MTC's WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID with Cherry Jones Opens Tonight

Manhattan Theatre Club's world premiere of When We Were Young and Unafraid, the new play by Sarah Treem ("House of Cards," "In Treatment"), directed by Tony Award winner Pam MacKinnon (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Clybourne Park), opens tonight, June 17 at MTC at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street) in a strictly limited engagement through Sunday, August 10.

WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID features two-time Tony winner Cherry Jones, Obie Award Winner Cherise Boothe (MTC's Ruined, Milk Like Sugar), Patch Darragh (Appropriate, Kin), Zoe Kazan (Ruby Sparks, Behanding in Spokane), and Morgan Saylor ("Homeland," Jamie Marks Is Dead).

Two-time Tony winner Cherry Jones (The Glass Menagerie, Doubt, "24") returns to MTC for Sarah Treem's ("House of Cards," "In Treatment") powerful new play that takes us inside an underground women's shelter in the early 1970s... before Roe v. Wade, before the Violence Against Women Act, before women had places to turn in times of distress.

Agnes (Cherry Jones) has turned her quiet bed and breakfast into one of the few spots where a woman on the run can seek refuge. But to Agnes' dismay, her latest young runaway Mary Anne (Zoe Kazan) is having a profound influence on her teenage daughter Penny (Morgan Saylor), forcing each girl to question her destiny. And as the drums of the feminist revolution grow louder, Agnes is forced to confront her own presumptions about the people she's been trying to help.

Deeply moving and beautifully rendered, WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID explores the passion of youth, the wisdom of age, and the people who awaken us to new possibilities.

The creative team for When We Were Young and Unafraid includes Scott Pask (scenic design), Jessica Pabst (costume design), Russell H. Champa (lighting design), Broken Chord (original music & sound design), and Thomas Schall (fight director).

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 four and a half decades, MTC productions have earned numerous awards including 6 Pulitzer Prizes and 19 Tony Awards. 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). Since January 2011, Mandy Greenfield (Artistic Producer) has taken the lead in programming and execution at MTC's Off-Broadway home. Renowned MTC productions include The Assembled Parties; Venus in Fur; Master Class; Good People; The Whipping Man; 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.'

Tickets for When We Were Young and Unafraid are available by calling CityTix at 212-581-1212, online by visiting www.nycitycenter.org, or by visiting New York City Center box office (131 West 55th Street). All tickets are $89.

Photo by Joan Marcus