Groff, Tierney, and O'Toole Added To Playwrights Lineup

Playwrights Horizons, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, has announced additional details for its 2008/2009 Season, including the final two productions of the six-play season.  The two new plays, to be presented at the theater company's home at 416 West 42nd Street, will be:

THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION (Winter/Spring 2009) – the New York premiere of a new play by Evan Smith (Psych and The Uneasy Chair at Playwrights Horizons, Servicemen), directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie (Chicago, New Jerusalem), featuring four-time Tony Award nominee and three-time Obie Award winner Dana Ivey (Driving Miss Daisy, Sunday in the Park with George and Mr. Smith's The Uneasy Chair at Playwrights Horizons, The Rivals, Butley).

INKED BABY (Spring 2009) – the World Premiere of a new play by 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn nominee Christina Anderson in her Off-Broadway playwriting debut, directed by Kate Whoriskey (Fabulation at Playwrights Horizons, The Piano Teacher).  Ms. Anderson was selected by American Theatre Magazine as one of fifteen up-and-coming artists "whose work will transform America's stages."

The theater company also announced the addition to the season of Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, plus The Credeaux Canvas and Baby Anger at Playwrights Horizons).  Mr. Mayer will direct the New York premiere of the previously-announced OUR HOUSE, the New York Premiere of a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Theresa Rebeck (The Butterfly Collection and Bad Dates at Playwrights Horizons, Mauritius, co-author of Omnium Gatherum).  

Additionally, initial casting was announced for three previously-announced productions:

Emmy Award nominee Maura Tierney (Dr. Abby Lockhart on "ER," Some Girl(s) at MCC), Aya Cash (The Pain and the Itch at Playwrights Horizons, From Up Here) and Brian J. Smith (Good Boys and True at Second Stage, MTC's Come Back, Little Sheba) in THREE CHANGES, the World Premiere of a new play by Nicky Silver (Fit to Be Tied at Playwrights Horizons, The Food Chain, Pterodactyls, Raised in Captivity), directed by Wilson Milam (The Lieutenant of Inishmore).  THREE CHANGES will be the first production of the season.

Tony Award nominee Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening, the upcoming Hair for Shakespeare in the Park), 2008 Theatre World Award winner Cassie Beck (The Drunken City) and Skipp Sudduth (Lincoln Center's current South Pacific) in PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY, the New York Premiere of a new play by two-time Tony Award nominee, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and two-time Obie Award winner Craig Lucas (Small Tragedy at Playwrights Horizons, The Light in the Piazza, Prelude to a Kiss, Reckless, The Dying Gaul), directed by three-time Tony Award nominee Bartlett Sher (The Butterfly Collection at Playwrights Horizons, The Light in the Piazza, Awake and Sing!, the current Broadway revival of South Pacific).

Academy Award and Emmy Award nominee Annette O'Toole (Best Original Song for A Mighty Wind, plus The Seagull at CSC, Martha Kent on TV's "Smallville"), Obie Award winner Ray Anthony Thomas (Forced Continuum) and Katherine Waterston (Los Angeles at The Flea, the film The Babysitters) in KINDNESS, the World Premiere of a new play written and directed by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award winner Adam Rapp (Essential Self-Defense at Playwrights Horizons, Red Light Winter).

Subscriptions to Playwrights Horizons' 2008/2009 season are now available, in 6-show (four Mainstage productions and two productions in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater) or 4-show (four Mainstage productions) packages.  Packages include "Anytime" (6-show $260, 4-show $195), "Matinees" (6-show $240, 4-show $175), "Previews and Sunday Nights" (6-show $225, 4-show $160), and "Patron" (6-show with exclusive benefits, $1250). In addition to discounts on all Mainstage season attractions, subscribers receive priority seating, ticket exchange privileges, parking and dining discounts, and exclusive mailings of Playwrights Horizons Bulletins.

PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, is a writer's theater dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers and lyricists, and to the production of their new work.  In its 38 years, Playwrights Horizons has presented the work of more than 375 writers and has received numerous awards and honors, most recently being honored with a special 2008 Drama Desk Award for "ongoing support to generations of theater artists and undiminished commitment to producing new work."  Notable productions include four Pulitzer Prize winners: Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife (2004 Tony Award, Best Play), Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles (1989 Tony Award, Best Play), Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George, as well as Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie's Grey Gardens (2006 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical), Bruce Norris's The Pain and the Itch, Lynn Nottage's Fabulation (2005 Obie Award for Playwriting), Craig Lucas's Small Tragedy (2004 Obie Award, Best American Play), Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, Kirsten Childs's The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey's James Joyce's The Dead, William Finn's March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, Christopher Durang's Betty's Summer Vacation and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, Richard Nelson's Goodnight Children Everywhere and Franny's Way, Jon Robin Baitz's The Substance of Fire, Scott McPherson's Marvin's Room, A.R. Gurney's Later Life, Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's Floyd Collins and Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley's Violet.  

Playwrights Horizons' 2008/2009 Season is generously supported by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Playwrights Horizons is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate.  In addition, Playwrights Horizons receives major support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Charina Endowment Fund, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Shubert Foundation and Time Warner Inc.

PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS' 2008/2009 SEASON

THREE CHANGES
World Premiere of a new play by Nicky Silver
Directed by Wilson Milam
Featuring Aya Cash, Brian J. Smith, Maura Tierney, additional casting to be announced
Previews begin Friday, August 22, 2008
Playwrights Horizons Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street)

KINDNESS
World Premiere of a new play written & directed by Adam Rapp
Featuring Annette O'Toole, Ray Anthony Thomas, Katherine Waterston, additional casting to be announced
Previews Fall 2008
Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street) 

PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY
New York Premiere of a new play by Craig Lucas
Directed by Bartlett Sher
Featuring Cassie Beck, Jonathan Groff, Skipp Sudduth, additional casting to be announced
Previews Fall 2008

THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION
New York premiere of a new play by Evan Smith
Directed by Walter Bobbie
Featuring Dana Ivey, additional casting to be announced
Previews Winter/Spring 2009

INKED BABY
The World Premiere of a new play by Christina Anderson
Directed by Kate Whoriskey
Casting to be announced
Previews Spring 2009

OUR HOUSE
New York Premiere of a new play by Theresa Rebeck
Directed by Michael Mayer
Casting to be announced
Previews Spring 2009

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 Playwrights Horizons website at www.playwrightshorizons.org

 

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