The Guthrie Announces LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT Casting

The Guthrie Theater today announced complete casting for its production of Eugene O'Neill's semi-autobiographical masterwork Long Day's Journey into Night. For the first time in its 50-year history, the Guthrie will present this Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning family drama under the direction of Artistic Director Joe Dowling. The production will star actors Peter Michael Goetz and Helen Carey in the roles of James and Mary Tyrone. James is an aging actor and Mary is his rambling, morphine-addicted wife-both struggle to helm a dysfunctional family racked by addiction, despair and festering guilt.

No strangers to one another onstage, Goetz and Carey have starred in a total of 10 Guthrie Productions together-in many instances as husband and wife. Highlights include lauded performances in Death of a Salesman (2004) as Willy Loman and Linda Loman, All My Sons (2002) as Joe Keller and Kate Keller, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976) as Gooper and Mae.

Peter Michael Goetz was most recently seen on the Guthrie stage in The Sunshine Boys and has acted in almost 100 productions at the Guthrie. Goetz made his Broadway debut in 1981 and has since appeared in Broadway productions of Beyond Therapy, The Government Inspector and Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs. On screen Goetz has appeared as Dr. Welty in My Girl, King Kong Lives, Jumpin' Jack Flash, The World According to Garp, as the groom's father in Father of the Bride and its sequel (alongside Steve Martin) and in more than 200 television shows including "Arrested Development," "The West Wing," "Gilmore Girls," "The Practice" and "Home Improvement."

Helen Carey was most recently seen on the Guthrie stage in The Winter's Tale and has appeared in more than 35 productions at the theater. Her Broadway credits include London Assurance (Tony nomination), Pygmalion and Hedda Gabler. Carey's international credits include All My Sons (Irish Times/ESB Award nom) at Dublin's Abbey Theatre and Arms and the Man at Ontario's Shakespeare Festival Theatre. Her film credits include Julie & Julia, The Next Three Days and Little Children. Carey has also appeared on the television shows "House," "Without a Trace" and "Seinfeld."

Long Day's also features John Catron as James "Jamie" Tyrone, Jr. (Guthrie: Hay Fever, A Christmas Carol, The Winter's Tale) and John Skelley as Edmund Tyrone (Guthrie: Tales from Hollywood, Hay Fever, Charley's Aunt). Jamie is a cynical alcoholic, envious of the writing talent of sickly younger brother Edmund (Eugene O'Neill's stand-in). Rounding out the cast is Laoisa Sexton in her Guthrie debut in the role of Cathleen, the Tyrone family maid.

The play centers on one day in the life of the Tyrone family. Like most American families, the Tyrones have experienced highs and lows-from fame and financial success to illness and loss. In the course of that day in their seaside Connecticut home, their familial bond begins to unravel, and James and Mary and their sons Jamie and Edmund confront their demons in a final effort to save their family.

The artistic team includes Joe Dowling (Director), John Lee Beatty (Set Designer), Ann Hould-Ward (Costume Designer), Christopher Akerlind (Lighting Designer), Scott W. Edwards (Sound Designer), Michael Lupu (Dramaturgy), D'Arcy Smith (Voice and Dialect Coach), Karen K. Wegner (Stage Manager), Tree O'Halloran (Assistant Stage Manager) and Patrick Walsh (Assistant Director).

Long Day's Journey into Night begins preview performances on January 12, opens January 18 and continues through February 23, 2013 on the Wurtele Thrust Stage at the Guthrie Theater. Single tickets start at $29 and are now on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE, 612.225.6244 (Group Sales) and online at www.guthrietheater.org.

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