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Home , ACT Theatre, American Playhouse, Craig Noel, Donmar Warehouse, Heidi Schreck, Obie Award

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

LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE FINALIZES 2020/2021 SEASON WITH WORLD PREMIERES BY KIMBER LEE AND

SEASON ALSO FEATURES NEW WITHOUT WALLS (WOW) PIECE BY 2020/2021 ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE DAVID ISRAEL REYNOSO

La Jolla, CA – is pleased to announce the final two productions for its 2020/2021 season: the world premieres of to the yellow house, by Kimber Lee (tokyo fish story), directed by former Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Neel Keller (School for Wives, Light Up the Sky), running July 14 – August 9; and Guilty Pleasure, by Paul Rudnick (Jeffrey; screenplays for , In & Out), directed by (Come From Away, Diana), the Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse. Produced in association with Diversionary , Guilty Pleasure will run November 8 – December 6.

The Playhouse also announces that renowned immersive artist and award-winning scenic and costume designer David Israel Reynoso (WOW Festival productions of Las Quinceañeras and Waking La Llorona, as as designer for Queens, Tiger Style!, among others) has been named the 2020/2021 Artist-in- Residence. During his residency, Reynoso will be creating a new piece for the Playhouse’s acclaimed Without Walls (WOW) Series of site-based and immersive theatre. The Playhouse’s Artist-in-Residence program is designed to give artists the freedom to focus on their ongoing body of work, while becoming fully immersed in all aspects of the institution, from the stage to the boardroom to the classroom.

“I’ve wanted to share Paul Rudnick’s work with Playhouse audiences ever since I arrived here twelve years ago. After working together on numerous plays, it’s a delight to collaborate again on the world premiere of his deliciously wicked new comedy, which we’ll be producing in association with our friends at Diversionary Theatre. I’m also eager to welcome Kimber Lee to the Playhouse with her riveting piece that explores an artist on the cusp of finding his brilliance,” said Ashley. “Additionally, it’s a pleasure to bring Playhouse favorite David Israel Reynoso on board as our next Artist-in-Residence. His past WOW Festival productions have beguiled audiences with their stunning and ethereal immersive environments, and I can’t wait to see his next project evolve at the Playhouse this season.”

These works join the Playhouse’s previously-announced 2020/2021 season productions of Lempicka (May 19 – June 28), -bound musical featuring book and lyrics by Carson Kreitzer, music by Matt Gould, and direction by 2019 Tony Award winner (Hadestown); What the Constitution Means to Me (September 1 – 27), by Pulitzer Prize finalist , directed by Oliver Butler; the world premiere of Mother Russia (September 8 – October 4), by UC MFA alumna Lauren Yee (Cambodian Rock Band), directed by Tyne Rafaeli (The Coast Starlight); and the world-premiere musical Bhangin’ It (February 16 – March 28, 2021), book by Mike Lew (Tiger Style!) and Rehana Lew Mirza (DNA Series’ Child of Colonialism), music and lyrics by Sam Willmott, and directed by Amy Anders Corcoran.

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

About the 2020/2021 Season

Lempicka

Book and Lyrics by Carson Kreitzer Music by Matt Gould Directed by Rachel Chavkin May 19 – June 28

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.

to the yellow house – world premiere

By Kimber Lee Directed by Neel Keller July 14 – August 9

February, 1886. Vincent Van Gogh is broke again. Trailing past due notices and annoyed innkeepers, he arrives unexpectedly at his brother's doorstep in Montmartre determined to make another fresh start. Caught in the colorful whirl of the Parisian art scene, he drinks too much, falls in love with the wrong woman, argues with everyone – and paints. he works to translate what he feels onto the canvas, relentlessly chasing a new form of expression that seems to be always around the next corner. But at what point in an endless cycle of failures do faith and persistence become delusion and foolishness? A meditation on love, art and not being popular.

(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 September 1 – 27

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.

Mother Russia – world premiere

By Lauren Yee Directed by Tyne Rafaeli September 8 – October 4

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.

