New Cast Members Ireland and Pasquale Join Perabo and Sadoski in 'reasons to be pretty'

It was announced today that Marin Ireland, Steven Pasquale, Piper Perabo and Thomas Sadoski will comprise the four-person cast of this season's production of Neil LaBute's new play, reasons to be pretty, under the direction of Terry Kinney. Perabo and Sadoski appeared in this summer's smash Off Broadway world premiere for MCC Theater, with Ireland and Pasquale slated to join the cast for
the Broadway production. Preview performances begin Friday, March 13, 2009 at the Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street) with an official opening night scheduled for Thursday, April 2, 2009. Tickets are on sale now through www.telecharge.com.

reasons to be pretty confronts America's obsession with physical beauty headlong. In Neil LaBute's new play, Greg's (Sadoski) tight-knit social circle is thrown into turmoil when his off-handed remarks about a female co-worker's pretty face (and his girlfriend's lack thereof) get back to said girlfriend (Ireland). But that's just the beginning. 

This play marks the sixth collaboration between MCC Theater and LaBute, who is MCC's Resident Playwright. reasons to be pretty puts a final, ferocious cap on a trilogy of plays that began with The Shape of Things and Fat Pig. Performances of the four-character play began Off Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on May 14, 2008 and the critically acclaimed production continued through July 5, 2008.

Scenic Design is by David Gallo, Costume Design is by Sarah J. Holden, Lighting Design is by David Weiner, Music & Sound Design is by Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen and Fight Direction is by Manny Siverio.

reasons to be pretty is produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Jam Theatricals, Ted Snowdon and Doug Nevin/Erica Lynn Schwartz in association with MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, Artistic Directors; William Cantler, Associate Artistic Director; Blake West, Executive Director).

Marin Ireland. New York credits include: Blasted (Soho Rep), Cyclone (Studio Dante, 2006 OBIE for Performance), The Beebo Brinker Chronicles (4th Street, 37 Arts), Bad Jazz (The Play Company), The Ruby Sunrise (Public Theater), The Harlequin Studies (Signature), The Triple Happiness (Second Stage), Manuscript (Daryl Roth), Fighting Words (Underwood), Savannah Bay (Classic Stage), Where We're Born (Rattlestick), the title role in Sabina (Primary Stages), Far Away and Nocturne (both at New York Theatre Workshop). Royal Court's American tour of Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis. Regional work includes Mauritius (Huntington Theatre, IRNE Award, Elliot Norton nomination), Heartbreak House (Goodman), The Bells (McCarter), Uncle Vanya (Lake Lucille), As You Like It (Commonwealth Shakespeare) and Richard Greenberg's new play The Injured Party (South Coast Rep). Film/TV: "Law & Order" trifecta, I Am Legend, The Understudy, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, Suburban Girl, Rachel Getting Married and others.

Steven Pasquale is a Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award nominee for his work in Lincoln Center's A Man of No Importance. He has starred in Neil LaBute's Fat Pig (MCC), Beautiful Child (Vineyard Theatre), A Soldier's Story (Second Stage), Spinning into Butter (Lincoln Center), The Spitfire Grill (Playwrights Horizons) and Miss Saigon. He created the role of Fabrizio in Adam Guettel's The Light in the Piazza. He has appeared on HBO's "Six Feet Under," Sophia Copola's Platinum and the indy films Aurora Borealis and The Last Run. He is the star of Fox's hit film AVP Requiem. He is best known for his work as Sean Garrity on FX's hit series "Rescue Me." Steven's debut jazz record "Somethin' Like Love" will be available everywhere this March. Steven was most
recently seen in the Roundabout Theatre's star-studded concert of A Little Night Music opposite Vanessa Redgrave, Natasha Richardson and Victor Garber.

Piper Perabo. Although new to the theater, she is no stranger to the screen. In 2007, she was seen in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige with Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Scarlett Johansson, in Because I Said So with Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore and Lauren Graham and in First Snow, a film directed by Mark Fergus, costarring Guy Pearce and Adam Scott. Next, Perabo can be seen in John Glenn's disturbing thriller The Heaven Project with Paul Walker and was most recently seen in Disney's box office hit Beverly Hills Chihuahua alongside Jaime Lee Curtis. Perabo recently finished filming Paramount Vantage's Carriers in New Mexico where she plays the female lead opposite Chris Pine and Lou Taylor Pucci in a post-apocalyptic thriller about four friends trying to escape a viral pandemic. Some of her more recent films include Adam Shankman's Cheaper by the Dozen 2 in which she reprised her role as the eldest daughter to Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt along with the romantic comedy Imagine Me & You with Lena Heady and Matthew Goode and the crime drama 10th & Wolf with an ensemble cast that included James Marsden and Dennis Hopper. Her feature film debut was in the comedy White Boyz, written by Danny Hoch. She also starred in the comedy caper The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle opposite Robert De Niro and Renee Russo.

Thomas Sadoski originated the role of Greg in reasons to be pretty. He made his Broadway debut in 2004 playing Mary-Louise Parker's husband in the critically acclaimed Manhattan Theatre Club production of Craig Lucas' Reckless, directed by Mark Brokaw. His first job after graduating Circle in the Square Theater School was understudying and going on for Mark Ruffalo in Kenneth Lonergan's This is Our Youth at Second Stage Theatre; his current appearance in Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo marks his fifth production with the company. In 2006 and 2007, Sadoski starred in David Sedaris' one- man show Santaland Diaries at Long Wharf Theatre to capacity audiences. He is also a regular at the Williamstown Theater Festival (5 seasons), where he has worked with such directors as Michael Greif, Joe Mantello and Darko Tresnjak. Sadoski has worked extensively developing new plays at New Dramatists, The Lark, The Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and the Sundance Institute, as well as in productions at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Studio Dante and Naked Angels, among others. His TV work includes appearances on "As the World Turns," "Law & Order" and "Law & Order: CI" and an upcoming role on "Ugly Betty." Films include The New Twenty, Loser (directed by Amy Heckerling), Happy Hour, Company K and Winter Solstice.

Terry Kinney co-founded the Steppenwolf Theatre with Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry in 1976. Since then, he has directed several plays for Steppenwolf, including The Violet Hour, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Clockwork Orange, ...And a Nightingale Sang, Of Mice and Men, My Thing of Love and Streamers. In New York he's directed After Ashley, Beautiful Child and The Agony and the Agony for the Vineyard Theatre, Eyes for Consuela for MTC and reasons to be pretty for MCC's Lucille Lortel Theater. On Broadway, he directed One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, starring Gary Sinise and Amy Morton, which received a Tony Award for Best Production of a Play. After directing the
short film Kubuku Rides (This Is It) for Steppenwolf Films, Mr. Kinney directed his first full length feature Diminished Capacity with Matthew Broderick and Alan Alda. Perhaps best known for his portrayal of unit manager Tim McManus in HBO's prison drama "Oz," Kinney has also appeared in several films, including Save the Last Dance, Sleepers, Fly Away Home, House of Mirth, No Mercy, Last of the Mohicans, The Firm and Devil in a Blue Dress. Terry will soon be seen as Sergeant Harvey Brown on the upcoming ABC series "The Unusuals", premiering in April. Other television appearances include victim Matthew Shepard's father in the HBO movie, The Laramie Project, Kidnapped, the TNT movie Wallace, Showtime's That Championship Season and the FOX series "Canterbury's Law" with Julianna Margulies.

www.doesthisplaymakemelookfat.com

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.