THE SLUTS OF SUTTON DRIVE Set for The Finborough Theatre, London, Now thru 9 July

As part of the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre's Summer Season, acclaimed US playwright Joshua Conkel makes his UK debut with the world premiere of the darkly comic The Sluts of Sutton Drive, opening at the Finborough Theatre for a strictly limited run of six Sunday and Monday performances from today, 24 June 2012 to the 9th of July.

Everybody wants a piece of Stephanie Schwartz. Her son’s demanding nuggets, her boyfriend wants her to wax and her best friend’s taking her to a stripping class. Now there’s a rapist on Sutton Drive, an obscene caller invading her home and a portal to hell beneath her sofa. How far must she go to make it all stop? And how far is too far?

Playwright Joshua Conkel is a playwright and blogger from rural Washington State. He is the author of MilkMilkLemonade, The Chalk Boy, Lonesome Winter (co-written with Megan Hill), I Wanna Destroy You and Sprawl as well as numerous short plays. MilkMilkLemonade was named Best Off-Broadway Show of 2009 by NY Press, and is consistently one of Playscripts' top three most-produced plays. It has become a cult hit in the USA, recently receiving its 25th production in only two years. In 2011, Joshua was nominated one of NEXT Magazine’s “Who’s Next”. His work has been developed by The Management, Soho Rep, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Old Vic New Voices, Dixon Place, The Flea and more. He is a member of The Management, where he served as Artistic Director for six years, and of Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Soho Rep Writers/Directors Lab, Sons of Tennessee, and The Dramatists Guild. He is currently finishing a graphic novel adaptation of The Chalk Boy for First Second Books, an imprint of Macmillan, and editing his first short film, Power Lunch. He is an alumnus of Youngblood and the TS Eliot Old Vic New Voices US/UK Exchange. He holds a BFA in Theater from Cornish College of the Arts and lives in Brooklyn, New York. The Sluts of Sutton Drive is his UK debut.

Director Rebecca Atkinson-Lord is a theatre maker who directs, writes, devises and produces theatre and performance. Rebecca read Ancient History and Classics at Bristol University, specialising in ancient Greek drama. She trained as a Director at RADA and with Frantic Assembly, Complicite, Told by an Idiot and at The Young Vic. Her work has taken her from major international companies like Shakespeare’s Globe, Scottish Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, to intimate found spaces in London and beyond. As a writer-director, her credits include Seeking Oblivion (BAC Scratch), Mrs Edna Way (Arch 468) and an original adaptation of Medea (Barons Court Theatre). Direction includes Mother Clap’s Molly House and The Flies (Crescent Theatre, Birmingham, for BSA), Romeo and Juliet (Teatro Technis), Five Eleven (King’s Head Theatre and Tour) and numerous new plays by emerging writers including Janice Okoh, Chad Armistead and Louise Monaghan at venues including Arch468 and Theatre503. She is Director of Theatre at Ovalhouse and Founding Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Arch 468.

The cast includes:

Georgia Buchanan trained at East 15 Acting School and Syracuse University. London theatre includes Execution of Justice (Southwark Playhouse) and Enter A Gentleman (National Portrait Gallery). US theatre includes Lysistrata, The Tamer Tamed (Shakespeare Santa Cruz), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Ensemble Studio Theater), such small hands (Syracuse Stage), Love Letters, Translations, The Importance of Being Earnest (Keegan Theatre). Roles in training included lead roles in The Rose Tattoo, Woyzeck, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Dream Play (Soho Theatre), And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little (Tristan Bates Theatre) and Airswimming. Film includes Mindset andThe Hard Place.

Kelly Burke trained at RADA. Previous work at the Finborough includes Blue Surge (2011), Green, as part of Vibrant – A Festival of Finborough Playwrights (2009) and In World, as part of Vibrant – A Festival of Finborough Playwrights (2011). Other theatre includes Zelda for which she received an OffWestEnd Award nomination for Best Female Performer (New End Theatre), Avocado (King’s Head Theatre), Marie and Bruce (Wallace Shawn Festival at The Royal Court Theatre),
Inherit the Wind (Bug Theatre, Denver) and Agnes of God (Federal Theatre, Denver). Television includes Doctors. Radio includes The Big Sleep, The Little Sister, These Are the Times (BBC Radio 4).

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