Kyra Sedgwick Stars in John Patrick Shanley's New Play THE DANISH WIDOW, Beginning Tonight at Powerhouse

New York Stage and Film and Vassar College, this summer celebrating the 30th year of their Powerhouse Theater collaboration, previously announced that Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Kyra Sedgwick would lead the cast of Academy Award and Tony Award winner John Patrick Shanley's new play The Danish Widow, which premieres today, July 16, and continues through July 27, 2014 at Hallie Flanagan-Davis Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College. Shanley also directs the cast which also includes multitalented Broadway vets Craig Bierko and Matt McGrath, as well as stage and screen actress Annika Boras. Visit http://powerhouse.vassar.edu for more info and to purchase tickets.

In The Danish Widow, a mystery unfolds against an international backdrop as a female insurance investigator finds herself battling wits with the formidable title character. John Patrick Shanley-the Tony, Pulitzer and Oscar-winning author of Doubt, Moonstruck, and last season's Outside Mullingar-returns to the Powerhouse with his newest play, which he describes as "disturbing, funny, deadly serious, sexy - like a Hitchcock film with a modernist edge."

Kyra Sedgwick (Joyce) has been seen on Broadway in: Twelfth Night at Lincoln Theatre directed by Nicholas Hytner; Ah, Wilderness! directed by Jose Quintero. Off-Broadway: Craig Lucas' Stranger, David Mamet's Oleanna. Film: Born on the Fourth of July, Singles, Something to Talk About, Phenomenon, Personal Velocity, Second Hand Lions, The Woodsman, The Possession. She will next be seen in Oren Moverman's Time Out of Mind opposite Richard Gere. TV: "Miss Rose White," "Door to Door," and most notably "The Closer," for which she won a Golden Globe and Emmy. Executive Producer: "The Closer" and the upcoming "Proof" on TNT.

Craig Bierko (Kirby) has appeared on Broadway in: Guys and Dolls, Thou Shalt Not, Meredith Wilson's The Music Man (Theater World Award; Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations).

Off-Broadway: Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, Modern Orthodox. Television: "The Michael J. Fox Show," "Body of Proof," "Elementary," "Leap Year," "Hot in Cleveland," "Necessary Roughness," "Damages," "The Good Wife," "Unhitched," "Boston Legal," "Nip/Tuck," "Sex and the City." Film: If I Had Wings, Louder Than Words, The Three Stooges, The Change-Up, Company (filmed live for PBS), For Your Consideration, Danika, Cinderella Man, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Larry David's Sour Grapes, Scary Movie 4, The Thirteenth Floor, Fear and Loathing in Vegas. And for some reason: "Bathing With Bierko." @MrCraigBierko

Matt McGrath (Edvard) has appeared on Broadway in: Cabaret, A Streetcar Named Desire. Off Broadway: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, A Fair Country. Regional: The Legend of Georgia McBride, His Girl Friday, The Normal Heart, The Black Rider, Distant Fires. TV/Film: "L&O: CI," "It's Only Rock & Roll," "Frasier,""Member of the Wedding," "Cruel Doubt." Film: Ex-Girlfriends, Full Grown Men, Boys Don't Cry, The Notorious Bettie Page, The Anniversary Party, The Broken Hearts Club. Awards: Helpmann Award, Drama Desk and Emmy nominations, LA Weekly Award; Henry Award Nomination Colorado Critics Circle, Recipient of the Bienecke Fellowship from the Yale School of Drama; Honorary Masters from American Conservatory Theatre.

Annika Boras (Aline) has been seen Off-Broadway in: Chair by Edward Bond (Lucille Lortel nomination); The Broken Heart and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth - TFANA. Electra in An Oresteia (Drama League nomination); Orlando by Sarah Ruhl - CSC. Ernest in Love - Irish Rep. Regional: The Importance of Being Earnest, The Miracle Worker - Papermill Playhouse; Romeo and Juliet - ART. London: Carver (dir. William Gaskill) - Arcola. Television: Recurring roles on: "The Following," "Unforgettable," "Royal Pains" & "Lights Out." "The Good Wife," "Blue Bloods," "Homeland" and "Person of Interest." Training: The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

As previously announced: Richard Greenberg's The Babylon Line (June 25-July 6), directed by Terry Kinney, will be headlined by "How I Met Your Mother" star Josh Radnor, Leslie Bibb, star of Neil LaBute's Reasons to be Happy, and Tony Award winner Randy Graff (City of Angels, Les Miserables), joined by stage and screen actress Maddie Corman (Next Fall, Picnic), Broadway veteran Julie Halston (Hairspray, The Divine Sister), Michael Oberholtzer (MCC's Hand to God) and Tony Award winner Frank Wood (Clybourne Park, August: Osage County, Side Man).

