Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre et al. Present 3C 6/21

Piece by Piece productions, Rising Phoenix Repertory, and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater have announced that the world premiere of 3C, written by David Adjmi and directed by Jackson Gay, will begin performances Wednesday, June 6 at 7pm at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place. The opening night is set for Thursday, June 21 at 7pm.

The war in Vietnam is over and Brad, an ex-serviceman, lands in L.A. to start a new life. When he winds up trashed in Connie and Linda’s kitchen after a wild night of partying, the three strike a deal for an arrangement that has hilarious and devastating consequences for everyone. Or are they non-consequences? Inspired by 1970s sitcoms, 1950s existentialist comedy, Chekhov, and disco anthems, 3C is a terrifying yet amusing look at a culture that likes to amuse itself, even as it teeters on the brink of ruin.

The cast of 3C is Kate Buddeke (Bug, Gypsy with Bernadette Peters, Death of a Salesman with Brian Dennehy), Bill Buell (Equus, The History Boys, Picasso at the Lapin Agile), Hannah Cabell (A Man for All Seasons at Roundabout, Compulsion at Public Theater), Eddie Cahill (“CSI: New York,” “Friends”), Anna Chlumsky (HBO’s “Veep,” My Girl, Unconditional at Public Theater/LAByrinth), and Jake Silbermann (“As the World Turns,” Phaedra Backwards at McCarter).

The scenic design for 3C is by John McDermott; the costume design is by Oana Botez Ban; the lighting design is by Tyler Micoleau; the sound design is by Matt Tierney. Choreography is by Deney Terrio.

3C brings together the three companies who produced the 2009 hit Slipping, written by Daniel Talbott, and joins together piece by piece productions and Rising Phoenix Repertory who last collaborated on David Adjmi’s hit play Elective Affinities.

David Adjmi has been awarded a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship, the Whiting Writers’ Award, the Kesselring Prize for Drama, the Steinberg Playwright Award (the “Mimi”), and the Bush Artists Fellowship. His most recent play, the acclaimed Elective Affinities, premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company and received its New York premiere in 2011 in a coproduction between piece by piece productions, Rising Phoenix Repertory, and Soho Rep that starred Zoe Caldwell.

His hit play Stunning was developed at New York Theatre Workshop and MTC; was published in the September 2008 issue of American Theatre; and premiered at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, where it was nominated for five Helen Hayes Awards including the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play. It was subsequently produced at Lincoln Center Theatre’s LCT3 in July 2009 (Time Out New York Top 10 of the year). TCG recently published a collection of his work entitled Stunning and Other Plays and he is currently at work on an as-yet-untitled memoir for HarperCollins.

His play Marie Antoinette, which was developed at Sundance, the Public, and the Goodman Theatre, will receive a world premiere co-production between Yale Rep and A.R.T./Harvard in 2012 (dir. Rebecca Taichman). 3C was developed at Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb. The Evildoers was developed at The Royal Court Theatre (UK), and the Sundance Theatre Lab; it premiered at Yale Repertory Theatre (Hartford Courant and New Haven Advocate Top 10 of 2008). Other plays include Caligula (Soho Rep Studio Series), Strange Attractors (Empty Space) and Woody Allen’s Fall Project. David is currently under commission by Lincoln Center Theatre, Berkeley Rep, and the Royal Court. He is the recipient of the Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award, a McKnight Advancement Grant, the Marian Seldes-Garson Kanin Award, a Jerome Fellowship, a Royal Court International Residency, Jon Robin Baitz’s Ovid Grant for New Writing, a NYTW/Dartmouth Residency, the Lecomte du Nouy Award, the Cherry Lane Mentor Project Fellowship (w. Craig Lucas), an Atlantic Center for the Arts residency (w. Paula Vogel), a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, and multiple fellowships from The MacDowell Colony. David has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, The Mellon Foundation, The Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the McKnight Foundation. He has taught workshops and classes at the Yale School of Drama, Southampton Writers Conference, University of Rochester, Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and the Primary Stages School of Theatre. David is a member of New Dramatists, MCC Playwrights Coalition, and Rising Phoenix Rep. He is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, the Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and the Juilliard School.

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