MTC Announces 2004-2005 Season

BROADWAY AND OFF-BROADWAY SEASON INCLUDES

NEW YORK AND WORLD PREMIERES BY Charles Busch, JEFFREY HATCHER, Craig Lucas,

DONALD MARGULIES, Elaine May, JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY AND TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

 

MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) is pleased to announce the line-up of productions for its 2004-2005 season, including three shows on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre (261 West 47^th Street) and four productions at MTC's Off-Broadway theatres at Stage I and Stage II at City Center (55^th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues). 

MTC's 2004-2005 season of seven plays include four world premiere productions, a Broadway premiere, and two New York premieres. MTC celebrates its reputation as a writers' theatre, and this season is no exception, with an exciting, diverse roster of works by Charles Busch, Jeffrey Hatcher, Craig Lucas, Donald Margulies, Elaine May, John Patrick Shanley and Tennessee Williams.

THE 2004 - 2005 SEASON

MTC at the Biltmore

RECKLESS  BROADWAY PREMIERE 

by Craig Lucas
Directed by Mark Brokaw
with Mary-Louise Parker, Debra Monk
A co-production with Second Stage Theatre
>Previews begin September 22, 2004
Opening night October 14, 2004

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Mary-Louise Parker stars as Rachel.  It's Christmas Eve, her son has "fired" her, her husband's put out a contract on her life, and so she's out the window – literally. This bittersweet comedy follows Rachel through a bizarre, fantastic and sometimes nightmarish journey as she travels across the country, finding "home" with a succession of intimate strangers. 

This production reunites Mary-Louise Parker with MTC for the first time since her Tony Award-winning performance in Proof, as well as with her Prelude to a Kiss author Craig Lucas and How I Learned to Drive director Mark Brokaw. 

 

BROOKLYN BOY                                                                   WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION
by Donald Margulies
Directed by Daniel Sullivan>
with Adam Arkin

Produced in association with South Coast Repertory
Previews begin January 13, 2005
Opening night February 3, 2005

Donald Margulies, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Dinner with Friends, and MTC's current hit production of Sight Unseen, returns with a world premiere production. Brooklyn Boy is about a writer who has finally hit the big time after years of hard work with a best-selling novel primed for a Hollywood adaptation. But has success changed him? And does where we're from affect who we become? 

Adam Arkin (Chicago Hope, The West Wing) will star. Daniel Sullivan, who is currently represented on Broadway with MTC's acclaimed production of Sight Unseen and who won a Tony® for Proof, will direct.

AFTER THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION

by Elaine May

Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Previews begin April 28, 2005
Opening night May 19, 2005

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After the Night and the Music looks at life in the new millennium; overweight chorus boys longing to dance, married couples longing for sex, aging singles looking for love, all reside in three hilarious one acts written by Elaine May and directed by Daniel Sullivan.

MTC AT CITYCENTER

Stage I

DOUBT WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION

by John Patrick Shanley
Directed by Doug Hughes
>Previews begin November 3, 2004
Opening night November 22, 2004

At a Catholic school in the Bronx, a nun grows suspicious when a priest begins taking too much interest in the lives of his young male students. Is she being overly protective…or not protective enough? 

This provocative new drama reunites John Patrick Shanley with MTC, where his plays have included Where's My Money? and Four Dogs and a Bone. Director Doug Hughes helmed An Experiment with an Air Pump at MTC, and is currently represented on Broadway with the acclaimed drama, Frozen. 

 

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OUR LEADING LADY                                                                        WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION 

by Charles Busch
Directed by Lynne Meadow
>Previews begin February 17, 2005
Opening night March 8, 2005

Charles Busch, the author of the uproarious MTC hit The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (which earned a Tony® nomination for Best Play), returns with a truly original play about the theatre, inspired by real events. A 19^th century American stage luminary is preparing to appear at Ford's Theatre on the night when Abraham Lincoln will be in the audience. 

Lynne Meadow, MTC Artistic Director, will direct the production, in her first collaboration with Charles Busch since The Tale of the Allergist's Wife.

 

Stage II

 

 

FOUR BY TENN NEW YORK PREMIERE>

by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Michael Kahn
>Previews begin October 19, 2004
Opening night November 11, 2004

 

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Four by Tenn consists of four newly discovered one-act plays by the legendary Tennessee Williams, directed by Michael Kahn, Artistic Director of Washington's Shakespeare Theatre. The plays making their New York premiere include And Tell Sad Stories of the Death of Queens and Escape. 

The ensemble cast will feature Obie Award-winner Kathleen Chalfant (Wit, Angels in America).

 

A PICASSO NEW YORK PREMIERE

by Jeffrey Hatcher
Directed by John Tillinger>
Previews begin March 31, 2005
Opening Night April 19, 2005

 

Jeffrey Hatcher's new play is about art, power and censorship. Set during the German occupation of Paris, A Picasso imagines a confrontation between Picasso and a mysterious interrogator concerning several confiscated works that the great artist may have painted.

 A Picasso will be directed by longtime MTC collaborator John Tillinger (Sylvia, Comic Potential, House and Garden).>

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, MTC has become one of the country's most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. Renowned MTC productions include Proof, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, Yellowman, Kimberly Akimbo, Love! Valour! Compassion!; Sylvia; Four Dogs and a Bone; Putting It Together; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain't Misbehavin'. Last season, MTC reopened Broadway's landmark long neglected Biltmore Theatre, following a two-year, $35 million capital campaign. 

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