Playco Announces THE WILDNESS Idea Lab Programming

The Play Company's (PlayCo) Idea Lab series complements the productions in their 2016 season by bringing together artists, scholars, writers and community leaders for stand-alone events to examine themes raised in the shows. Following performances of the world premiere of The Wildness, a co-produced with Ars Nova, Playco will present three post show events over three Thursdays, March 3, 10 & 17.

Each conversation will be organized around a specific theme - March 3, Faith; March 10, Doubt; and March 17, Uncertainty. March 3 will feature Obie Award winner Kyle Jarrow, Drama Desk Award winner Lauren Worsham, and record producer Michael Tudor - Rob Weinert-Kendt, editor-in-chief of American Theatre will host. March 10 will feature Brooklyn-based DJ Rebecca Birmingham, The Wildness director Sam Buntrock and Futurity composer César Alvarez. March 17 will feature sound designer, composer and music therapist Katie Down and host Mark Blankenship from Theatre Development Fund. Other guests will include cast members and members of the artistic team of The Wildness.

All Ideas Lab conversations will be held at Ars Nova, 511 West 54th Street, immediately following the performance and all are free and open to the public. It is not required to attend the performance the same day as the post-show conversation. The Wildness runs approximately 90 minutes.

For the discussions each guest will bring a self-selected song responding the title theme. Those songs will be played and the evening's conversation will move back and forth from the shared song, the evening's theme, and the show. The discussion will also include suggested songs and input from the audience. As a follow-up, PlayCo will create an online playlist that includes an opportunity for audience members to continue suggesting additions.

For The Wildness, PlayCo joins forces with award-winning, adventurous Ars Nova and Brooklyn-based band Sky-Pony on a new rock-theater-event, directed by Tony nominee Sam Buntrock (Sunday in the Park with George). A collaboration between singer/actress Lauren Worsham (Drama Desk Award winner and Tony Award nominee, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder), and her musician/writer husband Kyle Jarrow (Obie Award winner, A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant). Sky-Pony is beloved for its lush, cheeky sound and high-energy performance style.

This productionincludes Choreography by Chase Brock (Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark), Scenic Design by Kris Stone, Costume Design by Tilly Grimes (Eager to Lose), Lighting Design by Brian Tovar (Drama Desk nominee: tamar of the river), Sound Design by Tim O'Heir (Tony Award nominee: Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Projection Design by Alex Basco Koch (Buyer & Cellar), Props Design by Sara Morgan and Music Direction by Wiley DeWeese.

About the Artists

Sky-Pony serves up lush, lyrical, often cheeky indie-pop with a healthy dose of theatrics. Formed in 2012, they've established a cult following for their raucous live shows incorporating costumes, choreography and projections: a performance aesthetic that blurs the line between concert, theater and carnival. The Wall Street Journal calls them "tight, fierce, hilarious and out of their minds." Pop Dose calls them "Adventurous, melodic, weird and absolutely brilliant." The Brooklyn-based collective is fronted by singer/actress Lauren Worsham (Drama Desk Award winner and Tony Award nominee), and the songs are penned by her musician/writer husband Kyle Jarrow (Obie Award winner). The lineup is rounded out by six other musician-performers. Sky-Pony's debut LP Beautiful Monster was released by Knitting Factory Records on December 4, 2015. More info at sky-pony.com.

César Alvarez is a New York-based composer, lyricist and writer. Recent composition credits: FUTURITY directed by Sarah Benson (Soho Rep/Ars Nova, A.R.T, Walker Art Center, Mass MoCA); Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' An Octoroon (Soho Rep, TFANA. Drama Desk Nomination); Washeteria (Soho Rep); The Foundry Theater's Good Person of Szechwan (LaMaMa, Public Theater. Drama Desk Nomination); Mac Wellman's 3 2's; or AFAR (Dixon Place), Full Still Hungry for Contra-Tiempo (Ford Amphitheater, Dance Motion USA). In development: The Universe is a Small Hat, a multi-player participatory musical (Berkeley Rep Ground Floor, Civilians R&D Group, PRELUDE NYC, Babycastles, Sarah Lawrence College), The Elementary Spacetime Show (Ars Nova Uncharted, EST/Sloan Commission, Polyphone) and Castro with Lucas Hnath (Berkeley Rep Ground Floor and Space at Ryder Farm). César is an Artist-in-Residence at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the Artistic Director of Polyphone, a festival of the emerging musical at UArts.www.musicisfreenow.org.

