Judith Ivey Will Direct in Second Stage's Uptown Festival; New Summer Dates Announced | Playbill

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News Judith Ivey Will Direct in Second Stage's Uptown Festival; New Summer Dates Announced Judith Ivey has replaced previously announced director Carolyn Cantor for one of the upcoming new works at Second Stage Theatre's Uptown Festival.
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Judith Ivey

Playwrights Marisa Wegrzyn and Josh Tobiessen will make their New York City debuts in the 2007 festival, which plays Second Stage's uptown home, the McGinn/Cazale Theater May 24-Aug. 25; the dates are new since the initial announcement.

Ivey directs Wegrzyn's The Butcher of Baraboo, which will launch the series May 24 and open June 11 for a run through June 30. The work centers on the title character, Valerie, whose "husband has gone missing and everyone suspects she played a hand, especially her nosy sister-in-law who just happens to be the town sheriff," according to Second Stage. "And her daughter, a drug-pushing pharmacist, might know more than she lets on."

Wegrzyn has also penned Killing Women, Psalms of a Questionable Nature, Ten Cent Night and Hickorydickory. Director Ivey's New York credits include Yeardley Smith: More, Southern Comforts and Fugue.

Jeremy Dobrish will stage Tobiessen's Election Day to run July 16-Aug. 25, opening Aug. 1. "It's Election Day, and Adam knows his over-zealous girlfriend will never forgive him if he fails to vote," accoridng to Second Stage. "But when his sex starved sister, an eco-terrorist, and a mayoral candidate willing to do anything for a vote all show up, Adam finds that making that quick trip to the polls might be harder than he thought."

Playwright Tobiessen's plays include Bag of Piranhas, Up the Yard and Parallel Parking. Director Dobrish has previously staged Off-Broadway's In the Wings, Drift, Spain, Ted Kaczynski Killed People with Bombs, The Joys of Sex, Class Mothers '68 and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). The festival, according to its mission statement, "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." The works presented have a limited rehearsal period and streamlined budget.

Previous Uptown plays include Joe Calarco's ...in the absence of spring..., Wendy Kesselman's The Notebook, Hunt Holman's Spanish Girl, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's The Mystery Plays, Brooke Berman's The Triple Happiness, Adam Bock's Swimming in the Shallows and Dan O'Brien's The Dear Boy. Last year, the world premieres of Anton Dudley's Getting Home and Rajiv Joseph's All This Intimacy made their debut for the series.

Tickets to the Uptown series at the McGinn/Cazale, Broadway and 76th Street, will be available by calling (212) 246-4422 or at the Second Stage box office at 307 West 43 Street. For more information visit secondstagetheatre.com.

 
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