Michael Urie to Lead Rattlestick's BUYER & CELLAR, Beginning 3/20

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's Artistic Director David Van Asselt and Managing Director Brian Long have announced that the world premiere of Buyer & Cellar, written by Jonathan Tolins, directed by Stephen Brackett, and performed by Michael Urie, will begin performances Wednesday, March 20 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place, west of Seventh Avenue South. Opening night is set for Wednesday, April 3 at 7pm. Buyer & Cellar is scheduled to run through Saturday, May 4.

Alex More has a story to tell. A struggling actor in L.A., Alex takes a job working in the Malibu basement of a beloved megastar. One day, the Lady Herself comes downstairs to play. It feels like real bonding in the basement, but will their relationship ever make it upstairs? Buyer & Cellar is an outrageous comedy about the price of fame, the cost of things, and the oddest of odd jobs.

Jonathan Tolins's plays include The Twilight of the Golds (Booth Theater), If Memory Serves (Promenade Theater), The Last Sunday in June (Rattlestick and Century Center), and Secrets of the Trade (Primary Stages). Jon co-wrote the films The Twilight of the Golds and Martian Child. He was a consulting producer on the recent CBS comedy Partners and was a co-producer on the first season of Queer As Folk on Showtime. He has written for the Academy Awards and the Tony Awards, and co-wrote Bette Midler's Divine Miss Millennium Tour and The Showgirl Must Go On in Las Vegas.

Stephen Brackett'scredits include The Trouble With Doug (TheatreWorks), The Material World (Dixon Place), American River (Lesser America), After (Partial Comfort), Be A Good Little Widow (Ars Nova), The Tenant (Woodshed Collective), David Mixner's From the Front Porch (Dixon Place), The Sporting Life (Studio 42), F#@king Up Everything (NYMF), The Ones That Flutter (Summer Play Festival), PN1923.45LS01 Volume 2 (FringeNY), and Kilroy Was Here: A Styx Rock Opera (Williamstown). Assistant Director: Passing Strange (The Public and Belasco Theaters).

Michael Urie's New York Theatre credits include: How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Broadway), The Cherry Orchard (CSC), Angels in America (The Signature), The Temperamentals (Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, and Theatre World Awards, Drama League nomination), The Revenger's Tragedy (Red Bull), Another Vermeer (HB Playwrights). Regionally, he's worked for The Old Globe, Vineyard Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, The Folger Shakespeare, Barrington Stage, Hyde Park (Austin), and The Blank (LA). Film: He's Way More Famous Than You (also directed), Thank You For Judging (co-director/exec producer), Beverly Hills Chihuahua, WTC View, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, The Decoy Bride, and Petunia. TV: "Partners" and as Marc St James on "Ugly Betty." Training: Juilliard.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theateris a multi-award-winning company which has produced over sixty world premieres in the past seventeen seasons and was the recipient of the 2007 Ross Wetzsteon Memorial OBIE Award for developing new and innovative work. Previous plays include Two Boys in a Bed, Message to Michael, Carpool, Volunteer Man, A Trip to the Beach, Ascendancy, Stuck, Vick's Boy, The Messenger, Saved or Destroyed, Neil's Garden, My Special Friend, Faster, Bliss, St. Crispin's Day, Where We're Born, Five Flights, Boise, Finer Noble Gases, God Hates The Irish: The Ballad of Armless Johnny, Miss Julie, Acts of Mercy: passion-play, Cagelove, It Goes Without Saying, Dark Matters, Stay, American Sligo, Rag and Bone, War, Geometry of Fire, That Pretty Pretty or The Rape Play, The Amish Project, Killers and Other Family, Post No Bills, Blind, Little Doc, underneathmybed, There Are No More Big Secrets, The Hallway Trilogy, Carson McCullers Talks About Love, The Wood, Asuncion, Horsedreams, Yosemite, Massacre (Sing to Your Children), 3C, the Off-Broadway GLAAD Award-nominated hit The Last Sunday in June, Craig Wright's The Pavilion (Drama Desk nominee - Outstanding Play of 2005) and Lady (Drama Desk nominee - Outstanding Play of 2008), as well as The Aliens by Annie Baker (2010 Obie Award winner for Best New American Play).

More Articles by This Author...