Abigail Breslin, Norbert Leo Butz and More Join The New Group's 2016-17 Season

The New Group announces additional casting for productions coming up in the company's 2016-2017 Season.

The second production in The New Group's current season, the U.S. premiere of Wallace Shawn's Evening at the Talk House, directed by Scott Elliott, will feature Jill Eikenberry, John Epperson, Larry Pine, Wallace Shawn, Claudia Shear, Annapurna Sriram and Michael Tucker, with additional casting to be announced. Previews for Evening at the Talk House begin January 31, 2017.

The company announces complete casting for the world premiere of All the Fine Boys, a new play from writer and director Erica Schmidt, featuring Abigail Breslin, Isabelle Fuhrman, Joe Tippett and Alex Wolff. Previews begin February 14, 2017 for All the Fine Boys, the third production in the company's season.

Additionally, the company announces today that two-time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz joins previously announced Zosia Mamet ("Girls") and Golden Globe winner and Emmy Award nominee Maura Tierney ("The Affair") in the final show of the season, the world premiere of Hamish Linklater's The Whirligig, directed by Scott Elliott, with additional casting to be announced. Previews for The Whirligig begin May 2, 2017. Productions in The New Group's 2016-2017 Season take place at The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street; additional production details follow.

Evening at the Talk House by Wallace Shawn. Directed by Scott Elliott. Limited Off-Broadway Engagement set to play January 31 - March 12, 2017 in The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre (480 West 42nd Street), with Official Opening Night on February 16, 2017.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the opening of a flop play, the playwright joins the old gang to reminisce at their former haunt, The Talk House. Most haven't been there, or even seen each other, in years, and the gossip and nostalgia are mixed with questions and accusations. Why does a washed-up old actor keep getting beaten up by his friends? Where does a failed actress-turned-waitress disappear to for months at a time? Wallace Shawn's Evening at the Talk House, featuring Jill Eikenberry, John Epperson, Larry Pine, Wallace Shawn, Claudia Shear, Annapurna Sriram and Michael Tucker, is a biting, yet affectionate skewering of artists grasping to find their place in a world in which art has no currency and terror has become an accepted part of life. Scott Elliott directs. Additional casting to be announced.

This new production of Evening at the Talk House, a U.S. premiere, reunites Wallace Shawn and director Scott Elliott, whose previous collaborations for The New Group include Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Fever and Marie and Bruce. Evening at the Talk House premiered in November 2015 at the National Theatre.

All the Fine Boys written and directed by Erica Schmidt. World Premiere production set to play a Limited Off-Broadway Engagement February 14 - March 26, 2017 in the Ford Foundation Studio Theatre (480 West 42nd Street), with Official Opening Night on March 1, 2017.

Fourteen-year-old best friends Jenny (Abigail Breslin) and Emily (Isabelle Fuhrman) are hungry for experience and eager for "real life" to begin, and in suburban South Carolina in the late '80s, experience equals boys. Emily chooses her senior crush from the high school play (Alex Wolff), and Jenny a man she's seen at her family's church (Joe Tippett). With parallel stories that take tricky and terrifying turns, Erica Schmidt's All the Fine Boys dives deep into the fascinations and complications of sexual awakening and the first painful gasps of adulthood.

The Whirligig by Hamish Linklater. Directed by Scott Elliott. World Premiere production begins a limited Off-Broadway Engagement on May 2, 2017 in The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre (480 West 42nd Street), with Official Opening Night on May 21, 2017.

When, after much time away, Kristina (Maura Tierney) is back in Berkshire County, word spreads fast that she and her ex-husband (Norbert Leo Butz) are caring for their estranged, ailing daughter Julie. Broken-hearted and giddy with love and confusion, surprising visitors from Julie's complicated past, including her childhood best friend Trish (Zosia Mamet) and her former drug dealer, practically trip over each other to reach the young woman they thought they'd lost years before but still feel so deeply connected to. Heartfelt and compassionate, Hamish Linklater's The Whirligig spins a tale of a fractured community weaving a circuitous route back to one another. Additional casting to be announced.

