Little Island will Premiere “Open Throat” as Part of its Current Summer Season

Photo By Michael Grimm

WRITTEN BY HENRY HOKE
DIRECTED BY CAITLIN RYAN O’CONNELL
WITH “ABBOTT ELEMENTARY” STAR CHRIS PERFETTI AND LORTEL AWARD NOMINEE JO LAMPERT

PERFORMANCES BEGIN ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 10
WITH OPENING NIGHT SET FOR THURSDAY, JULY 11

Little Island is pleased to announce Open Throat, a theatrical adaptation of the acclaimed and award winning novella of the same name by Henry Hoke, will star Chris Perfetti, the actor from the Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award-winning “Abbott Elementary” as ‘Jacob,’ and Lortel Award nominee Jo Lampert. The production will be adapted by Hoke and directed by Caitlin Ryan O’Connell, which will begin performances on Wednesday, July 10, with the official opening set for Thursday, July 11. Performances of Open Throat will run on Little Island through Sunday, July 14.

Praised by The New York Times as “what fiction should be,” Open Throat tells the story of a queer and dangerously hungry mountain lion living in the drought-devastated land under the Hollywood sign. Feral and vulnerable, profound and playful, Open Throat explores identity, inequality, and our most predatory impulses.

“It’s been such a joy to watch readers embrace Open Throat over this past year, and to hear how a queer mountain lion speaks to people’s very human curiosities, fears, and desires,” said Hoke. “I’m so excited for the book to be given new voice onstage by this company of artists, lending their phenomenal talents to help my wild animal get to New York City.”

At each performance, Perfetti and Lampert will split the role of the mountain lion, along with the previously announced Calvin Leon Smith. The trio will be joined by Marinda Anderson, Alex Hernandez, Layla Khoshnoudi, Ryan King, Susannah Perkins, and Steven Wendt.

Working alongside Hoke and O’Connell on the creative team are two-time Tony-nominee Isabella Byrd; sound designer and composer Michael Castogliola; Obie Award-winning scenic, props and masks designer Noah Mease; choreographer Lisa Fagan; and shadow puppet designer Steven Wendt.

Open Throat runs July 10-14 at Little Island’s Amph.

Little Island recently announced that an annual, four-month-long summer season of world premieres, which kicked off on June 1, will feature a total of nine newly commissioned pieces. Little Island’s new arts program moves towards the future with a commitment to a multi-year roster of original work, all commissioned by and developed at Little Island. Bookended by the premiere of choreographer Twyla Tharp’s newest work How Long Blues and a 90-minute remix of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in which outré opera diva Anthony Roth Costanzo sings every leading role, the season will offer premieres of varying scales across all areas of performance – including music, dance, theater, opera, comedy, jazz, pop, and funk, all outdoors and directly sited on the Hudson River at 14th Street in New York City. The Amph, the park’s 700-seat amphitheater, will house larger scale performances at a $25 ticket price, while The Glade, the park’s 200-seat venue, will be home to more intimate works, all of which will be completely free to the public.

Tickets to Little Island’s summer season of performances are available for purchase on littleislandtickets.com, TodayTix.com, or by downloading the TodayTix app.

ABOUT LITTLE ISLAND

Little Island, the 2.4-acre park that sits along the Hudson River, opened in May 2021 and has since been enjoyed by 4.6 million visitors. In 2013, Barry Diller, in partnership with Hudson River Park Trust leadership, embarked on the unique opportunity to envision a solution for the repair and reactivation of Pier 54, which had been badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The park was designed as an entirely new type of public space for New York, one that would create an immersive experience of nature and art. Born from a collaboration of the UK-based Heatherwick Studio and the New York-based landscape architecture firm MNLA, led by Signe Nielsen, the park’s imaginative design offers all New Yorkers and visitors a new public space that is dynamic, captivating, and restorative.

Little Island is operated year-round by a 50-member staff co-helmed by Producing Artistic Director Zack Winokur and Executive Director Laura Clement.

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