Download la jolla playhouse completes 2016/2017 season with freaky friday

2910 La Jolla Village Drive La Jolla, CA 92037
www.LaJollaPlayhouse.org
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE COMPLETES 2016/2017 SEASON WITH
FREAKY FRIDAY AND TIGER STYLE!
NEW MUSICAL COMEDY, BASED ON BELOVED NOVEL AND THE WALT DISNEY
MOTION PICTURES, FEATURES BOOK BY BRIDGET CARPENTER,
MUSIC & LYRICS BY TOM KITT AND BRIAN YORKEY,
DIRECTED BY PLAYHOUSE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY
ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JAIME CASTAÑEDA TO HELM
WEST COAST PREMIERE OF MIKE LEW’S CRACKLING COMEDY
La Jolla, CA – La Jolla Playhouse announces its final two productions of the 2016/2017 season:
the new musical comedy Freaky Friday, book by Bridget Carpenter (Friday Night Lights,
Parenthood), music and lyrics by the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning team of Tom Kitt
and Brian Yorkey (If/Then, Next to Normal), based on the novel “Freaky Friday” by Mary
Rodgers and the Walt Disney motion pictures, to be directed by Playhouse Artistic Director
Christopher Ashley, running January/February, 2017; and Tiger Style!, by La Jolla native
Mike Lew, directed by Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Jaime Castañeda, to run
September/October 2016.
When an overworked mother and her teenage daughter magically swap bodies, they have just
one day to put things right again before mom’s big wedding. Freaky Friday, a new musical
comedy based on the celebrated novel by Mary Rodgers and hit Disney films, is a hilarious,
contemporary update of an American classic in which a mother and daughter really see what it
is to be a family and experience first-hand each other’s lives, if only for a day.
Star students and squabbling siblings Albert and Jennifer Chen used to represent the pinnacle
of academic achievement. But when it comes to adulthood, they’re epic failures. Albert’s just
been passed up for promotion and Jennifer's been dumped by her loser boyfriend. So they do
what any reasonable egghead brother and sister would do; they go on an Asian Freedom Tour!
From California to China, Tiger Style! examines the successes and failures of tiger parenting
from the point of view of a playwright who's actually lived through it.
“These two electrifying new productions join our 2016/2017 line-up, offering an uproarious look
at family dynamics in our 21st century world. Both center on the tumultuous relationship between
parents and children in ways that are at once familiar, outlandish and universal,” said La Jolla
Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. “Collaborating with these extraordinary
artists is a true joy, and I can’t wait to share their work with our audiences this season.”
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As previously announced, the Playhouse’s 2016/2017 season also includes Hollywood
(running May 10 – June 5), by Joe DiPietro (Tony Award winner for Playhouse-launched
Memphis), directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley; The Last Tiger in
Haiti (running June 28 – July 24), by UC San Diego playwriting alumnus Jeff Augustin
(Roundabout’s Little Children Dream of God), directed by UC San Diego directing alumnus
Joshua Kahan Brody (co-founder of San Diego’s THE TRIP); JUNK: The Golden Age of
Debt (running July 26 – August 21), by Ayad Akhtar (Playhouse’s The Who & The What;
Pulitzer Prize winner for Disgraced), helmed by Tony Award-winning director Doug Hughes;
and the world-premiere, Playhouse-commissioned musical Miss You Like Hell (running
October 25 – November 20), book and lyrics by Quiara Alegría Hudes (Pulitzer Prize winner
for Water by the Spoonful, Tony Award nominee for the book of In the Heights), music and lyrics
by renowned musician Erin McKeown, directed by Lear deBessonet (Public Theatre’s The
Odyssey and The Winter’s Tale).
Tickets are available only through a subscription purchase at LaJollaPlayhouse.org or by
calling (858) 550-1010. Subscription renewals are available now; new subscription purchases
will be available on February 21.
Christopher Ashley (Director: Freaky Friday) has served as La Jolla Playhouse’s Artistic
Director since October, 2007. During his tenure, he has helmed the Playhouse’s productions of
Come From Away, Chasing the Song, His Girl Friday, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Dram of
Drummhicit, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Restoration and the acclaimed musicals Xanadu and
Memphis, which won four 2010 Tony Awards including Best Musical and just opened in
London’s West End. He also spearheaded the Playhouse’s Without Walls (WoW) series and the
Resident Theatre program. Prior to joining the Playhouse, he directed the Broadway
productions of Xanadu (Drama Desk nomination), All Shook Up and The Rocky Horror Show
(Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), as well as the Kennedy Center
Sondheim Celebration productions of Sweeney Todd and Merrily We Roll Along. Other New
York credits include: Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards),
The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla, Regrets Only, Wonder of the World,
Communicating Doors, Bunny Bunny, The Night Hank Williams Died and Fires in the Mirror
(Lucille Lortel Award), among others. Mr. Ashley also directed the feature films Jeffrey and
Lucky Stiff, as well as the American Playhouse production of Blown Sideways Through Life for
PBS. Mr. Ashley is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award, the Drama League Director
Fellowship and an NEA/TCG Director Fellowship.
A television writer, producer and playwright, Bridget Carpenter (Librettist, Freaky Friday)
created the event series 11.22.63 for Bad Robot based on Stephen King’s bestselling novel,
which will debut on Hulu February 15, 2016. Prior to 11.22.63, she wrote and co-executive
produced all five seasons of the Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning series Friday
Night Lights. She also was a co-executive producer on Parenthood, and most recently, was
executive producer/showrunner of Sundance Channel’s drama series The Red Road.
Carpenter’s plays have been produced by Steppenwolf Theatre, the Public Theater, Berkeley
Repertory Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and many other theaters across the
country. She has written several songs for film, including “Basmati Blues” and “Dear Dumb
Diary.” Carpenter received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Princess Grace Award, the
Kesselring Prize and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She also received Emmy and WGA
nominations for “Friday Night Lights.” Her plays Fall, Up and The Faculty Room have been
published by Samuel French.
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Jaime Castañeda (Director, Tiger Style!) is currently the Associate Artistic Director at La Jolla
Playhouse. His credits include: The Royale (American Theater Company); The Royal Society of
Antarctica (Portland Center Stage JAW festival); The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Dallas
Theater Center); Chimichangas and Zoloft (Atlantic Theater Company); How We Got On
(Cleveland Playhouse); Welcome to Arroyo’s (Old Globe); Red Light Winter (Perseverance
Theatre); The Motherf**ker with the Hat (Kitchen Dog Theater); A Funny Thing Happened on
the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (Stella
Adler); Biggest A**hole Ever Born (INTAR); Timberbrit (Ontological-Hysteric Theater); This Is
How It Goes (Amphibian Stage Productions); Sonnets for an Old Century (FireStarter
Productions). He has developed new plays with the O’Neill, Rattlestick Theater, Space on Ryder
Farm, Summer Play Festival, The Kennedy Center and the Atlantic Theater Company, where he
spent five seasons as artistic associate. Castañeda is a Drama League fellow, has received the
Princess Grace Award and the TCG New Generations Grant. He received his M.F.A. in
Directing from University of Texas at Austin.
Tom Kitt (Composer, Freaky Friday) received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as two
Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Orchestrations for Next to Normal. His music for Next to
Normal also received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Score. He is the
composer of If/Then (Tony Award nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award nomination); High
Fidelity (Broadway), Bring It On, The Musical (co-composer with Lin-Manuel Miranda;
Broadway), The Winter’s Tale, All’s Well That Ends Well and Cymbeline (The Public’s NYSF);
From Up Here and The Madrid (MTC); Orphans (Broadway) and The Retributionists
(Playwrights Horizons). Kitt is also responsible for the music supervision, arrangements and
orchestrations for Green Day's American Idiot on Broadway, and provided additional
arrangements for their Grammy Award-winning album 21st Century Breakdown and their album
trilogy, ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré!. He received an Emmy Award as co-writer (with Lin-Manuel Miranda)
for the 2013 Tony Award opening number, Bigger. As a musical director, conductor, arranger
and orchestrator, his credits include Pitch Perfect, Pitch Perfect 2, 2Cellos featuring Lang Lang
(Live and Let Die), The Kennedy Center Honors, 13, Debbie Does Dallas, Everyday Rapture,
Hair, Laugh Whore, Pippin (Deaf West) and These Paper Bullets. Upcoming musical projects
include Grease Live!, SpongeBob Squarepants, The Musical, Dave, Magic Mike, The Visitor
and Jagged Little Pill.