The New Group's 2016-2017 season launched with the current production Sweet Charity choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, directed by Leigh Silverman and starring Sutton Foster (now through January 8); and continues with Wallace Shawn's Evening at the Talk House, directed by Scott Elliott; the world premiere of All the Fine Boys, from writer and director Erica Schmidt; and the world premiere of The Whirligig, by Hamish Linklater, directed by Scott Elliott.

Subscriptions and memberships for The New Group's 2016-2017 season are available now. For subscription purchases and season info, visit www.thenewgroup.org. Subscriptions can also be purchased by calling Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, or in person at 416 West 42nd Street (12-8pm daily).

Tickets for Sweet Charity are on sale now. Single tickets for Evening at the Talk House go on sale December 5. Single tickets for All the Fine Boys go on sale January 12. Subscriber booking for Evening at the Talk House is currently open. 3-Show and 2-Show subscription packages are available for purchase and guarantee tickets for the remaining shows in The New Group's season (excluding Sweet Charity).

All the Fine Boys by Erica Schmidt and The Whirligig by Hamish Linklater were developed through The New Group/New Works play development program.

The New Group (Scott Elliott, Artistic Director; Adam Bernstein, Executive Director) is an award-winning, artist-driven company with a commitment to developing and producing powerful, contemporary theater. While constantly evolving, the company strives to maintain an ensemble approach to all its work and an articulated style of emotional immediacy in its productions. In this way, The New Group seeks a theater that is adventurous, stimulating and most importantly "now," a true forum for the present culture.

In summer 2016, The New Group was represented in London by the acclaimed production of Jesse Eisenberg's The Spoils, directed by Scott Elliott, at Trafalgar Studios. This month, The New Group will be represented in London, again at Trafalgar Studios, by the company's hit production of Sam Shepard's Buried Child, starring Ed Harris and Amy Madigan, directed by Scott Elliott (began November 14).

The New Group's 2015-2016 Season featured the Off-Broadway premiere of Philip Ridley's Mercury Fur, directed by Scott Elliott, a Critics' Pick in The New York Times; Steve, the critically-acclaimed world premiere of a new play by Mark Gerrard, directed by Cynthia Nixon, which enjoyed an extended run; the twice-extended hit production of Sam Shepard's Buried Child, directed by Scott Elliott, with Taissa Farmiga, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Larry Pine, Rich Sommer, Paul Sparks and Nat Wolff; and the New York premiere of Justin Kuritzkes' The Sensuality Party, developed through The New Group's New Group/New Works play development program and performed at college campuses across all five boroughs of New York City.

The New Group celebrated its 20th Anniversary during the 2014-2015 Season, which included David Rabe's Sticks and Bones, directed by Scott Elliott, with Holly Hunter, and Bill Pullman; Joel Drake Johnson's Rasheeda Speaking, with Tonya Pinkins and Dianne Wiest, helmed by Cynthia Nixon; and the world premiere of Jesse Eisenberg's The Spoils, directed by Scott Elliott, with Jesse Eisenberg and Kunal Nayyar.

Other notable productions include Ecstasy, This is Our Youth, Aunt Dan and Lemon, Hurlyburly, Abigail's Party, Rafta, Rafta..., The Starry Messenger, A Lie of the Mind, Blood From a Stone, Marie and Bruce, The Jacksonian, Intimacy and many more. The company has received nearly 100 awards and nominations for excellence. The New Group is a recipient of the 2004 Tony® Award for Best Musical (Avenue Q). In 2011, The Kid received five Drama Desk nominations and the Outer Critics Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical. That year, The New Group and Scott Elliott were honored with a Drama Desk Special Award "for presenting contemporary new voices, and for uncompromisingly raw and powerful productions."

