Coming to London’s Donmar Warehouse – previews begin December 2019. Visit DonmarWarehouse.com for tickets and information.
Coming to Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. – previews begin June 2020. Visit WoollyMammoth.net for tickets and information.
Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Present Laughter, Hand to God) directs Writers Lab Member & Ma-Yi Resident Playwright Mike Lew’s (Tiger Style!) devastatingly funny, sharply written new play about perception, disability, and the lengths we’re willing to go to rise above our station in life… and high school.
A brilliantly hilarious take on Richard III, Shakespeare’s classic tale of power lust, Teenage Dick reimagines the most famous disabled character of all time as a 16-year-old outsider in the deepest winter of his discontent: his junior year at Roseland High. Picked on because of his cerebral palsy (as well as his sometimes creepy Shakespearean way of speaking), Richard is determined to have his revenge and make his name by becoming president of the senior class. But as he manipulates and crushes the obstacles to his electoral success, Richard finds himself faced with a decision he never expected would be his to make: is it better to be loved or feared?
Teenage Dick was commissioned and developed by The Apothetae, a company dedicated to plays that explore and illuminate the “Disabled Experience.”
Directions
Highlights from Teenage Dick
About the Playwright
Mike Lew’s plays include Teenage Dick (Ma-Yi at the Public, Artists Rep, and Perseverance productions; Public Studio, O’Neill, OSF workshops), Tiger Style! (Olney, Huntington, La Jolla Playhouse, and Alliance productions; O’Neill and CTG workshops), Bike America (Ma-Yi and Alliance productions), microcrisis (Ma-Yi, InterAct, and Next Act productions), Moustache Guys, and the book to the musical Bhangin’ It (Jerome Robbins Project Springboard and Rhinebeck Writers Retreat “Triple R” workshops). He is a Tony voter, Dramatists Guild Council member, and resident of New Dramatists. Honors include a Mellon National Playwrights Residency at Ma-Yi and La Jolla Playhouse Artist-in-Residence (both with Rehana Lew Mirza); Lark Venturous and NYFA fellowships; and the PEN Emerging Playwright, Lanford Wilson, Helen Merrill, Heideman, and Kendeda awards. He is co-director of Ma-Yi Writers Lab, the largest collective of Asian-American playwrights in the country. He is married to fellow playwright Rehana Lew Mirza, who he met in Ma-Yi Lab (read the story here). Training: Juilliard (2013), Yale (2003).
About the Director
Moritz von Stuelpnagel is a freelance director based in New York City. His production of Hand to God on Broadway received five Tony Award nominations including Best Play and Best Director. Other recent productions include Important Hats of the Twentieth Century by Nick Jones (Manhattan Theatre Club), Teenage Dick by Mike Lew (Public Theater), Verité by Nick Jones (Lincoln Center/LCT3), Bike America by Mike Lew (Ma-Yi), Love Song of the Albanian Sous Chef by Robert Askins (Ensemble Studio Theater), Trevor by Nick Jones (Lesser America), Mel & El: Show & Tell (Ars Nova), The Roosevelt Cousins Thoroughly Sauced by Mike Lew (EST), Spacebar by Michael Mitnick (Studio 42), and My Base and Scurvy Heart by Adam Szymkowicz (Studio 42). Around the US, his work has been seen at the Alliance Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Huntington Theatre, and others. Moritz is the former Artistic Director of Studio 42, New York City’s producer of “unproducible” plays. www.moritzvs.com
Cast
Tiffany Villarin
Alex Breux
Gregg Mozgala
Marinda Anderson
Sasha Diamond
Shannon DeVido
Design Team
- Wilson Chin | Scenic Design
- Junghyun Georgia Lee | Costume Design
- Miriam Crowe | Lighting Design
- Fabian Obispo | Sound Design
- Robert Westley | Movement Coordination
- Alyssa K. Howard | Production Stage Manager