In the Spotlight Series: BILLY & RAY'S Garry Marshall & Mike Bencivenga

"Mad Men" star Vincent Kartheiser and Broadway's Larry Pine (CASA VALENTINA) play Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, respectively, in BILLY & RAY, Mike Bencivenga's new play -- directed by the legendary director/writer/producer Garry Marshall. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you photos of Marshall and Bencivenga, as taken on opening night, in the BroadwayWorld.com series 'In The Spotlight' by acclaimed photographer Walter McBride!

Marshall is a veteran writer, director and producer of film, television, and theater. After graduating from Northwestern University's Medil School of Journalism, he went on to create, write, and produce some of television's most beloved situation comedies, including "Happy Days," "Laverne & Shirley," "Mork & Mindy," and "The Odd Couple." Marshall is passionate about live theater. His play, Shelves, was performed at the Pheasant Run Playhouse in St. Charles, Illinois, and The Roast, which he co-wrote with Jerry Belson, ran at the Winter Garden Theater in New York. In addition, he co-wrote Wrong Turn at Lungfish, with Lowell Ganz, which he then went on to direct in Los Angeles with Hector Elizondo, in Chicago and Off-Broadway with George C. Scott. At the request of Placido Domingo, he made his operatic directing debut at Los Angeles Opera in 2005, with his own adaptation of Offenbach's The Grand Duchess, starring Frederica von Stade. In 2007, he joined the San Antonio Opera to direct Elixir of Love, which received rave reviews. He has directed 17 movies. Among them are Pretty Woman, Beaches, Overboard, The Princess Diaries 1 & 2, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, and New Year's Eve. In 1997, Mr. Marshall built a theater in Burbank, California with his daughter, Kathleen, called the Falcon Theatre. Happy Days: A New Musical, written by Marshall with music and lyrics by Paul Williams, made its debut there and was co-produced by his sister Ronny Hallin who also produced the TV series.

During his career Mike has written, directed, produced and acted in one acts and full length plays (with MTC and the Lightning Strikes Theater Company) as well as improv comedy (as one of the Chainsaw Boys) and sketch comedy in New York, Chicago, Boston and LA. His full length plays include SINGLE BULLET THEORY, COUPLETS, BILLY & RAY, SUMMER ON FIRE and BAD HEARTS. In 2013 BILLY & RAY won the prestigious W. Keith Hedrick award for best play. FILM: Mike wrote and directed Losers in Love starring Nick Searcy and Happy Hour starring Anthony LaPaglia and Eric Stoltz. TV: Mike is an Emmy award winning editor/producer at WABC-TV in New York. He attended Adelphi University and NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride