Primary Stages to Spotlight Women Playwrights in 2009-2010
Primary Stages has announced the lineup for 2009-2010, its 25th anniversary season. The three-play series, dubbed A Celebration of Female Playwrights, will feature new works by Lucinda Coxon, Cusi Cram and Charlayne Woodard, all which will play at Primary Stages’ 59E59 Theaters. Additional casting and creatives will be announced at a later date.
Kicking off the anniversary lineup is Cusi Cram’s A Lifetime Burning, beginning performances July 28 and running through September 5. In this world premiere play, trust fund darling Emma imagines what her life would have been like had she come from a less privileged background in a tell-all “memoir” sold for a hefty advance. When Emma is exposed, will her sister stand by her? Or will Emma’s deceit destroy their already fractured relationship? A dark comedy, A Lifetime Burning raises questions of legacy, loyalty and what it means to belong.
The season continues with the New York premiere of Charlayne Woodard’s Night Watcher, written and performed by the Tony-nominated actress, beginning September 22 and playing through October 31. Simultaneously a best friend, advisor, confidant and sage to many young people who call her “Auntie,” Woodard is childless only by biological standards. Following a successful run at Seattle Repertory Theater, the playwright takes the New York stage to weave together stories of the ordinary and extraordinary ways she’s mentored the children in her life.
Third in the series is Lucinda Coxon’s Happy Now?, running January 26 through March 6, 2010. When chance encounter at a hotel plays upon Kitty’s mind in this dark comedy, the leading lady finds herself struggling to balance personal freedom with family life, fidelity and a demanding job. Her husband is more interested in misplaced apostophes that their marriage, her parents are looking down the barrel of oblivion and Kitty is running out of time for big changes. Following rave reviews at London’s National Theater last season, Happy Now, directed by Liz Diamond, is a painfully truthful, comic take on contemporary life and how to survive it.
Primary Stages is currently featuring the New York premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies’ Shipwrecked! An Entertainment: The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont As Told By Himself, which plays through March 7 at 59E59 Theaters, as part of its 2008-2009 line-up. The season continues with the world premiere production of Tina How’s Chasing Manet, starting March 24 and running through May 2.
