David Schwimmer and Amy Ryan Team Up for Playwrights Horizon's DETROIT this Fall

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) announced today that acclaimed film, stage and television stars Oscar and Tony Award nominee Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone, “The Office,” On the Mountain at Playwrights Horizons) and Emmy Award nominee David Schwimmer (“Friends,” “Band of Brothers,” Playwrights Horizons debut) have joined the cast of DETROIT, the New York premiere of the much-heralded new play by Obie Award winner Lisa D’Amour. Ms. D’Amour is both a 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist for this play and a 2011 Steinberg Playwright Award winner for her body of work.

Directed by Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Maple and Vine at Playwrights Horizons, The Thugs, Stunning, Naked Angels’ This Wide Night) in a completely new production, DETROIT will be presented as the first production of the theater company’s upcoming 2012/2013 Season. The production will begin previews Friday, August 24 in advance of a mid-September Opening Night (date TBA) at the company’s Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). The limited engagement is currently scheduled to play through Sunday, October 7.

Amy Ryan returns to Playwrights Horizons for the first time since appearing in On the Mountain in 2005. She made her Broadway debut in Uncle Vanya (Tony Award nomination) and appeared as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire (Tony Award nomination). She also starred in Neil LaBute’s The Distance from Here in London’s West End. On film, for her acclaimed performance in Gone Baby Gone, she was recognized with Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress, as well as National Board of Review and Broadcast Film Critics Association awards, among others. Her other film credits include Win Win, Green Zone, Jack Goes Boating, Changeling, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Capote, Dan in Real Life, War of the Worlds, Keane and You Can Count On Me, as well as the upcoming The Tomb and the untitlEd Drake Doremus project. Her extensive TV appearances include her starring roles as Holly on “The Office,” Adele on “In Treatment” and Officer Beatrice ‘Beadie’ Russell on “The Wire.”

David Schwimmer is a film, stage and television actor and director. He makes his Playwrights Horizons debut and returns to the New York stage for the first time since his Broadway debut in The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. Well-known to TV audiences for his Emmy-nominated performance as Ross on the long-running hit comedy “Friends,” he’s also the co-founder of the Lookingglass Theatre Company of Chicago, recipient of the 2011 Tony Award for Regional Theater. In addition to his extensive work with Lookingglass, his many stage appearances include the premieres of D Girl and Turnaround in Los Angeles, Glimmer Brothers at Williamstown Theatre Festival and Some Girls in London. Other notable television and film appearances include “Band of Brothers,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” the upcoming “Web Therapy” (reuniting him with Lisa Kudrow), Madagascar 1, 2 (and the upcoming Part 3:Europe’s Most Wanted), Nothing But the Truth, Duane Hopwood, Big Nothing, Six Days Seven Nights, Apt Pupil, The Pallbearer and the upcoming The Iceman.

Somewhere in the suburbs of a mid-sized city, Ben (Mr. Schwimmer) and Mary (Ms. Ryan) welcome into their lives the rootless couple who move in next door. But as this foursome bonds over backyard barbecues, the neighborly connection they find threatens to unravel the lives they’ve built and change them forever. An ecstatic, dangerous new comedy, DETROIT exposes the nerves that live just under the surface of American life today.

DETROIT had its World Premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in September 2010. In his review of that production, Charles Isherwood of The New York Times called it, “A terrific new play. This scary-funny comedy speaks to the fractious, frightened American moment more perceptively than any play I’ve ever seen on a New York stage. Hilarious and disturbing, DETROIT is a powerful, funny play.” Chris Jones in The Chicago Tribune hailed it as, “A major new play. Lisa D’Amour has penned a very provocative snapshot of the perilous moment.” Steven Oxman of Variety raved, calling it “A smart and funny new play. Convincing and compelling and tartly funny. This may well be the most effective play yet produced about our current economic doldrums.” And Time Out-Chicago called it “A biting new comedy of economic anxiety.”

The production will feature scenic design by Louisa Thompson, costume design by Kaye Voyce, lighting design by Mark Barton and sound design by Matt Tierney. Production Stage Manager will be Charles M. Turner III.

Additional casting for DETROIT will be announced in the coming weeks.

Following DETROIT, the 2012/2013 Season will feature THE WHALE, the New York premiere of a new play by Obie Award winner Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Davis McCallum; THE GREAT GOD PAN, the World Premiere of a new play by Amy Herzog, directed by Carolyn Cantor; THE FLICK, the World Premiere of a new play by Obie Award winner Annie Baker, directed by Obie Award winner Sam Gold; THE CALL, the World Premiere of a new play by Tanya Barfield, directed by Obie Award winner Leigh Silverman; and FAR FROM HEAVEN, the World Premiere of a new musical featuring a book by Tony Award winner & two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard Greenberg, music by Tony Award nominee Scott Frankel, lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie, based on the 2002 Focus Features / Vulcan Productions motion picture Far From Heaven, written and directed by Todd Haynes, and directed by three-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif.

For subscription and ticket information to all Playwrights Horizons productions, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, Noon to 8 pm daily, or purchase online at the Ticket Central website at www.TicketCentral.org.