Mike Lew (Playwright, Tiger Style!) grew up in La Jolla and is hugely grateful to be back at La
Jolla Playhouse after interning at the theatre in 2000. In addition to Tiger Style! (Alliance,
Atlanta; O’Neill, Center Theater Group and Huntington workshops; Juilliard and InterAct
readings), his plays include Teenage Dick, vaguely from Richard III (Public Theater studio
production; Public, Florida Studio Theater and Playwrights Foundation workshops), Bike
America (Ma-Yi and Alliance productions; Juilliard, Lark, Kennedy Center and Playwrights
Foundation workshops), microcrisis (Ma-Yi, InterAct, and Next Act productions),
Stockton (AracaWorks and EST workshops), People’s Park (Victory Gardens workshop),
Tenure (24 Hour Plays on Broadway), In Paris You will Find Many Baguettes… (Humana),
Roanoke (Humana) and Moustache Guys. Several of his plays have been published by Sam
French and Playscripts. He is a Tony voter, a member of the Dramatists Guild Council, and is
the recipient of the Lanford Wilson and Helen Merrill Awards, a NYFA fellowship, the Kendeda
and AracaWorks Grad Playwriting Awards, Heideman Award, and a new play commission from
La Jolla Playhouse. Lew is co-director of Ma-Yi Writers Lab, the largest collective of AsianAmerican playwrights in the country. Training: Juilliard, Yale, La Jolla High. Website:
mikelew.com.
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Brian Yorkey (Lyricist, Freaky Friday) received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as
the 2009 Tony Award for Best Score, for Next to Normal. He was also nominated for the Tony
Award for Best Book of a Musical for Next to Normal, and his work on the show earned him the
Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Score. He partnered again with the Next to Normal team on
If/Then (Tony Award nominee for Best Score), starring Idina Menzel. Brian co-wrote the libretto
for The Last Ship (Outer Critic’s Nomination, with John Logan), with a score by Sting. He is
currently working on the original musical Jesus in My Bedroom, with composer Tim Symons, as
well as stage the musical adaptations of Magic Mike and the Tom McCarthy film The Visitor.
He is also adapting Jay Asher's bestselling novel 13 Reasons Why for Netflix, Paramount
Television and Anonymous Content. Film projects in active development include Chase for
Anonymous Content and Rosenzweig Films, Time After Time for Universal, and Score! for
Team Downey and Warner Bros. Additional theatre credits include Making Tracks, which has
played off-Broadway and regionally, the musical adaptation of Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet
and the play, Book of Jobs with Alex Glover. Brian has directed off-Broadway and regionally
and for seven years was associate artistic director at Village Theatre in Washington state, one
of the nation’s leading producers of new musicals. He’s a graduate of Columbia University,
where he was artistic director of the Varsity Show, an alum of the BMI/Lehman Engel Musical
Theatre Workshop and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and the WGA.
The Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is internationally-renowned for creating some of
the most exciting and adventurous work in American theatre, through its new play development
initiatives, its innovative Without Walls series, artist residencies and commissions, including BD
Wong, Daniel Beaty and Kirsten Greenidge. Currently led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley
and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg, the Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory
Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and reborn in 1983 under the artistic leadership of Des
McAnuff, La Jolla Playhouse has had 25 productions transfer to Broadway, garnering 35 Tony
Awards, among them Jersey Boys, Memphis, The Who’s Tommy, Big River, as well as Billy
Crystal’s 700 Sundays and the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, both fostered as part
of the Playhouse’s Page To Stage Program. Visit LaJollaPlayhouse.org.
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