Orlandersmith, Hope, Laurence et al. Set for HORSEDREAMS at Rattlestick

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater has announced the cast and creative team for the world premiere of HORSEDREAMS, a new play written by and featuring award-winning and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Dael Orlandersmith. The third production of the company's 17th season, performances of HORSEDREAMS will begin Wednesday, November 9th at Rattlestick Theater (224 Waverly Place - off Seventh Avenue South, between Perry & West 11th Streets). The official opening night is set for Thursday, November 17th. The production is scheduled to run through December 11th. Gordon Edelstein directs.

With HORSEDREAMS, Dael Orlandersmith has written a heartbreaking play that explores the breakdown of the family unit as a result of addiction. After his wife, Desiree, dies of an accidental overdose, Loman faces the harsh reality of raising their son, Luka, alone.

"I am thrilled that Rattlestick is doing my play and doing work that takes chances," says Ms. Orlandersmith. "They breathe new life into theater."

Joining Ms. Orlandersmith are Roxanna Hope (Frost/Nixon, Boeing Boeing), Michael Laurence (Talk Radio, Desire Under the Elms), and Matthew Schechter (Mary Poppins, Elf).

The creative team features Takeshi Kata (scenic design), Kaye Voyce (costume design), Marcus Doshi (lighting design), and Ryan Rumery (sound design). Sunneva Stapleton is Production Stage Manager and Andrew Slater is Assistant Stage Manager.

The performance schedule is as follows: Monday at 8pm, Wednesday - Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $55 and are available through TicketCentral.com/212- 279-4200.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater is a multi-award-winning company which has produced over fifty world premieres in the past sixteen seasons and was the recipient of the 2007 Ross Wetzsteon Memorial OBIE Award for its work developing new and innovative work. Rattlestick's Advisory Board participates in The Emerging Playwrights Project, which matches a new playwright with an established artist for an experienced eye and creative support. Playwright and artist mentors have included Edward Albee, Jon Robin Baitz, Zoe Caldwell, Arthur Kopit, Craig Lucas, Joe Mantello, Terrence McNally and Marsha Norman. Previous plays include Two Boys in a Bed, Message to Michael, Carpool, Volunteer Man, A Trip to the Beach, Ascendancy, Stuck, Vick's Boy, The Messenger, Saved or Destroyed, Neil's Garden, My Special Friend, Faster, Bliss, St. Crispin's Day, Where We're Born, Five Flights, Boise, Finer Noble Gases, God Hates The Irish: The Ballad of Armless Johnny, Miss Julie, Acts of Mercy: passion-play, Cagelove, It Goes Without Saying, Dark Matters, Stay, American Sligo, Rag and Bone, War, Geometry of Fire, That Pretty Pretty; or The Rape Play, The Amish Project, Killers and Other Family, Post No Bills, Blind, Little Doc, underneathmybed, There Are No More Big Secrets, The Hallway Trilogy, Carson McCullers Talks About Love, the Off-Broadway GLAAD Award-nominated hit The Last Sunday in June, Craig Wright's The Pavilion (Drama Desk nominee - Outstanding Play of 2005), Lady (Drama Desk nominee - Outstanding Play of 2008), The Aliens by Annie Baker (2010 Obie Award winner for Best New American Play) and Jesse Eisenberg's Asuncion, which is currently playing at The Cherry Lane Theatre.

Bios
Dael Orlandersmith (Playwright/Mira) is the author of the Obie Award-winning Beauty's Daughter and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in drama, Yellowman for which she was also nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Best Actress and Best Play. Other works include Stoop Stories, Bones, The Gimmick, Monster, and Liar, Liar. She is the recipient of numerous awards including most recently, the William Inge award for her play HORSEDREAMS. She will be doing a solo play in 2012 called Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men, which is a co-production between Berkeley Rep and the Goodman.

