Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation present
FRANKLINLAND
a comedy written by Lloyd Suh*, directed by Chika Ike
featuring Noah Keyishian, Mason Reeves, and Thomas Jay Ryan
The story of growing up as the only son of Benjamin Franklin: the greatest scientific mind in the world, inventor of the lightning rod and the urinary catheter and the glass harmonica and bifocal glasses and, oh yeah, in his spare time the United States of America.
October 9 - November 3, 2024
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT & DIRECTOR
Lloyd Suh is the author of plays including The Heart Sellers, The Chinese Lady, The Far Country (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Bina’s Six Apples, American Hwangap, and others, which have been produced at the Atlantic Theater Company, Public Theater, Alliance Theatre, Huntington Theater, Milwaukee Rep, Denver Center, Magic Theatre, Children's Theatre Company, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, the National Asian American Theatre Company, and Ensemble Studio Theatre among others, including internationally at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and with PCPA at the Guerilla Theatre in Seoul, Korea. Awards include the Steinberg Playwright Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Herb Alpert Award, Horton Foote Prize, and Helen Merrill Award. He served as Director of Artistic Programs at The Lark from 2011-20. A resident playwright at New Dramatists and a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, he was elected in 2016 to the Dramatists Guild Council, and serves as a Professor of the Practice at Princeton University.
Chika Ike is a Brooklyn-based theatre director who is passionate about epic stories. Most recently, she has directed Kin (Pipeline Festival, WP Theatre), Antigone, Everybody (Atlantic School/ NYU), Orlando (Rutgers University), Kentucky, A Swell in the Ground (The Gift Theatre), Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (First Floor Theatre), as well as the world premiere of Franklinland with Jackalope Theatre. She has also developed work with The Public, Rattlestick Theatre, Playwright’s Realm, Faultline Theatre, The Playwrights’ Center, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and Victory Gardens among others. She served as a resident director for Hamilton (Phillip Tour) and an associate director for the recent revival of Death of a Salesman and Hadestown (1st National Tour, Walter Kerr). Drama League Fellowship, SDCF Gielgud Directing Fellowship, Bret C. Harte Directing Fellowship, Victory Garden’s Directors Initiative, and the WP Directors Lab. Lucy Powis, Michael Moore Agency.