Guthrie Theatre's GOD OF CARNAGE Opens 5/28

Jennifer Blagen, Chris Carlson, Tracey Maloney and Bill McCallum will duke it out this summer in God of Carnage, opening May 28 2011, on the McGuire Proscenium Stage. Yasmina Reza's 2009 Tony Award-winning play, under the direction of Guthrie Associate Artistic Director John Miller-Stephany, pits two highly-strung couples against each other in a 90-minute laugh-out-loud comedy hailed as a "four-way prize fight" by The New York Times.

Alan Raleigh (McCallum) and his wife Annette (Maloney) visit the apartment of Michael and Veronica Novak (Carlson and Blagen, respectively) for what all believe will be a civil discussion about how best to deal with a playground fight between their two sons. With fissures in the friendliness evident from the start, the meeting quickly degenerates as the four spiral into irrational arguments and the loaded topics of misogyny, racial prejudice and homophobia. Insults fly and the fault lines split open altogether, allowing free rein to "the god of carnage," in whom Alan admits proudly to believe. Loyalty to one's spouse becomes a disposable commodity. Spouses turn on spouses and new alliances are formed and dissolved in an event The New Yorker called "ninety minutes of sustained mayhem."

"The idea behind the play is that civilization may only be a veneer and what lies right beneath the surface is the savage man," said Miller-Stephany. "With that said, God of Carnage may have been written by a French woman, translated by an Englishman and set in Brooklyn, New York, but Minnesotans are going to take this play to heart, because nobody understands passive/aggressive behavior better than we do."

Originally Le Dieu du Carnage in French, Reza's play was first produced in English in London in March 2008, in a translation by Christopher Hampton, where it won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. God of Carnage also enjoyed critical acclaim on Broadway, playing for 476 performances and winning the Tony, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League awards for Best Play. A film adaptation, directed by Roman Polanski and starring Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz, is currently in production in Paris.

The artistic team also includes Todd Rosenthal (Set Designer), Mathew J. LeFebvre (Costume Designer), Marcus Dilliard (Lighting Designer), Scott W. Edwards (Sound Designer), Jo Holcomb (Dramaturgy), Lucinda Holshue(Voice and Dialect Coach), Marcela Lorca (Movement), Michele Harms (Stage Manager), Justin Hossle (Assistant Stage Manager) and Jon Ferguson (Assistant Director).

God of Carnage begins preview performances on May 28, opens June 3 and continues through August 7, 2011, on the McGuire Proscenium Stage. Single tickets start at $29 and are now on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE, 612.225.6244 (Group Sales) and online at http://www.guthrietheater.org/.