Atlantic Theatre Company to Feature HAPPY HOUR, CQ/CX, et al. in 2011-12 Season

Atlantic Theater Company just announced its 2011-2012 season productions, featuring world premieres from Academy Award® winner Ethan Coen, Fernanda Coppel, Gabe McKinley, Adam Rapp, and Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley, as well as a U.S. premiere from Simon Stephens starring Olivier Award winner Simon Russell Beale.

As Atlantic prepares to reveal its newly-renovated home at the Linda Gross Theater with the world premiere of John Patrick Shanley's SLEEPING DEMON as the final main stage production of the 2011-2012 season, the rest of the season's main stage productions will be performed at the off-Broadway stages of Classic Stage Company and Signature Theatre Company's Peter Norton Space.

The 2011-2012 season begins at Atlantic Stage 2, the company's state-of-the-art Second Stage, with the U.S. premiere of BLUEBIRD, by Simon Stephens (On the Shore of the Wide World), making his New York and Atlantic debut. Also making her Atlantic debut is director Gaye Taylor Upchurch, who recently staged Language of Angels at the Lincoln Center Institute and is Associate Director of The Bridge Project. Tony Award nominee Simon Russell Beale leads a cast featuring Michael Countryman, Charlotte Parry, Tobias Segal, John Sharian, and Atlantic company members Kate Blumberg, Mary McCann and Todd Weeks.

Obie Award-winning playwright Adam Rapp (Red Light Winter) makes his Atlantic debut with the world premiere of DREAMS OF FLYING DREAMS OF FALLING, directed by Atlantic Theater Company Artistic Director Neil Pepe. This first main stage production of the season opens at Classic Stage Company this fall.

Academy Award® winning filmmaker Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) returns to Atlantic with his third world premiere play HAPPY HOUR, directed by Neil Pepe, who also staged Coen's hit comedies Almost an Evening and Offices at Atlantic. HAPPY HOUR will be staged this winter at Signature Theatre Company's Peter Norton Space.

Next up in the Peter Norton Space is Atlantic's main stage production of CQ/CX, a world premiere by Gabe McKinley, whose critically acclaimed play Extinction was recently produced Off-Broadway. McKinley makes his Atlantic debut with CQ/CX.

The 2011-2012 season continues at Atlantic Stage 2 with CHIMICHANGAS AND ZOLOFT by Fernanda Coppel (The Leak), making her Atlantic debut. CHIMICHANGAS AND ZOLOFT will be directed by Jaime Castañeda, who returns to Atlantic after directing new plays by David Mamet and Edwin Sanchez for the 10x25 one-act festival this spring.

Atlantic concludes its 2011-2012 season with a return to its main stage home at the Linda Gross Theater, where Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner John Patrick Shanley's play SLEEPING DEMON will receive its world premiere. Shanley (Doubt) is also making his Atlantic Theater Company debut.

2011 - 2012 Atlantic Theater Company SEASON