MTC Announces Guests And Dates For AFTER WORDS: THE ROYAL FAMILY 9/19

Manhattan Theatre Club is pleased to announce guests and dates for the upcoming sessions of After Words, the popular discussion panels held after selected Saturday matinees at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). The first two offerings of the season will focus on MTC's Broadway production of THE ROYAL FAMILY by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, directed by Doug Hughes.

The Saturday, September 19 edition of After Words will feature Julie Gilbert, grand niece of playwright Edna Ferber, Foster Hirsch, film professor at Brooklyn College, and Anne Kaufman, daughter of playwright George S. Kaufman. For the Saturday, September 26 edition, Dan Callahan, theatre critic for The L Magazine, will be joined by Professor Hirsch.

After Words is part of MTC's continuing effort to deepen and enrich the play-going experience for its audiences. Held after selected Saturday matinees, these panels, featuring writers, cultural critics and journalists, provide provocative and illuminating insights into the political, cultural, and artistic contexts of the work MTC produces.

For more information on After Words, or to download a podcast of past After Words, please visit: www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

BIOGRAPHIES

DAN CALLAHAN is the former arts editor of Show Business Weekly and book editor at Culturedose.net. He has written for Time Out New York, Slant Magazine and Senses of Cinema and is a theater critic for The L Magazine

JULIE GILBERT was born into a literary and theatrical family. Her mother was actress Janet Fox and her great aunt was the writer Edna Ferber. Julie is a novelist and a biographer. She was nominated for a National Book Critic's Circle Award for Ferber (Doubleday) and a Pulitzer Prize nomination for Opposite Attraction: The Lives of Erich Maria Remarque and Paulette Goddard (Pantheon). She has taught fiction writing at NYU, FAU, and currently runs the Writer's Academy at the Kravis Center of the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida. Julie is also a produced playwright, winning an L.A. DramaLogue Award for the The Cottage, the Jerry Bock Award for Best New Musical for an adaptation of Dinner at Eight as well as a Theatre Building Presentation in Chicago, a workshop at London's Drury Lane Theatre and a workshop at the Century Theater in New York. She is a member of the Playwright-Director's Unit of The Actor's Studio; The Writers Guild of America, East; The Dramatists Guild; The Author's Guild; The League of Professional Theatre Women; and Actors' Equity. Julie was a professional actress until the age of twenty-four, when her first novel, Umbrella Steps was published by Random House.

FOSTER HIRSCH is professor of film at Brooklyn College and the author of 16 books on film and theatre, including Kurt Weill on Stage: From Berlin to Broadway and, most recently, Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King (Knopf). He is a frequent host/moderator at numerous venues including the American Cinematheque, the Harvard Club, the National Arts Club, and Film Forum. He has lectured on film in India, Israel, Dubai, China, New Zealand, England, France, Saudi Arabia, and Germany.

Anne Kaufman is the daughter and only child of George S. Kaufman. Since his death in 1961 she has championed her father's legacy by being involved with full-fledged revivals of his plays across the country and abroad. Several years ago Lincoln Center produced Dinner at Eight another play written with Edna Ferber. The Roundabout Theatre Company opened the American Airlines Theatre in 2000 with The Man Who Came to Dinner starring Nathan Lane. Abroad, the Royal Shakespeare Company had a fabulous success with Once in a Lifetime directed by Trevor Nunn. And three years ago Peter Hall directed The Royal Family starring Judi Dench. Hopefully the sun never sets.

INFORMATION ON THE ROYAL FAMILY

Manhattan Theatre Club's Broadway production of THE ROYAL FAMILY by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber is currently in previews at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). The production, directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (Doubt, Mauritius), will open Thursday, October 8.

The cast of THE ROYAL FAMILY features "Saturday Night Live" alum Ana Gasteyer (Kitty Dean), Tony winner John Glover (Herbert Dean), Tony Award winner and Oscar nominee RoseMary Harris (Fanny Cavendish), Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Jan Maxwell (Julie Cavendish), Broadway veteran Larry Pine (Gilbert Marshall), Tony Award nominee Tony Roberts (Oscar Wolfe), and Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award nominee Reg Rogers (Tony Cavendish). They are joined by Freddy Arsenault (Perry Stewart), Kelli Barrett (Gwen Cavendish), Caroline Stefanie Clay (Della), Rufus Collins (McDermott, Gunga), David Greenspan (Jo), Anthony Newfield (Chauffeur), Henny Russell (Miss Peake), Cat Walleck (Hallboy), and John Wernke (Hallboy).

The creative team for THE ROYAL FAMILY includes John Lee Beatty (Scenic Design), Catherine Zuber (Costume Design), Kenneth Posner (Lighting Design), Darron L West (Sound Design), Maury Yeston (Original Music), Tom Watson (Hair & Wig Design), Rick Sordelet (Fight Director), and David Caparelliotis (Casting).

Follow a famous family of stage stars as they go about the drama of the day: choosing scripts, dashing off to performances, stealing kisses from handsome beaus. But what's this business about the youngest diva wanting to quit the stage for domestic bliss? Never, darling!

TICKETING INFORMATION FOR THE ROYAL FAMILY

Single tickets to THE ROYAL FAMILY are available via www.Telecharge.com; by telephone at (212) 239-6200 or (800) 432-7250 if outside the NY metro area; and at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre box office (261 West 47th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue).
THE ROYAL FAMILY tickets range in price from $57.00-$97.00.