "Shark" "Law & Order," and "Sex and the City." Theater credits include Guinea Pig Solo at The Public Theater with LAByrinth Theater Company, Company at The Kennedy Center and Avenue X at Pittsburgh City Theater. BFA Carnegie Mellon University.

Thomas Kopache (Kornberg/Editor/Cop/Garbus) Broadway: Orpheus Descending, Our Town. Off -Broadway: Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public Theatre, EST, American Place Theatre, La Mama, The Women's Project and others. Regional: Pasadena Playhouse, A.C.T. Seattle, Baltimore Center Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia Festival Theatre, Old Globe Theatre and others. Los Angeles: Circus Theatricals (associate artist), Antigone, As You Like It, Iphigenia in Aulis, The Adding Machine (Garland Award - Honorable Mention Performance in a Straight Play), Twelfth Night, Man.Gov. Film: No Country For Old Men (SAG Award - Best Ensemble), Zodiac, Catch Me If You Can, Leaving Las Vegas, Mr. Jones, This Boy's Life, Breakdown, Ghosts of Mississippi, Stigmata, Star Trek: Generations, 10 til Noon, and others. Television: "Bones," "Castle," "Big Love", "Dirty Sexy Money," "Brothers & Sisters," "Desperate Housewives," "The West Wing," "The Practice," "Boston Legal," "Six Feet Under," "Carnivale," "Malcolm in the Middle," "Star Trek T.N.G." (plus spin-offs), "Gilmore Girls," "Close to Home," and many others. Proud member of Actors Equity.

John Viscardi (Mike McAlary) New York City Theater: Mother Bird (Circle East), The Madwoman of Chaillot with Anne Jackson, Kim Hunter, and Alvin Epstein (Colleague Theatre), A Common Cause (Circle East), Doing the Numbers (The Essential Theatre), The Unexpected Guest (Gallery Players), Staten Island (Circle Rep Lab), The Violinist (Westbeth Theatre), The Police (St. Mark's Church), The Emperor and the Queen (The Garage), Romeo and Juliet (American Shakespeare Rep.), Hamlet (American Shakespeare Rep.). Film and Television: "Strip Search" directed by Sidney Lumet (HBO), "The Sopranos," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Soul Man," (ABC) "One Life to Live," "Julie Brown: The Show" (CBS). B.A.: Columbia University.

Sidney Williams (Doctor/EMS Worker/Deputy Commissioner) was the vocalist and bass guitarist for the punk rock power trio "homemade sin" from 1986 - 1991. As an actor he has performed Off-Broadway in Stephen Adley Guirgis's Little Flower of East Orange, Bob Glaudini's Identical Same Temptation and Andrea Ciannevei's Pretty Chin Up. His other New York stage credits include Nothing from the Notebooks of Richard Foreman, Michael Puzzo's The Dirty Talk, Kelly Stewart's Mayhem, Craig "muMs" Grant's Paradox of the Urban Cliche among numerous others. He has appeared in the films Haunts, Up to the Roof and Handsome Harry. His TV credits include "Law & Order," "The Sopranos," "Ghost Stories with Rip Torn" and "Louie." He is a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company and The Actors Studio. At The Actors Studio Sidney participated in the Al Pacino and Estelle Parsons project "Oedipus" and the Opera "Dynamite Tonite!" directed by Rip Torn.