AIRLINE HIGHWAY Opens This Evening at Manhattan Theatre Club

Manhattan Theatre Club's presentation of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of Airline Highway, the new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Lisa D'Amour (Detroit), directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Casa Valentina, Take Me Out), opens tonight, April 23 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).

The Broadway cast of Airline Highway features Carolyn Braver (Steppenwolf's Leveling Up, "Chicago Fire"), Tony Award nominee and Steppenwolf ensemble member K. Todd Freeman(Steppenwolf's The Song of Jacob Zulu, Fetch Clay/Make Man), Scott Jaeck (Steppenwolf's August: Osage County, The Irish Curse), Ken Marks (Father Comes Home from the Wars), Caroline Neff (Older Children, Steppenwolf's The Way West), Tim Edward Rhoze (Steppenwolf's The Crucible and Wendell Green), Judith Roberts (Present Laughter, "Orange Is The New Black"), Joe Tippett (Ashville, Ghost Brothers of Darkland County), and Tony Award winner Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed, From Up Here).

Completing the 16-person ensemble are Todd d'Amour, Shannon Eagen, Venida Evans, Joe Forbrich, Leslie Hendrix, Sekou Laidlow, and Toni Martin.

The creative team for Airline Highway includes Scott Pask (scenic design), David Zinn (costume design), Japhy Weideman (lighting design), Fitz Patton (original music and sound design), and Thomas Schall (fight director).

In the parking lot of The Hummingbird, a once-glamorous motel on New Orleans' infamous Airline Highway, a group of friends gather. A rag-tag collection of strippers, hustlers and philosophers have come together to celebrate the life of Miss Ruby, an iconic burlesque performer who has requested a funeral before she dies. The party rages through the night as old friends resurface to pay their respects. Airline Highway is a boisterous and moving ode to the outcasts that make life a little more interesting. MTC is proud to present this Steppenwolf production by the writer of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Detroit, and helmed by the Tony-winning director of Take Me Out and Casa Valentina.

Airline Highway was commissioned and developed by Steppenwolf with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Airline Highway had its world premiere production at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, IL; Martha Lavey, Artistic Director and David Hawkanson, Executive Director.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus