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Home , Donmar Warehouse, Heidi Schreck, High Society (musical), La Jolla Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, Will Eno

Contact: Becky Biegelsen PRESS RELEASE (858) 228-3092 | [email protected]

LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE ANNOUNCES 2020/2021 SEASON

SLATE TO FEATURE TWO WORLD PREMIERES, A WIDELY-ACCLAIMED PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST AND A BROADWAY-BOUND MUSICAL

Bhangin’ It World Premiere Book by Mike Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza Music and Lyrics by Sam Willmott Directed by Amy Anders Corcoran

Mother Russia World Premiere By Lauren Yee Directed by Tyne Rafaeli

What the Constitution Means to Me By Heidi Schreck Directed by Oliver Butler

Lempicka Book and Lyrics by Carson Kreitzer Music by Matt Gould Directed by Rachel Chavkin Announced for Broadway in 2020/21

La Jolla, CA — announces four of six productions for its 2020/2021 season: the world premieres of Bhangin’ It, book by Mike Lew (Tiger Style!) and Rehana Lew Mirza (DNA New Work Series’ Child of Colonialism), music and lyrics by Sam Willmott, directed by Amy Anders Corcoran, co-produced with McCarter Center; and Mother Russia, by UC MFA alumna Lauren Yee (Cambodian Rock Band), directed by Tyne Rafaeli (The Coast Starlight); along with What the Constitution Means to Me, the acclaimed work by Pulitzer Prize finalist Heidi Schreck, directed by Oliver Butler; and the previously-announced, Broadway-bound musical Lempicka, book and lyrics by Carson Kreitzer, music by Matt Gould, directed by 2019 Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin (Broadway’s Hadestown).

The season will also include a new show directed by Christopher Ashley, the Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse, and a sixth production to be announced shortly. Tickets for the Playhouse’s 2020/2021 season are currently available only by subscription at LaJollaPlayhouse.org or by calling (858) 550-1010. --more--

(858) 550-1070 | 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037 | LaJollaPlayhouse.org

“I couldn’t be more proud of this exceptional season, featuring two vibrant new musicals and a pair of plays by two of the most decorated playwrights working today,” said Ashley. “Bhangin’ It explores the competitive world of intercollegiate Bhangra dance in a charming and infectious musical comedy, while Lempicka is a riveting new piece about one of the 20th century’s most compelling artists. We’re also delighted to welcome back UC San Diego graduate Lauren Yee with her latest work, a comedy about dealing with new-found freedoms in 1990s Russia, and to share with audiences Heidi Schreck’s celebrated Broadway hit – a deeply personal and incredibly moving play about the defining document of our country.”

About the 2020/2021 Season Bhangin’ It Book by Mike Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza Music and Lyrics by Sam Willmott Directed by Amy Anders Corcoran Co-Production with McCarter Theatre Center

Winner of the 2019 Richard Rodgers Award, Bhangin’ It is an exhilarating new musical set in the high stakes world of intercollegiate competitive Bhangra: a traditional Punjabi folk dance morphed into a ol' American dance-off. Mary, a biracial college student, thinks she's got all the right moves on the Bengal Tigers Bhangra team – but to teammate Preeti, she is just not “Indian enough.” When Mary is abruptly booted off the Tigers, she and her roommate Sunita put together a team whose only criteria for joining is a desire to dance. With Nationals coming up, can Mary whip this eclectic, ragtag group into shape to take on the competition? Brash, intoxicating and joyous, Bhangin' It is a celebration of the traditions we inherit from yesterday and those we create for tomorrow.

Mother Russia By Lauren Yee Directed by Tyne Rafaeli

Welcome to St. Petersburg in the 1990s – the Berlin Wall has fallen, the Soviet Union has dissolved and opportunity abounds. But barely-competent government surveillance workers Euvgeny and Dmitri find themselves lost in their strange new world of glasnost, perestroika and McDonald’s. When they’re assigned to track Katya, a fallen pop-star with international allure, a love triangle, mistaken identities and some really shoddy espionage tactics are set in motion. It’s possible they might just make it out of this mess and find happiness – if only they could make a decision. A world-premiere comedy about the curse of freedom and having to choose between the Filet-o-Fish and the Big Mac.

