Breaking News: Encores! Announces 2015 Off-Center Season; Set to Include Foster in THE WILD PARTY, Groff in A NEW BRAIN, Greene in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS & More!

New York City Center's acclaimed Encores! Off-Center series, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori, returns for a third season of landmark Off-Broadway musicals, opening on June 24, 2015 with William Finn and James Lapine's A New Brain starring Jonathan Groff, directed by James Lapine. The season continues with a one-night only performance of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's Little Shop of Horrors, starring original cast member Ellen Greene, directed by Dick Scanlan, on July 1. Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party starring Sutton Foster and Joshua Henry, and directed by Leigh Silverman, wraps up the season, opening on July 15. Chris Fenwick is the Encores! Off-Center music director. A New Brain will play five performances, from June 24-27, 2015. Little Shop of Horrors will play one performance only, on July 1, 2015. The Wild Party will play five performances only, from July 15-18, 2015.

The 2015 Encores! Off-Center season will feature sets by Donyale Werle, costumes by Clint Ramos, lighting by Mark Barton and sound design by Leon Rothenberg.

The series presents Off-Broadway musicals that pushed creative boundaries when they were first produced. Filtered through the lens of today's artists, these shows are presented not as historical documents but as living, vital works that continue to resonate with audiences. The series also features The Lobby Project,a series offree performances, conversations and readings by groundbreaking artists, poets, authors, and performers. The Lobby Project events place each musical in the context of its legacy and provide insights into the work the audience is about to experience. (Schedule of Lobby Project events TBA)

The series reflects City Center's ongoing outreach to new and younger audiences. In keeping with this mission, $25 tickets will be available to college students and young adults before tickets go on sale to the general public. [NOTE: It is necessary to sign up for City Center's free Peer to Peer program to be eligible for advance tickets. See details below. Peer to Peer tickets will go on sale on January 5, 2015; regular tickets are on sale now to City Center members only. General public tickets will go on sale on January 20, 2015.

A New Brain, inspired by William Finn's personal experiences, is a medical tragedy seen through the zany iris of a Looney Tunes short. After struggling composer Gordon Michael Schwinn (Jonathan Groff) collapses face-first into a plate of spaghetti, he is diagnosed with a brain tumor and is forced to come to terms with his creative ambitions and the lovable screw-ups in his life: an overbearing boyfriend, a power-belting homeless woman, and a nasty kiddie-show host named Mr. Bungee. The show began as a series of songs written by Finn shortly after his hospitalization for a brain tumor and was performed as a concert at The Public Theater. It premiered at Lincoln Center Theater on May 14, 1998 and ran for 78 performances, winning the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical.

Little Shop of Horrors is a sci-fi musical about a hapless florist shop worker who acquires an R&B-singing plant that feeds on human blood. Theproduction will star Ellen Greene, who created the role of Seymour's Skid Row co-worker Audrey in the original Off-Broadway production. An R&B girl's trio, The Urchins,provides commentary on the action and features Tracy Nicole Chapman, MarvaHicks and Ramona Keller, (The Radio from Caroline, or Change). Little Shop is based on Roger Corman's 1960 black comedy film by the same name, Little Shop of Horrors premiered Off-Off-Broadway in 1982 before moving Off-Broadway to the Orpheum Theatre, where it played 2,209 performances, winning the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best Musical. It was revived on Broadway in 2003, playing 372 performances at the Virginia Theatre.

Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party, adapted from the Jazz Age narrative poem by Joseph Moncure March, will star Sutton Foster and Joshua Henry, who costarred in the Off-Center production of Violet. Violet director Leigh Silverman will direct. The Wild Party is the story of one tragic, decadent night in a Manhattan apartment shared by Queenie (Sutton Foster) and her menacing lover, and the handsome stranger (Joshua Henry) who wants to lure her away.It opened at Manhattan Theatre Club on February 24, 2000 and played 54 performances.

Tickets to Encores! Off-Center are on sale now to City Center members. $25 Tickets will go on sale to City Center's Peer to Peer members beginning on January 5, 2015. Tickets to the general public will go on sale beginning January 20, 2015. All tickets begin at $25 andcan be purchased at the New York City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues), through CityTix® at 212-581-1212, or online at www.NYCityCenter.org.