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

Guilty Pleasure – world premiere

By Paul Rudnick Directed by Christopher Ashley In Association with Diversionary Theatre November 8 – December 6

Bethany’s life as a middle-aged, midwestern housewife comes to a crashing halt when her husband suddenly announces he’s leaving her for a woman named Kelli-Amber. Shell-shocked, Bethany finds solace in her secret hobby – penning gay erotica. When her playful fantasies of lover pirates, star-crossed congressmen and clowns with marital issues become hugely popular online, she’s given a new outlook on life. But as her fame grows, will the risks of being a “slash fic” author lead to danger, happiness or the very best combination of both? Our own Christopher Ashley (Diana, Come From Away) directs this laugh-out- loud new comedy from Paul Rudnick (Jeffrey) about finding your calling in your guilty pleasure.

Bhangin’ It – world premiere

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 February 16 – March 28, 2021

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.

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

Artist Bios

Christopher Ashley (Director, Guilty Pleasure) 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, opening on Broadway in March, along with Escape to Margaritaville, Freaky Friday, Chasing the Song, Xanadu, Memphis, which won four 2010 including Best Musical, and Come From Away, 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 the Broadway 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 ( 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 '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 ’s The Whistleblower at Denver Center, '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.

Rachel Chavkin (Director, Lempicka) received the 2019 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Director of a Musical for Hadestown. She is a director, writer and dramaturg, as well as the founding Artistic Director of the Brooklyn-based ensemble, the TEAM, 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: 's Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (, A.R.T., and Broadway – Tony nomination), Lempicka (Williamstown), 's Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (New Workshop), Marco Ramirez’s The Royale (The Old Globe, ), 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 including The Lily's Revenge, Act 2 (HERE). Chavkin is a recipient three Obie Awards, 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 adaptation of Moby Dick. 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.

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

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 Award winner. His musical Witness Uganda (aka Invisible Thread), written with Griffin Matthews, had its NY premier at 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 Center Theatre Group and Twilight in Manchego (directed by Tony Winner Billy Porter). Gould has written and arranged music for and translated, adapted and directed 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 and walking the dogs. #Zaddy @FakeMattGould

Neel Keller (Director, to the yellow house) is thrilled to be returning to the Playhouse, where, during the years of the second Clinton administration, he was Associate Artistic Director. His previous Playhouse productions include The School For Wives, Light Up The Sky, Loot, Diva and The Cosmonaut’s Last Message To the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union. His more recent productions include the world premieres of Eliza Clark’s Quack, Julia Cho’s Office Hour, Jennifer Haley’s The Nether, Kimber Lee’s different words for the same thing, Dael Orlandersmith’s Until the Flood and Forever and Lucy Alibar’s Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up!. His productions have been mounted at across the country, including , New York Theater Workshop, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, , Theater, South Coast Rep, Goodman Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Long Wharf Theater, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, ACT, Portland Center Stage and several hospitable theaters in Ireland, Scotland and England. He is currently the Associate Artistic Director/Literary Manager at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles.

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.

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

Kimber Lee’s (Playwright, to the yellow house) plays include untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play (2019 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference), tokyo fish story (South Coast Rep, TheatreWorks/SV, Old Globe), brownsville song (b-side for tray) (Humana Festival, LCT3, , Philadelphia Theatre Company, Rep, Moxie Theatre, Shotgun Players) and different words for the same thing, directed by Neel Keller (Center Theatre Group). She has developed work with Lark Play Development Center, The Ground Floor/Berkeley Rep, Page 73, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Hedgebrook, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Great Plains Theatre Conference, ACT Theatre/Seattle, Premiere Stages, MTC and Magic Theatre/Virgin Series. Lark Playwrights Workshop Fellow, Dramatists Guild Fellow, member of Ma-Yi Writers Lab; recipient of the Ruby Prize, PoNY Fellowship, Hartford Stage New Voices Fellowship, BAU Institute Arts Residency Award, Kilroys List, 2020-2021 Hodder Fellowship and inaugural winner of the Bruntwood Prize International Award (2019). MFA: UT Austin.

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, , 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, ; 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.