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(858) 550-1070 | 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037 | LaJollaPlayhouse.org What the Constitution Means to Me By Heidi Schreck Directed by Oliver Butler

Direct from Broadway, the 2019 Tony-nominated Best Play and Pulitzer Prize finalist What the Constitution Means to Me, by famed writer Heidi Schreck, arrives at La Jolla Playhouse for a strictly limited engagement. This boundary-breaking play breathes new life into our Constitution and imagines how it will shape the next generation of Americans. Fifteen-year-old Heidi earned her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the . In this hilarious, hopeful and achingly-human new play, she resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between four generations of women and the founding document that shaped their lives. Schreck’s timely and galvanizing play, directed by Oliver Butler, became a sensation off-Broadway last fall before transferring to Broadway, where it received two Tony Award nominations among countless other accolades. See the play hails as "not just the best play on Broadway, but also the most important." Casting for What the Constitution Means to Me will be announced at a later date.

Lempicka Book and Lyrics by Carson Kreitzer Music by Matt Gould Directed by Rachel Chavkin

Amid the violence of the Russian Revolution, a young painter named Tamara de Lempicka and her aristocrat husband are forced to abandon their luxurious lifestyle and flee to the dubious safety of Paris. Relying on raw talent and relentless ambition, Tamara claws her way from penniless refugee to in-demand portraitist, earning a place among Parisian high society. Her world is upended once again when she meets Rafaela, a free spirit from the city slums, who introduces Tamara to a new world of decadence and . Torn between her new muse and her husband and fighting to leave her mark on an ever-changing world, Tamara must discover the depths of her own strength to survive. Spanning decades of political turmoil and told through a thrilling, pop-infused score, Lempicka boldly explores the contradictions of a world in crisis, a woman ahead of her era, and an artist whose time has finally come. The world premiere of Lempicka was originally produced in July 2018 by the Williamstown Theatre Festival; Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director.

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(858) 550-1070 | 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037 | LaJollaPlayhouse.org Artist Biographies Christopher Ashley has served as La Jolla Playhouse’s Artistic Director since 2007. During his tenure, he has helmed the Playhouse’s productions of The Squirrels, Hollywood, The Darrell Hammond Project, His Girl Friday, , A Dram of Drummhicit, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Restoration and the musicals Diana, which has been announced for a Broadway opening in March, 2020, along with Escape to Margaritaville, Freaky Friday, Chasing the Song, Xanadu, , which won four 2010 including Best Musical, and , for which he won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical and the Craig Noel Award for Direction. He also spearheaded the Playhouse’s Without Walls (WOW) series and the Resident Theatre program. Prior to joining the Playhouse, he directed productions of Xanadu (Drama Desk nomination), All Shook Up and The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), as well as the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration productions of Sweeney Todd and Merrily We Roll Along. Other New York credits include: Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards), The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla, Regrets Only, Wonder of the World, Communicating Doors, Bunny Bunny, The Night Hank Williams Died and Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award), among others. Ashley also directed the feature films Jeffrey and Lucky Stiff, as well as the American Playhouse production of Blown Sideways Through Life for PBS. He is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award, Drama League Director Fellowship and NEA/TCG Director Fellowship.

Oliver Butler (Director, What the Constitution Means to Me) is a founder and co-Artistic Director of The Debate Society. He recently directed the Broadway premiere of What the Constitution Means to Me (Tony, Lucille Lortel, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and nominations; finalist for the ), the west coast Premiere of Will Eno's Thom Pain (based on nothing) starring Rainn Wilson at The Geffen Playhouse, Thom Pain (based on nothing) starring Michael C. Hall at the Signature Theatre and The Amateurs by Jordan Harrison at The Vineyard. Regional productions include Itamar Moses’s The Whistleblower at Denver Center, Christopher Shinn's An Opening in Time at Hartford Stage and Daniel Goldfarb's Legacy at Williamstown Theatre Festival. In Australia he directed the premiere of Timeshare by Lally Katz at The Malthouse in Melbourne. He also directed the premiere of Will Eno’s The Open House ( for Direction; Lortel Award, Best Play) at the Signature Theatre Company. He is a Sundance Institute Fellow and a Bill Foeller Fellow (Williamstown).