The Pershing Square Signature Center, the permanent home of Signature Theatre, is a three-theatre facility on West 42nd Street designed by Frank Gehry Architects to host Signature's three distinct playwrights' residencies and foster a cultural community. The Center is a major contribution to New York City's cultural landscape and provides a venue for cultural organizations that supports and encourages collaboration among artists throughout the space. In addition to its three intimate theatres, the Center features a Studio Theatre, rehearsal studio, a bookstore, and Signature Café and Bar, open to public from noon-midnight Tuesdays-Sundays.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Abigail Breslin (All the Fine Boys): Academy Award-nominated actress Abigail Breslin currently stars in the FOX horror-comedy series "Scream Queens" opposite Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts and Lea Michele. Next May, Breslin will star in the coveted role of "Baby" in ABC/Lionsgate's recreation of the pop-culture classic, Dirty Dancing. She is most widely recognized for her role as 'Olive' in the critically-acclaimed Little Miss Sunshine, which created a sensation at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance. In addition, she received a Best Actress Award from the Tokyo International Film Festival and was nominated for SAG and BAFTA Best Supporting Actress awards, and was honored as ShoWest's "Female Star of Tomorrow" in 2008. Breslin was recently seen in the Lionsgate film Maggie opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival in New York and was released on May 8, 2015. She will be featured in the independent film Fear, Inc. In October of 2015, Harper Collins published Breslin's first book This May Sound Crazy, based on her popular Tumblr "Mixtapes & Winter Coats." Breslin was seen in The Weinstein Company film August: Osage County opposite Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Sam Shepard and Dermot Mulroney. Other film credits include Enders Game, Haunter, The Call, Rango, Zombieland, My Sister's Keeper, New Year's Eve, Raising Helen, The Ultimate Gift, Santa Claus 3, No Reservations, Definitely Maybe, Nim's Island, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl and M. Night Shyamalan's 2002 film Signs opposite Mel Gibson. In 2010 she made her Broadway debut in The Miracle Worker.

Norbert Leo Butz (The Whirligig) can currently be seen in the Netflix series "Bloodline," the second season was released in Spring 2016. He can also be seen on the PBS series "Mercy Street," which debuted in January 2016. On Broadway, he won Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical for Catch Me If You Can (also Drama Desk Award, Best Actor in a Musical) and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (also Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Astaire Awards, Drama League Award winner, Best Actor in a Musical). Other Broadway credits: Big Fish, Dead Accounts, Enron, Speed-The-Plow, Is He Dead?, Wicked, Thou Shalt Not (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics nominations), RENT. Off-Broadway credits include: How I Learned to Drive, Fifty Words, Buicks (Drama Desk nomination), The Last Five Years (Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations, Drama League Award), Juno and the Paycock, Saved. National Tour: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Cabaret (Helen Hayes Award, Jefferson, Dora and Ovation Awards). Regional credits include Catch Me If You Can (5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle), Four Seasons at The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. His film credits include Better Living Through Chemistry, Greetings from Tim Buckley, Disconnect, The English Teacher, Higher Ground, Fair Game, and Dan In Real Life. Television work includes his starring role in the series "The Deep End" (ABC); the pilots "The Miraculous Year" (HBO) and "Playing Chicken" (FOX); the mini-series "Comanche Moon" (CBS). Norbert participated in the producing, writing and recording of The Angel Band Project's album Take You with Me (now available on iTunes), for which all proceeds benefit the Voices and Faces Project. He received a BFA from Webster University and an MFA from Alabama Shakespeare Theatre.

Jill Eikenberry (Evening at the Talk House): Broadway credits include: Moonchildren, All Over Town, Summer Brave, Watch on The Rhine, Onward Victoria. Off-Broadway credits include: Uncommon Women and Others, Lemon Sky (Obie Award), Life Under Water (Obie Award), A Picasso, Enter Laughing, The Kid (Drama Desk nomination), Be A Good Little Widow, Jericho. Regional credits include: The M Spot by Michael Tucker. Film: Arthur; Hide in Plain Sight; Butch and Sundance, the Early Days; The Manhattan Project; Something Borrowed; Young Adult. TV: "L.A. Law" (5 Emmy nominations, Golden Globe Award), "An Inconvenient Woman" and "Chantilly Lace." Documentary Film Producer: Destined to Live (Humanitas Award), Emile Norman by His Own Design.

