ANNAPURNA Ends Off-Broadway Run, 6/1

The New Group opened the New York premiere of Annapurna by Sharr White, directed by Bart DeLorenzo and featuring Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman, on April 21. The limited Off-Broadway engagement will officially end its run on June 1.

Twenty years ago, Emma (Megan Mullally) walked out on her husband, cowboy-poet Ulysses (Nick Offerman), in the middle of the night. Now hearing he's in dire straits, she tracks him down in the wilds of Colorado in a grungy trailer, working on his magnum opus, hooked to an oxygen tank, and cooking in the buff. Their reunion, charged by rage and compassion, brings back the worst and best of their former bond. The New Group presents Annapurna, written by Sharr White and directed by Bart DeLorenzo, as the third show in the company's 2013-2014 season.

This production includes Scenic Design by Thomas A. Walsh, Costume Design by Ann Closs-Farley, Lighting Design by Michael Gend, and Sound Design by John Ballinger.

Sharr White's The Other Place received its world premiere Off-Broadway with MCC Theatre, featuring Laurie Metcalf (Lucille Lortel and Obie awards) and directed by Joe Mantello (Lucille Lortel nom). The Other Place subsequently received its Broadway premiere in the spring of 2013 at Manhattan Theatre Club with Joe Mantello again directing Laurie Metcalf (Tony nom). The Other Place was also a recipient of the 2010 Playwrights First Award; the 2011 Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation's Theatre Visions Fund Award; and was an Outer Critics Circle Award nominee for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. White's The Snow Geese premiered on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman theatre in the fall of 2013, starring Mary Louise Parker and directed by Daniel Sullivan, as a co-production between Manhattan Theatre Club and MCC Theatre. Annapurna premiered at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco and was a finalist for the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award. White is currently working on a commission from Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

Bart DeLorenzo is the founding artistic director of the Evidence Room theater in Los Angeles where he has directed frequently over the last 19 years, including plays by David Greenspan, Naomi Wallace, Martin Crimp, Philip K. Dick, Gordon Dahlquist, Kelly Stuart, David Edgar and Edward Bond. His recent work with the company includes Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play, Sharr White's Annapurna, Chekhov's Ivanov, Len Jenkins' Margo Veil and Adam Bock's The Receptionist, all produced with the Odyssey Theater. Other recent directing includes Carla Ching's Fast Company at South Coast Repertory; Donald Margulies' Coney Island Christmas at the Geffen Playhouse; Charlayne Woodard's The Night Watcher at Washington's Studio Theatre; Shakespeare's Cymbeline at A Noise Within; Justin Tanner's Day Drinkers at the Odyssey and Voice Lessons at the Zephyr (revived briefly at Theatre Row in 2010); Karen Zacarias' Legacy of Light and Mark Brown's Around the World in 80 Days at the Cleveland Play House; King Lear with the Antaeus Company; Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's Doctor Cerberus, Donald Margulies' Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, and Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone at SCR; Michael Sargent's The Projectionist at the Kirk Douglas Theatre/CTG; Charles Mee's bobrauschenbergameric at Inside the Ford; Caryl Churchill's A Number at the Odyssey; and Center Theatre Group's kick-off premiere event of Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays all over the Music Center plaza and on the steps of Disney Hall. He has received six LA Weekly awards, three Backstage Garlands, three LA Drama Critics Circle Awards, the Alan Schneider Director Award and this year's Milton Katselas Award for Career or Special Achievement. He will next direct the world premiere of Steven Drukman's Death of the Author at the Geffen Playhouse.

Annapurna received its world premiere at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. The play was commissioned by South Coast Repertory and was part of SCR's Pacific Playwrights Festival 2011. The play was produced at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in Los Angeles (2013), directed by Bart DeLorenzo, featuring Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman. The New Group production marks the New York premiere.

The New Group (Scott Elliott, Artistic Director; Adam Bernstein, Executive Director) launched its 2013-2014 season with the New York premiere of Beth Henley's The Jacksonian, directed by Robert Falls, featuring Ed Harris, Glenne Headly, Amy Madigan, Bill Pullman and Juliet Brett, followed by the world premiere of Thomas Bradshaw's Intimacy, directed by Scott Elliott, featuring David Anzuelo, Austin Cauldwell, Ella Dershowitz, Laura Esterman, Daniel Gerroll, Déa Julien and Keith Randolph Smith. Last season, The New Group presented the world premieres of Francine Volpe's The Good Mother directed by Scott Elliott; Jonathan Marc Sherman's Clive, directed by and featuring Ethan Hawke; and the new musical Bunty Berman Presents..., with book & lyrics by Ayub Khan Din and music by Ayub Khan Din & Paul Bogaev. In its 2011-2012 season, the company presented Thomas Bradshaw's Burning, the extended run of Erika Sheffer's Russian Transport (both directed by Scott Elliott) and David Rabe's An Early History of Fire directed by Jo Bonney. Other recent productions include Tommy Nohilly's Blood From A Stone featuring Ethan Hawke (Obie winner); the revival of Wallace Shawn's Marie and Bruce starring Marisa Tomei and Frank Whaley; One Arm by Tennessee Williams, adapted and directed by Moisés Kaufman; A Lie of the Mind; The Kid; Groundswell; The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; Hurlyburly; Mike Leigh's Two Thousand Years, Abigail's Party, Smelling a Rat, Goose-Pimples and Ecstasy; Wallace Shawn's The Fever and Aunt Dan and Lemon; Kenneth Lonergan's The Starry Messenger featuring Matthew Broderick and This is Our Youth; Kevin Elyot's Mouth to Mouth and My Night With Reg; and Ayub Khan Din's East is East and Rafta, Rafta.... The New Group is a recipient of the 2004 Tony® Award for Best Musical (Avenue Q). The New Group and Artistic Director Scott Elliott were honored with a Special 2010-11 Drama Desk Award "for presenting contemporary new voices, and for uncompromisingly raw and powerful productions."

Annapurna plays through June 1 at The New Group @ Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street). Schedule: Tuesday & Wednesday at 7:00pm; Thursday through Saturday at 8:00pm, with matinees on Wednesday & Saturday at 2:00pm and Sunday at 3:00pm. Regular tickets $75.00. Premium tickets $95.00. Tickets available through www.telecharge.com or (212) 239-6200, or at the Theatre Row Box Office (12-8pm daily). For more, please visit www.thenewgroup.org.

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