The Sickness, a new play written and directed by Emil Varda, will star Ryan Cupello (Dirty Dancing national tour) and Mia Vallet (Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Off-Broadway) as a Lower East Side couple struggling with heroin addiction in the 1990s. Previews begin February 7 with an opening set for February 13 at the Access Theater Off-Broadway.

Serving on the creative team for the W.I. Productions engagement are scenic and costume designer Vincent Gunn and lighting designer Alexander Fetchko.

Varda was a theatre maker and political dissident in Communist Poland. After immigrating to the United States, he continued to work in theatre in New York City, before entering the restaurant business, where he is the co-owner at the Waverly Inn. His most recent production, All Roads Lead to the Kurski Station, played in New York City at the East Village Playhouse and other venues around the world.

“I am deeply troubled by the direction of our world, feel powerless against it, and don't see a clear path forward,” said Varda. “My colleagues and I are attempting to revisit the radical potential of twentieth century European avant-garde theatre because it allows for complex forms of artistic and intellectual expression that challenges conventional forms without surrendering to sentimentality or postmodern nihilism.”