Second Stage Uptown Series announce two plays

Second Stage Theatre 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.

New York Premiere
Year Zero
by Michael Golamco
Directed by Will Frears
Previews from 18 May 2010, opens 26 May 2010, - closes on 26 May 2010.

Synopsis: 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 comedic drama about a young generation paving a new future by remembering its past.

Year Zero premiered at the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago and was the Grand Prize Winner of Chicago Dramatists' Many Voices Project.

Michael Golamco's 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. His play, 'Cowboy versus Samurai,' has had several productions since its premiere in NYC, including in Canada and Hong Kong.

Will Frears returns to Second Stage Theatre where he directed the mainstage production of Theresa Rebeck's 'The Water's Edge.' Other Off Broadway directing credits include 'Still Life '(MCC); 'Rainbow Kiss' (The Play Company); 'Pen' (Playwrights Horizons); 'Terrorism' (The New Group/The Play Company); 'Omnium Gatherum' (Variety Arts).

World Premiere
Bachelorette
by Leslye Headland
Directed by Trip Cullman
Previews from 12 Jul 2010, opens 21 Jul 2010, - closes on 7 Aug 2010.

Synopsis: On the eve of her wedding, Becky has arranged the perfect bachelorette celebration ?but after two parrty crashers, one manipulative maid of honor, and a bathtub of booze, things don't go according to plan. This world premiere play is a brutally comic look at friendship and betrayal on the way to the altar.

Leslye Headland's playwriting credits include the 'Seven Deadly Plays,' a series that explore ancient vices in an unfortunately modern generation. The series includes 'Cinephilia' (lust), 'Bachelorette' (gluttony), 'Assistance' (greed), 'Surfer Girl' (sloth) and 'Reverb' (wrath). She is currently writing for the new FX series 'Terriers' created by screenwriter Ted Griffin (Ocean's 11) and produced by Shawn Ryan (The Shield).

Trip Cullman returns to Second Stage Uptown where he staged the acclaimed play 'Swimming in the Shallows' by Adam Bock, as well as Second Stage Theatre's mainstage production of Terrence McNally's 'Some Men.' Other directing credits include 'The Drunken City' (Playwrights Horizons), 'Dog Sees God' (Century Center for the Performing Arts), 'Roulette '(EST), 'Smashing' (The Play Company).

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.

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.