Scott Elliott (Director, Evening at the Talk House, The Whirligig) is an award-winning stage director, filmmaker and the founding Artistic Director of The New Group, where he most recently directed the twice-extended hit production of Sam Shepard's Buried Child, with Taissa Farmiga, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Larry Pine, Rich Sommer, Paul Sparks and Nat Wolff; the critically-acclaimed Mercury Fur by Philip Ridley and the world premiere of The Spoils by Jesse Eisenberg. Also at The New Group, he has directed works by Thomas Bradshaw, Ayub Khan Din, Francine Volpe, Erika Sheffer, Tommy Nohilly, Joe Orton, Mike Leigh, David Rabe and Wallace Shawn. Most recently, he directed the acclaimed production of Jesse Eisenberg's The Spoils at London's Trafalgar Studios (summer 2016). He is currently helming the European premiere of The New Group production of Buried Child, featuring Jack Fortune, Ed Harris, Charlotte Hope, Jeremy Irvine, Barnaby Kay, Amy Madigan and Gary Shelford; presented by Ambassador Theatre Group, Lisa Matlin and Adam Speers (November 14, 2016 - February 18, 2017; Trafalgar Studios).

John Epperson (Evening at the Talk House): John Epperson (aka Lypsinka) was born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Film actor: BLACK SWAN, Witch Hunt with Dennis Hopper, Wigstock: The Movie, Angels in America, Kinsey and Another Gay Movie. Theater actor: I Could Go On Lip-Synching; Now It Can Be Lip-Synched; Lypsinka! A Day In The Life (2 Drama Desk nominations); As I Lay Lip-Synching; Lypsinka Must Be Destroyed!; Lypsinka IS Harriet Craig!; Lypsinka! The Boxed Set (Washington, D.C. Helen Hayes Award Outstanding Non-Resident Production; L.A. Weekly Theatre Award Best Solo Performance; Drama Desk nomination); The Stepmother in NYCO production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella at Lincoln Center; The Passion of the Crawford, a fantasia on the personality of Joan Crawford, and most recently Off-Broadway John Epperson: Show Trash; Lypsinka! The Trilogy; as Queen Aggravain in Once Upon A Mattress and a new cabaret show, John Epperson: The Artist Principally Known As Lypsinka. Writer: a play - My Deah: Medea For Dummies (Obie-winning production); two stage musicals - Ballet of the Dolls, Dial "M" For Model; and half a play: a rewrite of James Kirkwood's notorious Legends! produced at Studio Theatre in D.C. He is the author of three screenplays and a teleplay, with more on the way. Mr. Epperson has also written for The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Interview. Epperson and Lypsinka are the subjects of an Emmy-winning television documentary for PBS.

Isabelle Fuhrman (All the Fine Boys) was seen in Showtime's acclaimed series "Masters of Sex," as Tessa. Upcoming, she will star in the film Cell and Dear Eleanor, alongside Jessica Alba and Patrick Schwarzenegger. She recently wrapped production on Hellbent and One Night. Fuhrman starred as "Clove" in Lionsgate's The Hunger Games, the first installment of the big screen adaptation of SuzAnne Collins' novel trilogy, directed by Gary Ross. Fuhrman appeared in The Wilderness of James opposite Virginia Madsen and Kodi-Smit McPhee and Giorgio Serfini's The Between opposite Joel Courtney. She has also signed on to star in David Gordon Green's Suspiria. In 2011, she appeared in an all-star ensemble cast with Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Marisa Tomei and Greg Kinnear in Salvation Boulevard. Fuhrman's 2009 starring role in Orphan earned rave reviews internationally. Beginning her acting career at age seven, she appeared on Cartoon Network's "Cartoon Fridays", and made her big screen debut in Hounddog. She has guest starred on the CBS hit series "Ghost Whisperer" which earned her a Young Artist Award nomination and the ABC drama "The Whole Truth." Fuhrman has lent her voice to a number of projects including the 3D animated feature Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage and Nickelodeon's "WINX".

