The Undeniable Sound of Right Now
“FLAWLESS”, “Engaging”, “Superbly Acted”, “Sexy” & “Moving”
“A ‘CHERRY ORCHARD‘ for the indie-rock crowd.” – The New Yorker
“Being legendary? Good. Being relevant? PRICELESS.” – The Daily News
“BRILLIANT“, “Evocative”, “Adroit”, “Funny”, “Pitch Perfect”, “Poignant”, & “Wrenching” – NY Theater Guide
“…LONG LIVE HANK’S BAR and all of the other places of historic value taken from us before their time.“ – Theatermania
It’s 1992. Chicago. Hank is struggling to keep his legendary rock club going amid changing times and changing tastes. But when his beloved daughter, Lena, starts dating a rising star DJ, Hank must contend with the destructive power of the Next Big Thing.
Fresh from last year’s Off-Broadway hit Sex with Strangers, playwright and screenwriter Laura Eason (House of Cards) teams up with acclaimed director Kirsten Kelly (Slipping) for her return to the New York stage. Like a blast of feedback from a Fender amp, THE UNDENIABLE SOUND OF RIGHT NOW brings to hilarious and heartbreaking life the moment when Kurt and Courtney ruled, but Moby was just around the corner…
Join the conversation on Twitter @WomensProject #USORN #TheUndeniableSound
Laura Eason
Laura Eason (Playwright) is the author of twenty plays (original work and adaptation), a musical book writer and screenwriter. Productions in ‘14/’15 include Sex With Strangers at Second Stage, NYC; Brisbane Powerhouse, AU; Signature Theatre, D.C. (previously at Steppenwolf Theatre; Sydney Theatre Company, AU; published by Overlook Press); the premiere of the musical Days Like Today, music and lyrics by Alan Schmuckler, commissioned and produced by Writers’ Theatre, Chicago; the premiere of The Undeniable Sound of Right Now with Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre and WP Theater, NYC; and Around the World in 80 Days in an encore production at the New Vic and Royal Exchange in the UK (previously at Lookingglass Theatre, Chicago; Baltimore Centerstage; KC Rep; New Vic; published by Broadway Play Publishing). She was a staff writer on season two and is currently a story editor on season three of the Netflix show “House of Cards”. Laura is an Ensemble Member of Lookingglass Theatre (2011 Regional Tony Award) and served as Artistic Director for six years. In New York, she is a member of Rising Phoenix Rep, New Georges, and a WP Playwright’s Lab alumna. Laura was a singer, songwriter and bass player for the 90’s Chicago power pop band Tart. The band regularly played such venerable venues as Lounge Ax, Double Door, Metro and Empty Bottle. Their CD, START, is available from the dusty box in Laura’s closet. A longtime Chicagoan, she lives in Brooklyn with her family. More information about past productions, current commissions and other things in the works is available at lauraeason.com. Twitter @LeasonNYC
Kirsten Kelly
Kirsten Kelly (Director) is a theatre director, educator and documentary filmmaker who lives in Brooklyn. This season, in addition to The Undeniable Sound of Right Now, Kirsten will be directing Macbeth at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Recent New York theatre credits include Slipping by Daniel Talbott with Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre & Piece by Piece Productions (off-broadway), and shows for Rising Phoenix Rep, The Juilliard School and Lincoln Center, The Shakespeare Society and Roots&Branches Theatre (an intergenerational theatre company). Previous highlights include Big Love in Washington D.C. (Helen Hayes nomination for Best Direction), and the D.C. premieres of The Clockmaker and Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gillman (Helen Hayes Nomination, Best Direction) as well as the Midwest/Chicago premiere of Mamet’s Boston Marriage (After Dark Award, Best Director). Kirsten is the Co-creator and director of “CPS Shakespeare” program at Chicago Shakespeare. Kirsten is a graduate of the Master’s Directing program at Juilliard where she received the Andrew W. Mellon Directing Fellowship, is a documentary fellow of the Sundance Documentary Institute and is a proud member of Rising Phoenix Repertory.
Daniel Abeles
DANIEL ABELES (Nash) At Rattlestick: Where We’re Born (Hilltown Plays); Wyoming (Lesser America), reasons to be pretty (Philadelphia Theater Company), Offices (Atlantic Theater Company), Helping People (IRT), Squealer (Lesser America), Too Much Too Soon (Lesser America), Keep Your Baggage With You… (NYIT nominee), Too Little Too Late (NYIT nominee), The Gnadiges Fraulein (Provincetown), The Comedy of Errors (Lake George). TV: Forever, Elementary, Smash (recurring), Law & Order, Wallflowers (recurring). Film: Seattle Road, You Bury Your Own, Son of Mourning, Gasoline. Education: NYU Tisch. Founding member and producing director of Lesser America. Twitter @DanielAbeles
Jeb Brown
JEB BROWN (Hank) Recently played legendary pop/rock leisure suit Don Kirshner in Beautiful. Other B’way: Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark, Time Stands Still, High Fidelity, Ring of Fire, Aida, I’m Not Rappaport, Grease, Bring Back Birdie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Off-Broadway: Romantic Poetry, Game Show. Regional: Steppenwolf, McCarter, Old Globe, Actors Theatre Louisville, Dallas Theatre Center, Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Coconut Grove, Hartford Theatreworks, Paper Mill. TV: “Law and Order: SVU,” “Star Trek: DS9,” and so many in between. Film: The Dictator, Salt, The Namesake, Renaissance Man, I’ll Do Anything. Co-Founder of LA’s award-winning Evidence Room Theatre Project. Yale. Various bands. Husband to Elyse. Father of Eleanor.
