World Premiere Play by Amanda Peet to Replace Neil LaBute's FAT PIG at Geffen Playhouse

The Geffen Playhouse announced today that they will be replacing a previously announced production of Fat Pig by playwright Neil LaBute, with a world premiere of Amanda Peet's new play Our Very Own Carlin McCullough in its 2017/2018 season. Tyne Rafaeli (Ironbound, Actually) will direct.

In Our Very Own Carlin McCullough, a single mother discovers that her ten-year-old daughter is a tennis phenom. When a young, dedicated coach takes Carlin under his wing, her meteoric rise takes shape, and this threesome struggles over what is best when building up a champion.

Our Very Own Carlin McCullough was commissioned as part of The Geffen Playhouse's New Play Development Program thanks to the generosity of Mary Bianco, The MOCA Foundation. Peet's first play, The Commons of Pensacola, ran Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club in 2013 and starred Blythe Danner and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Tickets currently priced at $60.00 - $85.00. Available in person at The Geffen Playhouse box office, by phone at 310.208.5454 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.org. Fees may apply. Rush tickets for each day's performance are made available to the general public 30 minutes before showtime at the box office. $35.00 General / $10.00 Student

The run of Our Very Own Carlin McCullough will feature the Geffen's popular Talk Back Tuesdays, which give theater lovers a chance for a deeper conversation to discuss plot, character themes and other questions directly with the artists in a post-show Q&A from the stage.

Amanda Peet was most recently seen in IFC's Brockmire. Before that, she stared in the HBO series Togetherness, created by the Duplass Brothers, and Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. She appeared in the films Something's Gotta Give, The Whole Nine Yards, Syriana, Please Give and Igby Goes Down, among others. Theater credits include Break of Noon and This Is How It Goes, both by Neil LaBute, as well as the Broadway revival of Barefoot in the Park. Her play The Commons of Pensacola, which was produced by Manhattan Theatre Club, starred Blythe Danner and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Tyne Rafaeli (Director)- Tyne Rafaeli directs classics, new plays and musicals, including the recent world premiere of The Geffen Playhouse's production of Actually by Anna Ziegler. Her work has been seen at Classic Stage Company, Playwrights Realm, Atlantic Theater Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, Two River Theater, California Shakespeare Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, New York Stage & Film, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Goodspeed Musicals, Julliard, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Great Lakes Theater, American Players Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, the O'Neill Playwrights Conference and PlayPenn, among others. Rafaeli is a 2016-2018 Time Warner Directing Fellow at the Women's Project Theater and was awarded the 2013-2014 SDCF Sir John Gielgud Fellowship for Classical Direction. She has served as Associate Director on the Broadway productions of The King & I, Fiddler on the Roof, The Bridges of Madison County and Golden Boy and the West End's Women on the Verge; she directed the first U.S. national tour of The Bridges of Madison County.

Geffen Playhouse has been a hub of the Los Angeles theater scene since opening its doors in 1995. Noted for its intimacy and celebrated for its world-renowned mix of classic and contemporary plays, provocative new works and second productions, the not-for-profit organization continues to present a body of work that has garnered national recognition. Named in honor of entertainment mogul and philanthropist David Geffen, who made the initial donation to the theater, the company was founded by Gilbert Cates and is currently helmed by Executive Director Gil Cates, Jr., Artistic Director Matt Shakman and Board Chair Howard Tenenbaum. Proudly associated with UCLA, the Geffen welcomes an audience of more than 130,000 each year, and maintains extensive education and community engagement programs, designed to involve underserved young people and the community at large in the arts. www.geffenplayhouse.org