Every day is opening night.

Press Contact:
Rick Miramontez / Marie Bshara / Ellie Detweiler
rick@omdkc.com / marie@omdkc.com / ellie@omdkc.com
212 695 7400

FOR RELEASE ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 27 AT 9 AM ET

AMERICAN PREMIERE OF
THE SENSATION-CAUSING THRILLER
“KENREX”
BASED ON THE TRUE STORY
BEGINS THIS SPRING
AT THE LUCILLE LORTEL THEATRE 

DIRECT FROM THREE SOLD-OUT PRODUCTIONS ACROSS LONDON

PERFORMED BY JACK HOLDEN
WRITTEN BY HOLDEN AND ED STAMBOLLOUIAN
COMPOSED BY JOHN PATRICK ELLIOTT

PREVIEWS BEGIN WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15
OPENING NIGHT SET FOR SUNDAY, APRIL 26

To download key art, click here.
To download London production photos, click here.

New York, NY (January 27, 2026) – Producers Aria Entertainment, Seaview, and TRW Production announced today that the American premiere of KENREX, the critically acclaimed thriller by Olivier Award^® nominee Jack Holden and Ed Stambollouian, based on an astonishing true story, will take place this Spring at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street), performed by Holden and directed by Stambollouian, with an original score performed live by John Patrick Elliott. Performances for the limited 11-week run will commence Wednesday, April 15, with opening night set for Sunday, April 26.

Tickets will be available to Lortel Members beginning today, Tuesday, January 27 at 10 AM ET. Lortel Members will also have exclusive access to a reserved selection of seats at every performance. Memberships can be purchased online HERE. KENREX is being presented by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

Tickets are available Thursday, January 29 at 10 AM ET exclusively on TodayTix by visiting TodayTix.com or downloading the TodayTix app. For more information, please visit kenrextheplay.com.

General tickets will be available beginning Friday, January 30 at 10 AM ET at kenrextheplay.com, www.Lortel.org, and in-person at The Lucille Lortel Theatre Box Office (121 Christopher Street).

Direct from three acclaimed, sold-out runs across London – at the Southwark Playhouse Borough, Sheffield Theatre, and, most recently, The Other Palace – KENREX is the blistering true-crime thriller about the thin line between justice served and justice taken. Jack Holden delivers “an astonishing performance” (The Guardian), slipping in and out of 35 characters, all set against a high-octane, searing score.

“As much as UK audiences have responded to this play, at its core this is a deeply American story,” said Jack Holden and Ed Stambollouian. “We are thrilled for this chance to present it to American audiences.”

KENREX includes set and costume design by Anisha Fields, lighting and video design by Joshua Pharo, sound design by Giles Thomas, with movement direction by Sarah Golding.

KENREX Music from the Play, an album by John Patrick Elliott via Carbon Moon Records, is now available to stream. Experience to the album here.

PRAISE FOR ‘KENREX’

“A masterclass in acting and storytelling. It’s an intensely visual experience, taking it somewhere morally complex and surprisingly moving.”
The Sunday Times

“Brilliantly theatrical, exhilarating and terrifying. It’s wonderfully bold. The actor’s skill lies not only in characterization or his chameleon-like ability to shift between characters, but also in his impressive, tremendously sustained energy.”
Daily Telegraph

“Western swagger meets true crime in a five-star triumph. Kenrex is a play that dives deep, combining psychological study with social and political critique,
but goes about its business with a deceptively light touch.
Holden is a shape-shifter with dazzling precision.”
Financial Times

“Two gripping hours as we lean in, rapt, barely breathing.
Kenrex conjures up an entire cinematic experience. Incredible.”
Sunday Express

“Jack Holden’s transitions between characters – sharp, assured and physically precise – are breathtaking. He demands to be seen, it’s an astonishing performance.”
The Guardian

“An extraordinary piece of work, in every sense – it’s thrilling, dynamic, bravura.
Praise is due to Stambollouian both for the intriguing, alluring way he’s dramatized this whodunnit and the way he corrals Holden’s combustible performance.”
Evening Standard

BIOGRAPHIES

Jack Holden​ (Performer and Co-Writer)​ trained as an actor at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has participated in the Royal Court Young Writers Programme and the Channel 4 Screenwriting Course. He is currently on attachment at the National Theatre Studio.

