Pablo Schreiber and Jennifer Carpenter to Tackle Gruesome Playground Injuries Off-Broadway

Pablo Schreiber and Jennifer Carpenter will star in the upcoming production of Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries, directed by Scott Ellis at off-Broadway’s Second Stage Theatre. The show will begin performances on January 5, 2011, ahead of a January 31 opening.

Gruesome Playground Injuries is described as a dark, romantic saga that explores the cost of wounded friendships. Over the course of 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the physical calamities that keep drawing them together. Second Stage previously presented Joseph's Animals Out of Paper and All This Intimacy in the theater's Uptown series. As previously announced, his play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo will premiere on Broadway in the spring of 2011, starring Robin Williams.

Schreiber’s Broadway credits include Desire Under the Elms and Awake and Sing!, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination. Other NYC theater credits include Reasons to be Pretty, Dying City, Mr. Marmalade, Manuscript, Blood Orange and Julius Caesar. His screen credits include Nick Sobotka on HBO series The Wire and films such as Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Lords of Dogtown, Nights in Rodanthe, The Manchurian Candidate, Breaking Upwards and Invitation to a Suicide.

Carpenter’s most recent stage appearance was her Broadway debut playing Mary Warren opposite Liam Neeson and Laura Linney in The Crucible. Best known for her role as Debra Morgan, younger sister to her real-life husband Michael C. Hall on the hit Showtime drama Dexter, Carpenter has appeared on the big screen in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Quarantine, Battle in Seattle, Dog Problem, Lethal Eviction, Nice Guys Sleep Alone, White Chicks, and D.E.B.S.

Gruesome Playground Injuries will have scenic design by Neil Patel, costume design by Jeff Mahshie and sound design by Ryan Rumery.