Hamish Linklater (Playwright, The Whirligig): Hamish Linklater's plays include The Vandal, produced by the Flea Theater in 2013 and subsequently filmed for the PBS series "Theatre Close-Up", and The Cheats, produced by Steep Theatre in Chicago. Both plays have been published by DPS. He has had plays workshopped and read at New York Stage & Film, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwright's Horizons, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Atlantic and Shakespeare & Co in Lenox, MA. He also co-created and wrote a show for ABC, "The Prince of Motor City," which was the story of Hamlet set in the Ford Family. It featured Andie MacDowell, Aidan Quinn, John Caroll Lynch, Morris Chestnut, Piper Perabo and Rutger Hauer as the ghost. As an actor, his credits include Broadway: Seminar; Off-Broadway: Cymbeline, Much Ado About Nothing, Comedy of Errors (Drama Desk nom), The Merchant of Venice, The Winter's Tale, and Twelfth Night (Drama Desk nom) (Shakespeare in the Park); The School for Lies (Classic Stage Company, Obie, Lortel, and Outer Critics noms); Hamlet, The Square (NYSF/Public); The Busy World Is Hushed (Drama League nomination), Recent Tragic Events (Playwrights Horizons); Good Thing (The New Group); Cyclone (Studio Dante); Romeo and Juliet, Love's Fire (Acting Company). Regional: Hamlet, The Violet Hour (South Coast Rep.); Hamlet (CT Critics Circle Award), Singing Forest (Long Wharf); A Midsummer Nights' Dream, Measure for Measure (Ahmanson, Paul Green Foundation Award). Television work includes "The Crazy Ones," "The Newsroom," "The Big C," "The Good Wife," "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and the upcoming Noah Hawley series "Legion." Films include The Big Short, Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight, Miranda July's The Future (Berlin and Sundance Film Festivals), 42, Fantastic 4, Lola Versus, Battleship and Groove (Sundance Film Festival).

Zosia Mamet (The Whirligig): In film and television, Zosia Mamet is quickly establishing herself as one of the industry's most exciting new talents. Since the spring of 2012, Mamet has starred in the Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning HBO series "Girls." Created by and starring Lena Dunham, the series is critically acclaimed for taking a comic look at the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their early 20s. Dunham, Judd Apatow and Jenni Konner executive produce the show, which is going into its sixth and final season early next year. Mamet's character 'Shoshanna' strives for a lifestyle akin to the "Sex and the City" aesthetic, and struggles with the obvious pitfalls of any woman who aspires to 'Carrie Bradshaw' proportions. A graduate of NYU, she's obsessed with "women's issues," gluten-free foods, and sex-centric self-help--an unlikely voice of reason within a group of assorted misfits with their own eccentricities. Mamet was seen starring in the short film Mildred & the Dying Parlor, which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. The film, directed by Alex Gayner from a script by Ilan Ulmer, is based on the short story Red by Andrea Heimer and follows Mildred (Mamet), a young woman who lives with her parents in an old house from which they run a Dying Parlor, a unique business where people facing terminal illness or advanced old age live with the family during their last days. But when an unusual client shows up, the evening takes an unexpected turn, kicking off a sinister and quirky twist on an old fairy tale. The film co-stars Steve Buscemi, Jane Krakowski and Evan Jonigkeit, and was produced by Mamet and Jonigkeit's Production Company Rooster Films, along with Blood Orange Pictures. Up next, Mamet can be seen in Todd Solondz's independent film Weiner-Dog, a follow-up to Solondz's 1996 drama Welcome to the Dollhouse. Mamet co-stars in the film opposite Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, Kieran Culkin and Brie Larson. The film premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival in January 2016, where it was picked up by Amazon Studios for distribution. Megan Ellison is producing the film through Annapurna Pictures alongside Christine Vachon of Killer Films. While at Sundance this year, it was announced that Mamet has been cast to play living legend Patti Smith in writer-director Ondi Timoner's Robert Mapplethrope biopic titled Mapplethorpe. Mamet will play Patti Smith opposite Matt Smith, who has been cast as the avant-garde photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Production will likely begin this summer. Mamet recently completed production on the independent comedic film The Boy Downstairs, written and directed by Sophie Brooks. Mamet stars in the film as a woman who moves back to New York City after a failed experience of life in Europe and inadvertently moves into her ex-boyfriend's apartment building, quickly reopening old wounds. Earlier this year, Mamet starred in the indie thriller Bleeding Heart, alongside Jessica Biel. Biel and Mamet play long-lost sisters in the film from writer and director Diane Bell, which premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival.

