MTC Announces 2005-2006 Season

MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) is pleased to announce its 2005-2006 season, including three shows on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre (261 West 47th Street) and three productions at MTC's Off-Broadway theatres at Stage I and Stage II at NY City Center (55th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues). A fourth City Center production will be announced in the next few weeks.

MTC's 2005-2006 season includes two world premieres, two American premieres and a New York premiere. The season features a diverse and exciting roster of works by authors Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Alan Ayckbourn, Nilo Cruz, Ariel Dorfman, David Lindsay-Abaire and Patrick Marber.

In a preliminary season release, MTC's Artistic Director Lynne Meadow was originally announced to direct Alan Ayckbourn's ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR at the Biltmore Theatre. A prior directing commitment will not permit her to direct the show. The production will be directed by John Tillinger.

BILTMORE THEATRE

Absurd Person Singular
Written by ALAN AYCKBOURN
Directed by John Tillinger

Three couples, three kitchens, three successive Christmas eves. Welcome to the world of Alan Ayckbourn's comedy about social class and splendid cocktails. John Tillinger, who has helmed MTC's hit productions of Ayckbourn's House and Garden and Comic Potential, will direct.

Rabbit Hole
WORLD PREMIERE
Written by DAVID LINDSAY-ABAIRE
Directed by Daniel Sullivan

The Corbetts have everything a family could want, until the day their world is turned upside down. In the aftermath of a life-shattering accident, a young husband and wife find themselves drifting perilously apart. Rabbit Hole charts their bittersweet search for comfort in the darkest of places and for a path that will lead them back up into the light of day. Tony®Award-winner Daniel Sullivan (Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, Proof) directs this world premiere by MTC favorite David Lindsay-Abaire (Fuddy Meers, Wonder of the World, Kimberly Akimbo).

After Miss Julie
AMERICAN PREMIERE
Written by PATRICK MARBER
Director to be announced

The award-winning author of Closer returns to MTC for the first time since Dealer's Choice with this powerful re-imagining of August Strindberg's classic, Miss Julie. Relocated to an English country house, the play unfolds on the night of the British Labour Party's landslide victory in 1945, telling the tale of an upper-class young woman's tragic midsummer fling with a chauffeur.

NY CITY CENTER – STAGE I

The Other Side
AMERICAN PREMIERE
Written by Ariel Dorfman
Directed by BLANKA ZIZKA

In a war torn country, a man and a woman wait. They pass their days identifying the casualties. When peace and a border guard arrive, their bleakly predictable world unravels. This moving, unexpectedly comic work by Ariel Dorfman (Death and the Maiden) raises potent questions about war, identity, and love in our times. Blanka Zizka (Yellowman) will direct.

NY CITY CENTER – STAGE II

Beauty of the Father
NEW YORK PREMIERE
Written by Nilo Cruz
Directed by Michael Greif

A young woman travels to Spain to visit her estranged father and quickly becomes immersed in his vibrant, artistic world. But will a charming young Moroccan suitor stand in the way of their reconciliation? The play by Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz (Anna in the Tropics) will be directed by Michael Greif, who helmed the Tony Award-winning musical, Rent.

Based on a Totally True Story
WORLD PREMIERE
Written by ROBERTO AGUIRRE-SACASA
Directed by MICHAEL BUSH

Ethan Keene is a young playwright and comic book writer who's on the verge of breaking through. When a veteran Hollywood producer decides she wants to turn one of his plays into a horror movie, the frenzy that follows forces him to deal with the real drama in his life — his relationships with his boyfriend and his father. MTC Director of Artistic Production Michael Bush directs the world premiere of this contemporary comedy by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

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 Doubt; 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'. In 2003, MTC reopened Broadway's landmark long neglected Biltmore Theatre, following a two-year, $35 million capital campaign.

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