Playwrights Horizons celebrated the official opening of Clare Barron's newest play Dance Nation May 8. The Relentless Award- and Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning play follows a group of pre-teen dancers competing for the top prize at the Boogie Down Grand Prix in Tampa Bay—what follows is a celebration of female ambition, ferocity, and unabashed preteen girlhood.
Read: PLAYWRIGHT CLARE BARRON PENS HER POWERFUL NEW ‘GHOST PLAY’ WITH DANCE NATION
Lee Sunday Evans directs and choreographs a cast made up of Purva Bedi, Eboni Booth, Camila Canó-Flaviá, Ellen Maddow, Christina Rouner, Thomas Jay Ryan, Dina Shihabi, Lucy Taylor, and Ikechukwu Ufomadu.
Read reviews for Dance Nation below:
DC Theatre Scene (Jonathan Mandell)
The New York Times (Ben Brantley)
NY Daily News (Joe Dziemianowicz)
New York Stage Review (Steven Suskin)
Time Out New York (Adam Feldman)
Vulture / New York Magazine (Sara Holdren)
Dance Nation began previews April 13 in Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theater, and has been extended through June 3.
The production features scenic design by Arnulfo Maldonado, costume design by Ásta Bennie Hostetter, lighting design by Barbara Samuels, and sound design by Brandon Wolcott. Production stage manager is Erin Gioia Albrecht.