Photo Flash: Rapp's 'Kindness' Opens at Playwrights Horizons

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced additional casting and details for the second production of its 2008/2009 Season, the World Premiere of KINDNESS, a new play written and directed by Adam Rapp (Essential Self-Defense at Playwrights Horizons, Red Light Winter).  

The production began previews on Thursday, September 25, and officially opens tonight at 7PM.  Performances will continue through Sunday, November 2 at Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street). 

Christopher Denham (Adam Rapp’s Red Light Winter and the Broadway productions of The Lieutenant of Inishmore and “MASTER HAROLD”…and the boys) completes the cast that features the previously-announced Academy Award and Emmy Award nominee Annette O’Toole (Best Original Song for A Mighty Wind, plus The Seagull at CSC, Martha Kent on TV’s “Smallville”), Obie Award winner Ray Anthony Thomas (Forced Continuum) and Katherine Waterston (Los Angeles at The Flea, the film The Babysitters).

In KINDNESS, an ailing mother (Annette O’Toole) and her teenaged son (Christopher Denham) flee Illinois and a crumbling marriage for the relative calm and safety of a midtown Manhattan hotel.  Mom holds tickets to a popular musical about love among bohemians.  Her son isn’t interested.  So Mom takes the kindly cabdriver (Ray Anthony Thomas) instead, while the boy entertains an enigmatic, potentially dangerous young woman (Katherine Waterston) from down the hall.  Adam Rapp’s KINDNESS is a play about the possibility for sympathy in a harsh world, and the meaning of mercy in the face of devastating circumstances.

The production features scenic design by Lauren Helpern, costume design by Daphne Javitch, lighting design by Mary Louise Geiger and sound design by Eric Shim.  The Production Stage Manager will be Richard Hodge.

Playwrights Horizons’ 2008/2009 Season is generously supported by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Playwrights Horizons is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate.  In addition, Playwrights Horizons receives major support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Charina Endowment Fund, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Shubert Foundation and Time Warner Inc.

The performance schedule for KINDNESS will be Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30 PM, Saturdays at 2 & 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2 & 7PM.  Tickets are $50 and will go on sale to the general public starting Friday, August 29.  Tickets may be purchased online via TicketCentral.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily), or in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues).  Subscriptions for the 2008/2009 Playwrights Horizons season are now available.

For more information including ticket sales please visit www.playwrightshorizons.org

Annette O'Toole

Christopher Denham and Annette O'Toole

Katherine Waterston

Annette O'Toole

Annette O'Toole and Christopher Denham

Katherine Waterston and Christopher Denham

Christopher Denham and Katherine Waterston

Annette O'Toole and Ray Anthony Thomas

Katherine Waterston

Katherine Waterston and Christopher Denham

Photos by Joan Marcus