Larry Pine (Evening at the Talk House): Film & TV credits include: Beirut, Isle of Dogs, Freak Show, The Grand Budapest Hotel, "House of Cards," "Madame Secretary," "Blue Bloods," "The Good Wife," "Chicago Med," "Hostages", Moonrise Kingdom, Vanya on 42nd Street, Jimmy P., A Master Builder, "Oz," Melinda Melinda, Outsourced, "Empire Falls," Royal Tenenbaums, Dead Man Walking, Celebrity, Sunday, "One Life to Live" and "All My Children." His stage credits include: Rodgers after Hammerstein, Buried Child (The New Group), Billy and Ray, Casa Valentina, An Unpublished Screenplay about the Death of Walt Disney, The Royal Family, Angels in America, Stuff Happens, Bus Stop, The Designated Mourner, Alice in Wonderland, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Taming of the Shrew, Carol Mulroney and Kreutzer Sonata, to name a few.

Erica Schmidt (Playwright/Director, All the Fine Boys) has directing credits including: Turgenev's A Month In The Country with Peter Dinklage and Taylor Schilling (Classic Stage Company); Dennis Kelly's Taking Care Of Baby (Manhattan Theatre Club); Jonas Hassen Khemiri's I Call My Brothers and the Obie Award- winning Invasion! (The Play Company); Humor Abuse (co-creator/writer with performer Lorenzo Pisoni, at Manhattan Theatre Club, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics, Drama Desk and Obie Awards. Also played Philadelphia Theatre Company, American Conservatory Theatre, Seattle Rep and The Taper); Rent (Tokyo); Moliere's Imaginary Invalid, Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer and Copland's The Tender Land (Bard Summer Scape); Carnival (The Paper Mill Playhouse); Quincy Long's People Be Heard (Playwrights Horizons); Gary Mitchell's Trust (The Play Company, Callaway Award nominee); As You Like It (The Public Theater/NYSF, chashama; New York International Fringe Festival Winner for Best Direction); Debbie Does Dallas (wrote the adaptation and directed Off-Broadway for The Araca Group); Spanish Girl (Second Stage Uptown). College and University work: Love's Labour's Lost, Macbeth, TopDog/UnderDog, R&J and Buried Child (The Juilliard School); Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards (The McCarter's Berlind Theater, Princeton University); Titus Andronicus and The Desire Project (Vassar College); Top Girls (Fordham University). Princess Grace Award recipient 2001.

Wallace Shawn (Playwright, Evening at the Talk House). The first play by Wallace Shawn to be done in New York was Our Late Night, directed by André Gregory at Joseph Papp's New York Public Theater in 1975. Max Stafford-Clark directed A Thought In Three Parts for the Joint Stock Theatre Group in London in 1977. Marie and Bruce was done at The Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London in 1979, directed by Les Waters, and Wilford Leach directed it at The Public Theater in 1980. Aunt Dan and Lemon was done by Max Stafford-Clark in 1985, and the same production was then done at The Public Theater. Shawn himself did the first performances of his one-person play The Fever in 1991 at various theatres including Dixon Place, The Public Theater, La Mama, and the Mitzi Newhouse at Lincoln Center in New York, and the Royal Court and National Theatre in London. The Designated Mourner was done at the National Theatre in London in 1997, directed by David Hare, and then in New York in 2000, directed by André Gregory. Grasses of a Thousand Colors was first done in 2009 at the Royal Court in London as part of a season of Shawn's work and was then done in 2013 in New York at The Public Theater (co-produced by Theatre For A New Audience), both productions directed by André Gregory. Evening at the Talk House was done at the National Theatre in London in 2015, directed by Ian Rickson. The New Group in New York has done Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Fever, and Marie and Bruce, all directed by Scott Elliott. The New Group also produced AlLen Shawn's opera The Music Teacher, directed by Tom Cairns, with a libretto by Wallace Shawn. The 1981 film My Dinner With Andre was co-written by Gregory and Shawn and directed by Louis Malle. Shawn has translated The Mandrake of Machiavelli, which was done at The Public Theater by Wilford Leach; The Threepenny Opera by Brecht, which was done at the Roundabout, Studio 54, directed by Scott Elliott; and Ibsen's Master Builder, directed by André Gregory and subsequently made into a film by Jonathan Demme. Shawn's plays are published by TCG Books and Grove Press in the US and by Faber and Nick Hern Books in England. His book Essays is published by Haymarket Books.

