Broderick and Lonergan Talk THE STARRY MESSENGER And Friendship At The 92nd Street Y Tonight, 9/30

Broderick and Lonergan have been friends since high school. They worked together before on the film You Can Count on Me, which Lonergan wrote. A high school trip to the Hayden Planetarium is the inspiration for Lonergan's new play, The Starry Messenger, about to open Off-Broadway at The New Group and starring Broderick. The two talk about their friendship and their first stage collaboration tonight at the 92nd Street Y. 

The event will take place at the Kaufmann Concert Hall at the 92nd Street Y and 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue at 8:00pm.  Tickets are $27.  To purchase in advance, click here.

THE STARRY MESSENGER is written by Kenneth Lonergan and will run at Theatre Row October 24-December 12.  The official opening is November 16. In the play, facing a stagnant marriage and a drowning career, Mark Williams (Broderick) is stuck teaching astronomy in the basement of the Hayden Planetarium. When a chance meeting with a young mother (Moreno) knocks them both out of orbit, their lives begin to realign in ways they never could have predicted. For more information, visit www.thenewgroup.org.

This production marks Lonergan's return to The New Group following This is our Youth in 1996 and is the first stage collaboration with childhood friend, Tony Award-winning actor Matthew Broderick. Lonergan received Drama Desk nominations for Lobby Hero and This is Our Youth, and was nominated for screenwriting Oscars for You Can Count On Me and Gangs of New York.

Kenneth Lonergan's playwriting credits include This is Our Youth (Drama Desk nominee, The New Group - 1996), The Waverley Gallery (Pulitzer Prize nomination) and Lobby Hero (Drama Desk nomination). His screenwriting credits include Analyze This, You Can Count on Me (Oscar and Golden Globe nominations) and Gangs of New York (Oscar nomination), among others. The Starry Messenger marks Lonergan's return to the New York stage following 2002's Lobby Hero and is the first stage collaboration between him and childhood friend Matthew Broderick.

Matthew Broderick made his stage debut at 17 in Horton Foote's On Valentine's Day opposite his father, James Broderick. Off-Broadway: Torch Song Trilogy (OCC, Villager Award), The Widow Claire. Broadway: Brighton Beach Memoirs (Tony, OCC, Theatre World awards), Biloxi Blues, How to Succeed in Business... (Tony, DD, OCC awards), Night Must Fall, Taller Than a Dwarf, The Producers (Tony, DD, OCC nominations), Roundabout's The Foreigner, The Philanthropist. Films include Deck the Halls, Max Dugan Returns, WarGames, 1918, On Valentine's Day, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Project X, Ladyhawke, Biloxi Blues, Glory, Family Business, The Freshman, The Night We Never Met, The Lion King (voice of Simba), Infinity (directed by Mr. Broderick and written by his mother Patricia Broderick), The Cable Guy, Addicted to Love, Godzilla, Inspector Gadget, Election, You Can Count on Me, The Last Shot, Marie and Bruce, Strangers With Candy, The Producers. TV: "The Music Man" (ABC), "'Master Harold'...and the boys" (Showtime) and "A Life in the Theatre." Most recently seen in Bee Movie, Then She Found Me, Finding Amanda, Diminished Capacity and The Tale of Despereaux. He last appeared in Wonderful World, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival.