John Noble, Halley Feiffer, Daniel Eric Gold & More to Star in Second Stage's THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE; Previews Will Now Begin 4/10

Currently celebrating its 35th Anniversary Season, Second Stage Theatre has announced complete casting and new performance dates for its upcoming production of JON ROBIN BAITZ's drama, THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE. The company will feature HALLEY FEIFFER (2ST's suburbia, The House of Blue Leaves), DANIEL ERIC GOLD (2ST's subUrbia, Ugly Betty) CARTER HUDSON (The Whipping Man), JOHN NOBLE (TV's Fringe and Sleepy Hollow), and CHARLAYNE WOODARD (2ST's Sorrows and Rejoicings, Ain't Misbehavin').

THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE will feature scenic design by Anna Louizos, costume design by Emily Rebholz, lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski and sound design by Jill BC Du Boff. The production stage manager is Lori-Ann Zepp.

Directed by TRIP CULLMAN, THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE will now begin preview performances on Thursday, April 10 and officially open on Sunday, April 27. John Noble is appearing with the permission of Actors' Equity Association.

Acclaimed playwright JON ROBIN BAITZ (Other Desert Cities) made his New York playwriting debut at Second Stage Theatre in 1988 with his play, The Film Society, starring Nathan Lane, Laila Robins, and Daniel Gerroll. His prolific career also includes the plays Three Hotels, A Fair Country, Mizlansy/Zilinsky or "Schmucks," Ten Unknowns, and The Paris Letter. Director TRIP CULLMAN returns to Second Stage Theatre where he staged the critically lauded productions of Bachelorette; Lonely, I'm Not; Swimming in the Shallows; and Some Men. Other directing credits include Choir Boy, Murder Ballad, Assistance, and The Drunken City, among others.

From the acclaimed playwright of Other Desert Cities, comes a story of a family bound by a proud past but facing an uncertain future. Isaac Geldhart, the volatile and brilliant patriarch of his family publishing house, is stubbornly holding on to his place at the head of the company while his three children try to convince him to publish a desperately needed best-seller. Faced with a changing literary landscape and potential takeover of the company, the Geldhart children must either come to terms with their father and band together or break apart and forfeit the legacy he risked everything to build. Articulate and blessed with a lifesaving and cutting sense of humor, Isaac fights like a man with nothing to lose.

The original production of The Substance of Fire premiered at Playwrights Horizons in 1991 in a production directed by Daniel Sullivan and starring Ron Rifkin and Sarah Jessica Parker. It subsequently transferred to Lincoln Center's Mitzi Newhouse Theatre and was also made into a 1996 film.

Photo by Walter McBride