Claudia Shear (Evening at the Talk House): Broadway: The Smell of the Kill (Drama League Award), Dirty Blonde (Tony and Drama Desk Nominations for Best Play and Best Actress in a Play, Drama League Award, Theatre World Award). London/West End: Dirty Blonde, Chicago. Off-Broadway: Blown Sideways Through Life (Obie Award, Drama Desk Nomination), Dirty Blonde (New York Theatre Workshop), Restoration (New York Theatre Workshop). Television: "Earthly Possessions," "Blown Sideways Through Life," "Friends." Film: Living Out Loud, It Could Happen To You, The Opportunists. Claudia writes for various publications, including The New York Times, New York Magazine, Vogue and Travel & Leisure. She is a member of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, NYTW's Usual Suspects and The Dramatists Guild.

Annapurna Sriram (Evening at the Talk House) was born in Burlington, VT and moved to Nashville, Tennessee at age four. As a teenager, she was a championship Irish Step Dancer and attended Nashville School of the Arts. Annapurna graduated from Rutgers University with a BFA in acting from Mason Gross School of the Arts. In television, Annapurna can currently be seen on NBC's "The Blacklist" and has recurred on Showtime's "Billions" opposite Paul Giamatti & Damian Lewis as well as the WeTV series "South of Hell" with Mena Suvari and Zachary Booth. She will next be seen in two independent films, Stefanie Sparks' In Case of Emergency and Christopher James Lopez's Adrift. Last year Annapurna appeared in Jesse Eisenberg's hit play The Spoils for The New Group and recently reprised her performance on the West End in London.

Maura Tierney (The Whirligig): Golden Globe winning actress Maura Tierney currently stars on the Showtime series, "The Affair," alongside Dominic West and Ruth Wilson. The Golden Globe winning show will be returning for a third season this fall. She is also known for her Emmy nominated role on the top rated NBC series "ER" on which she starred for 8 seasons. Tierney also had an arc on the 2012 and 2013 seasons of "The Good Wife," as well as the critically acclaimed "Rescue Me" as the love interest of Dennis Leary's character in 2009 and reprised the role for the show's last season. Tierney also starred opposite Rob Morrow on ABC's "The Whole Truth." She made her Broadway debut in 2013 starring in Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy, alongside Tom Hanks. Tierney has also starred in such films as Universal's Baby Mama with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, New Line Cinema's comedy Semi-Pro opposite Will Ferrell and Woody Harrelson, Magnolia Pictures' Diggers, opposite Paul Rudd and Ken Marino, Twentieth Century Fox's comedy Welcome to Mooseport opposite Ray Romano and Gene Hackman, Instinct opposite Sir Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding Jr. and Nature Calls with Patton Oswalt and Johnny Knoxville. She earned critical praise for her role in Primary Colors as well as for her work opposite Jim Carrey in the smash hit Liar Liar. Tierney also appeared in the Christopher Nolan directed film Insomnia opposite Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and Robin Williams. Additional film credits include Primal Fear and Scotland PA. In 2006, she starred in the Off-Broadway production of Neil LaBute's Some Girl(s), at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, joining the cast with Eric McCormack, Fran Drescher, Judy Reyes and Brooke Smith. Additionally, she starred in Nicky Silver's Three Changes with Dylan McDermott; and, most recently, in The Wooster Group's North Atlantic with Frances McDormand. She recently starred in Yasmina Reza's award winning God of Carnage at the prestigious Gate Theatre in Dublin. She also stars in the Wooster Group Production A Town Hall Affair (May 2016). Prior to joining the cast of "ER", Tierney spent four years on the critically acclaimed NBC series "NEWSRADIO." Born and raised in Boston, she currently divides her time between Los Angeles and New York.

