Gruesome Playground Injuries starring Jennifer Carpenter and Pablo Schreiber

Jennifer Carpenter ("Dexter") and Pablo Schreiber (Tony nominee for Awake and Sing!) will star in Second Stage Theatre's presentation of the New York premiere of Rajiv Joseph's Gruesome Playground Injuries.

Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph returns to Second Stage Theatre, which premiered his plays 'All This Intimacy' and 'Animals Out of Paper' as part of the company's Uptown Series. Joseph's play 'Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo' is to premiere on Broadway next year starring Robin Williams.

Directed by Tony nominee Scott Ellis, Gruesome Playground Injuries opens at Second Stage Theatre on 31 Jan 2011, following previews from 5 Jan, and runs through to 20 Feb 2011.

The dark romantic saga, Gruesome Playground Injuries, explores the cost of wounded friendships. Over the course of 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the physical calamities that keep drawing them together.

Gruesome Playground Injuries will have scenic design by Neil Patel; costume design by Jeff Mahshie; and sound design by Ryan Rumery.

Second Stage Theatre is currently represented on Broadway by the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical 'Next to Normal.' The company's current production is Arthur Kopit's 'Wings,' directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle and starring Tony nominee Jan Maxwell.

Jennifer Carpenter is best known for her performance as 'Debra Morgan,' Dexter's ambitious sister, in the acclaimed Showtime series, "Dexter." She last appeared on the New York stage as 'Mary Warren' in the Broadway production of 'The Crucible' opposite Liam Neeson and Laura Linney.

Pablo Schreiber received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in 'Awake and Sing!' His many other theatre credits include 'Desire Under the Elms,' 'Reasons to be Pretty,' 'Dying City,' 'Mr. Marmalade,' 'Manuscript,' 'Sin: A Cardinal Deposed,' 'Blood Orange,' and 'Julius Caesar' at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He is well known to TV audiences for his role as 'Nick Sobotka' on HBO's critically acclaimed series "The Wire."

Rajiv Joseph returns to Second Stage Theatre where his plays 'Animals Out of Paper' (Lortel nomination for Outstanding Play) and 'All This Intimacy' premiered as part of the Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series. Rajiv is also one of Second Stage's Time Warner Commissioned Playwrights and participated in the company's New Works Festival in 2008. His play, 'Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, 'which was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, will be produced on Broadway this spring, starring Robin Williams.

Scott Ellis returns to Second Stage Theatre where he directed Douglas Carter Beane's 'Mr. & Mrs. Fitch' last season. Other Second Stage credits include 'Good Boys and True,' 'The Little Dog Laughed,' 'The Waverly Gallery' with Eileen Heckert, and 'That Championship Season.' Broadway credits include 'Curtains,' 'Twelve Angry Men' (Tony nomination), Arthur Miller's 'The Man Who Had All the Luck 'with Chris O'Donnell, 'The Boys From Syracuse,' 'The Rainmaker' with Woody Harrelson and Jayne Atkinson, '1776' (Tony nomination), 'Picnic,' 'Company,' 'A Month in the Country' with Helen Mirren, 'Steel Pier' (Tony nomination), 'She Loves Me' (Tony nomination and Olivier Award for Best Director and Best Revival, London production).