Chicago's Jonathan Berry, who directed the play's world premiere in Chicago, stages the New York City premiere. Performances play Roundabout Theatre Company's 62-seat Black Box. The Underground series nurtures new plays by emerging writers in a general-admission, $20-ticket scenario, in fully produced stagings.
Here is the cast on opening night:
Here's how Roundabout bills the play: "The right words can be hard to find, especially when they're your last. Andrew Hinderaker's provocative and darkly funny new play takes us to an unorthodox writing service that specializes in crafting the perfect suicide note, where a subversive new employee [played by Gabriel Ebert] is suspected of the unthinkable. Could he actually be trying to keep his client alive?" The play is "about the business of rewriting your ending." The design team includes Daniel Zimmerman (sets), Jessica Wegener Shay (costumes), Zach Blane (lights) and Chad Raines (sound).
Berry directed the world premiere of Andrew Hinderaker's Suicide, Incorporated at the Gift Theatre in Chicago, as well as a staged reading for Steppenwolf's First Look Festival of New Work.
Suicide, Incorporated will play through Dec. 23.
Suicide, Incorporated premiered at Chicago's Gift Theatre in June 2010 to critical acclaim, where it enjoyed a twice-extended sold-out run and was nominated for multiple Jeff Awards, including Best New Work. Hinderaker's next play, Kingsville, premiered at Chicago's Stage Left Theatre in October 2010. Hinderaker's new play, I Am Going To Change The World, will receive its world premiere in spring 2012 at Chicago Dramatists, where he is a resident playwright. His plays have been developed and produced at such theatre companies as the Araca Group, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, the side project, and American Theater Company. He holds two degrees from Stanford University, and is currently pursuing his M.F.A in Playwriting at the University of Texas at Austin. Visit www.andrewsplays.com.
Roundabout's Black Box Theatre is at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street) in Manhattan. Tickets are available by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212) 719-1300, online at www.roundaboutunderground.org or at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre box office.
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Suicide, Incorporated had its first New York City blush as a reading in the inaugural AracaWorks Festival in December 2010. Doug Hughes directed the reading. The Araca Group's reading series is held twice a year and is attended by the public and industry professionals. Two plays from the first year of AracaWorks have gone on to further life: Suicide, Incorporated and the upcoming Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar, which is premiering at Chicago's ATC in January 2012.
