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Rick Miramontez / Michael Jorgensen
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

BOBBY  CANNAVALE,
STEPHEN ADLY GUIRGIS, AND
KYRA SEDGWICK
JOIN
MEGAN HILTY, LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
AND BEAU WILLIMON AS
W A T E R W E L L   S U M M E R   T H E A T E R   L A B
MASTER CLASS ARTISTS

New York, NY (May 2, 2013) – Waterwell, announces the addition of Kyra Sedgwick, Bobby Cannavale and Stephen Adly Guirgis to its roster of Master Class Artist’s for the company’s inaugural Summer Theater Lab. They join the previously announced Megan Hilty (“Smash”), Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) and Beau Willimon (“House of Cards”). Faculty and commissioned artists will be announced shortly.

The Waterwell Summer Theater Lab offers dedicated middle and high school students from across the country the opportunity to engage in a focused three-week training program with world-class practitioners in the heart of New York City's fabled Theater District. Over the course of an NYC summer, the artistic community at the Summer Theater Lab will showcase brave new works by some of the American theater's rising voices. They will premiere just steps from Times Square and, through publication, build upon the catalogue of quality age-appropriate material for theaters and schools world-wide.

Emmy Award-winning and Tony-nominated actor, Bobby Cannavale, of TV's Boardwalk Empire, Third Watch, Will and Grace, and Broadway's Glengarry Glen Ross opposite Oscar-winner Al Pacino; playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis whose works include The Motherf—ker With the Hat on  Broadway starring Chris Rock and numerous collaborations with Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman; and Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actress, Kyra Sedgwick from TNT's crime drama, The Closer will serve as the Master Class Artists in the program's inaugural year.

“Students here are trained to break their own ceilings and find the joy in being 'idea people'. It's a skill-set that no one can ever take away from them. The Master Class and faculty artists we have for our inaugural year have crossed disciplines, mediums, and are some of the benchmarks for success in our industry,” said Victor Maog, Director of Summer Theater Lab.

“Kyra, Bobby and Stephen are not only world-class artists, they’re three of the hardest-working, most generous people in the business. And that’s why we want out students to get the chance to meet them. The Summer Theater Lab is about chops, yes, but it’s also about building relationships and joining a community, and how that all goes hand in hand,” said Waterwell artistic director Tom Ridgely.

Waterwell is one of the Village Voice’s Best Arguments for Devised Theater and creators of GOODBAR and #9, launches its Summer Theater Lab at the Professional Performing Arts School (PPAS) in Manhattan, under the leadership of Victor Maog, with world-class guest artists from the worlds of theater, television, and film. The program has two sessions: Monday-Friday, July 15-August 3, and August 5-24, 2013. For more information about classes and enrollment, visit www.waterwell.org/summer. The application deadline is May 10th.

Bios_______________________________________________________________

BOBBY CANNAVALE (Master Class Artist) made his Broadway debut in Theresa Rebeck’s Mauritius, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award®. He was most recently seen in The Motherfucker With The Hat for which he was also Tony nominated and received rave reviews in the 2005 Off-Broadway revival of Hurlyburly. On television Cannavale won an Emmy Award® for his performance as Will’s boyfriend on NBC’s “Will & Grace.” Television appearances include HBO’s “Six Feet Under,” the ABC comedy series “Cupid” and he is currently co-starring this season on “Nurse Jackie.” Last fall Cannavale joined the cast of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” Film credits include The Station Agent (Audience Award Sundance Film Festival; SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture), The Other Guys, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Diminished Capacity, Fast Food Nation, The Night Listener and most recently, Win Win. He also appears in the upcoming films Parker opposite Jennifer Lopez and Lovelace.

STEPHEN ADLY GUIRGIS (Master Class Artist) is the former Co-Artistic Director and member of Labyrinth Theater Company. His plays have been performed on five continents and throughout the United States. Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, Our Lady of 121st Street, In Arabia We'd All Be Kings, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and The Little Flower of East Orange were all produced by Labyrinth and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Judas and Little Flower were co-productions with the Public Theater. The Motherf—ker With the Hat played on Broadway featuring Chris Rock, Bobby Cannavale, and Annabella Sciorria. Other plays include Den of Thieves, Race Religion Politics, Dominica: The Fat Ugly Ho and the upcoming Untitled/St. Paul play. UK and regional premieres at the Donmar Warehouse (Olivier nom.), the Almeida (dir. Rupert Goold), the Arts, the Hampstead, Edinburgh (Fringe First Award) and two Midwest premieres at Steppenwolf. New Dramatists alumnus, MCC Playwrights and Ojai Playwrights member. TV writing credits include NBC's “UC: Undercover,” David Milch's CBS drama “Big Apple,” “NYPD Blue” and “The Sopranos.”

