New Georges to Present Three World Premieres as Part of JAM ON TOAST Festival, 5/14-31

New Georges will present World Premiere productions by Kate Benson (2014 Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission winner), Krista Knight (Salamander Leviathan at Joe's Pub; Clementine and the Cyber Ducks at Incubator Arts Project), and Caroline V. McGraw (2013 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow) as part of The New Georges Jam On Toast, a brand-new festival featuring work by The New Georges Jam, a "performance gym" for early-career female playwrights and directors founded in 2010 by Lucy Alibar, Jess Chayes, and Portia Krieger.

The plays will be directed by Lee Sunday Evans (Resident Director for CollaborationTown; Associate Director to Young Jean Lee), Jess Chayes (The Netflix Plays with Ars Nova; HOME/SICK with The Assembly; Associate Director on Peter and the Starcatcher), and Portia Krieger (Eager to Lose with Ars Nova; Baby Screams Miracle with Clubbed Thumb). The creative team will include Set Design by Sara C. Walsh (You're Me at the Kitchen), Lighting Design by Barbara Samuels (Grimly Handsome at Incubator Arts), Sound Design by Brandon Wolcott (Good Person of Szechwan at The Public), and Costume Design by Kathleen Doyle (The Snow Queen at HERE), Ásta Bennie Hostetter (The (*) Inn with Target Margin), and M. Meriwether Snipes (Requiem for Black Marie at Incubator Arts).

"These are the first New York productions for Kate Benson and Caroline V. McGraw, and only the second for Krista Knight. We're thrilled to support this pivotal step in our artists' careers, as we have for so many fantastic playwrights and directors before them," says New Georges Producing Artistic Director Susan Bernfield. "These plays are so full of humor, surprise and invention, they're being created in the most satisfying spirit of collaboration - not just between collaborating artists, but between production teams -- and we're crazy enough to do them in rep! But The Jam has always been full of energy and ambition, it's a treat to bring all these great relationships forward."

Tickets ($20 each; festival pass $50) will be available for advance purchase online at www.newgeorges.org or by calling 1-800-838-3006 beginning Tuesday, April 15th. All performances will be at Dixon Place (161 Chrystie Street between Rivington and Delancey).

A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes Written by Kate Benson, Directed by Lee Sunday Evans For those of you just tuning in, Thanksgiving is already in progress here at Wembly kitchen. We'll be here all afternoon so you won't miss a play. While a repeat of the Gravy Boat Episode of 1979 may not be in the offing, I think we can expect some complex carving maneuvers and perhaps a flatware fumble or two, until everyone's in a turkey stupor, contemplating pie. And all the while a Herd of Great GrandBabies is amassing underneath the table in this dark and witty exploration of how family is played, over time and memory and through generations.

Featuring Jessica Almasy (The Team), Dennis A. Allen II (Tyson Vs. Ali at 3LD), Christian Felix, Kristine Haruna Lee, Nina Hellman (Obie Award for Trouble in Paradise), Brooke Ishibashi (Good Person Of Szechwan at The Public), Mike Iveson (Arguendo, Gatz with ERS), Mia Katigbak (Fast Company at EST; Good Person), Heather Alicia Simms (The Correspondent at Rattlestick; Born Bad at Soho Rep), and Evan Thompson (Stretch with New Georges).

Performances: Fri 5/16 @ 7:30pm; Sat 5/17 & 5/24 @ 3pm; Mon 5/19 @ 4pm; Wed 5/21, Fri 5/23 & 5/30 at 9pm; Wed 5/28 & Thu 5/29 @ 8:30pm; Sat 5/31 @ 8pm

Primal Play Written by Krista Knight, Directed by Jess Chayes British primatologist Dr. Valerie Naymark returns to Tanzania, where she'd made a few mistakes in her field research. Chief among these: losing her mother, who'd come along as chaperone and typist, and who looks an awful lot like that gorilla in a treehouse, displaying unique primate behaviors such as backgammon and afternoon tea. We all do strange and wonderful things when we don't think anyone is watching. Like trying to prepare the offspring to embark on a journey of their own.

