Nimene Wureh Joins the Cast of Second Stage's Production of THE APIARY

Nimene Wureh will join the cast of Kate Douglas’ THE APIARY, directed by Kate Whoriskey at Second Stage Theater. Ms. Wureh is replacing the previously announced Gabby Beans, who has left the production due to a scheduling conflict.

 

Ms. Wureh joins the company which includes Obie Award-winner April Matthis (The Piano Lesson, Toni Stone), Lucille Lortel Award nominee Carmen M. Herlihy (Second Stage’s Bachelorette), and Emmy, SAG, and Golden Globe award nominee Taylor Schilling (Orange is the New Black, CSC’s A Month in the Country). The production will begin previews on January 31, 2024, and officially open on February 13 at Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theater, 305 West 43rd street.

 

Nimene Wureh is making her New York theatre and off-Broadway debut. An NYU Tisch Drama graduate, Ms. Wureh is an actress, singer-songwriter, dancer-choreographer who has appeared on That Damn Michael Che on MAX and Inside Amy Schumer on Paramount+. www.nimene.com @nimenesierrawureh 

 

22 years in the future, two lab assistants hatch a plan that could change the world. All they need are a few volunteers. A raucous and provocative world premiere by Kate Douglas about sacrifice, ambition, and honeybees, directed by Kate Whoriskey (Clyde's).

THE APIARY and the NEXT STAGE FESTIVAL are made possible in part by the New American Voices Fund, which was established in 2016 by a lead gift from David Stone.

Single tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased at 2ST.com, by calling 212-541-4516, or by visiting the Tony Kiser Theater box office.

 

ABOUT THE NEXT STAGE FESTIVAL

 

THE NEXT STAGE FESTIVAL formalizes Second Stage Theater’s artistic pipeline, providing support at crucial early moments in a playwright’s development - from writers with partial drafts to early career playwrights ready for their New York debuts.

 

THE NEXT STAGE FESTIVAL will also include The Judith Champion Reading Series, featuring three new plays developed over a week of rehearsal with experienced directors, top-notch casts and targeted design support. Each play will receive a one-night-only presentation at the Tony Kiser Theater. The plays are D.A. Mindell’s ON THE EVOLUTIONARY FUNCTION OF SHAME, Sarah Mantell’s THE GOOD GUYS, and Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin’s TIGER BEAT.  The Judith Champion Reading Series is funded by a grant from the Judith Champion Charitable Fund and Mel Litoff.

 

Additionally, the invaluable work of the Lark Playwrights Workshop will continue under the auspices of Second Stage Theater – five playwrights will be mentored by established theater artists, including David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph, and May Adrales.  The six private sessions that comprise this program occur every 2-3 weeks beginning Wednesday, January 17th and concluding on Tuesday, March 26th.

 

THE APIARY was part of the 2022 Judith Champion Reading Series.

New Play Development at Second Stage is supported by a grant from the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. 

Second Stage Theater's programs are made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

This season is supported by a grant from the Howard Gilman Foundation.

 

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ABOUT Second Stage Theater

Under the artistic direction of Carole Rothman, Second Stage Theater operates three New York City venues, exclusively dedicated to producing living American Playwrights.

Among Second Stage’s 180 productions are the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis; the 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes; Mary Page Marlowe by Tracy Letts; The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown; Dogfight by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Peter Duchan; Dear Evan Hansen by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Steven Levenson; Clyde’s and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage; Trust and Lonely, I’m Not by Paul Weitz; Grand Horizons by Bess Wohl; The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz; Everyday Rapture and Whorl Inside a Loop by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Let Me Down Easy and Notes From the Field by Anna Deavere Smith; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein; Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; Jitney by August Wilson; Crowns by Regina Taylor; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo’s Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan; Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; and Tiny Alice and Peter and Jerry by Edward Albee.

The company’s more than 170 citations include the 2022 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for Take Me Out, as well as Best Featured Actor in a Play for Jesse Tyler Ferguson; six 2017 Tony Awards for Dear Evan Hansen (Best Musical; Best Lead Actor in a Musical, Ben Platt; Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Rachel Bay Jones; Best Book of a Musical; Best Original Score; Best Orchestrations); the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley, Next to Normal), Best Score (Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal), and Best Orchestrations (Tom Kitt and Michael Starobin, Next to Normal); the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed); the 2005 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, …Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, …Spelling Bee); the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses); the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 29 Obie Awards, 11 Outer Critics Circle Awards, four Clarence Derwent Awards, 20 Drama Desk Awards, 11 Theatre World Awards, one Dorothy Louden Award, 20 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 23 AUDELCO Awards.

In 1999, Second Stage Theater opened The Tony Kiser Theater, its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theater, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched “Second Stage Theater Uptown” to showcase the work of up-and-coming artists at the 99-seat McGinn/Cazale Theater. The Theater supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs.

In 2018, Second Stage began producing at its 581 seat Broadway home, The Hayes Theater. Originally named “The Little Theater” and built in 1912, the city landmark has been remodeled by David Rockwell of Rockwell Group.

For more information, please visit www.2ST.com or follow Second Stage on Twitter: @2STNYC, Instagram: @2stnyc and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2STNYC/

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