Also previously announced: The large-scale dance ensemble for In Your Arms (July 5-13) will feature Broadway favorites Ryan Steele (Newsies, Matilda, West Side Story), Tony Award winner Robert Morse (How to Succeed..., "Mad Men"), Carole Shelley (Billy Elliot) and Tony Award winner Debbie Gravitte (Jerome Robbins' Broadway), as well as Stephen Bienskie, Christopher John Beroiz, Ashlee Dupre, Jenn Harris, Martin Harvey, Sean Martin Hingston, Laurie Kanyok, Jess Leprotto, Marielys Molina, Kristen Oei, Adesola Osakalumi, Oneika Phillips, Hayley Podschun, Glenda Sol, Brendon Stimson, Alex Michael Stoll, Samantha Sturm and Christopher Vo. This world premiere presentation of In Your Arms will be directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, with original music by Stephen Flaherty and vignettes written by Douglas Carter Beane, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Carrie Fisher, David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph, Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage & Alfred Uhry.

As previously announced, the three mainstage productions of the 30th Powerhouse Theater Season are: The Babylon Line by Richard Greenberg and directed by Terry Kinney (June 26-July 6); In Your Arms, an unprecedented collaboration with 10 playwrights (Douglas Carter Beane, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Carrie Fisher, David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph, Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, & Alfred Uhry) writing wordless vignettes that will culminate in a new dance piece directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, with music by Stephen Flaherty (July 5-13); and The Danish Widow written and directed by John Patrick Shanley (July 16-27).

Also previously announced, the two musical workshops will be: SeaWife by Seth Moore & The Lobbyists, directed by and developed with Liz Carlson with performances June 27-29 in The Susan Stein Shiva Theater; and A Walk on the Moon with music and lyrics by Paul Scott Goodman, book and additional lyrics by Pamela Gray, adapted from her hit film, and directed by Michael Greif with performances July 25-27 in The Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film. And the tw0 play workshops will be: The Light Years written by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen, developed and directed by Oliver Butler with performances July 11-13 in The Susan Stein Shiva Theater; and Laugh by Beth Henley, directed by David Schweizer with performances July 18-20 in The Susan Stein Shiva Theater.

Also previously announced, the readings festival will begin with (June 20-22): The Unbuilt City by Keith Bunin, directed by Sean Mathias; Choice by Winnie Holzman, directed by Sheryl Kaller; The Humans by Stephen Karam, directed by Sam Gold; Gilgamesh, The Prince by David Rabe ; Fall by Bernard Weinraub, directed by Peter DuBois; and continue with (July 25-27): The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll; American Pop by Michael Friedman, directed by Trip Cullman; Turn Me Loose by Gretchen Law, directed by John Gould Rubin; Ripcord by David Lindsay-Abaire, directed by David Hyde Pierce; Dry Land by Ruby Rae Spiegel, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt.

Celebrating 30 years this summer, Powerhouse Theater is a collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College dedicated to both emerging and established artists in the development and production of new works for theater and film. The Powerhouse program consists of an eight-week residency on the Vassar campus during which more than 250 professional artists and 50 apprentices in the Powerhouse training program live and work together to create new theater works. Recent highlights at Powerhouse include The Hamilton Mixtape, the latest work from In the Heights Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda; Bright Star, an original musical from Steve Martin and Edie Brickell; and The Fortress of Solitude, a musical adaptation of the best-selling novel by Jonathan Lethem. Many shows from past seasons have found their way to Broadway, Off-Broadway, and theaters nationwide, including Stephen Karam's Sons of the Prophet (Roundabout Theater); Seminar by Theresa Rebeck (Golden Theater); Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash's Murder Ballad (Manhattan Theater Club); Pulitzer finalist Nathan Englander's The Twenty-Seventh Man (The Public Theater); and Storefront Church, John Patrick Shanley's final installment of his "Church and State" trilogy that began with Doubt (Atlantic Theater Company). Other projects developed at the Powerhouse include the Tony Award-winning Side Man and Tru; the multi-award-winning Doubt; the groundbreaking Broadway musical American Idiot, and A Steady Rain, produced on Broadway in 2009 with Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig.

New York Stage and Film (Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director; Thomas Pearson, Executive Director; Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer, Leslie Urdang, Producing Directors) is a not-for-profit company dedicated to both emerging and established artists in the development of new works for theater and film. Since 1985 New York Stage and Film has played a significant role in the development of new plays, provided a home for a diverse group of artists free from critical and commercial pressures, and established itself as a vital cultural institution for residents of the Hudson Valley and the New York metropolitan region www.newyorkstageandfilm.org.

Vassar College (Ed Cheetham, Producing Director) is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1861. Consistently ranked as one of the country's best liberal arts colleges, Vassar is renowned for its long history of curricular innovation, and for the natural and architectural beauty of its campus. More than 50 academic departments and degree programs - from Anthropology to Cognitive Sciences to Urban Studies - encompass the arts, foreign languages, natural sciences, and social sciences, and combine to offer a curriculum of more than 1,000 courses. Vassar College is sited in New York's beautiful Hudson Valley in Poughkeepsie, NY. www.vassar.edu

Photo Credit: Orchon / Retna Digital