Women's Project Theater's BETHANY, Starring America Ferrera, Begins Rehearsals

America Ferrera, joined by cast members Emily Ackerman, Kristin Griffith, Ken Marks, Tobias Segal and Myra Lucretia Taylor, begins rehearsals today for Women's Project Theater's world premiere dark comedy Bethany by Laura Marks. Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, Ms. Ferrera stars as a financially-strapped woman who discovers just how far she'll go to regain what she has lost.

Bethany is the first play of the 2012 – 2013 season for Women's Project Theater, Julie Crosby, Producing Artistic Director. Bethany, set in an American exurb wiped out by foreclosures, will begin previews Friday, January 11, at 7:30pm for an opening Sunday, January 20, at 6:30pm. Bethany runs through Sunday, February 17, in Women's Project Theater's new home, New York City Center Stage II, 131 West 55th Street.

Ms. Ferrera, best known for her fearless portrayal of Betty on ABC's hit comedy Ugly Betty, received an Emmy® Award, a Golden Globe® and a Screen Actors Guild Award® for performance in the series. Ms. Ferrera was recently seen on stage in London where she starred as 'Roxie Hart' in an eight week run in the West End production of the hit musical, Chicago. Ms. Ferrera recently wrapped production on Diego Luna's biopic, Chavez, which centers on the civil-rights activist and labor organizer, Cesar Chavez. Portraying his wife, Helen Chavez, Ms. Ferrera stars opposite Michael Peña and alongside an impressive cast including Rosario Dawson and Gabriel Mann. Ms. Ferrera was last seen on the New York stage in the 2005 off-Broadway production of Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, directed by Trip Cullman.

Playwright Laura Marks is an alumna of The Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group and the Juilliard School. Bethany won the Leah Ryan Prize for Emerging Women Writers as well as Synchronicity Theatre's SheWrites Award, and was chosen by John Guare as runner-up for Yale's David C. Horn Prize. Ms. Marks holds a new play commission from South Coast Repertory and is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Composer/Lyricist Workshop.

Director Gaye Taylor Upchurch is an alumna of Women's Project's Director's Lab. Ms. Upchurch served as Sam Mendes associate director on The Bridge Project with BAM and the Old Vic and directed the U.S. premiere of Simon Stephen's Bluebird starring Simon Russell Beale and the recent Harper Regan, both for Atlantic Theatre.

Lauren Helpern is designing the sets, Sarah Holden, the costumes, Mark Barton, the lighting, and Leon Rothenberg, the sound. Jess Johnston is managing the stage.