Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced the two world premiere plays which will be presented as part of the company’s tenth annual Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series this summer: Alena Smtih’s The Bad Guys, and Kenneth Lin’s Warrior Class, directed by Evan Cabnet.
Both plays will be presented at Second Stage Theatre’s uptown home, the McGinn/Cazale Theatre on Broadway at 76th Street. The Bad Guys will run May 21 – June 17, with an Opening night set for June 4th. Warrior Class will run July 11 – August 11, with an Opening night set for July 23rd. Tickets for both shows can be purchased by calling the Second Stage Theatre Box Office at 212-246-4422 or online at www.2ST.com.
Created as a program to help develop and provide exposure for the voices of a new generation of theatre artists, the Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series (Christopher Burney, Associate Artistic Director and Curator), seeks to develop the skills of emerging playwrights, to provide early-career artists with the support of a major artistic institution, and to create new plays for the American Theatre. Each show has a limited rehearsal period, as well as a streamlined budget.
The series has helped launch and advance the careers of several up-and-coming playwrights, including Rajiv Joseph(Gruesome Playground Injuries and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), Leslye Headland (Bachelorette), Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Good Boys and True, HBO’s “Big Love”), Adam Bock (A Small Fire, The Drunken City), and Brooke Berman(Hunting and Gathering).
The series premiered in 2002 with three new American plays: …in the absence of spring…, written and directed by Joe Calarco; The Notebook, written by Wendy Kesselman and directed by Evan Yionoulis; and Hunt Holman’s Spanish Girl, directed by Erica Schmidt. Second Stage Theatre Uptown was on hiatus in 2003 due to theatre repairs. The 2004 season saw the New York premiere of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s The Mystery Plays, as well as Brooke Berman’s The Triple Happiness, starring Ally Sheedy. In 2005, the series presented the New York premiere of the critically acclaimed comedy Swimming in the Shallows,written by Adam Bock and starring Logan Marshall-Green, as well as the world premiere of Dan O’Brien’s The Dear Boy. The 2006 series featured two world premiere comedies: Getting Home, written by Anton Dudley and directed by David Schweizer, and Rajiv Joseph’s All This Intimacy, directed by Giovanna Sardelli. The 2007 series featured Marisa Wegrzyn’s The Butcher of Baraboo, directed by Judith Ivey, and Joshua Tobiessen’s Election Day, directed by Jeremy Dobrish. The 2008 series featured Carly Mensch’s Len, Asleep in Vinyl, directed by Jackson Gay, and Rajiv Joseph’s Animals Out of Paper, directed by Giovanna Sardelli. The 2009 series presented two world premiere plays: Zakiyyah Alexander’s 10 Things To Do Before I Die, directed by Jackson Gay, and Lila Rose Kaplan’s Wildflower, directed by Giovanna Sardelli. The 2010 season’s series featured the New York premiere of Michael Golamco’s Year Zero, directed by Will Frears and the New York premiere production of Leslye Headland’s critically acclaimed hit comedyBachelorette, directed by Trip Cullman.
