THE WALKING DEAD's Jon Bernthal and John Pollono Lead MCC's SMALL ENGINE REPAIR, May-June 2013

MCC Theater today announced that Jon Bernthal (AMC's "The Walking Dead") and actor/playwright John Pollono will star in the New York Premiere of Small Engine Repair, by John Pollono, directed by Jo Bonney (Neil LaBute's The Break of Noon, Some Girl(s), Fat Pig). The production will be the third and final production of MCC's 2012-13 three-play mainstage season, which marks the company's 27th consecutive year producing and developing new work by today's most provocative and vibrant artists. Small Engine Repair will be performed at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) May 16 – June 23, 2013.

Frank, Swaino and Packie - buddies since high school, now past their prime - meet off-hours in Frank's out-of-the-way repair shop under cloudy circumstances that only Frank has a handle on. Enter Chad, a plugged-in preppy college jock, whose arrival ignites an explosion of long-simmering resentment and rage in this taut, twisty, comic thriller.

A hit at L.A.'s Rogue Machine Theatre, where it received its world premiere in 2011, Small Engine Repair now makes its New York Premiere at MCC Theater with a new production by John Pollono, whose dazzling play took home nearly every theater award in the city of angels, including the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Playwriting.

As previously announced, the season will begin with two exciting plays: Don't Go Gentle, by Stephen Belber, directed by Lucie Tiberghien (September 27 – November 4, 2012) and Really Really, by Paul Downs Colaizzo, directed by David Cromer (January 31 – March 10, 2013).

Season subscriptions for all three 2012-2013 mainstage productions are priced at $115-$155 and are available by visiting www.mcctheater.org. Individual tickets will go on-sale at a later date. All performances will take place at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC).

MCC Theater – founded in 1986 as Manhattan Class Company – is committed to developing and producing new work that challenges artists and rewards audiences. Our mission is carried out through an annual season of world, American, and New York premieres, literary development programs for emerging writers, and ground-breaking education programs that enable more than 1,000 New York City high school students to find - and use - their own unique voice each year through the creation and performance of original theater pieces. Notable MCC Theater highlights include: the 2008 Tony Award-nominated Reasons to Be Pretty by Neil LaBute, The Other Place, The Pride, Fifty Words, the 2004 Tony-winning production of Bryony Lavery's Frozen, Neil LaBute's Fat Pig,Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living, Marsha Norman's Trudy Blue, Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit, Tim Blake Nelson's The Grey Zone, Alan Bowne's Beirut, The Submission, winner of the inaugural Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award for new American plays, and last season's newly reworked and fully re-imagined production of Carrie, the musical. Over the years, the dedication to the work of new and emerging artists has earned MCC Theater a variety of awards.

Photo credit: Mark Samala