MTC Announces New Lindsay-Abaire, Uhry, Willimon & Hall Plays

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) announced four productions for Manhattan Theatre Club's upcoming 2010-2011 theatrical season.

At MTC's Broadway theatre, the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street), MTC will produce the American premiere of Tony Award winner Lee Hall's THE PITMEN PAINTERS and the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire's GOOD PEOPLE. Off-Broadway at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street), MTC will present: CARL'S SISTER, the world premiere of the new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Alfred Uhry, based on the book Apples and Oranges by Marie Brenner; and SPIRIT CONTROL, a world premiere of the new play by Beau Willimon.

MTC's upcoming season will include three world premieres and one American premiere. Two of this season's world premieres were commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club. Two more productions will be announced in the coming weeks: one additional production at the Friedman and one additional production at City Center.

MTC'S Samuel J. Friedman THEATRE
The Pitmen Painters

AMERICAN PREMIERE
Written by Lee Hall

Inspired by a book by William Feaver
Directed by Max Roberts

Previews begin: Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Opening Night: Thursday, September 30, 2010

Direct from a sold-out engagement at London's National Theatre, this funny and fascinating new play by Tony Award winner Lee Hall (writer of Broadway's mega-hit Billy Elliot) comes to Broadway with its entire original London cast intact. THE PITMEN PAINTERS is based on the triumphant true story of a group of British miners who discover a new way to express themselves and unexpectedly become art-world sensations. An arresting and hilarious salute to the power of individual expression and the collective spirit, THE PITMEN PAINTERS takes you on an unforgettable journey from the depths of the mine to the heights of fame.

The cast, who have been with the production since it premiered at Live Theatre in 2007, will include: Christopher Connel, Michael Hodgson, Ian Kelly, Brian Lonsdale, Lisa McGrillis, Deka Walmsley, David Whitaker and Phillippa Wilson.

The creative team for THE PITMEN PAINTERS includes Gary McCann (scenic and costume design), Douglas Kuhrt (lighting design), and Martin Hodgson (sound design).

Manhattan Theatre Club, by special arrangement with Bob Boyett, is producing the Live Theatre, Newcastle /National Theatre of Great Britain's co-production of THE PITMEN PAINTERS on Broadway.

MTC'S Samuel J. Friedman THEATRE
Good People

WORLD PREMIERE

Written by David Lindsay-Abaire

Directed by Daniel Sullivan

Previews begin: Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Opening Night: Thursday, March 3, 2011

Together, playwright David Lindsay-Abaire and MTC have brought four outstanding new plays to the New York stage. Their most recent collaboration, Rabbit Hole, earned a Tony Award and garnered Lindsay-Abaire the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Now, he returns to MTC, along with Rabbit Hole director and Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan, to premiere his newest work, the timely and powerful GOOD PEOPLE.

Welcome to Southie, a Boston neighborhood where a night on the town means a few rounds of bingo... where this month's paycheck covers last month's bills... and where Margie Walsh has just been let go from yet another job. Facing eviction and scrambling to catch a break, Margie thinks an old fling who has made it out of Southie might be her ticket to a fresh new start. But is this apparently self-made man secure enough to face his humble beginnings? Margie is about to risk what little she has left to find out.

With his signature humorous glow, Lindsay-Abaire explores the struggles, shifting loyalties and unshakeable hopes that come with having next to nothing in America.

GOOD PEOPLE was commissioned through MTC's Bank of America Commissioning Program.

Casting and creative team for GOOD PEOPLE will be announced in the coming weeks.

MTC AT NEW YORK City Center - STAGE I
Carl's Sister

WORLD PREMIERE

Written by Alfred Uhry

Based on the book Apples and Oranges by MARIE BRENNER

Directed by Lynne Meadow

Marie Brenner's acclaimed memoir about her strained, heartwarming, and funny relationship with her brother, Apples and Oranges, is adapted for the stage by Pulitzer, Tony, and Academy Award winning author Alfred Uhry. A medical crisis brings Marie, a classic New York liberal and investigative journalist for Vanity Fair and Carl, a conservative apple grower living in Washington State, together after many years apart. While Marie abandons her life to help her dying brother, Carl fights her every step of the way. CARL'S SISTER tells the story of their attempts to heal and understand one another.

Alfred Uhry's distinguished body of work includes the Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winning Driving Miss Daisy, the Tony Award winning The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Parade as well as the book for MTC's LoveMusik. Directing will be MTC's Lynne Meadow (Collected Stories, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife)

CARL'S SISTER was commissioned through MTC's Bank of America Commissioning Program.

Dates, casting and creative team for CARL'S SISTER will be announced in the coming weeks.

MTC AT NEW YORK City Center - STAGE I
Spirit Control

WORLD PREMIERE

Written by Beau Willimon

Directed by Doug Hughes

Adam Wyatt has the perfect family and a perfect record as an air traffic controller. But when the pilot of a small plane suffers a heart attack, Adam must talk a terrified passenger through an emergency landing. What happens next will link him inextricably to a woman he's never met, and set the life he once knew irrevocably adrift. SPIRIT CONTROL is a chilling and mesmerizing look at how we navigate a crisis, and the demons that haunt us long after.

Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (The Royal Family, Doubt) returns to MTC to direct this bold new work from Beau Willimon, the breakout young talent behind the play Farragut North, currently being developed into a Warner Brothers film.

Dates, casting and creative team for SPIRIT CONTROL will be announced in the coming weeks.

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. Over the past three decades, MTC productions have earned a total of 16 Tony Awards and six Pulitzer Prizes, an accomplishment unparalleled by a New York theatrical institution. MTC has a Broadway home at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) and an Off-Broadway theatre at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street). Renowned MTC productions include Time Stands Still; The Royal Family; Ruined; The American Plan; Come Back, Little Sheba; Blackbird; Translations; Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Proof; The Tale of the Allergist's Wife; Love! Valour! Compassion!; A Small Family Business; Sylvia; Putting It Together; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain't Misbehavin.'

For more information on MTC, please visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.