The New Group to Present Premiere of 'Mouth to Mouth'

The New Group presents the U.S. premiere of Kevin Elyot's Mouth to Mouth directed by Mark Brokaw as the first production in its 2008-2009 season.  Slated for a limited Off-Broadway engagement from October 21 – December 27, this production features New Group artist David Cale, Lisa Emery and Elizabeth Jasicki.  Mouth to Mouth will have its Official Opening on Thursday, November 6 @ 7:00 PM at The New Group @ Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street).

Frank, a gay writer living with AIDS, attends a party at his friend Laura's house to celebrate the return of her teenage son from abroad.  As the story shifts back and forth through time, it's clear that Frank may have played an unscrupulous part in the unraveling of his best friend's family.  Nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Play and a London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play, this West End hit is a haunting, twisting tale of undeclared passion and the fine line between intimacy and betrayal.

Mouth to Mouth enjoyed its world premiere at The Royal Court Theatre in 2001. Kevin Elyot's play, My Night with Reg, earned him the 1994 London Critic Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright and earned an Olivier Award nomination for Best Comedy.

After beginning his career as a theater actor, playwright Kevin Elyot wrote his first stage play, Coming Clean, which premiered at London's Bush Theatre and won the Samuel Beckett Award.  Elyot's other plays include: Consent (1989), The Moonstone (1990), Artists And Admirers (1992), My Night With Reg, The Day I Stood Still (National Theatre, 1998), Forty Winks (Royal Court Theatre, 2004) and And Then There Were (Gielgud Theatre, 2005).  His screenplays include Killing Time (BBC, 1990), which won the Writers' Guild Award for Best TV Play or Film, The Moonstone (BBC, 1996), My Night With Reg (BBC, 1997) and No Night Is Too Long (BBC/Alliance Atlantis, 2002).
Director Mark Brokaw helmed the Tony® nominated Broadway production of Cry-Baby.  His additional Broadway credits include The Constant Wife and Reckless.  With The New Group, Brokaw directed Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth (1996-97 season).
 
This production will feature Christopher Abbott (Off-B'way: Good Boys and True), David Cale (B'way: Three Penny Opera; Off-B'way: Two Thousand Years, My Night With Reg at The New Group; Film: Pollock), Lisa Emery (B'way: The Women, The Smell of the Kill; Off-B'way: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Abigail's Party, What The Butler Saw at The New Group), Darren Goldstein (Off-B'way: Abigail's Party, Terrorism­ at The New Group; Guttenberg! The Musical, Bad Jazz), Elizabeth Jasicki (Off-B'way: Abigail's Party at The New Group), Andrew Polk (Off-B'way: The Accomplices at The New Group – 2007 Drama Desk Nomination, Walmartopia; TV: "30 Rock," "Law & Order"), Richard Topol (B'way: Awake and Sing – Drama Desk Award, Julius Caesar; TV: "The Practice") and includes Set Design by      Riccardo Hernandez (B'way: Caroline, or Change, Bring in 'Da Funk, Bring in 'Da Noise; Off-B'way: Two Gentlemen of Verona), Costume Design by Michael Krass (B'way: The Constant Wife – Tony® Award nomination, Twelve Angry Men; Off-B'way: A Feminine Ending), Lighting Design by Mark McCullough (B'way: Jesus Christ Superstar) and Sound Design by David Van Tieghem (B'way: Doubt, Mauritius).  This production will also include original music by David Van Tieghem.
 
The New Group (Scott Elliott, Artistic Director; Geoff Rich, Executive Director): The 2008-2009 season continues this January as The New Group presents Eugene O'Neill's epic tragedy Morning Becomes Electra.  Directed by Scott Elliot, the production will feature John Cullum, Lili Taylor, and Jena Malone.  The season concludes this spring with the world premiere Seth Zvi Rosenfeld's Handball.  The company's 2007-2008 season opened with the premiere of Jonathan Marc Sherman's Things We Want directed by Ethan Hawke, followed by Mike Leigh's Two Thousand Years and concluded with Ayub Khan-Din's Rafta, Rafta….  The 2006-07 season featured Jay Presson Allen's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie followed by Wallace Shawn's The Fever and Bernard Weinraub's The Accomplices.  The New Group is a recipient of the 2004 Tony® Award (Best Musical - Avenue Q).
 
Mouth to Mouth will play at The New Group @ Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre / 410 West 42nd Street, between 9th & 10th Avenue) as follows: Monday @ 8:00 PM, Tuesday @ 7:00 PM, Wednesday through Saturday @ 8:00 PM and Saturday @ 2:00 PM (matinee).  Tickets may be arranged through Ticket Central at www.ticketcentral.com or (212) 279-4200, or at the Theatre Row Box Office (12:00–8:00 PM daily).  Tickets are $56.25.  For more information, visit www.thenewgroup.org. 

Photo Credit Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

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