Elizabeth Reaser Joins MCC Theater's THE MONEY SHOT; Performances Begin 9/4

Screen and stage star Elizabeth Reaser, best known for her performances in the blockbuster Twilight film franchise and her season-long arc on "Grey's Anatomy," will step into its upcoming production of The Money Shot for the departing Heather Graham, who exits the production due to a late-breaking opportunity to begin production on a passion project (as BroadwayWorld previously reported).

Reaser joins the previously announced Gia Crovatin, Golden Globe nominee Callie Thorne, and Frederick Weller in the world premiere of MCC Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute's new play, The Money Shot, directed by Terry Kinney. Performances for The Money Shot begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on September 4, 2014. An official opening is set for September 22, 2014 and it is currently scheduled through October 12, 2014. Tickets are now on sale. For info, please visit www.mcctheater.org.

Elizabeth Reaser received an Emmy nomination for her guest spot as "Ava" on "Grey's Anatomy." Reaser shared a Screen Actors Guild's Award nomination with the "Grey's Anatomy" cast for Best Ensemble.

In film, Reaser recently completed shooting on the independent films "Hello, My Name is Doris," directed by Michael Showalter as well as "One & Two," directed by Andrew Droz Palermo. In 2012, Reaser reprised her role as the matriarch of the "Cullen" clan in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2." The final installment of the box office record setting Twilight franchise, the film was directed by Academy Award winning director Bill Condon and went on to gross over $800m worldwide. Reaser was also recently seen in Josh Radnor's "Liberal Arts," alongside Elizabeth Olsen, Richard Jenkins and Allison Janney. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim.

Reaser co-starred with Charlie Theron, Patrick Wilson and Patton Oswald in Paramount Pictures' "Young Adult," directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. A dark comedy that follows a divorced, 30-something, young-adult fiction writer, Mavis Gay, (Theron) who returns to her Minnesota home to chase after her ex-boyfriend, Buddy Slade (Wilson), Reaser plays the role of "Beth," the wife of Buddy and the woman who stands in the way of Gay winning back her high school sweetheart.

Reaser earned a 2007 Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress for her role in the drama "Sweet Land," directed by Ali Selim, Reaser plays a woman named Inge who travels from Norway to rural Minnesota in the 1920s to meet the man who is destined to be her husband. Variety called her performance "...a marvel of strength, humor and sensuality" and The Los Angeles Times raved, "Few actresses own the camera with as much authority as Reaser does here."

Additional film credits include Peter Callahan's "Against the Current," opposite Joseph Fiennes and Justin Kirk; Maria Maggenti's "Puccini for Beginners," which was selected in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opened the 2006 Outfest Film Festival as well; Ed Burns' "Purple Violets," opposite Debra Messing, Selma Blair, Burns and Donal Logue; Thomas Bezucha's "The Family Stone;" Marc Forster's "Stay;" "The Believer," opposite Ryan Gosling; "Mind the Gap;" "Shut Up and Sing;" and "13 Conversations About One Thing."

In television, Reaser was most recently seen in the Emmy nominated Lifetime miniseries event "Bonnie & Clyde." In addition to her Emmy nominated arc on "Grey's Anatomy," Reaser played an important role on the hit CBS show, "The Good Wife," as "Tammy Linnata," a prominent sports reporter and love interest for Will Gardner (Josh Charles). She also played the leading role of "Bella Bloom" in the CBS one-hour romantic drama series, "The Ex List." Additional television credits include the drama series "Saved," alongside Tom Everett Scott, and appearances on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "The Sopranos."

In theater, Reaser most recently starred in the World Premiere of "Conviction" with Sarah Paulson and Garret Dillahunt at the Bay Street Theatre. She previously starred on stage to critical acclaim in the Second Stage Theatre's revival of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize winning play, "How I Learned to Drive," opposite Norbert Leo Butz. The story follows the strained, sexual relationship between Li'l Bit (Reaser) and her aunt's husband, Uncle Peck (Butz) from her adolescence through her teenage years into college and beyond.

Reaser graduated from The Julliard School of Arts. She currently splits her time between New York and Los Angeles.

In The Money Shot, Karen (Reaser) and Steve (Weller) are glamorous movie stars with one thing in common: desperation. It's been years since either one's had a hit, but the latest movie by a hot shot European director could change that. The night before filming a big scene (that seems destined to assure them a spot back on the pop culture radar), Karen, her partner Bev (Thorne), Steve, and his aspiring actress wife Missy (Crovatin) meet in order to make an important decision: how far will they let themselves go to keep from slipping further down the Hollywood food chain? The Money Shot reunites Neil LaBute with director Terry Kinney (Reasons to be Pretty) for a hilarious and insightful comedy about ambition, art, status and sex in an era - and an industry - where very little is sacred and almost nothing is taboo.

