Two-Time Tony Nominee Kara Young to star in New Douglas Lyons Play

New Works Provincetown's Producing Artistic Director Mark Cortale has announced two industry presentations of Table 17, a new play by Douglas Lyons (Chicken and Biscuits) on Dec. 7th in New York.  New Works Provincetown was founded by Cortale who is also a lead producer on the new Adam Guettel/Craig Lucas musical Days of Wine and Roses along with reality TV mega-producers Jonathan Murray and Harvey Reese. In less than three years of existence, New Works Provincetown has already commissioned four major theatrical works that include Maiden Voyage, book and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, music by Carmel Dean, Love Is Strange, book by Craig Lucas, music by Daniel Messé and lyrics by Nathan Tysen & Daniel Messé and Beautiful Little Fool, book by Mona Mansour and music and lyrics by Hannah Corneau.

Table 17 is directed by Zhailon Levingston (Chicken and Biscuits) and stars Kara Young (Two Time Tony nominee for Cost of Living and Clyde’s, currently starring opposite Leslie Odom Jr. in Purlie Victorious), Biko Eisen-Martin (East New York on CBS and Soft at MCC) and Michael Rishawn (Ain’t No Mo). Brandon Weber serves as the casting director for these presentations and Alicia Thomas and Apollo Levine are understudies. 

In the story behind the play Table 17: After calling off their engagement, Jada and Dallas haven’t spoken or seen each other in two whole years - until tonight. Who’s moved on? Who’s still holding on? Looks like we’ll find out.

In a recent interview, Mark Cortale relayed: “It's been an incredible first three years for New Works Provincetown. P-Town is known as the birthplace of American theatre and it has been thrilling to commission and develop exciting new projects here.  There's something truly magical about this place that inspires creativity and it's a privilege to bring great writers here to experience that firsthand.”

Douglas Lyons is a multi-hyphenate artist. His Broadway acting credits include The Book of Mormon, the Original Cast of Beautiful and the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Parade. Douglas has also toured in Rent, Dreamgirls and The Book of Mormon. As a writer, he earned a GLAAD nomination for his Broadway playwriting debut, Chicken and Biscuits, which was the 2nd most produced play in America in 2022-23. Douglas served as a writer on both seasons of Apple TV's Emmy award winning series “Fraggle Rock.” As a composer-lyricist, his music and lyrics have been featured on Nickelodeon, BET Plus, Apple TV, CBS's Sunday Morning Show, and more. His musicals include Polkadots (Off-Broadway Alliance Winner Best Family Show, Atlantic Theater Company), Beau (Adirondack Theatre Festival), Breathe (Audible), The Moon and The Sea(Constellation Stage) and the world premiere of Five Points (Theater Latté Da.) With composing partner Ethan D. Pakchar, Douglas is a 2020 Jonathan Larson Grant finalist.

Zhailon Levingston is a Louisiana-raised storyteller, director, and activist. He is the Director of Industry Initiatives for the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. His directing credits include: Neptune (Dixon Place, Provincetown Theatre), The Years That Went Wrong (Lark, MCC), The Exonerated(Columbia Law School), Chariot Part 2 (Soho Rep., for The Movement Theatre Company), Mother of Pearl (LaGuardia Performing Arts Center). He is the co-director of Reconstruction with Tony Award-winner Rachel Chavkin. Zhailon is the resident director at Tina: The Tina Turner Musical on Broadway and the associate director of Hadestown in South Korea.

Wild Oak Media, incorporated by Jonathan Murray and Harvey Reese, invests in documentaries and theater. New Works Provincetown is its first theatrical investment. Murray’s documentary credits include Autism: The Musical (Emmy Award), Valentine Road, They Call Us Monsters, Waiting for Chechnya, and TransHood. Reese’s documentary credits include Halston, and Waiting for Chechnya.  

Mark Cortale is currently producing the critically acclaimed new musical Days of Wine and Roses with music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, book by Craig Lucas and directed by Michael Greif - which opens on Broadway on January 28th at Studio 54.  He produced the Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominated Off-Broadway musical Midnight At The Never Get by Mark Sonnenblick. He recently celebrated his twelfth and final season as Producing Artistic Director of The Art House in Provincetown where he presented artists that included Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, Jessie Mueller, Christine Ebersole and Megan Mullally. In 2020, he founded the developmental theatre lab New Works Provincetown.

LISTING INFORMATION:

New Works Provincetown 

Invited Industry Reading of 

TABLE 17

A New Play By Douglas Lyons

Directed by Zhailon Levingston

Thursday, December 7th at 12:00 PM ET and 3:00 PM ET

With Biko Eisen-Martin, Kara Young and Michael Rishawn

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