Eve Ensler's EMOTIONAL CREATURE to Debut This Fall

Producers Carole Black and Pat Mitchell announced today that EMOTIONAL CREATURE, the new play written by Tony Award®-winning playwright, performer, activist, and The Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler, will get a New York premiere this fall. Directed by Obie Award-winner Jo Bonney (By the Way, Meet Vera Stark) with original music and musical direction by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder, Emotional Creature will begin previews at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street) on Friday, October 26, 2012 with an official opening night set for Monday, November 12, 2012, direct from an acclaimed World Premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California.

The cast of Emotional Creature features a young and vibrant ensemble of six: Ashley Bryant (A Free Man of Color); Molly Carden (The Bird and the Two-Ton Weight at Ensemble Studio Theatre); Emily S. Grosland (Off Broadway debut); 2012 Theatre World Award Winner Joaquina Kalukango (Hurt Village); Sade Namei (The Flying Latke at The Flea) and Olivia Oguma (A Christmas Carol; Mamma Mia!).

Based on Ensler’s 2010 bestselling book, Emotional Creature explores what it is to be a girl – all the joys and thrills, the rites of passage, the growing pains, and the unique pressures – through a series of original monologues, stories and songs. This fully-staged production spans wildly disparate cultures and continents, highlighting the diversity and commonality of the issues girls face, both personal and political, the world over. Emotional Creature was first workshopped at New York Stage and Film at Vassar College in August 2010, with subsequent workshops in Johannesburg, South Africa and Paris, France.

“Emotional Creature is about being a girl in the world in 2012 and about discovering the girl in each of us,” Ensler says. “It is about changing the verb from please to create or defy or resist or imagine. It is about traveling and dancing and refusing. It is about telling secrets and breaking taboos and building a posse.”

The creative team for Emotional Creature also includes Luam (Choreography), Myung Hee Cho (Scenic & Costume Design). Lap Chi Chu (Lighting Design) and Shawn Sagady (Projection Design).

Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues has been translated into over 48 languages, performed in over 140 countries, including sold-out runs at Off Broadway’s Westside Theater and on London’s West End (2002 Olivier Award nomination, Best Entertainment), and has run for 10 years in Mexico City and Paris. Ensler founded V-Day in 1998 and today the non-profit is a global movement to end violence against women and girls that has raised over $90 million for local anti-violence groups. V-Day activities and actions can continue to be found at vday.org.

In addition to her activities as a playwright and performer, Ensler has written numerous articles for The Guardian, Huffington Post, Washington Post, Utne Reader, International Herald Tribune, Glamour Magazine, and Marie Claire. She was awarded the 2011 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award, which recognizes an individual from the theater community who has made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of humanitarian, social service, or charitable organizations. Other awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship in Playwriting and an Obie, in addition to a number of honorary degrees.

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