The Theatre Outlet presents the world-premiere of MEN OF CLAY, a comedy written and directed by Jeff Cohen (founder of the award-winning Worth Street Theater Company).
Matthew Arkin and Obie Award winner Steve Ratazzi join the previously announced Danton Stone in a cast that also includes Daniel Ahearn, Victor Barbella and Gabrielle Maisels. MEN OF CLAY begins performances Off-Broadway at the June Havoc Theatre, 312 West 36th St. (at 8th Ave), on Thursday, March 30, 2006. The official opening is Sunday, April 2.
A semi-autobiographical comedy by acclaimed playwright/director Jeff Cohen, MEN OF CLAY is a personal story about his father set in early 1970s Baltimore. MEN OF CLAY captures summers on the red clay tennis courts of Druid Hill Park, and the camaraderie between the "men of clay" - Squeaky Cohn and his buddies Ira Farber, Danny Dickler and Nate Askin – along with the era's Jewish culture and racial tensions and the men's penny-pinching schemes and their stubborn resistance to change.
In 2005, a staged reading of MEN OF CLAY was presented in Baltimore at Creative Alliance, and it was subsequently selected as "The Best New Play of 2005" by The Baltimore City Paper.
The cast of MEN OF CLAY features Daniel Ahearn as Nate Askin, Matthew Arkin as Arnold Dickler, Victor Barbella as Danny Dickler, Gabrielle Maisels as Rochelle "Rocky" Gorelick, Steve Rattazzi as Ira Farber and Danton Stone as Stan "Squeaky" Cohn.
MEN OF CLAY has scenic design by Lauren Helpern, costume design by Kim Gill and lighting design by Graham Kindred.
MEN OF CLAY begins performances on Thursday, March 30. The limited engagement is scheduled to run through Sunday, April 23. The performance schedule is Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 2 & 8 PM and Sunday at 5 PM.
Tickets to MEN OF CLAY are $18 for all preview performances. For tickets and information, call Smarttix at (212) 868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com.
BIOGRAPHIES
Jeff Cohen (Playwright/Director) is the founder and former artistic director of the award-winning Worth Street Theater Company, whose productions, including celebrated revivals of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart and Tennessee Williams' Small Craft Warnings, the premieres of Tristine Skyler's The Moonlight Room and Christopher Shinn's Four, and the internationally acclaimed response to 9/11, The Tribeca Playhouse Stage-Door Canteen, have been named to the annual Ten Best lists of The New York Times, The New York Post and The Boston Globe and have garnered such honors as the Drama Desk Award, the GLAAD Media Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama League Award, the Obie Award and the Lucille Lortel Award. He has helped launch the careers of such highly touted young playwrights as Mr. Shinn and Ms. Skyler, and such actors as Laura Linney, Michael Ealy (Barbershop, "Sleeper Cell"), Laura Breckenridge ("Related") and Kathryn Hahn ("Crossing Jordan"). Mr. Cohen recently founded The Dog Run Repertory Theatre which is making its Off-Broadway debut as associate producer of Men of Clay.
Daniel Ahearn (Nate Askin). Stage Credits include: Now That's What I Call a Storm (The Edge Theater); The Mystery of Attraction by Marlene Meyer, produced and directed by Jeff Cohen; Mrs. Feuerstein by Murray Mednick, As You Like It and Flight (Ensemble Studio Theater); The D Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore and Cries From The Cockpit (HB Studio Theater); The Photographic Moment and Men Without Wives (The Workshop at the Neighborhood Playhouse); Free Fall, Bertrano or Hats Don't Lie, Better Days, Hollywood Scheherezade, The Joy Solution, and Making Book (all at Primary Stages); Brontosaurus Rex; Miss Julie; Billy Liar; Ernest in Love; A Walk in the Moonlight; Maldoror; Woyzeck and Measure for Measure. Regional: Long Wharf Theater (Curtis in Reclaimed), Denver Center Theatre (Horace in The Little Foxes), Walnut Street Theater (Jerome in Henceforward…), The Guthrie Theater (File in The Rainmaker), Syracuse Stage and Pittsburgh Public Theater (The Dining Room), Crossroads Theater (Morris in The Bloodknot), Richmond Museum Theater and Virginia Stage (Doc in Crimes of the Heart), The Wood Theater (Sylvia, Abundance and Private Eyes), The Arena Stage in Washington, DC in a variety of roles in 22 productions including Mother Courage starring Viveca Lindfors, King Lear, and the World Premiere of Pueblo. On film: has appeared most recently in The Orphan King and The Laramie Project. Other television appearances include "The Sopranos" and "Law & Order" and numerous daytime dramas. Mr. Ahearn is also a published novelist.
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