KYRA SEDGWICK (Master Class Artist), whose career has included critically acclaimed roles on stage, film and television, won a Golden Globe and Emmy Award as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson on TNT’s blockbuster series “The Closer”. On the big screen, Sedgwick most recently appeared with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the football comedy The Game Plan. She also co-starred in and co-produced the independent film Loverboy. Sedgwick’s other recent big-screen credits include Cavedweller, which she developed and produced – and for which she received a 2005 Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress; Nicole Kassell’s award-winning The Woodsman, a dark drama co-starring Kevin Bacon that won the Jury Prize at the Deauville Film Festival, had its world premiere in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and was showcased in Cannes as part of the 2004 Director’s Fortnight line-up; and Rebecca Miller’s Personal Velocity, which won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Among Sedgwick’s long list of feature film credits are Phenomenon, opposite John Travolta; Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July; the Merchant-Ivory production of Mr. and Mrs. Bridge; Singles; Lemon Sky; Hearts & Souls, with Robert Downey Jr.; and Montana, with Stanley Tucci, Robin Tunney and Philip Seymour Hoffman. For television, Sedgwick co-starred opposite William H. Macy and Helen Mirren in TNT’s Peabody Award-winning drama Door to Door. Other credits include Something the Lord Made, Twelfth Night (or What You Will) and Losing Chase, which she executive produced and in addition to starring opposite Mirren and Beau Bridges. Her theater credits include The Culture Project’s New York production of The Exonerated, Nicholas Hytner’s Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center, Ah Wilderness! For which she won the Theater Award, and David Mamet’s Oleanna, which garnered her a Los Angeles Drama Critic’s Circle Award and a Drama League Award.

VICTOR MAOG (Director of Summer Theater Lab) is an award-winning stage director, educator and producer with national and international credits. He has collaborated at the NYSF/Public Theater, Second Stage, Hartford Stage, Williamstown, Cornerstone, Signature Theatre, Mabou Mines, New Dramatists, and directed/taught for NYU/Tisch, UPenn, Fordham and others. Victor is the former Director of Theatre for Perry-Mansfield, the oldest performing arts school in the nation. A. Rey Pamatmat's Out of Joint, a play he commissioned and produced at P-M, was just honored with the 2012 Princess Grace Special Project Award. He's the newly appointed Artistic Director of Second Generation Productions (2g). www.victormaog.com

WATERWELL (Arian Moayed & Tom Ridgely, Artistic Directors; Rebecca Schwartz, Director of Education) is a unique ensemble of theater artists dedicated to the creation of new work and the bold re-interpretation of classics. Founded in 2002 by Arian Moayed and Tom Ridgely, the company’s special blend of music, theater and social dialog has been nominated for three IT awards, a Drama Desk, a New York Magazine Culture Award and a Village Voice Best of NYC. The Voice calls them, “dynamic, resourceful and relentlessly entertaining.” And TheaterScene says, “There's no way a written description can do justice to their blazing energy and inventiveness.” The New York Times hails the work as, “brilliant, original and inspired. Alive enough to surprise even the performers themselves,” and Theatermania writes, “Waterwell has staked a claim on our collective conscience.” Since 2003, Waterwell has also offered structured classes in collaborative playmaking, or “devising”, the process by which the ensemble develops its material. By 2010 those educational activities had grown and coalesced into the Waterwell Drama Program , which now delivers – in partnership with the Professional Performing Arts School (PPAS) – top-quality, year-round, in-school theater training to over 300 NYC public school students. The program addresses the student-artist holistically and demands they develop both as an interpreter and as a creator. Voice and movement work connect with scene study and devising; classroom learning supports rehearsal and performance projects; and everything is designed to be in dialog with what's going on outside the classroom – in their homes, communities and the world at large.

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