Mark Blankenship As Theatre Development Fund's Associate Director of Online Presence, Mark Blankenship edits the online magazine TDF Stages, produces and directs the documentary film series Meet the Theatre, and produces the Theatre Dictionary, which creates short films to define theatre lingo. He has written for The New York Times, NPR, American Theatre, OUT Magazine, and many others, and in 2015 he lived the nerd dream of competing on Jeopardy. He is a graduate of Emory University and the Yale School of Drama.

Sam Buntrock's directing credits include Sunday in the Park With George - Broadway, West End, Menier and 5th Avenue Seattle (Tony, Olivier and Drama Desk Nominations for Best Director), Turn of the Screw at BAM (New York City Opera), the current European tour of The Rocky Horror Show(since 2008), the World Premiere of John Guare's Are You There, McPhee? and Travesties(both McCarter, as Director in Residence), Ed, Downloaded by Michael Mitnick (Denver Center), The A to Z of Mrs P (Southwark Playhouse), Much AdoAbout Nothing (Two River), A Maze (New York Stage & Film), Cradle and All (MTC), McReele (Juilliard), Lenny Henry's Cradle to Rave (UK & Australian National Tours), God Collar (Edinburgh, UK National Tour and West End), the World and American Premieres of Take Flight (Menier and McCarter), the first London revival of Assassins (New End), Get a Life and Help Yourself (both Edinburgh and UK tour). He has also worked as an Animation Director on numerous projects, including the feature film Stuart, A Life Backwards for Neal Street Productions, HBO and the BBC. His multi-award winning live action short Recursion (Director, Editor & Producer) screened at 24 international film festivals throughout 2014 (including 2 Oscar qualifiers). His second live action short, Fetch, is currently in post-production. Sam trained at Bristol University and as Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse. He is Creative Director at IONIC Design Group.

Katie Down is a musician who composes, performs and creates sound scores for theatre, film, and dance. Recent theatrical sound design work includes Jessica Dickey's Charles Ives Take Me Homeat City Theatre, Pittsburgh, Roland Schimmelpfennig's The Golden Dragon with Play Company(for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award), Toshiki Okada's Zero Cost Housewith Pig Iron Theatre, Aditi Kapil's Agnes Under the Big Topat Long Wharf Theatre (for which she won the Connecticut Critics Circle Award). As a multi-instrumentalist, she performs regularly with NewBorn Trio, The Ukuladies and Sofie Salonika and has traveled to the Balkans, South Africa and Ecuador for the past 10 years creating workshops in song writing and improvisation for young people in post-conflict regions, providing opportunities for music to be an agent for healing and connection.

Kyle Jarrow is a writer and musician who creates work for the stage, film and television. He won an OBIE Award for his play A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant. Other plays include Noir and Whisper House (both written with Duncan Sheik), Love Kills, Gorilla Man and Hostage Song (written with Clay McLeod Chapman). Kyle penned the film Armless, which was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival. He's developed television projects for FOX, USA, FX and MTV networks. Current projects include Broadway-bound The SpongeBob Musical (with director Tina Landau) and The Drop for the CW network (with director RJ Cutler and DJ Steve Angello). More info on Kyle at landoftrust.com.

Michael Tudor has worn many hats in the recording studio. Primarily, he is a producer, mixer, and recording engineer. Michael is also a mastering engineer, musician, and studio owner. Artists Michael has worked with include Moby, Duncan Sheik, John Cale, and The New York Dolls. Theater projects include Spring Awakening, and the upcoming American Psycho. Film projects include Girl Fight, and A Home at the End of the World. Michael's production room, Mama's Place Prod. is located near Woodstock, NY.

Rob Weinert-Kendt is editor-in-chief of American Theatre. He was the founding editor-in-chief of Back Stage West and cofounder of StageGrade, and he writes about theatre for The New York Times, America magazine and his blog The Wicked Stage. He studied film at USC and is a composer member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.

Lauren Worsham is a Drama Desk Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated actress and singer. She originated the role of Phoebe in A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder (2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical). Other favorite roles include Lisa in Dog Days at Montclair Peak Performances, Fort Worth Opera and LA Opera (dir. Robert Woodruff), Flora in Turn of the Screw at New York City Opera (dir. Sam Buntrock), Amy in Where's Charley at New York City Center (dir. John Doyle), Cunegonde in New York City Opera's Candide and Olive in the first National tour of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. In addition to her work in theater and opera, Lauren performs in concert frequently, including shows at Carnegie Hall, Caramoor, Merkin Hall, Oregon Bach Festival, Joe's Pub, Galapagos Art Space and New York City Opera's VOX Program. Lauren was second-place award winner of the Kurt Weill Foundation's Lotte Lenya competition. She is the co-founder and executive director of the downtown opera company, The Coterie.

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