'Wrecks' Featuring Ed Harris Extends for 3 More Weeks

The Public Theater's Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Mara Manus announce that the U.S. premiere of WRECKS, written and directed by Neil LaBute and featuring Ed Harris, has sold out for its run and will be extended for three additional weeks with performances running through November 19th. Previews began on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 in the Anspacher Theater. The press opening is Tuesday, October 10, 2006.

Two of America's most exciting artists team up to create a theatrical tour de force in this new solo work. In true LaBute fashion, WRECKS promises to thrill, surprise and challenge your assumptions about love, family and marriage. This production marks Harris' first appearance on the New York stage in a decade. WRECKS was first produced at Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork, Ireland.

WRECKS features scenic design and costume design by Klara Zieglerova, lighting design by Christopher Akerlind, and sound design by Robert Kaplowitz.

NEIL LABUTE (Playwright, Director) received his Master of Fine Arts degree in dramatic writing from New York University and was the recipient of a literary fellowship to study at the Royal Court Theatre. His plays include Some Girl(s), This Is How It Goes, Fat Pig, The Distance From Here, The Mercy Seat, The Shape of Things, Filthy Talk for Troubled Times, Lepers, Rounder, Sangunarians and Sycophants, Ravages, bash: latter-day plays. Adaptations include Dracula, Woyzeck. Films include The Wicker Man, The Shape of Things, Possession, In the Company of Men (New York Critics' Circle Award for Best First Feature, Filmmakers' Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival), Your Friends and Neighbors and Nurse Betty.

Ed Harris (Man) was last seen at The Public Theater in the 1994 production of Sam Shepard's Simpatico, for which he won a Lucille Lortel Award for Best Actor. He made his European stage debut last fall in the world premiere of Wrecks at the Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork, Ireland, and was last seen on Broadway in Ronald Harwood's Taking Sides. Other theater includes Sam Shepard's Fool For Love (Obie), George Furth's Precious Sons (Drama Desk Award), Prairie Avenue, Scar, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Grapes of Wrath and Sweet Bird of Youth. Recent film performances include David Cronenberg's A History of Violence (National Society of Film Critics Award), Stephen Daldry's The Hours (Oscar, Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA nominations), Pollock (Oscar nomination), Winter Passing, Radio, The Human Stain, Buffalo Soldiers, A Beautiful Mind, Stepmom, The Truman Show (Oscar nomination, Golden Globe), Apollo 13 (Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, SAG Award), The Right Stuff, A Flash of Green, Walker, The Third Miracle, Alamo Bay, Places in the Heart, Sweet Dreams, Jacknife, State of Grace, and The Firm. Television includes the recent HBO miniseries Empire Falls (Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG nominations), The Last Innocent Man, Running Mates, Paris Trout, and Riders of the Purple Sage. This fall, he can be seen in the title role in director Agnieska Holland's film Copying Beethoven. He recently completed filming the detective thriller Gone Baby Gone, Ben Affleck's feature directorial debut.

WRECKS will play Tuesday at 7:00pm, Wednesday through Saturday at 8:00pm, Saturday and Sunday at 2:00pm, through November 19th. There will be a post-show discussion on October 4th and October 17th.

Tickets for WRECKS are $50 for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday matinee and Sunday performances; $60 for both Friday and Saturday evening performances. Tickets are on sale at The Public Theater box office, 425 Lafayette Street; on-line at www.publictheater.org or by phone at 212-967-7555 (please note new number). There will be a limited number of $20 Rush Tix available at the box office for every downtown theater performance one hour prior to curtain. There is a 2 ticket limit per person. Cash only.

Box office hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 1:00pm to 7:30pm, and Sunday and Monday from 1:00pm to 6:00pm. For more information, visit www.publictheater.org

Founded by Joseph Papp as the Shakespeare Workshop and now one of the nation's preeminent cultural institutions, The Public is an American theater in which all the country's voices, rhythms, and cultures converge. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Mara Manus, The Public's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day on stage and through its extensive outreach and education programs. Over 250,000 people annually attend Public Theater-related events at its six downtown stages including Joe's Pub, and at Shakespeare in the Park.

Time Warner and Time Warner Cable are the Lead Sponsors of The Public Theater's fall season.

Leadership support for the 2006-07 season is also provided by The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman, Carole Shorenstein Hays, The Shubert Foundation, The Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, The George Delacorte Fund at The New York Community Trust - Fund for Performances at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, The Starr Foundation, The Susan Stein Shiva Foundation, and New York Public Radio-WNYC.

Additional generous support is provided by Debra and Leon Black, Warren Spector and Margaret Whitton, and Google Book Search. Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. We are also deeply grateful to The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for its leadership commitment to The Public Theater's Endowment Fund in support of new work. Continental Airlines is the official airline of The Public Theater.