Following the success of their critically acclaimed production of Jesus Hopped the A Train (2012 Gregory Award for Outstanding Production), Seattle theatre company Azeotrope is proud to announce the Northwest premiere of Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joseph, directed by Desdemona Chiang. Gruesome Playground Injuries opens Friday, July 19, 2013 at the Washington Ensemble Theatre in Capitol Hill and performs through Sunday, August 11, 2013.
Gruesome Playground Injuries follows the decades-spanning relationship of an accident-prone dare devil and a corrosive masochist who navigate friendship, love, and the wounds created in between. Doug (Richard Nguyen Sloniker) and Kayleen (Amanda Zarr) first meet in the nurse’s office at the age of eight: Doug rode his bike off the roof and Kayleen can’t stop throwing up. Over the course of the next 30 years, their lives continue to intersect at the most bizarre intervals and places, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the physical calamities that keep drawing them together.
“This play connects the emotional and physical manifestations of pain in a very potent way,” said Director Desdemona Chiang. “It shows how two people, when they mean a great deal to each other, can have the capacity to destroy and heal each other and themselves.”
Gruesome Playground Injuries features performances by Richard Nguyen Sloniker (Jesus Hopped the A Train, Boeing Boeing, Red Light Winter, The Cider House Rules) and Amanda Zarr (Shakespeare Orange County). The creative team includes scenic design by Deanna Zibello (Jesus Hopped the A Train, Artifacts of Consequence), lighting design by Jessica Trundy (Taming of the Shrew, Jesus Hopped the A Train), costume design by Christine Tschirgi (Pirates of Penzance, Red Light Winter), and sound design by Evan Mosher (Cryptogram).