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(858) 550-1070 | 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037 | LaJollaPlayhouse.org Rachel Chavkin (Director, Lempicka) received the 2019 Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Director of a Musical for Hadestown. She is a director, writer and dramaturg, as well as the founding Artistic Director of -based ensemble the TEAM (theteamplays.org), whose work has been seen all over and the UK, including the National Theatre, Royal Court and multiple collaborations with the National Theatre of Scotland. Selected freelance work: Dave Malloy's Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Ars Nova, A.R.T., Broadway), Lempicka (Williamstown), 's Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (New York Theatre Workshop), Marco Ramirez’s The Royale (Old Globe, Lincoln Center), Bess Wohl’s Small Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova, Off-Broadway, national tour), Sarah Gancher’s I’ll Get You Back Again (Round House) and multiple collaborations with Taylor Mac including The Lily's Revenge, Act 2 (HERE). In addition to her awards for Hadestown, Chavkin is a recipient of a Tony Award nomination for Best Direction of a Musical, three Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award, multiple Lortel Award nominations, two Doris Duke Impact Award nominations and the 2017 Smithsonian Award for Ingenuity along with Dave Malloy, with whom she is working on an upcoming adaptation of Moby Dick (A.R.T. December 2019). Her first film, Remind Me, was an official selection of the Venice and Beverly Hills Film Festivals. Proud NYTW Usual Suspect and Member of SDC.

Amy Anders Corcoran (Director, Bhangin’ It) was the associate/resident director of Escape to Margaritaville for Christopher Ashley on the pre-Broadway tour and on Broadway, and directed the national tour which opened in Providence, RI in October. She also served as Mr. Ashley’s Associate Director on Disney’s Freaky Friday. Corcoran directs mostly new musicals, including the NYC off-Broadway and London premieres of Unexpected Joy. Her work has also been seen at Asolo Rep, Guthrie Theatre, Goodspeed, NAMT and American Conservatory Theater. Favorite directing credits include 21 Chump Street (European premiere), I Am My Own Wife (NYC site- specific production), Little Women, Smokey Joe’s Café and CULT!. Corcoran received the SDC Noël Coward Fellowship for Comedic Direction, mentored by Mark Rucker. A proud member of SDC, she holds a B.A. in Psychology with Honors from the University of Kansas and an M.F.A. in Directing from Penn State.

Matt Gould (Composer, Lempicka) is a two-time Richard Rodgers Award winner (2012 and 2014) and Jonathan Larson Award winner. His musical Witness Uganda (aka Invisible Thread), written with Griffin Matthews, had its NY premier at Second Stage Theater and its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard. His original musical Lempicka, written with Carson Kreitzer, premiered at the Williamstown Theater Festival in 2018. Other works include The Family Project for LA’s and Twilight in Manchego (directed by Tony Winner Billy Porter). Gould has written and arranged music for Playwrights Horizons and translated, adapted and directed Romeo and Juliet in Pulaar (Mauritania, West Africa). Matt has performed around the world including Uganda, Mauritania and Japan, and across the US. A graduate of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, Matt is a frequent speaker and guest lecturer at schools and Universities. He is the co-director of UgandaProject but mostly just wants to be home with his husband and kid watching Sesame Street and walking the dogs. #Zaddy @FakeMattGould

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(858) 550-1070 | 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037 | LaJollaPlayhouse.org Carson Kreitzer (Librettist/Lyricist, Lempicka) is a playwright, lyricist, librettist and a recent Guggenheim, MacDowell and McKnight Fellow. Current projects include Capital Crime!, a play with songs set in Gilded Age New York, and a series of plays about the climate crisis: green, Timebomb and a third play inspired by her time on a ship in the Arctic, exploring the Svalbard Archipelago as part of The Arctic Circle Artist and Scientist Residency Program. Her plays include The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Rosenthal New Play Prize, Steinberg New Play Citation and Stavis Award), The Slow Drag (New York and London) and Lasso of Truth (NNPN Rolling World Premiere). She is a Core Writer with The Playwrights’ Center, an alumna of New Dramatists and was the first Playwrights of New York (PoNY) Fellow at the Lark. Her collection SELF DEFENSE and other plays is available from No Passport Press.

