Amanda Plummer to Lead THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY at New World Stages; Opens 6/19

Tony and three-time Emmy Award-winner Amanda Plummer will return to the New York stage after a 15-year absence, along with Academy Award-nominated actor Brad Dourif (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) in the Off-Broadway premiere production of Tennessee Williams' rarely seen The Two-Character Play at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street). Previews begin Monday, June 10. Opening Night is set for June 19 at 8:00 p.m. Equal parts Southern Gothic thriller, black comedy and psychological drama, the work, written during a time of great personal strife, is abstractly based on Williams' close yet complicated relationship with his sister, Rose. Gene David Kirk directs.

Reality and fantasy are interwoven with terrifying power as two actors on tour-brother and sister-find themselves deserted by their troupe. Faced by an audience expecting a performance, they enact The Two-Character Play. As they dip in and out of performance they find it difficult to differentiate themselves from their roles and reality from illusion.

The Two-Character Play is being produced by Robert Driemeyer, Jim A. Landé, and Morgan Sills, with General Management by Brierpatch Productions (Laura Janik Cronin & Scott Newsome), Casting by wojcik/seay casting (Scott Wojcik & Gayle Seay) and Marketing by Ron Johnson.

The performance schedule, production team and ticket information will be announced at a later date.

The Two-Character Play debuted in 1967 in London, and was produced on Broadway in 1973 by David Merrick, under the title Out Cry, starring Michael York. Considered too experimental for its time, Williams continued working on the play and published his final version in The Theatre of Tennessee Williams Volume 5. After years of withholding rights, Williams' estate granted permission for Gene David Kirk to present the play at London's Jermyn Street Theatre where he served as Artistic Director. Mr. Kirk was introduced to the play by his mentor Corin Redgrave, whose sister Vanessa had long desired it as a personal vehicle. Mr. Kirk found the play "absolutely delicious," calling it "a brilliant device exposing the entrapment of humanity itself."

Opening in October 2010, the play earned the critical success that had eluded it years earlier, and found its enthusiastic and appreciative audience in the 21st century. The production was heralded as "revelatory," and the play was lauded as a "lost classic."

Mr. Kirk dedicates this production of The Two-Character Play to the memory of Mr. Redgrave.