Juan Castano, Julia Chan, and Ryan Spahn Will Lead Ken Urban's DANGER AND OPPORTUNITY

Danger and Opportunity, a new play by award-winning playwright Ken Urban, is set to premiere at a new downtown venue, East Village Basement (321 E. 9th St, Manhattan) from March 27 – April 17, 2025. Directed by newly minted Obie award-winner Jack Serio, this strictly limited engagement will open on Thursday, April 3. 

Danger and Opportunity stars Drama Desk and Lortel award-winner Juan Castano (Toros, Transfers), Julia Chan (Marin Ireland's Pre-Existing Condition, Uncle Vanya, dir. Jack Serio), and Ryan Spahn (The Antiquities, The Jordans).

In Danger and Opportunity, Christian and Edwin are a married gay couple in a rut when Margaret – Christian's ex-girlfriend from Catholic high school – gets in touch after twenty years. At Edwin's urging, Christian invites her over for drinks. The trio embarks on an unexpected journey together, testing the limits of what defines a contemporary relationship.

“Danger and Opportunity is my attempt to make sense of the push and pull between change as possible and impossible at a deeply personal level,” says playwright Ken Urban. “While many of my plays are inspired by research or interviews, this one speaks intimately to my experiences as a queer man navigating desire and love in a relationship. Given the script's intimacy, when Jack and the producing team suggested doing the play in an actual living room so we could really bring the audience into the lives of these three characters, how could I say no?”

“As we've seen post-pandemic, audience members are increasingly excited by small, artist driven productions, in unconventional spaces,” says director Jack Serio. “The work often feels more vital and alive when the distance between audience and art is collapsed. Ken's play is delicate, probing, and asks big questions about intimacy and love. I couldn't imagine a better home than the intimate East Village Basement for its world premiere. Audiences will feel like they are eavesdropping on the most private conversations between characters as they sit shoulder to shoulder in the lamplight of this beautiful play.”

Danger and Opportunity marks a busy 2024-2025 season for both Urban and Serio. The Off-Broadway premiere of Urban's A Guide for the Homesick, directed by Shira Milikowsky and starring McKinley Belcher III and Uly Schlesinger, recently completed a nine-week run at DR2 Theatre. Meanwhile, the Serio-directed, world premiere production of Samuel D. Hunter's Grangeville, starring Brian J. Smith and Paul Sparks, runs through March 16, 2025, at Signature Theatre.

Danger and Opportunity finds Serio returning to the hyper-intimate productions that have become a hallmark of his fast-rising career, including the critically acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya staged in a Flatiron loft. Recently, Serio received an Obie award for Outstanding Direction for his work on Joey Merlo's On Set with Theda Bara starring David Greenspan and the self-produced production of The Animal Kingdom, which marked the American debut of British playwright Ruby Thomas. The panel of Obie judges noted, “In intimate rooms for audiences of a few dozen, this director has redefined and reinvigorated the idea of micro theatre, creating immersive spaces that allow for quietly raw performances enveloped in evocatively rigorous designs.”

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