Dukakis, Cox and Irving Star in New Comedy at Dodgers Stages this Fall

Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck, Steel Magnolias), Tony nominated actress Veanne Cox (Caroline, Or Change) and Tony winner George S. Irving (Irene, Me and My Girl) will star in A MOTHER, A DAUGHTER, AND A GUN, a deliciously dark new comedy about mothers, daughters, and the emotional outbursts only they know how to trigger. Written by Barra Grant and directed by stage and film director Jonathan Lynn (the films My Cousin Vinny, The Whole Nine Yards), this high-caliber comedy will begin performances on October 14 at Dodgers Stages (340 W. 50th St.), with an official opening on Tuesday November 1.

A MOTHER, A DAUGHTER, AND A GUN will have a pre-New York run at the Helen Hayes Theatre in Nyack, New York (123 Main St.) from September 23 through October 9.

In addition to Ms. Dukakis, Ms. Cox and Mr. Irving, the cast of A MOTHER, A DAUGHTER, AND A GUN will feature David Bishins, Mario Campanaro, Katrina Ferguson, Matthew Greer, Laura Heisler, Stephanie Kurtzuba and Daniel Pearce.

To be presented in New York by Brian Reilly and Nelle Nugent, A MOTHER, A DAUGHTER, AND A GUN will feature set design by Jesse Poleshuck, costumes by David C. Woolard, lighting by Beverly Emmons, and sound design by T. Richard Fitzgerald and Carl Casella.

Olympia Dukakis has appeared in over 130 productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally, including Rose, A Mother, Mother Courage, The Rose Tattoo, The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, The Sea Gull, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Iphegenia in Aulis, Othello, Miss Julie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Night of the Iguana. She received an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress, the New York Film Critics' Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics' Award, and the Golden Globe Award for her work in the film Moonstruck, as well as two OBIE Awards - for Bertolt Brecht's A Man's a Man, and Christopher Durang's The Marriage of Bette and Boo and the Outer Critics Award for Rose. Additional film credits include Steel Magnolias, Mr. Holland's Opus, Dad, and the Look Who's Talking series. TV appearances include Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, and Further Tales of the City (Screen Actors' Guild, Emmy, BAFTA nominations), and The Librarian. She was most recently a regular on the CBS series Center of the Universe.

Veanne Cox received a Tony Award nomination for her performance in Caroline, or Change, in which she appeared in both New York and Los Angeles. Other New York stage credits include The Dinner Party, The Altruist, Freedomland at Playwrights Horizons, Labor Day at MTC, The Batting Cage at the Vineyard, The Waiting Room, A Question of Mercy at NYTW, The Food Chain and Roundabout's revival of Company, for which she received Tony and Drama Desk nominations. Regionally, she has worked at The Old Globe, La Jolla, Actors Theater of Louisville, Long Wharf, Bay Street, Pasadena Playhouse, Paper Mill and Goodspeed. Her film appearances include Marci X, Big Eden, Erin Brokovich, You've Got Mail, Henry's Fool and the upcoming Beethoven IV. Television credits ABC/Disney's "Cinderella," "Seinfeld," "Smoke Alarm" for HBO, "The Norm Show," "Caroline in the City" and "Love and War."

George S. Irving is considered to be an American character-acting treasure. He received a Tony Award for his performance in Irene and was also nominated for his work in Me and My Girl. His Broadway career began in Oklahoma! and he has since appeared in Call Me Mister, Along Fifth Avenue, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Two's Company, Can-Can, Me and Juliet, Bells Are Ringing, Shinbone Alley, The Good Soup, Irma La Douce, Romulus, Bravo Giovanni, Tovarich, A Murderer Among Us, Alfie!, Anya, Galileo, The Happy Time, Four on a Garden, An Evening with Richard Nixon and ..., Who's Who in Hell, So Long 174th Street, Once in a Lifetime, I Remember Mama, The Pirates of Penzance, Copperfield and On Your Toes. To generations of children, Irving is known as the voice of Heat Miser in the holiday TV special, "The Year Without a Santa Claus." He also did voiceover work for the cartoons "Underdog" and "Tennessee Tuxedo." Irving was born in Springfield, MA.

Barra Grant (Playwright), a Manhattan native, studied at the Drama Centre London. Her stage credits include appearances in Major Barbara and Three Sisters at the Mark Taper Forum. She also starred in the BBC series "Take Three Girls." As a screenwriter, her credits include Slow Dancing in the Big City, starring Paul Sorvino and directed by John Avildsen, and Misunderstood, starring Gene Hackman. For television, she wrote and directed the Emmy Award winning "The Tap Dance Kid," as well as "Lies of the Heart," for which she received DGA and Humanitas nominations. She received the Writer's Guild Award for her work on "The Earth Day Special." She recently wrote and directed her first feature film, Life of the Party, which premiered at the Palm Springs Film Festival prior to premiering on the Lifetime network in May 2006.

Jonathan Lynn (Director) is a stage director, filmmaker, screenwriter and novelist whose prolific career spans nearly four decades and includes directing, writing, producing and acting in theatre, motion pictures and television, as well as authoring best-selling books. From 1977 to 1981 Lynn served as Artistic Director of The Cambridge Theatre Company, where he produced more than forty plays, twenty of which he directed. His many film credits include My Cousin Vinny, The Whole Nine Yards, Clue, The Fighting Temptations, Nuns on the Run, The Distinguished Gentleman, Sgt. Bilko, Trial and Error and Greedy. It was the 1980's BBC phenomena "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister" that initially propelled Lynn to fame in his native Great Britain. He co-created and co-wrote all of the series' episodes, which lampooned his native country's political system. Lynn has recently written two screenplays, The Bottom Line and Rita's Story, and a film based on his novel Mayday.

Tickets for A MOTHER, A DAUGHTER, AND A GUN at Dodger Stages (performing from October 14, with an official opening on November 1), 340 W. 50th Street, can be purchased by calling Tele-charge, 212-239-6200, beginning September 16. The Dodger Stages box office will open on September 26. Tickets for the pre-New York engagement at the Helen Hayes Theatre (performing from September 23 thru October 9), 123 Main Street in Nyack, NY can be purchased by calling the box office at 845-358-6333 (or in NJ at 201-358-6065).