Rachel Dratch Set for Gurney's SYLVIA at George Street Playhouse, 3/30 - 4/25

As previously reported, The George Street Playhouse has cancelled their upcoming run of the play FOX ON THE FAIRWAY and has replaced it with A.R. Gurney's SYLVIA. Due to conflicting schedules, Ken Ludwig's FOX ON THE FAIRWAY has been moved to the 2010-2011 season. SYLVIA will be directed by David Saint and will run March 30th, 2010 through April 25th, 2010.

It is now confirmed that Minsky's alum and former Saturday Night Live favorite Rachel Dratch will star in the production.

In SYLVIA, Greg and Kate have moved to Manhattan after twenty-two years of child-raising in the suburbs. Greg's career as a financial trader is winding down, while Kate's career, as a public-school English teacher, is beginning to offer her more opportunities. Greg brings home a dog he found in the park-or that has found him-bearing only "Sylvia" on her name tag.

A street-smart mutt, Sylvia becomes a major bone of contention between husband and wife. She offers Greg an escape from the frustrations of his job and the unknowns of middle age. To Kate, Sylvia becomes a rival for affection. And Sylvia thinks Kate just doesn't understand the relationship between man and dog. The marriage is put in serious jeopardy until, after a series of hilarious and touching complications, Greg and Kate learn to compromise, and Sylvia becomes a valued part of their lives.

In addition to Minskey's, Dratch was a member of the mainstage cast of The Second City comedy troupe for four years. She received the Joseph Jefferson award for Best Actress in a Revue for the latter two revues in which she performed: Paradigm Lost, and Promisekeepers, Losers Weepers. At Second City she performed alongside future SNL head writers Adam McKay and Tina Fey, as well as future 30 Rock performer Scott Adsit. The first incarnation of her SNL "Wicked" sketch was performed in Second City's Paradigm Lost. In addition to acting, Dratch also played the cello onstage. The theater also hosted the first incarnation of Dratch & Fey (her critically praised two-woman show with Tina Fey) which was later performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York.  Dratch has appeared in several movies, including Martin & Orloff, The Hebrew Hammer, Down with Love, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, Click, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Spring Breakdown and My Life in Ruins."She also has joined fellow SNL cast members on A.S.S.S.S.C.A.T.: Improv which aired September 7, 2005, on the Bravo channel. Dratch has also made television appearances on NBC's Third Watch and in a recurring role on King of Queens (playing Denise, the on-off girlfriend of Spence, who worked in a bowling alley). Other television appearances include "Monk", ""Frasier", "Wizards of Waverly Place", "30 Rock" and more recently, the season 3 finale of Ugly Betty.She is also a frequent guest in the New York production of Celebrity Autobiography.

A. R. Gurney is an American playwright and novelist. The playwright is known for works including Love Letters, The Cocktail Hour, and The Dining Room. Born in Buffalo, New York, Gurney, a graduate of St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire), attended Williams College and the Yale School of Drama, after which he began teaching Humanities at MIT. He began writing plays such as Scenes from American Life, Children, and The Middle Ages while at MIT, but it was his great success with The Dining Room that allowed him to write full-time. Since The Dining Room, Gurney has written a number of plays, most of them concerning WASPs of the American northeast. Gurney also wrote the musical: Love in Buffalo. This was the first musical ever produced at Yale. Gurney has also written several novels, including: The Snow Ball, The Gospel According to Joe, and Entertaining Strangers. Gurney has also appeared in several of his plays including The Dining Room and most notably Love Letters. In 2006, Gurney was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Tickets for SYLVIA may be purchased online at tickets.georgestplayhouse.org or through the George Street Playhouse box office at 732-246-7717.Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint, George Street Playhouse is a nationally recognized theatre, presenting an acclaimed mainstage season while providing an artistic home for established and emerging theatre artists. Founded in 1974, The Playhouse has been represented by numerous productions both on and Off Broadway - recent productions include Anne Meara's Down the Garden Paths, the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League nominated production of The Spitfire Grill and the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn which was developed at GSP during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays. In addition to its mainstage season, GSP's Touring Theatre features five issue-oriented productions that tours to more than 250 schools in the tri-state area, and are seen by more than 80,000 students annually.

George Street Playhouse programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information, visit www.georgestplayhouse.org.

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