YEAR ZERO and BACHELORETTE Set for Second Stage Theatre's Summer Season

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced the two plays which will be presented as part of the company's eighth annual Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series this summer: the New York premiere of Michael Golamco's Year Zero, directed by Will Frears, and the world premiere of Leslye Headland's Bachelorette, directed by Trip Cullman.

Michael Golamco is the recipient of the 2009 Helen Merrill Award and is a member of New Dramatists. His work has been produced by the National Asian American Theatre Company in New York City and Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago, among others. Leslye Headland holds a B.F.A. in Drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and studied directing at Playwrights Horizons Theater School where she was awarded the Robert Moss Prize. She is the artist-in-residence at the IAMA Theatre Company in Los Angeles.

Both plays will be presented at Second Stage Theatre's uptown home, the McGinn/Cazale Theatre on Broadway at 76th Street. Year Zero will run May 18 - June 13. Bachelorette will run July 12 - August 7. Tickets for both shows can be purchased by calling the Second Stage Theatre Box Office at 212-246-4422.

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 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 (Animals Out of Paper), Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Good Boys and True, HBO's "Big Love"), Adam Bock (The Receptionist, 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.

Last season's Uptown Series featured 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.

Play #1:
Year Zero
New York premiere
Written by Michael Golamco
Directed by Will Frears
May 18 - June 13
Opening Night is Wednesday, May 26

Vuthy Vichea is a 16-year-old Cambodian American who wears thick glasses, loves hip hop, and plays Dungeons and Dragons. After his mother's death, Vuthy and his sister Ra struggle to reinvent themselves in Long Beach, California where being different can be deadly. Year Zero is a moving comedic drama about a young generation paving a new future by remembering its past.
Michael Golamco is a Los Angeles-based playwright and screenwriter. His play, Cowboy versus Samurai, has had several productions since its premiere in NYC, including in Canada and Hong Kong. Michael is the recipient of the 2009 Helen Merrill Award and is a member of New Dramatists. He is currently working on a new play commission for South Coast Repertory. As a screenwriter, Michael's film, Please Stand By, was presented at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival's On Track film development program. His short film, Dragon of Love, was awarded Best Short Film at the Hawaii International Film Festival and ran in regular rotation on the Sundance Channel. Year Zero premiered at the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago and was the Grand Prize Winner of Chicago Dramatists' Many Voices Project.