His debut play Cruise—a kaleidoscopic, musical odyssey through Soho and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s—premiered at the Duchess Theatre in Summer 2021 to widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2022. Its second sold out run took place at the Apollo Theatre in August 2022, its regional premiere took place at HOME Manchester in August 2023, and it received its first international production in Johannesburg. Cruise premiered in Australia in February 2025 and plays in Mexico later this year. A feature film of Cruise is currently in development.

He is under commission to the Almeida Theatre, for whom he is adapting Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker Prize-winning novel The Line of Beauty, due to be staged in Autumn 2025.

Jack is also developing screen projects with Working Title, Independent Entertainment, World Productions, MMXX, Turning Point, Green Acre, and Michael Grandage Company. He has taken part in development writers rooms for Joi Productions and Genial.

As an actor, Jack was most recently seen in John Morton’s “Ten Percent” (Amazon) and Stefan Golaszewski’s “Marriag”e (BBC One). Jack has also starred in British independent films, in television drama for ITV, Channel 4 and Starz, and on stage at the National Theatre, the RSC, the Almeida, many regional theatres, and multiple times in the West End.

In January 2025, Jack made his debut as writer-director with his short film Safari, produced by My Accomplice. Together, they are developing Jack’s debut writer-director feature film, Man Made.

John Patrick Elliott​ (Composer and On-Stage Musician) is an award-winning composer, music producer and songwriter from West Yorkshire, working in film, television and theatre. He studied theatre and film at Manchester University before heading full pelt into life as a touring and recording artist all over the UK and Europe. ​
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He has performed at major festivals, including Glastonbury, with his alt-folk band The Little Unsaid, collaborated with world-class producers such as Graeme Stewart (Radiohead, Jonny Greenwood) and Sonny Johns (Shakira, Ali Farka Touré), and received radio play from the likes of Iggy Pop and Guy Garvey.​
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Awards: Stage Debut Award for Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer (Cruise); Steve Reid InNOVAtion Award for boundary-pushing music creators (The Little Unsaid).​
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Theatre credits include: Cruise (Apollo Theatre); ADA, Animal Farm (National Youth Theatre); Ring Ring (Clapham Omnibus).​
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Film credits include: Wild Isles (Newyonder); Three Moons of Biyangdo (Newyonder); Terence (Two by Two Productions) Six For Gold (Needlemouse Films).​
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Television credits include: “Into the Congo with Ben Fogle” (Channel 5).​

Ed Stambollouian (Co-Writer and Director​) is a theatre and comedy director who trained on the Directing MA at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. In 2018 he had his West End debut, directing Harold Pinter’s Night School for the prestigious Pinter at the Pinter Season. ​
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Ed was the associate director on Jamie Lloyd’s Trafalgar Transformed Season including Pride, The Hothouse and Macbeth.​
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Theatre credits include: Animal Farm (Royal and Derngate), Night School (Pinter at the Pinter Season); Curse of the Crackles (Shoreditch Town Hall); BLUSH (Soho, UK Tour and Underbelly); Prince of the River (Old Vic 12, The Criterion); Don’t Waste Your Bullets on the Dead (VAULT Festival); Feathers in the Snow (Unicorn); Awkward Conversations with Animals I’ve F*cked (Underbelly); Wedding (Shoreditch Town Hall); Family Voices and Victoria Station (Trafalgar Studios); Finer Noble Gases/Lobby Hero (Haymarket, Masterclass);​ The Aliens (Trafalgar Studios 2); Elegy (Shunt Vaults).​
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Comedy credits include: Max Fosh: Loophole (UK/US/Aus Tour); Daniel Howell: We’re All Doomed (UK/US/Aus Tour); Sorted Food Live: The Big Christmas Bash (Shoreditch Town Hall); Joe Lycett: More, More, More (UK Tour); Max Fosh: Zocial Butterfly (UK Tour); BONCAS: British Online Creator Awards (London Palladium); Joe Lycett: I’m About to Lose Control (UK Tour); Max and Ivan: The Straight Man (BAC);​
Dan and Phil: The Amazing Tour is Not on Fire (UK Tour, London Palladium and US, Australia and Europe Tour); That’s The Way Aha Aha Joe Lycett (Edinburgh Festival and UK Tour); Joe Lycett: Some Lycett Hot (Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh).

