Goldhenhersh, Sparks, et al. Set for Rapp’s Essential Self-Defense

Full casting has been announced for Essential Self-Defense, a new play by Obie winner Adam Rapp, to be seen at Playwrights Horizons, March 15-April 15, with an official opening slated for March 28. The show is a co-production with the Edge Theater Company, and its co-founder Carolyn Cantor, who previously directed Rapp’s Stone Cold Dead Serious, will helm the production.

The cast will feature Cheryl Lynn Bowers, Guy Boyd, Michael Chernus, Joel Marsh Garland, Heather Goldenhersh, Lucas Papaelias, Ray Rizzo, and Paul Sparks. The creative team will feature David Korins (sets), Miranda Hoffman (costumes), Ben Stanton (lighting), and Eric Shim (sound).

The play concerns a disgruntled misfit who takes a job as an attack dummy in a women’s self-defense class and finds himself mysteriously drawn to the repressed bookworm who’s beating him up. Eventually, the pair get involved in fighting the dark forces in the town in which they live. Rapp’s previous plays also include Red Light Winter, for which he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Nocturne and Finer Noble Gases.

For more information, visit www.playwrightshorizons.org.