The cast features: screen and stage star Elizabeth Reaser; Gia Crovatin, of Showtime's "Californication" and LA Theatreworks' productions of LaBute's Reasons to Be Pretty and Reasons to Be Happy; stage and screen actress Callie Thorne, a 2012 Golden Globe nominee for her work on the USA series "Necessary Roughness"; and Fred Weller, most recently on Broadway opposite Tyne Daly in the Tony nominated Mothers and Sons and last seen at MCC in LaBute's Reasons to Be Happy, for which he was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award.

Prolific playwright and filmmaker Neil LaBute is the author of the renowned plays The Shape of Things, Fat Pig, Reasons to Be Happy, and Reasons to Be Pretty, the latter of which served as his Broadway debut in 2009, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. On stage, he previously directed his plays The Mercy Seat, Wrecks, and The Shape of Things. For film, LaBute wrote and directed the Cannes Palme d'Or finalist Nurse Betty, Your Friends & Neighbors, The Shape of Things, and In the Company of Men, for which he won the Independent Spirit Award and New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Feature. He also directed the hit dark comedy Death at a Funeral. LaBute is currently the Playwright-in-Residence at MCC Theater.

Director Terry Kinney is a co-founder of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. His directing credits there include The Violet Hour, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Clockwork Orange, Of Mice and Men, and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, which moved to Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. NYC directing credits include the world premiere of Checkers by Doug McGrath, reasons to be pretty for MCC and Broadway, After Ashley and Beautiful Child at the Vineyard Theatre, among others. Upcoming projects include Sins of the Mother by Israel Horowitz, and Rear Window, adapted by Keith Reddin. Mr. Kinney's film directing credits include the short film Kubuku Rides (This Is It) for Steppenwolf Films, and Diminished Capacity with Matthew Broderick and Alan Alda. Film appearances include Save the Last Dance, Sleepers, Fly Away Home, Last of the Mohicans, The Firm, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Turn The River. TV credits include Tim McManus in HBO's prison drama Oz, The Mentalist, The Unusuals (ABC), The Laramie Project, thirtysomething, Kidnapped, Black Box, George Wallace, and The Good Wife with Julianna Margulies.

All performances of The Money Shot will offer $30 Under 30 seating, with Rush seats available two hours prior to each curtain, pending availability, for $30 to patrons 29 years old or younger on the day of the performance. Advanced $30 Under 30 seating is also offered online for each performance, with tickets available for pick-up at will call with valid ID. One ticket per ID. No exceptions. Additionally, $20 Student Rush tickets for full-time high school and college students, 20 minutes before curtain (cash only) with valid ID. General tickets are $69-$125 and are available by visiting www.mcctheater.org or calling 212-352-3101. In person transactions may be made beginning August 26 at the Lortel Theatre box office.

The 2014-15 MCC Theater Main Stage Season will also feature: the New York premiere of Punk Rock, a new play by Simon Stephens, the playwright of the Broadway-bound British import The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and directed by Trip Cullman (October 29-December 7, 2014); the New York premiere of Jennifer Haley's The Nether, winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize to be directed by Anne Kauffman (February 4-March 15, 2015); and the world premiere of Permission, the latest work by Hand to God playwright Robert Askins (April 29-June 7, 2015).

MCC Theater - founded in 1986 as Manhattan Class Company - is driven by a mission to provoke conversations that have never happened and otherwise never would. Led by Artistic Directors Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, and Executive Director Blake West, MCC fulfills its mission by producing new work that challenges artists and rewards audiences, and by nurturing the development of playwrights and students through a variety of literary and education programs that enable nearly 1,200 New York City high school students to find - and use - their own unique voice each year through the creation and performance of original theater pieces. MCC currently produces its annual season at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street) and will open its own two-theater complex on West 52nd Street and 10th Avenue in 2017. Notable productions include the recent hits Hand to God and Small Engine Repair; The Village Bike; The Other Place; Really Really; The Submission, winner of the inaugural Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award for new American plays; The Pride; Fifty Words; Nixon's Nixon; The Grey Zone; the Tony Award-winning Frozen; the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit; the re-imagined production of the musical Carrie; and eight plays by Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute, including Fat Pig, Reasons to Be Pretty and Reasons to Be Happy.

Visit www.mcctheater.org for more information.