National New Play Network Announces 32nd Rolling World Premiere: WOLVES by Steve Yockey

The NATIONAL NEW PLAY NETWORK (NNPN), the country's alliance of non-profit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, announces its 32nd Rolling World Premiere: Steve Yockey's Wolves will receive four productions through the Network's Continued Life of New Plays Fund in the 2012/13 season, the Network's 15th. Wolves will begin its Rolling World Premiere at Actor's Express (Atlanta, GA, November 8 – December 2, 2012), followed by performances at Southern Rep (New Orleans, LA, November 14 – 25, 2012), Stray Cat Theatre (Tempe, AZ, November 30 – December 16, 2012), and Celebration Theatre (LOS ANGELES, CA, March 8 - May 1, 2013).

ABOUT THE PLAY
In Wolves, two men's folie à deux overtakes their small apartment and spills out onto city streets. When ex-boyfriend Jack brings a strange man home to woodland-obsessed Ben's apartment, the Narrator can barely keep a lid on the looming violence. This "deconstruction" of the Little Red Riding Hood story is a darkly comic, predatory fairy tale for adults that explores the conflation of sex and fear in modern culture, the comfort of lava lamps, and the dangers of a handy axe.

ABOUT STEVE YOCKEY
Steve Yockey is a roaming member of Atlanta's Out of Hand Theater. His work has been produced throughout the country and in Asia. Large Animal Games, Octopus, CARTOON, subculture (collected short plays) and Very Still & Hard to See are published & available from Samuel French. Last season: afterlife: a ghost story co-world premiered at Southern Rep in New Orleans (dir. Aimee Hayes) and New Rep in Boston (dir. Kate Warner), Heavier than... premiered at the Boston Court in Pasadena (dir. Abigail Desser) and Bellwether premiered at Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley, CA (dir. Ryan Rilette). This season: the sex farce The Fisherman's Wife will open in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Other plays include: Pluto, Wonder, The Thrush & The Woodpecker, and Feverish. Steve is a Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of Georgia and holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts (2008). After completing a yearlong National New Play Network residency at Marin Theatre Company, he now lives in LOS ANGELES, CA where he serves as an adjunct professor in the MFA Writing for Performance program at CalArts. He is the creator and co-executive producer of the Sony Pictures Television project Teeth and is currently adapting the Tama Janowitz novel Slaves of New York into a series for Sony/Wet Dog Entertainment/Killer Films.

ABOUT THE CONTINUED LIFE OF NEW PLAYS FUND
NNPN's flagship program, the Continued Life of New Plays Fund supports three or more theaters which choose to mount the same new play within a twelve-month period. The result is a Rolling World Premiere through which the playwright develops a new work with multiple creative teams, for multiple communities of patrons, ensuring the resulting play is of the highest possible quality. And with a minimum of three productions in a single year, the play attains the momentum it needs to join the repertoire of frequently-produced new American works. NNPN provides grants of $7,000 to the first three participating theaters in each Rolling World Premiere; to date, NNPN has championed the continued life of 32 new plays in over 100 productions, with over a quarter-million dollars in grants.

ABOUT ACTOR'S EXPRESS
Founded in 1988, Actor's Express is one of the most daring theatres in the Southeast. Presenting provocative work meant to jumpstart individual transformations, AE maintains a strong commitment to the development and production of new plays, and to nurturing emerging theatre artists. Consistently praised for the quality of its work, AE has been called Atlanta's "most vital theatrical venue" (Creative Loafing). Under the leadership of Artistic Director Freddie Ashley and Executive Director Nan Barnett, AE strives to catalyze dialogue essential to the vitality of our city and to enhance Atlanta's reputation nationally as a thriving center for live performance.

ABOUT SOUTHERN REP
Southern Rep Theatre enters its 26th Season as the regions premiere professional theatre and continues to produce bold world and regional premieres under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director, Aimée Hayes. In addition to Southern Rep's ongoing commitment to new play development with exciting programs like the 6X6 Play Slam and its PlayLab, DEBAUCHERY, and our new play award for women of color playwrights, The Ruby Prize, the company's Mainstage work includes the best of Broadway, off-Broadway and classic plays. Southern Rep Theatre offers educational programs such as YO NOLA, an in-school theatre company; free student matinees; $10 student rush tickets; and Academy SRT; as well as providing an artistic home to new works in development in the annual NEW PLAY BACCHANAL.

ABOUT STRAY CAT THEATRE
Decidedly off the beaten path, Stray Cat is indie theatre at its best: quirky, edgy and irreverent. Stray Cat Theatre scratches the Valley's itch for a visceral, provocative theatre experience for culture-savvy cats who crave something beyond the standard kitty chow. Consistent with our mission, Stray Cat is committed to aggressively seeking out and showcasing the most vital contemporary material.

ABOUT Celebration Theatre
Founded in 1982 by gay rights pioneer Chuck Rowland, one of the founding Members of The Mattachine Society, Celebration Theatre is proud to be producing its 30th anniversary season as Los Angeles's only community-based professional theatre company endeavoring to accurately represent the LGBT community. For the past three decades, Celebration Theatre has been embraced by both the Los Angeles theatre and LGBT communities as evidenced with the recent 16 Ovation nominations for their 29th season while also being awarded the 2012 Pat Parker Cultural Arts Award by Christopher Street West and LA Pride. Celebration Theatre serves not only as a theatre but also as a champion, mentor and friend to those who look to their institution for answers and solace. It's a responsibility gladly taken in order to honor the legacy of those who've gone before us, those who work tirelessly with the company today and those who will take up the banner of Celebration Theatre in the future.

ABOUT NNPN
The National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country's alliance of non-profit professional theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has commissioned almost two dozen playwrights, provided nineteen MFA graduates with paid residencies, and supported more than 100 productions nationwide through its innovative Continued Life of New Plays Fund, which creates "rolling world premieres" of new plays. Hundreds of artists have gained employment through these efforts in the dozens of regions of the country where NNPN member theaters are located. NNPN receives substantial support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Shubert Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Network is comprised of a relatively small group of Core Members, who pioneer and implement collaborative new play strategies, and a growing group of Associate Members, who disseminate the Network's programs and strategies nationwide.

NNPN's Core Member theaters are: Actor's Express Theatre (Atlanta), Actor's Theatre of Charlotte (Charlotte, NC), Borderlands Theater (Tucson), Curious Theatre Company (Denver), Florida Studio Theatre (Sarasota), Fountain Theatre (LA), Horizon Theatre Company (Atlanta), InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia), Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas), Magic Theatre (San Francisco), Marin Theatre Company (Mill Valley, CA), Mixed Blood Theatre Company (Minneapolis), New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch), New Repertory Theatre (Watertown, MA), New Theatre (Coral Gables, FL), Orlando Shakespeare Theater (Orlando), Performance Network Theatre (Ann Arbor, MI), Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis), Playwright's Theatre of New Jersey (Madison), Prop Thtr Group (Chicago), Riverside Theatre (Iowa City, IA), Salt Lake Acting Company (Salt Lake City), San Diego REPertory Theatre (San Diego), Southern Rep (New Orleans), Unicorn Theatre (Kansas City, MO), and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Washington, DC).

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