Tyne Rafaeli (Director, Mother Russia) directed La Jolla Playhouse’s world-premiere of Keith Bunin’s The Coast Starlight. Recent productions include Ming Peiffer's Usual Girls at Roundabout Theater (New York Times Critics’ Pick), ' 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 , , Two River Theater, PlayMakers Rep, New York Stage & Film, Goodspeed, Juilliard, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Idaho Shakespeare Festival and the O'Neill Playwrights Conference. She 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.

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

David Israel Reynoso (2020/2021 Artist-in-Residence) is a scenic/costume designer and the creator of La Jolla Playhouse’s acclaimed Without Walls (WOW) Festival productions of Las Quinceañeras (2019) and Waking La Llorona (2017). Other Playhouse designs include: Queens, At the Old Place, Tiger Style!, Healing Wars, The Darrell Hammond Project and Kingdom City. He is also recognized locally for his designs of The Old Globe’s The Tempest, The Wanderers, tokyo fish story, , Arms and the Man, Water by the Spoonful and Time and the Conways, among others. The Obie Award–winning costume designer of Sleep No More (New York and Shanghai), Mr. Reynoso’s other selected work includes: at ACT and Futurity, , The Snow Queen, Alice vs. Wonderland at ART. He is the recipient of the Creative Catalyst Grant of The San Diego Foundation, an Elliot Norton Award, a Craig Noel Award nomination and multiple IRNE and BroadwayWorld Award nominations. davidreynoso.com.

Paul Rudnick’s (Playwright, Guilty Pleasure) plays have been produced on and off-Broadway and around the world, and include I Hate Hamlet, Jeffrey, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla, Regrets Only and The New Century. He’s won an Obie Award, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and the John Gassner Playwrighting Award. His novels include Social Disease and I’ll Take It, along with the Young Adult novels Gorgeous and It’s All Your Fault. Harper Collins has published his collected plays and a group of essays entitled I Shudder. Mr. Rudnick is rumored to be quite close to Libby Gelman-Waxner, a film critic whose reviews have appeared in Premiere and and whose collected columns have been published under the title If You Ask Me. Mr. Rudnick’s articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, Vogue and Vanity Fair, and he’s a frequent contributor to , where Ms. Gelman-Waxner’s reviews appear on the website. His screenplays include In & Out, , Sister Act and the screen adaptation of Jeffrey. He’s currently writing a pilot for Disney+ and the book for the stage musical of The Devil Wears Prada.

Heidi Schreck (Playwright, What the Constitution Means to Me) is a writer and performer living in Brooklyn. What the Constitution Means to Me was 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 debuted at Playwrights Horizons and Steppenwolf Theatre in 2014/2015 and 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. She 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 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.

(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, was produced at La Jolla Playhouse November 12 – December 15, 2019. 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, Guthrie 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

Founded in 1986, Diversionary Theatre (Co-Producer, Guilty Pleasure) is the third oldest LGBT theatre in the nation with a mission to provide an inspiring and thought-provoking theatrical platform to explore complex and diverse LGBT stories, which influence the larger cultural discussion. Diversionary’s vision is to foster and amplify the next generation of LGBT voices providing live entertainment in a dynamic, inclusive and provocative environment that celebrates and preserves our unique culture. Diversionary specializes in developing and producing new work, such as the award-winning musicals The Boy Who Danced on Air and Lizard Boy The Musical, as well as Ballast (2017 Outstanding New Play, Craig Noel Award), The Loneliest Girl in the World, and The Hour of Great Mercy. Diversionary prides itself on its diverse arts education and outreach activities, producing six arts education programs annually serving at-risk youth and senior citizens with progressive LGBT arts education all over San Diego County. Diversionary.org.

Under the leadership of award-winning playwright and Artistic Director , Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg and Special Programming Director William W. Lockwood, McCarter Theatre Center’s (Co-Producer, Bhangin’ It) 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 ’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 include Rachel Bonds’ Goodnight Nobody; Anthony Shaffer’s murder mystery and Nathan Alan Davis’ The Refuge Plays. McCarter brings artists from around the world to Princeton, NJ 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.

(858) 550-1070 | 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037 | LaJollaPlayhouse.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 Gregory Peck, 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 Jersey Boys, 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 theatres 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