Mark St. Germain's RELATIVITY Set as NNPN's 59th Rolling World Premiere

The National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, announces its 59th NNPN Rolling World Premiere (RWP): Relativity by Mark St. Germain. The Roll includes NNPN Core Members Florida Studio Theatre (Sarasota, FL, June 24-July 2) - which originally commissioned the play - and Riverside Theatre (Iowa City, IA, March 31-April 15, 2017), as well as Associate Members Taproot Theatre Company (Seattle, WA, March 26-April 29, 2017) and Northlight Theatre (Skokie, IL, May 11-June 18, 2017).

NNPN provides production support to the playwright and the partnering theaters, including assistance with the creation and the contracting of the premiere agreement, collaborative interactions between the theaters, and funds for the continued development of the play.

Florida Studio Theatre's Associate Artist, Jason Cannon, who will also direct their production in the RWP of Relativity, says, "The RWP program addresses the biggest obstacle new plays face: landing productions after the world premiere. By expanding and sharing the cache that comes with the label "world premiere," new plays are given significantly more time and support to reach an audience, polish rough edges, and grab the interest of other potential producers. This program makes it far less likely that a play will simply submerge after that world premiere, that it can indeed have an on-going life!"

In 1949, a young Albert Einstein had a child with his future wife, Mileva. After 1951 their daughter Lieserl was never heard of again. Years later, in residence at Princeton University, Einstein is visited by a Reporter determined to solve that mystery. What follows is the struggle between a man desperate to conceal the truth and a woman who has her own secrets. Relativity is a journey through one of the greatest minds in history as two adversaries grapple with the meaning of Family, Love and the Question, "Does a Great Man have to be a Good Man?"

Mark has written the plays Freud's Last Session (Off-Broadway Alliance Best Play), Becoming Dr. Ruth, Camping with Henry and Tom (Outer Critics Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award), Out of Gas on Lover's Leap, Best of Enemies, Forgiving Typhoid Mary (Time Magazine's "Year's Ten Best"), Ears on a Beatle, The God Committee, and Dancing Lessons.

Mark co-wrote the screenplay for Carroll Ballard's Warner Brothers film, Duma. He directed and co-produced the documentary, My Dog: An Unconditional Love Story. My Dog features Richard Gere, Lynn Redgrave and Glenn Close among many others. Television credits include Writer and Creative Consultant for The Cosby Show, and Dick Wolf's Lifestories and Crime and Punishment.

With Randy Courts, he has written the internationally produced musical The Gifts of the Magi, Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller, winner of an AT&T "New Plays for the Nineties" award and Jack's Holiday at Playwrights Horizons. His musical, Stand by Your Man: The Tammy Wynette Story was created for Nashville's Ryman Theater and has toured nationally. He co-wrote the libretto for Charles Strouse's American Tragedy.

Mark wrote the children's book Three Cups, illustrated by April Willy, published by Thomas Crown. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists, where he was given the Joe A. Callaway Award, a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Writer's Guild East and an Associate Artist of the Barrington Stage Company. He was awarded the "New Voices in American Theatre" award at the William Inge Theatre Festival. He is represented by Susan Gurman of the Gurman Agency.

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