Kenneth Lonergan's LOBBY HERO to Open Palm Beach Dramaworks' 2023-24 Season

Palm Beach Dramaworks will open its 2023-24 season on October 13 (8pm) with Kenneth Lonergan’s acclaimed Lobby Hero, a seriocomic exploration of ethics and moral relativism. Performances continue through October 29, with specially priced previews on October 11 and 12 (7:30pm). J. Barry Lewis directs. 
    
Lonergan, who won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Manchester by the Sea, has earned high praise for writing natural dialogue and characters who are complex, flawed human beings – in other words, real people. They are often working class, as is true of Lobby Hero, in which four New Yorkers involved in a murder investigation – a slacker security guard in a Manhattan apartment building, his by-the-book boss, a rookie cop and her macho partner – confront moral and ethical dilemmas. The play explores issues of racism and sexism, and whether it’s ever honorable to do the wrong thing for the right reason.  

The play premiered Off-Broadway in 2001 and was revived in 2018, this time on Broadway. 

PBD’s production features Britt Michael Gordon as Jeff, the security guard; Jovon Jacobs as William, his boss; Tim Altmeyer as Bill, the macho cop; and Elisabeth Yancey (PBD debut) as Dawn, Bill’s rookie partner. Scenic design is by Victor A. Becker, costume design is by Brian O’Keefe, lighting design is by Kirk Bookman, and sound design is by Roger Arnold. Becker began working on Lobby Hero when the play was scheduled to close out what proved to be the pandemic shortened 2019-20 season. He died earlier this year, on February 1. PBD honors his artistry in mounting his final design, and the production is dedicated to him.
    
Kenneth Lonergan is a playwright, screenwriter, and director. When he was 18, his play The Rennings Children was selected for the Young Playwrights Festival, founded by Stephen Sondheim to encourage and nurture new American Playwrights. Plays include This Is Our Youth (The New Group, 1996); The Waverly Gallery (2000) and Lobby Hero (2001) at Playwrights Horizons; The Starry Messenger (The New Group, 2009) and Medieval Play (Signature Theatre, 2012), both of which he also directed; and Hold On To Me Darling (Atlantic Theater Company, 2016). Films: Wrote and directed You Can Count on Me (2000); Margaret (2011); and Manchester by the Sea (2016), which earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He also cowrote the movies Analyze This (1999) and Gangs of New York (2002). For TV, Lonergan wrote a four-part adaptation of E.M. Forster’s Howard’s End, which aired on the BBC in 2017 and was broadcast in the United States a year later on Starz. He has a BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. A native of the Bronx, Lonergan lives in New York City with his wife and frequent collaborator, actress J. Smith-Cameron, and their daughter, Nellie.  

Palm Beach Dramaworks is a professional, nonprofit theatre company founded in 2000 and located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach. Each season, the award-winning company produces five mainstage shows and offers a wide variety of programs for students at the theatre and in schools. Committed to fostering the future of theatre, PBD has become a hub for playwrights in Florida and around the country to nurture their work through initiatives including The Dramaworkshop and the Perlberg Festival of New Plays. PBD is a member of Theatre Communications Group, Florida Professional Theatres Association, the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, and NNPN. www.palmbeachdramaworks.org

Evening performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30pm, and Friday and Saturday at 8pm. Matinee performances are Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2pm. Post-performance discussions follow Wednesday and Thursday matinees. 
Tickets for all performances are $89, except for opening night of each production ($104) and previews ($69). Student tickets are available for $15 with a valid K-12 or university/college ID, and anyone under 40 pays $40 (no additional fees) with a photo ID. Tickets for educators are half price with proper ID (other restrictions apply). Group rates for 10 or more and subscription packages for four or five plays are also available. Tickets can be purchased through the box office, in person or by phone (561.514.4042 ext 2), and online 24 hours a day at palmbeachdramaworks.org.     


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