Gordon Edelstein (Director) has directed over a hundred plays, musicals, and operas all across the U.S. as well as Europe. His acclaimed Long Wharf Theatre production of the Glass Menagerie played at the Roundabout Theatre Company and the Mark Taper Forum and was the recipient of the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Revival. For the Roundabout he also directed the American Premiere of A Skull in Connemara by Martin McDonaugh and Harold Pinter's The Homecoming (with Roy Dotrice and Lindsay Crouse). Other NY work includes: Richard Nelson's Some Americans Abroad (Second Stage), the premiere of BFE by Julia Cho (Playwrights Horizons), The Day the Bronx Died by Michael Henry Brown, and many others. Upcoming projects include the Broadway production of Athol Fugard's The Road to Mecca (Roundabout), starring RoseMary Harris, Jim Dale and Carla Gugino, and the world premiere of Sophie's Choice (Long Wharf Theatre). He is in his tenth season as Artistic Director of Long Wharf Theatre (New Haven, CT) where he has recently begun an association with Athol Fugard, directing the premieres of his most recent work: Coming Home, Have You Seen Us? (starring Sam Waterston), and The Train Driver. Before Long Wharf, he served for five years as Artistic Director of ACT in Seattle. He has directed regionally from Washington, DC's Arena Stage to Alaska's Perseverance Theatre, including such plays as Uncle Vanya (also adapted), Mourning Becomes Electra (also adapted), The Crucible (Wall Street Journal Best Regional Production of the Year), Death of a Salesman, A Doll's House (also adapted), The Front Page, A Moon for the Misbegotten, We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!, Betrayal, Blithe Spirit, You Can't Take it With You, Hay Fever, and premieres of A Scent of the Roses (Julie Harris) and A New War by Gippe Hoppe. He recreated his production of The Day the Bronx Died with a British cast at London's Tricycle Theatre and he did the same for his production of The Crucible with a Romanian cast at The National Theatre in Romania. He directed both La Traviata and La Boheme for Connecticut Grand Opera and the world premiere of two operas: The Wild Goose Circus at Pennsylvania Opera Theatre and Black Water at the Opera America Festival.

Roxanna Hope (Desiree) Broadway: Frost/Nixon, Boeing Boeing (u/s), After the Fall, The Women; NY Theater: Mahida's Extra Key to Heaven, 1001, Arabian Night, Princess Turandot, Little Willy; Regional: Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey-Les Liaison Dangereuses, Richard III, Julius Caesar, Pericles; American Conservatory Theater-Tartuffe, Indian Ink, Hecuba, Williamstown Theater Festival-Hecuba; Huntington Theater, Westport Country Playhouse, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and others. Film/TV: Puncture, No Reservations, "Blue Bloods," "Unforgettable," "The Good Wife," "Law and Order SV," "Law and Order," " Law and Order CI," "All My Children," and others.

Michael Laurence (Loman) Broadway: Talk Radio, Desire Under the Elms. Off-Broadway: Krapp, 39 (Soho Playhouse/NYC & Tristan Bates Theatre/London, Drama Desk Nomination), Opus (Primary Stages), Diary of a Teenage Girl (New Georges/ 3LD), Two Rooms (Platform Group), Hands In Wartime (LaMama), Levittown (Axis), Tooth of Crime and Book of Days (Signature). ?Regional: John Proctor in The Crucible (Hartford Stage/ Gordon Edelstein, dir.), Starbuck in The Rainmaker (Arena), Eric Bogosian's Humpty Dumpty (McCarter), The Pavilion (Westport), The Faculty Room (Humana), Three Days of Rain (Studio Arena), Things of Dry Hours (Portland Center Stage), Wintertime (Wilma), Tape (Stamford), Inventing Van Gogh (Seattle Rep), Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare Theater). TV: "Damages," "The Good Wife," "The Heart She Holler," "Third Watch," "Johnny Zero," "FX," "GhostStories," and "What's Not To Love?" for SHOWTIME. Film: One For the Money (upcoming), Man On A Ledge (upcoming), The Operator, Follow Me Outside, Room314, Escape Artists, Claire Dolan, Torte Blume, Love God, Particles of Truth. Training: NYU's Experimental Theatre Wing.

Matthew Schechter (Luka) Broadway: Mary Poppins (Michael Banks), Waiting for Godot (Boy), Elf (little boy, Michael standby). Television: "30 Rock," "Law and Order," "Important Things with Demetri Martin," "Z Rock" (recurring), "PBS Kids," "Sesame Street." Matthew has also performed in the Children's Chorus of the New York City Opera's productions of Tosca and Cavalleria Rusticana. His CDs include the first complete recording of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Allegro, Ronan Tynan (for Smile Train) and Poetic License. Thanks to my teachers and Abrams Artists. Love to Mom and Dad.

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