Chris Pine To Lead LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE At The Taper 6/30-8/8

The cast has been set for the Center Theatre Group production of "The Lieutenant of Inishmore," Martin McDonagh's strikingly original black comedy following Padraic (played by Chris Pine), a terrorist deemed too angry for the IRA, and the swath of destruction he cuts on his return to Inishmore to care for a beloved pet. "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" begins previews at the Mark Taper Forum on June 30, opens July 11 and continues through August 8, 2010.

Directed by Wilson Milam (Tony-nominated for directing the Broadway production of this play), the cast of "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" features (in alphabetical order) Ian Alda, Andrew Connolly, Coby Getzug, Seán G. Griffin, Kevin Kearns, Zoe Perry, Chris Pine and Brett Ryback. The scenic designer for "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" is Laura Fine Hawkes, the costume designer is Stephanie Kerley Schwartz, the lighting designer is Brian Gale and the sound designer is Cricket S. Myers. Casting is by Erika Sellin and the production stage manager is David S. Franklin.

"The Lieutenant of Inishmore," by Academy Award-winning, Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated Martin McDonagh, is a blistering, graphic satire on violence set in 1993 on the rocky island of Inishmore. Padraic (Pine), a hard-boiled terrorist, has been away in Northern Ireland with his busy schedule of torture and assorted nationalist mayhem, but he is lured home to Inishmore by the news that his beloved cat, Wee Thomas, is doing poorly. When Padraic finds out Wee Thomas has been murdered, he initiates a cycle of revenge-killing that threatens everyone in his path, except perhaps the love-struck Mairead (Zoe Perry), a 16-year-old terrorist groupie with a BB gun.

When "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" was presented in 2006 at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York, Ben Brantley of The New York Times said that the play is ". . . brazenly and unapologetically a farce, but it is also a severely moral play, translating into dizzy absurdism the self-perpetuating spirals of political violence that now occur throughout the world . . . [it is] directed with a steady gaze and acute theatrical instinct by Wilson Milam." Michael Billington of The Guardian remarked of the earlier London production, ". . . a boldly brilliant play about the way rigid adherence to a cause destroys a sense of proportion . . . Like all first-rate satire, the play attacks excess and endorses reason."

Center Theatre Group, a non-profit organization, is one of the largest and most active theatre companies in the nation, programming seasons at the Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center of Los Angeles, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to providing Theatre Of the highest caliber to the rich, diverse communities of Southern California, CTG supports a significant number of arts education and play development initiatives.

Tickets for "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" are available by calling CTG Audience Services at (213) 628-2772 or online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org or in person at the CTG box office located at the Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center.