Anisha Fields (Set and Costume Design) is a graduate of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She was the recipient of the Leverhulme Arts Scholarship, resident at the RSC 2018-2019. She was named as one of the Guardian’s 12 theatre stars to watch and was a finalist for Told by an Idiot’s Naomi Wilkinson Award 2019. She is an Associate Artist at Theatre Iolo.​
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Theatre credits include: English (Royal Shakespeare Company / Kiln); Some Demon (Bristol Old Vic); Little Prince (The Egg / Tour); The Real Ones (Bush); Robin Hood and the Christmas Heist (Rose Theatre); Pandemonium (Soho Theatre); Wendy: A Peter Pan Story (Bath Theatre Royal); The Limit (Royal Opera House); Octopolis (Hampstead Theatre Downstairs); Self-Raising (Graeae + Soho Theatre); Squirrel (Unicorn); Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles? (Minerva – Chichester Festival Theatre); Blackout Songs (Hampstead Theatre); Walworth Farce (Southwark Playhouse Elephant); Blackout Songs (Hampstead Theatre Downstairs); Blood Wedding (Central School of Speech and Drama); Owl at Home (Theatr Iolo); Alice in Wonderland (Mercury Colchester); Zoombird (Coventry Capital of Culture); Kes (Theatre by the Lake); Yellowfin (Southwark Playhouse); The Lower Depths (Central School of Speech and Drama); Acis and Galatea (Early Opera Company / Buxton International Festival); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Salisbury Playhouse, Tobacco Factory); First Encounters: Merchant of Venice (RSC); I Wish I Was A Mountain (The Egg, Bath Theatre Royal/Travelling Light); Beautiful Thing (Tobacco Factory + Tour); Squirrel (The Egg, Bath Theatre Royal); A View From the Bridge (Tobacco Factory); Macbeth (Tobacco Factory).​
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Associate credits include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Royal Shakespeare Company); Gunter (Royal Court); Camp Siegfried (Old Vic).

Sarah Golding (​Movement Direction)​ is a movement director and choreographer working in contemporary dance and theatre. She is ​co-founder of SAY dance company who have movement directed for the National Theatre and West End venues. She has received nominations for a British Black Theatre Award for her movement direction for the West End’s Cruise.​
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Choreographer/Movement Director credits include: Jamie Lloyd’s Romeo & Juliet (SAY, Duke of Yorks Theatre); Jamie Lloyds The Effect (SAY, National Theatre); The Songs of Joni Mitchell (Roundhouse); Dave Okumu Concert (Roundhouse); The Wizard of Oz (Watermill Theatre); Say​ Something (SAY, NDCWales National and International Tour); Cruise (Apollo, Duchess); Little Women (Park Theatre); Call to Mind (Maiden Voyage UK Tour); Kalena (Pheonix Dance Theatre); the intro for Balletboyz; Blood and Belief (U.Mi1; London Fashion week 2021); STATE for mapdance 2021; Into The Woods (LAMDA, London Edinburgh Fringe); Carrie (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama); Oh! What a Lovely War (Mountview); the conversations with x (Trinity Laban);​ Primetime (Royal Court); SAY:AF (Dance Umbrella); Becoming Shades (Chivaree Circus); Cruise (Apollo Theatre).​
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Performer credits include: STOMP (Ambassadors Theatre and International Tour); the album live (SAY, Montreal); Commonwealth Games opening ceremony 2022; The Deluge Lîla Dance; Us (Cathy Waller Company); Shame​ (bangbangbang group); Teh Internet is Serious Business ​(Royal Court); Love Dances (Adam Russell); TRIPTYCH ​(Quang Van).​
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Performer Film credits include: The Marvels (Marvel ​Studios).

Joshua Pharo ​(Lighting and Video Design) works as a lighting and projection designer across theatre, dance, opera, music, film & art installation. ​
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Theatre credits include: Stranger Beasts (Wildworks); A Raisin in the Sun (Headlong Theatre – UK Tour); The Hot Wing King (National Theatre); House Party (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Human Body (Donmar Warehouse); A Little Princess (Theatre By The Lake); The Odyssey Episode 5 (National Theatre); Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon Play (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester International Festival / Headlong / Young Vic); In The Realms Of Sorrow (London Handel Festival); A Christmas Carol (Rose Theatre), Let The Right One In (Royal Exchange Theatre); I Am Kevin (Wildworks); Corrina, Corrina (Headlong Theatre); Kerbs (Graeae & Belgrade Theatre for Coventry City of Culture); Jekyll & Hyde (National Theatre); Wolf, Witch, Giant Fairy (Royal Opera House); Love and Other Acts of Violence (Donmar Warehouse); Extinct (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Litten Trees (Fuel Theatre); Women of Troy (LAMDA); Crave (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Astro Science Challenge – Live! (Unlimited Theatre); The Rape of Lucretia (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland); The Bee in Me (Unicorn Theatre); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith); Conspiracy (Underbelly, New Diorama Theatre / Barrel Organ); Flux (Imogen Knight & Southbank Symphonia); The Claim (Edinburgh Fringe, winner Creative Innovation in Lighting Design, Innovation In Theatre Technology Awards); Going Through (Bush Theatre); Noughts & Crosses (Pilot Theatre, UK Tour); Vassa (Almeida Theatre); Nuclear Future (Gameshow, UK Tour); The Color Purple (Leicester Curve/Birmingham Hippodrome); The Ridiculous Darkness (Gate Theatre); Counting Sheep (Belarus Free Theatre/Vault Theatre); Midnight Movie (Royal Court Theatre); The Shape of Pain (Summerhall Edinburgh/Battersea Arts Centre, Winner, Creative Innovation in Video and Projection Design, Innovation in Theatre Technology Awards). ​
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Film credits include: Where I Go (Where I Can’t Be Who I Am) (Rachel Bagshaw and China Plate).​
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Opera credits: Wolf Witch Giant Fairy (Royal Opera House/Little Bulb); Carmen (Wilton’s Music Hall/Royal Opera House).

Giles Thomas​ (Sound Design). Theatre credits include: 1984 (Theatre Royal, Bath); House Party (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Glass Menagerie (Rose Theatre Kingston/UK Tour); The Boy At The Back of the Class (Rose Theatre/UK Tour); Machinal (The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama); Portia Coughlan (Almeida Theatre); Farewell Mister Hoffmann (Ustinov Studios); Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon Play (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester International Festival, Headlong/Young Vic); The Vortex (Chichester Festival Theatre); Private Lives (Donmar Warehouse); Sons of Prophet (Hampstead Theatre); The Glass Menagerie (Royal Exchange Theatre); Leftovers (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art); An Octoroon (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); Fair Play (The Bush Theatre); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Leicester Curve/Liverpool Playhouse/English Touring Theatre, UK Tour); Romeo and Juliet (Regents Park Open Air Theatre), Marvin’s Binoculars (Unicorn Theatre); The Comeback (Noël Coward Theatre); Living Newspaper Edition 3 (Royal Court); Living Newspaper Edition 2 (Royal Court); The Dumbwaiter (Hampstead Theatre); Faustus: That Damned Woman (Headlong, UK Tour/Lyric Hammersmith); The Twits (Unicorn Theatre); Master Harold and the Boys (National Theatre); Plenty (Chichester Festival Theatre); Tao of Glass (Royal Exchange, Manchester International Festival/Heath Ledger Theatre, Perth); Hedda Gabler (Sherman Cymru); Othello (English Touring Theatre, Dubai Opera House/Great China Theatre Shanghai); Macbeth (Theatre Manoel); Dick Whittington (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Weatherman (The Park). ​
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Film credits include: Aurélia (Cinéma Fragile); CERN Hadron Collider (Science Museum); The Wonder Of Light (TheCGBros); Gwynne Harris Round (Beacon Flix); Fur Away (Robert Sword); The Twits, Marvin’s Binoculars (Unicorn Theatre); The Sound of London (Robert Sword).​
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Television credits include: “#Blackmark” (Irish Sports Council).​
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Game credits include: The Cure (Clemens Beckmann, Maximilian Lambrecht, Jonas Schröder); Feudal Wars (Crazy Games).

Taylor Williams, CSA (Casting). Film: Union County, Good One, Omni Loop. Broadway: All Out, John Proctor is the Villain, All In, Romeo and Juliet, Stereophonic, Illinoise, An Enemy of the People, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, POTUS…,Slave Play, What the Constitution Means to Me. Upcoming: The Chaperones, Ancient History Via Negativa, Thumb. www.TaylorWilliamsCasting.com

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