Off-Broadway Solo Comedy APPLICATION PENDING Releases New Versions for Male Actor, Schools

By: Jan. 06, 2017
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Application Pending, a comedy about kindergarten admissions co-authored by Greg Edwards & Andy Sandberg, premiered Off-Broadway in 2015 at the Westside Theatre. The original production was directed by Sandberg and starred Christina Bianco, winning the BroadwayWorld Award for Best Off-Broadway Play and receiving a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Play. Additional information about the New York production can be found at ApplicationPendingPlay.com.

The play was originally written to be performed by one woman playing over forty different roles. In partnership with Stage Rights, Edwards and Sandberg have released an additional version of the script for a male actor. The authors have also created a school-friendly edition of the play, which offers a flexible cast size ranging from 2 to 43 actors. The original solo female version will also still be available for licensing, with various professional and amateur productions scheduled in the months ahead.

"We're excited to see Application Pending enjoying a healthy life following its New York run," said co-authors Greg Edwards and Andy Sandberg in a joint statement. "We had the opportunity to develop this play with some extraordinary actors, and we were so impressed by what Christina Bianco brought to the role in the Off-Broadway premiere. The new versions of the script will allow even more actors to tackle this piece, and we look forward to seeing others put their own stamp on this work in various productions across the country and around the world."

In APPLICATION PENDING, Christine Evans is a kindergarten assistant at Edgely Prep, an elite Manhattan private school with an acceptance rate that puts Harvard's to shame. On the day applications are due, Edgely's head of admissions is ousted in a scandal, and Christine is unexpectedly thrust into the job. With phones ringing off the hook, Christine must balance beleaguered applicants, venal administrators, and an army of parents who will stop at nothing to get their kids in. For some parents, it's kindergarten. For these parents, it's WAR.

A timely and incisive comedy, APPLICATION PENDING pokes loving fun at America's obsession with getting our children into the school that will not only teach finger-painting but also determine the rest of their natural lives. APPLICATION PENDING sends up our perceptions about opportunity, how we attain it, and what it ultimately means to be a good parent.

APPLICATION PENDING began previews Off-Broadway on January 26, 2015 and officially opened on February 10, 2015, playing a limited engagement through April 19, 2015 at the Westside Theatre (407 W 43rd St, New York, NY 10036).

For all professional and amateur inquiries, please contact Steele Spring Stage Rights by phone at (323) 739-0413, email at Licensing@StageRights.com or online at StageRights.com.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Andy Sandberg (Playwright) is a writer, director, actor, and Tony Award-winning producer. He has written the scripts for Application Pending and Craving for Travel (co-authored with Greg Edwards), and he directed their world premieres Off-Broadway. Application Pending received the BroadwayWorld Award for Best Off-Broadway Play and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Show. He recently directed the world premiere of Straight (Off-Broadway). Other directing credits include Operation Epsilon (Four IRNE Awards, including Best Play, Best Director), Shida (AUDELCO nominations, Best Director and Best Musical; Ars Nova / A.R.T.) The Last Smoker in America (Westside Theatre), Zelda at the Oasis (St. Luke's), R.R.R.E.D. and Bernice Bobs Her Mullet (NYMF). He has been represented on Broadway as a producer of HAIR (2009 Tony Award; also London's West End), The Best Man (2012 Tony nomination), and The Realistic Joneses. Also as producer: A Perfect Future (Cherry Lane); Paradise Found (Menier Chocolate Factory, London; dir. Hal Prince/Susan Stroman); Pageant (Drama Desk nomination - Best Revival), and Vigil (DR2). B.A. Yale University. AndySandberg.com / @Andy_Sandberg

Greg Edwards (Playwright) has written the scripts for Application Pending and Craving for Travel (Off-Broadway, co-written with Andy Sandberg), lyrics for Neurosis: A New Musical (Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, SALT Award for Best New Musical), and book and lyrics for Taking the Plunge (NYMF, Samuel French OOB Festival) and Evelyn Shaffer and the Chance of a Lifetime (Samuel French OOB Festival). He has collaborated with Marvin Hamlisch (White House Governors' Dinner, Mr. Hamlisch's holiday tour) and Arthur Laurents (Love Affair). Greg's essays are published in Avidly (Los Angeles Review of Books) and McSweeney's, and his game Jessica Plunkenstein and the Dusseldorf Conspiracy (NYT "Best Adventure Game of the Year") was published by PC Gamer UK. Honors and approximations thereof include the BMI Harrington Award, Fred Ebb Award (two-time finalist), and Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship (top-12 semifinalist). Greg graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale, belongs to the BMI Workshop, and can be stalked most effectively at GregEd.com.

STAGE RIGHTS. Based in Los Angeles and founded in 2000, Steele Spring Stage Rights is one of the foremost independent theatrical publishers in the United States, providing stage performance rights for a wide range of plays and musicals to theater companies across the country and internationally. Their guiding principle as a licensing agent is to combine high-quality rehearsal materials with top-notch customer service in an ongoing effort to provide each producer with the tools they need for financial and artistic success. Stage Rights maintains a dedication to the future of live theatre through their special programs that champion new theatrical works. stagerights.com

Stage Rights also handles the rights to Edwards & Sandberg's play Craving for Travel, which played a successful limited engagement Off-Broadway in 2014 at the Peter J. Sharp Theater, starring Michele Ragusa and Thom Sesma. Craving for Travel was billed as "a two-actor, thirty-character comedy of international proportions." Gary and Joanne, rival travel agents and former spouses, are vying for their industry's most prestigious honor: the Globel Prize. With their reputations on the line, they'll tackle any request, no matter how impossible, and any client, no matter how unreasonable. Full of overzealous travelers, overbooked flights, and hoteliers who are just over it, Craving for Travel reminds us why we travel...and everything that can happen when we do.



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