Signature Theatre's 25th Anniversary Season to Feature Premieres by A.R. Gurney and Naomi Wallace, Return of OLD HATS & More

Signature Theatre has announced eight productions for the 2015-16 25th Anniversary Season at the company's Frank Gehry-designed Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues). All subscriber tickets for the 2015-16 Season are $25 each as part of the Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access.

In addition to eight productions featuring work from 11 resident playwrights, Signature Theatre, the recipient of the 2014 Regional Theater Tony Award, will commemorate its 25th Anniversary throughout the year with a series of special events. More information about these events will be announced in the coming months.

Signature's Residency One program, which produces a series of plays from the body of work of a writer, will complete the residencies of A.R. Gurney and Naomi Wallace with two world premiere productions -- Gurney's Love and Money, directed by Mark Lamos, and Wallace's Night is a Room, directed by Bill Rauch.

Signature's Legacy Program, a homecoming for past Signature Playwrights-in-Residence, will feature Incident at Vichy by Arthur Miller (1997-98 Season Playwright-in-Residence), directed by Michael Wilson. The show, which marks Signature's first production of a work by Miller since his original Signature season, will begin rehearsals during the week of the 100th anniversary of Miller's birth. The Legacy Program will also include Signature One Acts, which features three plays (all performed in previous Signature seasons) by Edward Albee, María Irene Fornés and Adrienne Kennedy, directed by Lila Neugebauer.

In addition, the Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award-winning Old Hats (featured as part of the 2012-13 Season), created and performed by Bill Irwin (2003-04 Season Playwright-in-Residence) and David Shiner, will make a special return engagement. The production, once again directed by Tina Landau, will now have music and lyrics by Shaina Taub, who will also be featured in the show. Old Hats tickets will be full price, and the show will not be available as part of the subscription package.

As part of the Residency Five program, the 2015-16 Season will feature the world premiere of John, the first play in Annie Baker's residency, featuring Georgia Engel and Lois Smith and directed by Sam Gold; Angel Reapers, by Martha Clarke and Alfred Uhry, directed and choreographed by Martha Clarke; and the world premiere of Daphne's Dive, by Quiara Alegría Hudes, directed by Thomas Kail. Residency Five is a groundbreaking program that provides a group of playwrights with the full range of Signature's resources for a period of five years to create and produce new work, and guarantees each playwright a minimum of three premieres at The Pershing Square Signature Center. The program enables a diverse community of playwrights to build bodies of work, and provides them with a significant cash award, full health benefits and a stipend to attend theatre. Annie Baker, Martha Clarke, Will Eno, Katori Hall, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Lisa Kron, Kenneth Lonergan and Regina Taylor are the program's current playwrights.

Founding Artistic Director James Houghton says, "As we look forward to our 25th Anniversary Season, we celebrate Signature's family of artists and the extraordinary journey we've all shared together. We're thrilled to commemorate this threshold moment in Signature's history by filling the Center with as many of our remarkable writers as possible. We will revisit vital plays from Signature's history and past writers that have defined our collective cultural landscape and launch four world premiere productions, honoring eleven of Signature's playwrights for the first time ever in a single season. Our 25th year is a testament to Signature's past, present and future, and we cannot wait to share it with all of you."

Signature's current 2014-15 Season continues with The Liquid Plain by Naomi Wallace (now thru March 29, 2015), The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek written and directed by Athol Fugard (April 21 - May 31, 2015), and What I Did Last Summer by A.R. Gurney (April 28 - June 7, 2015).

Subscriptions to the 2015-16 Season are on sale now by calling Ticket Services at 212-244-7529 or visiting www.signaturetheatre.org. Tickets to the initial runs of all Signature productions at The Pershing Square Signature Center are $25, part of the groundbreaking Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access, a program that guarantees affordable and accessible tickets to every Signature production through 2031. Serving as a model for theatres and performing arts organizations across the country, the Initiative was founded in 2005 and is made possible by lead partner The Pershing Square Foundation. Additional support provided by the the Howard Gilman Foundation, Margot Adams, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Photos by Jennifer Broski