Joe Tippett (All the Fine Boys): New York Theater credits include Airline Highway (Broadway), This Day Forward (Vineyard Theatre) Indian Summer and Familiar (Playwrights Horizons), Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (AEG Tour), Ashville (Rattlestick Playwrights), Happy Birthday (Actors Company Theater), A Thick Description of Harry Smith, Unanswered We Ride, Fish Eye, Seven Minutes in Heaven, and The Young Left (Cherry Lane). Regional and international theater credits include Waitress (World Premiere, A.R.T.), Familiar (World Premiere, Yale Repertory Theatre), The May Queen (Chautauqua Theater Company), Bull Durham (World Premiere, ALLIANCE THEATRE), Unanswered We Ride (Edinburgh), Picnic (Triad Stage), Three Sisters, The Corn is Green and Romeo and Juliet (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Film and television credits include "Bull," "The Blacklist," License Plates and "Boardwalk Empire." He is an Artistic Associate of Colt Coeur.

Michael Tucker (Evening at the Talk House) is an actor and a writer. He was last seen on stage in The M Spot, a play of his own devising, at the New Jersey Repertory Company. Most of his other stage work was in the last century - on Broadway, Off and Off-Off Broadway, Lincoln Center, Shakespeare in the Park, MTC, Roundabout, and others. He has appeared on TV and film, notably on "LA Law" for eight years and in films by Woody Allen, Barry Levinson, Paul Mazursky and Lina Wertmuller. He has written three memoirs, a novel, two plays and a blog.

Alex Wolff (All the Fine Boys): Actor/musician Alex Wolff gained international recognition from an early age when he co-starred with his older brother, Nat Wolff, in 2005's musical comedy The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie. The film garnered the Audience Award for Family Feature Film at the Hamptons International Film Festival, and led to the spin-off television series "The Naked Brothers Band" (2007-2009). At age six, he earned the Broadcast Music Incorporated Cable Award for writing the series' music, two Young Artist Award nominations and one Best Band nomination at The Australian Kids Choice Awards. His musical talents contributed to the show's two soundtrack albums and the single "Crazy Car," which reached #23 on the Top 200 Billboard Charts. He continues to establish a successful acting career with more than five upcoming films. Wolff will join J.K. Simmons and Mark Wahlberg in the cast of Patriots Day, the CBS Films and Lionsgate picture that chronicles the events surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing. Peter Berg is directing the script from Oscar-nominated Bridge Of Spies co-scribe Matt Charman, with the film slated for December 2016. Currently, he co-stars with Chris Cooper in Coming Through the Rye, produced by Emmy-winner Jim Sadwith. The film is based on Sadwith's attempt to track down JD Salinger and his encounters with the author of The Catcher in the Rye. Coming Through the Rye garnered praise at the Heartland, Savannah and Austin film festivals, with Wolff receiving the Rising Star award at the Denver and Coronado Film festivals. Wolff was recently seen in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, written by Nia Vardalos. Wolff recently wrapped production on two films, Dude and The Standoff. Additionally, Wolff plays a supporting role in Sarah Jessica Parker's comedy series "Divorce" on HBO. Wolff directed, wrote and starred in the short film, Boots (debut November 2015) which was seen at the Long Island Film Festival. His past credits include HairBrained for which he received the Certificate of Outstanding Achievement for Best Actor at the Brooklyn International Film Festival. Wolff jumped into another starring role in A Birder's Guide to Everything, which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival. Other credits include The Sitter starring Jonah Hill (2011), HBO's "In Treatment" (2010), USA's "Monk" (2009) and the Nickelodeon TV movie Mr. Troop Mom (2009). Wolff and his brother formed a duo, Nat & Alex Wolff, and released their first studio album, Black Sheep, (2011). Wolff continues to release new music with his brother, Nat Wolff (Paper Towns, Fault in Our Stars, Buried Child at The New Group), under Nat & Alex Wolff. Their latest songs are available on iTunes and can be found on the soundtracks to many of their films. Wolff resides in New York City with his actress-mother Polly Draper and jazz pianist-father Michael Wolff.