Directed by Kate Whoriskey (Ruined), the play about a gestating child, an outside threat and a neglected neighborhood plays to April 5.
The company includes Che Ayende (who replaced Tobias Truvillion), Michael Genet, Damon Gupton, Nikkole Salter, Angela Lewis and Nana Mensah.
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According to the not-for-profit resident theatre devoted to writers, "In Inked Baby, stuck for money and unable to conceive, Gloria (LaChanze) enlists the aid of her sister (Angela Lewis) to make the child that she and her husband (Damon Gupton) can't. As they uneasily await the baby's arrival, a mysterious contamination spreads outside. But consumed by their own struggles, is anyone paying attention? In this imaginative, other-worldly new drama, one family fights to find its place in a neglected neighborhood."
This marks the Off-Broadway debut of playwright Anderson, a 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn nominee, who was born and raised in Kansas City, KS. Her work has appeared at Ars Nova, Mark Taper Forum, The Coterie Theater, Rites and Reason, The Public Theater, Horizon Theater and the Playwrights' Center. Awards and honors include Susan Smith Blackburn nomination (2007), Lorraine Hansberry Award (American College Theater Festival 2004), Van Lier Playwriting Fellowship (New Dramatists 2005-06), Wasserstein Prize nomination (Dramatists Guild 2006) and Lucy Lortel Fellowship (Brown University 2007). American Theater magazine selected her as one of 15 up-and-coming artists "whose work will be transforming America’s stages for decades to come." Director Whoriskey last worked at Playwrights Horizons in 2004, directing the world premiere of Lynn Nottage's Fabulation. She directed Manhattan Theatre Club's current production of Nottage's acclaimed Ruined.
Tony and Obie Award winner LaChanze appeared in The Color Purple, Dessa Rose, Once on This Island and The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin; Ayende appeared in Oroonoko for Theatre for a New Audience; Obie Award winner Salter appeared in In the Continuum; two-time Audelco Award nominee Lewis' credits include Hoodoo Love and Caligula; Mensah acted in 365 Days/365 Plays; Genet appeared in Off-Broadway's A Soldier's Play and The Colored Museum, TBS' "Tyler Perry's House of Payne"); Damon Gupton's credits include Off-Broadway's The Story, True History and Real Adventures and Treason.
The production team includes scenic designer Andromarche Chalfant, costume designer Kaye Voyce, lighting designer Jason Lyons and sound designers Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen. Production stage manager is Kasey Ostopchuck.
The performance schedule for Inked Baby will be Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30 PM, Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2 and 7 PM. Tickets are $50.
Playwrights is located at 416 West 42nd Street.
Tickets may be purchased online via TicketCentral.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (noon-8 PM daily), or in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues).
Visit playwrightshorizons.com.
