May 8, 2000 - Richard Rodgers' Award-Winning Musical To Be Given Workshop at the York Theatre Company; Performances Begin May 26th

SUBURB, winner of the prestigious Richard Rodgers Development Award for Musical Theater, will be given a workshop production at the York Theater. The workshop will be staged reading style, similar to City Center's popular "Encores!" series. Performances will be Friday May 26th through Saturday June 3rd.

SUBURB tells the story of a young couple living in a large city who are about to have a baby. The husband has always dreamed of grassy lawns, quaint little shops and friendly, safe streets. The wife wants to stay right where they are. Using just eight actors, SUBURB creates a host of recognizable characters from Rhoda Ravitch, the real estate agent, to all of the citizens of the idyllic town of Suburb.

SUBURB was written by Robert S. Cohen (music) and David Javerbaum (lyrics). Mr. Cohen is a veteran of New York theater, and is the author of "God In Concert (One Night Only)" and "Knots", which was presented at the Clark Center for the Performing Arts. He has worked with the National Shakespeare Company and Manitoba Theatre, and is a graduate of Brown University. David Javerbaum is a graduate of the prestigious NYU Musical Theater Program. Mr. Javerbaum is a successful comedy writer, and was nominated for a 1999 Emmy Award for his work on "The Late Show With David Letterman". He is also the co-author of two best-selling books - Our Dumb Century and The Onion's Finest News Reporting, both from the popular news parody web site 'The Onion', where he worked for three years. He is currently a staff writer for Comedy Central's "The Daily Show". The director for SUBURB will be Jennifer Uphoff Gray. Ms Gray is currently the Resident Director of the Broadway play COPENHAGEN, and served as Associate Director of THE BLUE ROOM starring Nicole Kidman, and the still-running CABARET. She recently staged BOY MEETS GIRL at the Playwrights Horizons Studio Theater.

The Richard Rodgers Awards, administered since 1978 by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, provide financial support for full productions, studio productions, or staged readings by nonprofit theaters in New York City. The awards were endowed by Richard Rodgers, with a one-million dollar gift, to encourage new talent in the field of musical theater. Mr. Rodgers was the first musical theater composer to be elected to the Academy. The winning musicals are chosen each year by a committee of writers and composers most of whom are members of the Academy. The jury for the awards this year, chaired by Stephen Sondheim, included Lynn Ahrens, Jack Beeson, John Guare, Sheldon Harnick, R.W.B Lewis, Richard Maltby, Jr., Francis Thorne, and Robert Ward.

This production is not open for review, but your coverage is invited. If you are interested, please call the press office at (212)575-0263.

A New Musical

Workshop Performances at the York Theatre/Citicorp Center, 619 Lexington Ave. (54th Street)

May 26th through June 3rd

Performance Schedule:

Friday May 26th at 1pm

Thursday June 1st at 7pm

Friday June 2nd at 1pm and 5pm

Saturday June 3rd at 2pm and 8pm

* * * Free and Open To The Public * * *

Call (212)935-5824 for reservations

For more information about SUBURB, please call us at (212)575-0263, or send e-mail to clientinfo@brettsinger.com.