Banes, Garrison and Jennings Join MTC's ACCENT ON YOUTH

The upcoming Broadway production of Samson Raphaelson's Accent On Youth will feature the previously announced Tony nominee Charles Kimbrough and Tony and Emmy winner David Hyde Pierce. Pierce and Kimbrough will be joined by Theatre World Award winner and Drama Desk Award nominee Lisa Banes (Arcadia), Mary Catherine Garrison who previously appeared in MTC's critically lauded productions of Top Girls and Rabbit Hole, and Byron Jennings who returns to MTC after appearing in the Tony-nominated revival of Sight Unseen.

The production will be directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan (Rabbit Hole, Sight Unseen, Proof).

Accent On Youth, directed by Tony Award® winner Daniel Sullivan (Rabbit Hole, Proof), will begin previews at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 for a Wednesday, April 29, 2009 opening.

Additional casting for the nine-person cast will be announced in the coming weeks.

Accent On Youth will begin previews on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 for a Wednesday, April 29, 2009 opening in a limited engagement at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).

Accent On Youth is a rollicking salute to love's possibilities, both on stage and off. Successful playwright Steven Gaye (Pierce) is about to abandon his latest script, when his young secretary (Garrison) offers him new inspiration. With her as his muse, he stages the show on Broadway, only to learn, to his dismay, that the show's young leading man is being inspired by her too.

The creative team for Accent On Youth includes John Lee Beatty (scenic design), Jane Greenwood (costume design), Brian MacDevitt (lighting design), and Obadiah Eaves (sound design).

Lisa Banes (Miss Darling) appeared on Broadway in Rumors, Arcadia and High Society. Off-Broadway credits include Look Back in Anger (Theatre World Award), A Call from the East, My Sister in this House (OBIE Award), Three Sisters, Antigone, Isn't It Romantic (Drama Desk nomination), Ten by Tennessee, The Cradle Will Rock, On the Verge, Fighting International Fat and Emily at MTC. Regionally she has appeared in Present Laughter (The Huntington Theatre); Mrs. Warren's Profession (Berkshire Theatre Festival); The Admirable Crichton and Progress (Long Wharf Theatre); A Doll's House (Yale Repertory Theatre); Much Ado about Nothing and King Lear (The Old Globe); Money and Friends (Ahmanson Theatre); and Julius Caesar (Mark Taper Forum). Banes' film appearances include The Hotel New Hampshire Marie, Young Guns, Cocktail, Without Limits, The Jackal, Dragonfly, Pumpkin, The Brothel, Legally Blonde, and Freedom Writers. Television series credits include "The Trials of Rosie O'Neil", "Son of the Beach," "Girls Club" and recurring roles on "Footwork," "China Beach," "The King of Queens," "Six Feet Under" and "Saved."  Television films include "Hemingway," "Kane and Able," "The Doris Duke Story," and the immortal "Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?" Guest star roles include "The Equalizer," "Spenser:  For Hire," "Life Goes On," Rosanne" "Frasier," "Murder She Wrote," "Murder One," "L.A. Law," "The Practice," "Boston Legal," "NYPD Blue," "The Unit," "It's All Relative," "Out of Practice" and "Desperate Housewives," and her best pilot "Gloria Vane."  Ms. Banes is an alumna of The Acting Company and a graduate of The Juilliard School.

 

Mary Catherine Garrison (Linda Brown) is returning to MTC after starring in last season's critically acclaimed revival of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls and David Lindsay-Abaire's 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole. Her other theatre credits include Crimes of the Heart (Primary Stages); the critically acclaimed downtown hit Debbie Does Dallas, directed by Erica Schmidt; Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme in the Tony-Award-winning Assassins, The Foreigner, opposite Matthew Broderick, and The Man Who Came to Dinner (all at Roundabout). She appeared as Mandy Moore's sister in the New Line Cinema feature How To Deal and also had a role in Brad Silberling's Moonlight Mile. Her television credits include lead roles on "Inconceivable" (NBC) and "The Partners" (ABC), as well as guest appearances on "Law & Order," "Third Watch," "Lipstick Jungle," and "The Flight of the Conchords." Raised in New Orleans, LA, Garrison has a bachelor of fine arts degree in Theatre from the University of Evansville and a master of fine arts degree in Acting from the University of California at San Diego.

Byron Jennings (Frank Galloway). Broadway: Macbeth; Is He Dead?; Inherit the Wind; Noises Off; Heartbreak House, A Touch of the Poet, Twelve Angry Men, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and A Month in the Country (Roundabout); Henry IV, Dinner at Eight, The Invention of Love, and Carousel (LCT); Sight Unseen (MTC). Off-Broadway: The Foreigner (Roundabout); Dealer's Choice (MTC); Waste, Don Juan (TFANA); Stuff Happens, The Merchant of Venice, On the Open Road, Pericles (Public).

Single tickets to Accent On Youth are available via Telecharge.com by telephone at (212) 239-6200, (800) 432-7250 outside the NY metro area and online at Telecharge.com. For group ticket information, call (800) 432-7780.

Tickets are available at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre box office (261 West 47th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue). Tickets range in price from $56.50-$96.50. Student rush tickets are available the day of the performance at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre box office for $26.50.

You can subscribe to MTC by calling (212) 399-3030, Monday - Friday, noon - 8 PM, with a major credit card. Subscriptions are available online at www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

Performance schedule will be announced shortly.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, MTC has become one of the country’s most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. MTC productions have earned a total of 16 Tony Awards and five Pulitzer Prizes, an accomplishment unparalleled by a New York theatrical institution. Renowned MTC productions include Top Girls; From Up Here; Come Back, Little Sheba; The Receptionist; LoveMusik; Blackbird; Translations; Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Proof; Kimberly Akimbo; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Sylvia; Four Dogs and a Bone; Putting It Together; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain’t Misbehavin’. 

This season, MTC’s Broadway stage was renamed the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). The landmarked theatre has been the institution’s home on Broadway since 2003 and was rehabilitated by MTC following a two-year, $35 million capital campaign. In addition, MTC operates two theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street), its Off-Broadway home since 1984.

For more information on Manhattan Theatre Club, please visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.