'IMPORTANT HATS', Farewell Soiree and More Highlight Studio 42's Final Season

After 15 years of championing what founders termed "Unproducible" theater, the board and staff of Studio 42 have announced that its 15th Anniversary season will be the organization's last.

Studio 42 was founded in 2001 by a passionate, committed group of artists and collaborators in order to expand the imaginative possibilities of American theater by producing the work of emerging playwrights on which no other producing body might take a risk. Because the once-"unproducible" artists and plays, which they have supported, are being produced by major theaters around the country, Studio 42's Board believes that its purpose-as outlined in its mission-has been fulfilled.

"All of us at Studio 42 want to take advantage of this unique opportunity to state loud and proud that our mission has been accomplished, and that has been in large part due to the collective effort of our Residents, staff, Board, donors and audiences," said in a statement, Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Studio 42 Artistic Director and director of Tony nominated Hand to God, "We couldn't be more excited to celebrate 15 years of unproducible theater and we intend to do that by going out with a bang!"

Studio 42's final season will include a variety of events. Manhattan Theatre Club will produce Nick Jones' Important Hats of the Twentieth Century, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, in association with Studio 42. Other highlights of the final season will be a one-time Studio 42 Unproducible Legacy Grant awarded to some truly adventurous companies, and a final farewell soiree at the end of 2015. More details of the 15th Anniversary Season will be announced in the coming months.

Studio 42 is a non-profit off-off-Broadway theater company founded in 2001 and New York's leading producer of "unproducible" plays. The word "unproducible" is ripped from the rejection letters of theaters all over the country. It denotes scripts in which the potential depravity, experimental structure, or scale of spectacle take them out of consideration for producers in their right minds.

The organization's productions and developmental work has advanced the careers of many playwrights: Washington Ensemble Theatre produced Sprawl by Joshua Conkel, read by Studio 42 in 2012 and The Hunchback of Seville by Charise Castro Smith, read by Studio 42 in 2011; Encore Theatre is producing the world premiere of Hookman by Lauren Yee, read by Studio 42 in 2011; Spacebar by Michael Mitnick, produced by Studio 42 in 2010, has had several regional productions as well as a run in New York City this past fall, and has been published by Playscripts; and Billy Witch, by Gregory S. Moss, produced by Studio 42 in 2012, was picked up by Astoria Performing Arts Center in New York City.

Studio 42 has become known for its repertoire of "unproducible" plays, with a focus on presenting works that most of the theater industry are unlikely to consider. Recent productions include Wasps by Ken Urban (2013); Miss Lilly Gets Boned by Bekah Brunstetter (2012); Billy Witch by Gregory S. Moss (2012); My Base and Scurvy Heart by Adam Szymkowicz (2011); The Sporting Life by Nick Jones & Rachel Shukert (2010); and Spacebar: A Broadway Play by Kyle Sugarman by Michael Mitnick (2010). Studio 42 maintains that the fringe of a worthwhile writer's imagination is especially fertile ground, and that any project worth realizing can be realized, using little more than creativity and courage.

For more information on Studio 42, and the 15th Anniversary Season, visit www.Stu42.com.

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