Five actors will bring a Brooklyn birding group to life when La Jolla Playhouse opens "A Black-billed Cuckoo" on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at the Mandell Weiss Forum. It runs through Oct. 11.

The world premiere, written by UC San Diego MFA graduate Mat Smart and directed by Shelley Butler, is the 13th play to advance from the Playhouse's DNA New Work Series to a full subscription-season production, according to a Playhouse press release.

The cast features Jo Garcia-Reger as Sadie, Jennifer Naimo as Tessa, Jeanine Serralles as Ruth, Samuel Stricklen as Ed and Sally Wingert as Marje. Understudies are Jamie Henkin, Sophia Oberg and Jared Van Heel.

The play unfolds over 24 hours in Prospect Park, where a close-knit birding group splinters after some members spot a rare black-billed cuckoo and others don't. The Playhouse describes it as "a quiet comedy about healing, wonder and how to move on after missing out."

Artistic director Jessica Stone called it "a small and mighty play about grief, family and friendship," adding that Smart "possesses a bottomless well of curiosity as a writer and a human, and it carries his work to unexpected places. He has written a funny, touching tale about a bird watching group in Prospect Park Brooklyn and their search for the elusive black-billed cuckoo."

Smart has written 27 full-length plays produced across the United States, including "Kill Local," which originally premiered at La Jolla Playhouse. He is currently writing an original screenplay for Taylor Sheridan. His "The Royal Society of Antarctica" won the Jeff Award for Best New Work in Chicago.

Butler has directed and developed more than two dozen new works at theaters including La Jolla Playhouse, Ars Nova, Atlantic Theater, the Geffen Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theatre and The Old Globe. Her world-premiere credits include Lucas Hnath's "A Doll's House Part 2" at South Coast Repertory. She currently serves as artistic director of the South Carolina New Play Festival.

The creative team includes Wilson Chin (scenic design), David Israel Reynoso (costume design), Philip Rosenberg (lighting design), Bobby McElver (sound design) and Animal Cracker Conspiracy (puppet design). Gabriel Greene, the Playhouse's director of artistic development who curates the DNA series, serves as dramaturg.

The production received an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

Performances run Tuesday through Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are available at lajollaplayhouse.org or by calling (858) 550-1010. The Mandell Weiss Forum is located at 2910 La Jolla Village Drive.