For more information, visit www.PlaywrightsHorizons.org

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Amy Ryan (Mary) returns to Playwrights Horizons for the first time since appearing in On the Mountain in 2005. She made her Broadway debut in the 2000 production of Uncle Vanya, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play. In 2005, she appeared as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, earning her second Tony nomination. She also starred in Neil LaBute’s The Distance from Here in London’s West End. On film, for her acclaimed performance in 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, she was recognized with Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. Additionally, she won numerous Best Supporting Actress awards including those from the National Board of Review, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle and the L.A. Film Critics. Her other film credits include Win Win, Green Zone, Jack Goes Boating, Changeling, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Capote, Dan in Real Life, War of the Worlds, Keane, You Can Count On Me, Bob Funk and The Missing Person. She will next be seen starring opposite Guy Pearce and FeliciTy Jones this fall in writer/director Drake Doremus’ yet-to-be-titled film produced by Indian Paintbrush and Jonathan Schwartz. Amy will also be seen starring in The Tomb for Summit opposite Sylvester Stallone, Jim Caviezel, 50 Cent and Vincent D’Onofrio. Amy’s extensive television work includes her starring portrayals as Holly on “The Office,” Adele on “In Treatment” and Office Beatrice ‘Beadie’ Russell on “The Wire.” Amy was raised in Queens, where she attended the High School of the Performing Arts. She resides in New York City.

David Schwimmer (Ben) is a co-founder of the Lookingglass Theatre Company of Chicago, recipient of the 2011 Tony Award for Best Regional Theater. He has acted in and directed many productions for Lookingglass including Trust, Our Town, West, The Master and Margarita, The Jungle, Eye of the Beholder, The Odyssey, The Idiot, Of One Blood and his and ensemble member Joy Gregory's adaptation of Studs Terkel’s book Race. He starred in the premieres of D Girl and Turnaround in Los Angeles, Glimmer Brothers at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Some Girls in London and the revival of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial on Broadway. This summer, Schwimmer will reprise his role of Melman by lending his voice to Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, which will be released by DreamWorks and Paramount on June 8. Schwimmer also recently completed production on Ariel Vromen’s The Iceman with Chris Evans, Winona Ryder and Michael Shannon, and reunites with Lisa Kudrow for an episode of “Web Therapy” on Showtime. Other notable film and television credits include Nothing But the Truth, Madagascar I & II, Duane Hopwood, Big Nothing, “Band of Brothers,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Six Days Seven Nights, Apt Pupil, The Pallbearer and the hit comedy series “Friends,” for which he received an Emmy Award nomination. His film and television directing includes “Friends,” “Since You’ve Been Gone,” Run, Fat Boy, Run, the HBO series “Little Britain USA” and Trust starring Clive Owen, Catherine Keener and Viola Davis. He is on the Board of Directors of the Rape Foundation in Santa Monica, California.

Lisa D’Amour (Playwright) is a playwright and one half of PearlDamour, an Obie award-winning interdisciplinary performance company she runs with Katie Pearl. Lisa’s plays have been produced by theaters across the U.S., including The Women’s Project, Clubbed Thumb, Theatre of a Two-Headed Calf, New Georges (all in NYC), Salvage Vanguard Theater (Austin, TX), Catastrophic Theatre (Houston, TX), ArtSpot Productions (New Orleans, LA) and Children’s Theater Company (Minneapolis, MN). Lisa collaborates on site-specific performances. In 2008, Lisa created a performance for visual artist SWOON’s Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea, a flotilla of six boats created from salvaged materials that navigated the Hudson River, performing in riverfront parks from Troy, NY to New York City. Detroit, originally produced by Steppenwolf Theater Company, was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. In 2008, D’Amour was awarded the Alpert Award for the Arts in theater and in 2011, she received the Steinberg Playwright Award. Lisa received her M.F.A. in playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin and is a New Dramatists alumna.

Anne Kauffman (Director) won an Obie Award for her work on The Thugs by Adam Bock (Soho Rep). She previously worked at Playwrights Horizons on Jordan Harrison’s Maple and Vine and also collaborated with Mr. Harrison on the World Premieres of Maple and Vine (Humana Festival, 2011), Act a Lady (Humana Festival, 2006) and The Flea and the Professor (Williamstown, 2011). Other New York credits include The Civilians’ You Better Sit Down: tales from my parents’ divorce (The Flea), This Wide Night with Edie Falco and Alison Pill (Naked Angels), Stunning by David Adjmi (Lincoln Center Theater 3), Dan LeFranc’s Sixty Miles to Silver Lake (Soho Rep/Page 73), God’s Ear by Jenny Schwartz (Vineyard/New Georges), The Loyal Opposition by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas (NYTW), Hang Ten by Karen Hartman (Women’s Project), The Ladies by Anne Washburn (The Civilians), Dot (Clubbed Thumb) and Sides: The Fear Is Real (Culture Project). Regional work includes The Civilians’ You Better Sit Down: tales from my parents’ divorce (Williamstown), We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Yale Rep), Becky Shaw (Wilma Theater, Barrymore Awards for Best Production, Best Director), Six Degrees of Separation with Tim Daly and Margaret Colin (Williamstown), Communist Dracula Pageant (American Repertory Theater), Have You Seen Steve Steven (13P), Doubt (Asolo Repertory Theater) and Typographer’s Dream (Encore Theater). Anne is a 2010 recipient of the Lilly Award in Direction and a 2010 recipient of the Alan Schneider Director Award. She is a Usual Suspect at NYTW, an alumnus of the Soho Rep Writers and Directors Lab, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, The Drama League of New York, a founding member of The Civilians and was a 2003-2004 New Dramatist Resident Director and a member of New Georges Kitchen Cabinet. Anne received her MFA in directing from UCSD.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.