Mike Lew (Co-Librettist, Bhangin’ It) is beyond thrilled to return to La Jolla Playhouse, his hometown theatre. Previous collaborations with the Playhouse include serving as the 2018/19 Artist-in-Residence and a commission for The Colonialism Project (both with Rehana Lew Mirza), and the west coast premiere of his play Tiger Style! (also at Olney, Huntington and Alliance). His other plays include Teenage Dick (Ma-Yi at the Public, Donmar Warehouse, Wooly Mammoth, Artists Rep); Bike America (Ma-Yi, Alliance) and microcrisis (Ma-Yi, InterAct, Next Act). He and Ms. Lew Mirza are joint Mellon Foundation Playwrights-in-Residence at Ma-Yi Theater. Mike is a Dramatists Guild Council member, Tony voter and New Dramatists resident. Honors: Lark Venturous and NYFA fellowships; PEN, Lanford Wilson, Helen Merrill, Heideman and Kendeda awards. Education: Juilliard, Yale.

Rehana Lew Mirza’s (Co-Librettist, Bhangin’ It) previous collaborations with La Jolla Playhouse include serving as the 2018/19 Artist-in-Residence and a commission for The Colonialism Project (both with Mike Lew). Her plays include: Hatefuck (2019 production at Colt Coeur and WP Theater; upcoming production at Round House in 2020); A People’s Guide to History in the Time of Here and Now (Primary Stages commission; workshop production: AMDA); Soldier X (productions: Ma-Yi, Brooklyn College; 2015 Kilroys List; NYSCA/Lark commission); Tomorrow, Inshallah (Storyworks/HuffPost commission; production: Living Room Theater, Kansas City); Neighborhood Watch (NNPN/ InterAct commission); and Barriers (productions: Desipina, Asian American Theater Company). Honors include: 2019 NYFA Fellow, Colt Coeur Company member, HBO Access Fellow, Lilly Award (Stacey Mindich “Go Write A Play”) and a TCG/New Georges Fellowship. She and Mike also share a Mellon Foundation National Playwright residency administered in partnership with Howlround at Ma-Yi Theater. M.F.A.: Columbia University; B.F.A.: NYU Tisch.

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(858) 550-1070 | 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037 | LaJollaPlayhouse.org Tyne Rafaeli (Director, Mother Russia) recently directed La Jolla Playhouse’s world-premiere of Keith Bunin’s The Coast Starlight. She is a New York-based director of new plays, classics and musicals. Recent productions include Ming Peiffer's Usual Girls at Roundabout Theater Company (New York Times Critics’ Pick), Craig Lucas' I Was Most Alive with You at Playwrights Horizons (New York Times Critics’ Pick), ’s Ironbound and the world premieres of Anna Ziegler’s Actually and Amanda Peet’s Our Very Own Carlin McCullough at Geffen Playhouse, Michael Yates Crowley’s The Rape of the Sabine Women at The Playwrights Realm, and the New York premiere of Lauren Yee’s In a Word (New York Times Critics’ Pick). Her work has also been seen at Classic Stage Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company, Two River Theater, PlayMakers Rep, New York Stage & Film, Goodspeed, Juilliard, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, American Players Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival and the O'Neill Playwrights Conference. Tyne is a 2016-18 Time Warner Directing Fellow at the Women's Project Theater and received the 2014 SDC Sir John Gielgud Fellowship for Classic Direction.

Heidi Schreck (Playwright, What the Constitution Means to Me) is a writer and performer living in Brooklyn. What the Constitution Means to Me was recently named a Pulitzer Prize finalist and won the Obie Award and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play. Schreck also received two Tony Award nominations for What the Constitution Means to Me for Best Play and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play, and received the 2019 Benjamin Hadley Danks Award from the Academy of Arts and Letters. Her play Grand Concourse, which debuted at Playwrights Horizons and Steppenwolf Theatre in 2014–2015, won the Stacey Mindich Lilly Award in 2015 and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Screenwriting credits include I Love Dick, Billions and Nurse Jackie. Schreck has also taught playwriting and screenwriting at NYU, Columbia, Kenyon College, and Primary Stages. She has received three Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and a . She is also the recipient of the Horton Foote Playwriting Award and the Hull-Warriner Award from the Dramatists Guild.