Chris Kipiniak
CHRIS KIPINIAK (Joey) Broadway: Macbeth with Alan Cumming, dirs. John Tiffany/Andrew Goldberg; Metamorphoses (dir. Mary Zimmerman), off-Broadway: Kit Marlowe (Public Theater), Charles Winn Speaks… (Living Image Arts), Nora (Marvell Repertory). Regional: Huntington Theater, Lookingglass Theater, Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory, Mark Taper Forum, Goodman Theater. Film/TV/Web: Love Life (also writer), Deal Travis In; The Blacklist, The Good Wife, Delocated; the web series Real Actors Read . . .Playwright: Save the World (Roundtable Ensemble), Iiiinsaaaaaaaane!, Change the Be, Stalled (Horse Trade Theater Group); Comics Writing: Nightcrawler, Amazing Fantasy and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man for Marvel comics, the upcoming Behemoth from MonkeyBrain comics. Twitter @ckipiniak
Brian Miskell
BRIAN MISKELL (Toby) Recent credits include The Hill Town Plays by Lucy Thurber (Rattlestick, Obie Award), The Aliens by Annie Baker at The Studio Theatre (Washington, D.C.) and The SF Playhouse (West Coast premiere), Eightythree Down (Horse Trade; NY Innovative Theatre Nomination), Barn (Rising Phoenix Rep), Home Universe (Columbia Stages), The Un-Marrying Project (Purple Rep), The Sunken Living Room (Theater 80). Company member with Rising Phoenix Rep. Brian studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute and graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Upcoming at Rattlestick in May 2015:Afghanistan Zimbabwe America Kuwait written and directed by Daniel Talbott. Twitter @BrianMiskell
Margo Seibert
MARGO SEIBERT (Lena) made her Broadway debut as “Adrian” in the musical adaptation of Rocky and starred off-Broadway as “Tamar” in Marisa Michelson and Josh Cohen’s acclaimed Tamar and the River, for which she was nominated for a 2014 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. Margo has developed work at The Public, MTC, Playwrights Horizons, NAMT, The O’Neill Center, New Dramatists, and has originated roles in pieces for award-winning writers, including David Byrne, Ahrens & Flaherty, Goldrich & Heisler, Adam Gwon and more. Aside from her extensive work in theatre, Margo has appeared on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. She graduated from American University with a degree in International Business. Twitter @Margo_Seibert
Lusia Strus
LUSIA STRUS (Bette) Women’s Project Theater and Rattlestick debut. Broadway: Enron, Elling. Off-Broadway: The Retributionists (Playwrights Horizons). Other credits include Ironbound, Good People (Jeff Award nomination- Supporting Actress), her own solo show, It Ain’t No Fairy Tale (LAWeekly Award-Solo Performance), Hysteria, Our Town and Whispering City (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Commons of Pensacola (Northlight Theatre); Love’s Labours Lost, Merry Wives of Windsor (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Henry IV (Royal Shakespeare Company); Big Love (Goodman Theatre/BAM); SLAVS!, Go Away Go Away (Jeff Award-Principal Actress) (European Repertory Theatre) Travesties and John Guare’s World Premier of Are You There, McPhee? (McCarter Theater) and many years of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (Chicago and New York City) as a Neo-Futurist. Film: Gus Van Sant’s Restless, 50 First Dates, Miss Congeniality 2, Stir of Echoes and independents currently in festivals – Kelly and Cal, The Mend, Cotton. TV: Modern Family, Blue Bloods, Wayward Pines (Fall-2015).
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater – Co-Producer
Rattlestick Playwrights’ Theater is a multi-award-winning, 501(c)(3) organization and recipient of the 2007 Ross Wetzsteon Memorial OBIE Award, which recognized us for work and our mission: developing and producing innovative new plays. Rattlestick is also the recipient of the 2014 OBIE award for The Hilltown Plays. Now in our 20th Season, we have introduced new writers and received critical acclaim for our innovative work. The 2014/2015 season includes outstanding writers such as Keith Josef Adkins, Robert Boswell, Sheila Callaghan, Laura Eason, Laith Nakli, Scott Organ, Rubén Polendo, and Daniel Talbott. as well as Martín Zimmerman, Michael Laurence and Charlotte Miller in Los Angeles. Although there are other companies that showcase new playwrights, there are very few who can match our focus, achievement and the continuing support from a play’s inception to its final production. www.rattlestick.org
