New Georges Presents The Germ Project at 3LD Art, Previews Begins June 11

New Georges (Susan Bernfield, Artistic Director; Sarah Cameron Sunde, Associate Director; Jaynie Saunders Tiller, Managing Director), the OBIE Award-winning downtown theater company founded in 1992, will present "THE GERM PROJECT," featuring the work of playwrights Kara Lee Corthron (directed by Kara-Lynn Vaeni), Lynn Rosen (directed by ShoShana Gold), Kathryn Walat (directed by Portia Krieger), and Anna Ziegler (directed by Beatrice Terry). The four "germs" of full-length plays of scope and adventure commissioned by New Georges for this project will be presented together, fully produced, in a cohesive and satisfying ninety-minute intermission-less evening. There will be a connective thread to the pieces that will take place with visuals and storytelling. "THE GERM PROJECT" will be performed at 3LD Art & Technology Center, 80 Greenwich Street (just south of Rector). Previews will begin on June 11, and the official Opening Night will be Monday, June 20 at 8:00 p.m. Performances will run through July 9.

"THE GERM PROJECT" is a response to the trend in the American theater toward smaller new plays. "I noticed we were reading fewer of the big (in terms of imaginative scope), irreverent, highly theatrical plays we like to produce," says Susan Bernfield. "And realized it's because there's so much pressure on playwrights these days to write plays that have small casts and simple production elements, plays that are considered produce-able." In response, the company commissioned four long-time affiliated playwrights to write new plays of scope and adventure, their dream plays, what might be considered "unproduce-able" plays. Early in the process, New Georges commissioned four directors to collaborate with the playwrights, to help push their big ideas even bigger, and has spent the 2010-11 season developing the plays in workshop toward this production. "We asked the artists to challenge us as producers," says Bernfield, "and to select for this production the "germ" of their project that includes its most theatrically exciting moments. By producing the most difficult parts, maybe we can prove that these plays aren't "unproduce-able" at all."

The Playwrights

Kara Lee Corthorn's plays include Julius by Design (world premiere: Fulcrum Theater, summer 2011), Etched in Skin on a Sunlit Night (world premiere: InterAct Theater Company, winter 2012), Holly Down in Heaven (Princess Grace Award), Spookwater (O'Neill Conference Finalist), and Wild Black-Eyed Susans (Helen Merrill Award). Other honors include: The Vineyard Theatre's 3rd Annual Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, Lincoln Center's Lecomte du Nouy Prize (three-time recipient), an E.S.T./Sloan Commission, the Theodore Ward Prize, the New Professional Theatre Writers Award, residencies at MacDowell, Skriðuklaustur (Iceland), Millay, and Ledig House and she was twice finalist for New Dramatists membership. TV: staff writer for NBC's "Kings" (2008-2009). Kara is a Juilliard alumna, New Georges Affiliated Artist, Fulcrum Theater resident playwright, instructor at Primary Stages' Einhorn School of Performing Arts, and member of the 2010 Ars Nova Play Group, 'Wright On! Playwrights Group (co-founder), Blue Roses Productions, and the Dramatists Guild. Corthron's germ is from AliceGraceAnon.

Lynn Rosen's productions include: Apple Cove, (Women's Project, '10-'11; Todd Mountain Theater Project, NY, both directed by Giovanna Sardelli); Washed Up On The Potomac ("Working It Out," Centerstage, Baltimore; E.S.T. Marathon); Back From The Front (The Working Theater, NYC; The NY International Fringe Festival); Ideal Home (New Georges); Nighthawks (The Studio Theatre, D.C.; Willow Cabin Theatre Company, NYC; published by Samuel French); NEXT! (multiple productions in Germany). Her newest full-length plays Puddy Tat and Washed Up On The Potomac have been developed with many theatres, including: The Lark Play Development Center (Writing Fellow 2003-4), The New Harmony Project, New Georges, Centerstage, and The New Group. She was commissioned in 2003 and 2010 by The EST/Sloan Foundation for Progress In Flying, also workshopped at Geva Theatre and The Working Theater. A member of the Women's Project Lab, EST, The Dramatists Guild, and The Fire Dept, as well as a New Georges and Lark Affiliated Artist, Lynn was named one of "50 To Watch" by The Dramatist magazine. Rosen's germ is from Goldor $ Mythka: A Hero is Born.

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