Sam Willmott’s (Composer/Lyricist, Bhangin It) projects include Yo, Vikings! and the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre's Wake Up, Daisy! (both with Marcus Stevens); the Emmy-nominated HBO documentary Song of Parkland, Standardized Testing – The Musical!!!! and the mini-musical Scarlet Takes a Tumble. His written work has received the Kleban Prize, the Award, a Jonathan Larson Grant, the ASCAP Foundation’s and Harold Adamson Awards, MAC’s John Wallowitch Award, and the Kennedy Center ACTF Musical Theater Award. He has written over 150 songs for the Korean English-language children’s program, English Egg, and taught at Harvard University, Pace University’s Musical Theater BFA, and Lincoln Center’s Songwriting in Schools Program. SamWillmott.com.

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(858) 550-1070 | 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037 | LaJollaPlayhouse.org Lauren Yee’s (Playwright, Mother Russia) Cambodian Rock Band, with music by Dengue Fever, will be produced at La Jolla Playhouse November 12 – December 15. It premiered at South Coast Rep, with subsequent productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Victory Gardens, City Theatre, Merrimack Rep, Signature Theatre, Portland Center Stage and Jungle Theatre. Her play The Great Leap has been produced at the Denver Center, Seattle Repertory, Atlantic Theater, , American Conservatory Theater, Arts Club, InterAct Theatre and Steppenwolf, with future productions at Long Wharf and Asolo Rep/Miami New Drama. Honors include the Doris Duke Artists Award, Steinberg Playwright Award, Whiting Award, Steinberg/ ATCA Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters literature award, Horton Foote Prize, Kesselring Prize, Primus Prize, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton and the #1 and #2 plays on the 2017 Kilroys List. She's a Residency 5 playwright at Signature Theatre, New Dramatists member, Ma-Yi Writers’ Lab member and Playwrights Realm alumna playwright. Her TV work includes Pachinko (Apple) and Soundtrack (Netflix). She is currently under commission from Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Second Stage and South Coast Rep. B.A.: Yale. M.F.A.: UC San Diego. laurenyee.com

McCarter Theatre Center (Co-Producer, Bhangin’ It) Under the leadership of award-winning playwright and Artistic Director , Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg, and Special Programming Director William W. Lockwood, McCarter Theatre Centre’s mission is to create world-class theater and present the finest artists for the community’s engagement, education, and entertainment. Winner of the 1994 Tony Award® for Outstanding Regional Theatre, world premieres include Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (2013 Tony® – Best Play); Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays; Emily Mann’s Having Our Say; and ’s The Convert. Upcoming productions for 2019-2020 include Rachel Bonds’ Goodnight Nobody; Anthony Shaffer’s murder mystery, Sleuth; and Nathan Alan Davis’ The Refuge Plays. McCarter brings artists from around the world to Princeton, New Jersey including Andy Borowitz, The Moth Mainstage, Gregory Porter, Roseanne Cash, and more. Education and outreach efforts serve tens of thousands through student matinees, in-school residencies, and adult classes. mccarter.org.

La Jolla Playhouse is a place where artists and audiences come together to create what’s new and next in the American theatre, from Tony Award-winning productions, to imaginative programs for young audiences, to interactive experiences outside our theatre walls. Currently led by Tony Award winner Christopher Ashley, the Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse, and Managing Director Debby Buchholz, the Playhouse was founded in 1947 by , Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer. Renowned for its development of new plays and musicals, as well as its biennial Without Walls (WOW) Festival, the Playhouse has mounted 103 world premieres, commissioned 52 new works, and sent 33 productions to Broadway – among them , The Who’s Tommy, Memphis, the currently-running hit musical Come From Away and the upcoming Diana, set to open in March, 2020 – garnering a total of 38 Tony Awards, plus the 1993 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. The Playhouse is also one of the few in the country to annually commission and tour a brand-new play for young audiences. LaJollaPlayhouse.org. # # #

(858) 550-1070 | 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037 | LaJollaPlayhouse.org