Featuring Susan Greenhill, Kate MacCluggage (The 39 Steps), Genesis Oliver and Brenda Withers (Matt and Ben).
Performances: Thu 5/15 @ 7:30pm; Sat 5/17 @ 9pm; Mon 5/19, Wed 5/21 & Fri 5/23 @ 7pm; Sat 5/24 & 5/31 @ 5:30pm; Wed 5/28 @ 6:30pm; Fri 5/30 @ 4pm

The Vaults Written by Caroline V. McGraw, Directed by Portia Krieger Four American college friends on a European vacation tour the infamous vaults below Edinburgh. Only three emerge from the darkness. Did John fall prey to some otherworldly energy? Is this just one of his customary jokes? Or did he find a secret doorway to take him where he needed to go? As his friends go out and search for him, they tussle with fringe festival actors, suspicious police officers, semi-friendly ghosts... their memories, their relationships and their own dark wishes.

Featuring Erin Gann (We Are Proud to Present... at Soho Rep; The Aliens at Rattlestick), Grant Harrison, Christine Lee (Mary-Kate Olsen is in Love at The Flea), Ryan McCarthy, Emily Louise Perkins, Max Reinhardsen (CBGB directed by Randall Miller), and Danielle Slavick (Through the Yellow Hour at Rattlestick).

Performances: Wed 5/14 & Sat 5/24 @ 7:30pm; Sat 5/17 @ 6pm; Tue 5/20 & 5/27 @ 9pm; Wed 5/21 @ 4pm; Thu 5/22 @ 8:30pm; Mon 5/26 @ 5:30pm; Fri 5/30 @ 6:30pm; Sat 5/31 @ 3pm

THE NEW GEORGES JAM is a working lab for early-career theatermakers, founded in 2010 under New Georges' auspices by playwright Lucy Alibar (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and directors Jess Chayes and Portia Krieger. Makers of highly theatrical work, the Jam's founders wanted to expand on traditional writers' groups (which tend to focus on reading pages, not getting work on its feet) to cultivate new collaborative relationships through 3-D play development and by including playwrights and directors as equal participants.

The festival will also feature works-in-progress and special presentations by Jam members Sofia Alvarez, Eliza Bent, Mary Birnbaum, Katherine Brook, Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Meghan Finn, Morgan Gould, Dipika Guha, Mary Elizabeth Hamilton, Sarah Krohn, Anna Moench, Mia Rovegno and Pirronne Yousefzadeh.

NEW GEORGES, founded in 1992, has premiered 38 new full-length plays and 11 festivals of new work; hundreds of original works have passed through New Georges' workspace, The Room, on their way to venues in New York City and beyond. In addition to producing regular seasons, the company is a play and artist development organization, providing essential resources and opportunities to a community of adventurous artists. Notable productions have included: Lynn Rosen's Goldor $ Mythyka; Kara Lee Corthron's AliceGraceAnon; Peggy Stafford's Motel Cherry (Huffington Post Top Ten); Sylvan Oswald's Nightlands; Heidi Schreck's Creature; Eisa Davis' Angela's Mixtape (New Yorker Top Ten Off Broadway Shows); Jenny Schwartz's God's Ear (Time Out New York Top Ten); Wendy Weiner's Hillary: A Modern Greek Tragedy With a (Somewhat) Happy Ending; Susan Bernfield's Stretch (a fantasia); Sheila Callaghan's Dead City (Susan Smith Blackburn Prize); Deb Margolin's Three Seconds in the Key (Kesselring Prize); and Lisa D'Amour's Anna Bella Eema.

For more information, visit www.newgeorges.org.

Pictured: The New Georges Jam featuring Jess Chayes, Dipika Guha, Sarah Krohn, Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Caroline V. McGraw, Mia Rovegno, Portia Krieger, Katie Brook, Kate Benson, Meghan Finn, Krista Knight, and Lee Sunday Evans. Photo by Julie Guinta.