Marsha Mason to Star in and Co-Direct LOST IN YONKERS at Hartford Stage

Four time Academy Award-nominated actor and director Marsha Mason will co-direct and star in Hartford Stage's forthcoming production of Neil Simon's classic comedy Lost in Yonkers. The production, which will be co-directed by Hartford Stage Artistic Producer Rachel Alderman, will run April 7 through May 1, 2022.

Winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play, Neil's Lost in Yonkers is a funny and touching play. After the death of their mother, two Young Brothers are sent to stay with their formidable grandmother for the longest ten months of their lives. Grandmother Kurnitz is a one-woman German front-a refugee and a widow who has steeled her heart against the world. Her coldness and intolerance have crippled her own children. The boys must contend with their strong-willed grandmother, their aunt and her secret romance, and their uncle, a small-time hoodlum, in this strange new world called Yonkers.

Playing the role of Grandmother Kurnitz and serving as co-director, Marsha Mason draws on her place as one of the premiere interpreters of Neil Simon's work. Married to Simon for a decade, Mason received three of her four Academy Award nominations for pieces written by the eminent dramatist (The Goodbye Girl, Chapter Two and Only When I Laugh). Mason's appearances in other Simon works includes Broadway (The Good Doctor), London's West End (The Prisoner of Second Avenue opposite Richard Dreyfuss), film (Max Dugan Returns), and on record (the Grammy-nominated recording of The Prisoner of Second Avenue for L.A. Theatre Works).

Mason has been the recipient of two Golden Globe Awards for her film roles and an Emmy Award nomination for her role on Frasier. Her other TV credits include The Middle, The Good Wife, Madam Secretary, and Grace & Frankie. Broadway roles include Impressionism with Jeremy Irons, Steel Magnolias, The Night of the Iguana, King Richard III, and Cactus Flower. Off-Broadway she co-starred in the world premiere of Terrence McNally's Fire and Air at Classic Stage and Little Gem at the Irish Repertory Theatre (Outer Critics Circle Award winner for Outstanding Actress in a Play). Ms. Mason was Associate Director with Jack O'Brien for the Roundabout Theater's production of All My Sons on Broadway. In 2020 she directed Walter Bobbie and Brooke Shields in The Man Who Came to Dinner for Bucks County Playhouse.

Appearing in the cast under the co-direction of Rachel Alderman (director of Cry It Out and co-director of It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, both for Hartford Stage) will be Gabriel Amoroso (Caroline, or Change and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway), Hayden Bercy (national tours of The King and I and A Christmas Story), Michael Nathanson (series regular on Marvel's The Punisher on Netflix and HBO's The Knick), Jeff Skowron (Broadway's Enron, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Lion King), Andrea Syglowski (Eliot Norton and IRNE Award Best Actress winner for Venus in Fur at the Huntingon Theatre), and Liba Vaynberg (recurring roles on New Amsterdam and Madam Secretary, PBS's The Soap Myth opposite Ed Asner and Tovah Feldshuh). Christopher Andrew Rowe serves as assistant director for Lost in Yonkers, as well as Hartford Stage's recent production of Dishwasher Dreams.

The production team includes Laura Helpern (Scenic Designer); An-Lin Dauber (Costume Designer); Aja M. Jackson (Lighting Designer); Broken Chord (Original Music and Sound Design); Calleri, Jensen, Davis (Casting); Victoria Abrash (Dramaturg); Patrick Mulryan (Dialect Coach); Britton Williams (Drama Therapy Consultant); Kelly Hardy (Stage Manager); and Chandalae Nyswonger (Assistant Stage Manager).

Lost in Yonkers runs in previews from April 7 through April 13. Opening Night is Thursday, April 14 at 7:30pm. The production is set to run through May 1 with performances Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30pm; Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm; and Sunday matinees at 2pm. There is a Saturday 2pm matinee on April 16 and 30. The Open Captioned performance is Sunday, April 24 at 2 pm. The Audio Described performance is Saturday, April 30 at 2 pm. Talkbacks with the cast will take place following the matinee performance on April 17, evening performance on April 19, and matinee performance on April 20.

Tickets for Lost in Yonkers are $30-$100 with discounts for students and groups. Tickets can be purchased by visiting HartfordStage.org, by calling (860) 527-5151, or by visiting the Hartford Stage Box Office at 50 Church Street, Hartford, CT from noon to 5pm.

To keep actors, audiences, and staff safe, Hartford Stage requires masks to be worn throughout the performance, plus proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result upon entry. For more details, please visit hartfordstage.org/covid-19.

About Hartford Stage

Led by Artistic Director Melia Bensussen and Managing Director Cynthia Rider, Hartford Stage's mission is to enlighten, entertain, and educate by creating theatrical works of the highest caliber that have a transformative impact on audiences, the community, and its field. Hartford Stage has presented the world premieres of the new musical Anastasia; Rear Window with Kevin Bacon; Reverberation by Matthew Lopez; Big Dance Theatre's Man in a Case with Mikhail Baryshnikov; Breath & Imagination by Daniel Beaty; A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder on Broadway, winner of four 2014 Tony Awards; and Quiara Alegría Hudes' Water by the Spoonful, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. www.hartfordstage.org

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