PlayCo's Presents Ebru Nihan Celkan's WILL YOU COME WITH ME?

PlayCo today announces the cast and creative team for its first in-person production since the fall before the pandemic: the U.S. premiere of Ebru Nihan Celkan's Will You Come With Me?, directed by Keenan Tyler Oliphant, May 4-June 5 at MITU580.

Layla Khoshnoudi (Men on Boats, Georgia Mertching Is Dead) and Maribel Martinez (Vanity Fair, Rip Van Winkle) will play Umut and Janina, who meet and fall in love in 2013 in Istanbul, where rebellion simmers amongst the queer and displaced youth. Umut is caught between the momentum of sociopolitical change at home and the promise of a quieter life in Berlin with Janina. By turns explosive and intimate, Will You Come With Me? explores the chaos and complexities of living through an uprising with generosity, love, and tenderness.

While bearing the specifics of Istanbul and Berlin, Will You Come With Me? resonates anywhere activist movements have been met with force and setbacks-and among anyone who has found love tested by a profound gap in experience. Subverting the tendency for stories surrounding authoritarianism to center, or even name, those who wield power, the play gives voice to those who resist, even after vast swaths of a movement have been suppressed or disappointed into submission. It examines the emotional toll relentless struggle takes, and the sense of unity it brings to those whose bodies, sexualities, and gender presentations have been made into battle grounds.

The Will You Come With Me? creative team includes set designer Afsoon Pajoufar, costume designer Enver Chakartash, lighting designer Reza Behjat, sound designer Avi Amon, projections designers Stefania Bulbarella and Dee Lamar Mills, and casting dIrector Victor Vasquez of X Casting. Christina M. Woolard is the production stage manager, and Babz Law is the production manager.

Performances will take place Wednesdays - Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays at 3pm, and Mondays at 7:30pm. The production opens officially on Monday, May 16 at 7:30pm. MITU580 is located at 580 Sackett St Unit A - Ground Fl, Brooklyn.

As part of their return to in-person production, PlayCo is resetting their organizational practices to better reflect the mission and lead with people-centered values, including a reimagined compensation model for artists that creates equity between staff and artist compensation and is based on estimates of a liveable wage in New York City. Artist fees are based on a calculation of PlayCo's share of an artist's annual salary, according to the time they spend working on a project. Salary estimates align with comparable PlayCo staff compensation. For example, a director's fee aligns with a pro rata share of a staff leadership position salary.

PlayCo is also adding time to the production process to create rehearsal and tech schedules that center the well being of artists, crew, and technicians. This includes eliminating the prior 10 out of 12 hour technical rehearsal structure, implementing a 5-day rehearsal week instead of 6, and adding one week of rehearsal and one week of venue rental to the process to compensate for this new structure.

Please visit the PlayCo website for more details.

Tickets are on sale today. PlayCo is committed to maintaining affordable access to all of its artistic programming as a core component of its mission, to create a more expansive and inclusive vision of the American theatre. The company has recently revised its ticketing structure to align even more closely with its values and ensure that price is not a barrier for the diverse communities it serves to participate in its work. PlayCo's new ticketing structure is as follows:

• Theatre For Everyone (TFE), $10: PlayCo created its TFE program in 2017, to extend a heartfelt welcome to audience members for whom access to the theatre has not historically been guaranteed, whether due to financial barriers or cultural exclusion. These audience members may include (but are not limited to) those who have been historically marginalized and excluded from the theater, first-time theatergoers, students, teachers, artists, and service workers. Previously, TFE tickets were only sold for a limited period of time. Now, a block of TFE tickets has been reserved for each performance throughout the run of the show with no time limit for purchase (subject to availability).

• Preview Special, 2 for $40: Special preview pricing encourages audience members to invite a friend to attend a PlayCo show during any pre-opening night performance.

• General Admission, $28: General Admission tickets are calibrated to be at an accessible rate for most theatergoers, and the price includes a $3 processing fee which helps underwrite the TFE tickets. PlayCo encourages attendees who are consistently able to meet their day-to-day needs to pay the General Admission price, in order to allow those who cannot equitable access to TFE tickets. Previously, the price of general admission was $35, not including the processing fee.

• Pay-It-Forward, $65: Pay-It-Forward tickets are for audience members who are consistently able to meet all of their day-to-day needs and wish to enable PlayCo to maintain accessible ticket prices across the board. All PlayCo tickets are subsidized to some extent, as admission prices do not reflect the actual economics of producing a show and providing a living wage to artists and crew. Purchasing tickets at this rate helps PlayCo continue to prioritize equity and inclusion in its ticketing model. The cost of this ticket includes a processing fee which helps underwrite the TFE tickets.

PlayCo's OpenHouse program has also been reconceived to focus on strengthening PlayCo's relationships with artists, peer theatre organizations, NYC schools, and community partners, led by PlayCo's Community Engagement Associate Carolina Do. For each production, complimentary and subsidized tickets will be distributed to community partners, and to encourage opportunities for different members of PlayCo's community to gather and connect via related programming. To optimize attendance, the PlayCo team will work with individual partners throughout the run to ensure that their community's specific access needs are addressed to the best of PlayCo's ability.

As part of its 2022 OpenHouse program, PlayCo's COVID Ticketing Initiative will offer at minimum fifty complimentary tickets to members of the theater community who have lost work during this pandemic or find cost a barrier to attending in-person shows. PlayCo hopes that the tickets made available through this initiative will help fortify and inspire its community. Sign up here: https://bit.ly/3KH11rx

COVID-19 Safety Policy

Until further notice, all ticket holders will be required to show proof of a complete COVID-19 vaccination AND proof of a booster dose (for those eligible in accordance with CDC guidelines) at the door.

All ticket holders must present a photo ID for verification. No refunds or exchanges will be granted to unvaccinated, unboosted (who are eligible), or nonexempt ticket buyers.

Ticket buyers with a medical or religious exemption must send official documentation of the exemption no later than 3 days prior to the performance date and show proof or a negative COVID-19 test administered by a certified medical professional upon arrival at the theatre.

All patrons will also be required to wear N95, KF94 or KN95 masks. Masks must be worn at all times in the facility regardless of vaccination or exemption status.

Please visit the PlayCo website for the company's full COVID-19 safety policy.

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