Abingdon Theater Co Announces LOVE DRUNK, Previews 3/28

Abingdon Theatre Company has announced that it will present the world premiere of Romulus Linney's LOVE DRUNK, directed by Kelly Morgan and featuring Austin Pendleton and Kristina Valada-Viars on March 28, 2009. The official opening will be on Sunday, April 5, 2009 at 5:00 PM in the Abingdon Theatre Company's Dorothy Strelsin Theatre.

LOVE DRUNK is the story of an older man who picks up a much younger woman in a bar and brings her to his retreat, an Appalachian palace. Her littered past collides with his desire and what follows is an inspired dance of sexual tension.

Playwright Romulus Linney is the author of three novels, many stories, and over forty plays, produced throughout the United States and abroad. They include The Sorrows Of Frederick, Holy Ghosts, Heathen Valley, Childe Byron, 2, Gint, and recently, Klonsky and Schwartz. He received two Obie Awards, one for Sustained Achievement in Playwriting. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which gave him its Award in Literature and its Award of Merit Medal for Drama.

Director Kelly Morgan is the Founder and Former Producing Artistic Director of the Mint Theater here in NYC where he produced and/or directed over 50 plays, many of them new works. Direction includes: Steppenwolf Theater, (Uncle Bob w/Austin Pendleton); Lost Tribe Theater (A Creature Craving); Mint Theater (Thornwood w/ Rodney Scott Hudson, Jeremy Rudge w/Becky Ann Baker & Austin Pendleton); Long Wharf Theater (Medea w/ Mary Vreeland); Contemporary American Theater Festival (Baby Dance), Independent Theater (Last Yankee); Edinburgh Festival (The Laramie Project); Cleveland Play House (The New Girl); Abingdon Theater (Another Vermeer by Bruce Robinson). He has performed at the NYSF, Women's Theater Project, Westbeth Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, and Syracuse Stage and received the National Endowed Chair of Excellence in the Arts, The Kennedy Center Directing Fellowship and is on faculty at Fitchburg State College.

Austin Pendleton's most recent appearance at the Abingdon was in Another Vermeer, by Bruce Robinson. His other recent New York appearances have been in Wendy Kesselman's musical, The Black Monk, in the title role, and in Central Park for the Public Theatre in Mother Courage (with Meryl Streep) and Romeo and Juliet (with Lauren Ambrose). He also appeared in The Sunset Limited, by Cormac McCarthy, a production brought to New York by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, where he is an Ensemble member and last appeared, in Chicago, as Danforth in Anna Shapiro's production of The Crucible.

Kristina Valada-Viars theatre credits include: August: Osage County (u/s Broadway), The Music Teacher (The New Group), This Is Our Youth (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), 516 (NY Fringe), Summer of the Swans (TheatreworksUSA). Her film and TV credits include "The Door in the Floor," "Animal Husbandry," and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

Set Design is by Jeff Pajer, Costume Design is by Deborah Caney, Lighting Design is by Travis McHale, Sound Design is by Kevin Lloyd.

Performances of LOVE DRUNK are on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday at 7:00pm, Friday & Saturday at 8:00pm and Saturday & Sunday at 2:00pm. Tickets are $20 and can be ordered by calling SmartTix at 212.868.4444 or by visiting www.smarttix.com.

The Dorothy Strelsin Theatre at Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex is located at 312 West 36th Street, 1st floor (btw 8/9 Aves).

Visit www.abingdontheatre.org for more information.

To post a comment, you must register and login.