Atlantic Theatre's BOTTOM OF THE WORLD Closes 10/3

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) is proud to announce that Crystal A. Dickinson, Brandon J. Dirden, Aubrey Dollar, Brendan Griffin, Kristin Griffith, Jessica Love, Peter Maloney and K.K. Moggie will star in the world premiere of Lucy Thurber's play BOTTOM OF THE WORLD directed by Caitriona McLaughlin.

BOTTOM OF THE WORLD will begin previews Thursday, September 3; officially open Tuesday, September 14; and play a limited engagement through Sunday, October 3 Off-Broadway at Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16 Street).

Heartbroken over the sudden death of her sister Kate (Love), Abby (Dickinson) delves into the world of Kate's final novel to deal with her grief and somehow move on. As the lines blur between the fictional world and her own reality, Abby attempts to make sense of life and death in this funny and poignant play.

Playwright Lucy Thurber returns to Atlantic following the critically acclaimed world premiere production of her play Scarcity. She recently worked with director Caitriona McLaughlin last season on the revival of her play Killlers and Other Family. Her other plays include Where We're Born, Ashville, Stay, Monstrosity and Dillingham City.

Irish director Caitriona McLaughlin makes her Atlantic debut. She most recently staged David Duggan's the Blackbird Sings at Ireland's Playhouse Derry followed by the 2010 Irish Tour, and Lucy Thurber's Killers and other Family Off Broadway.

Crystal A. Dickinson most recently appeared in the hit play Clybourne Park Off Broadway. Brandon J. Dirden has appeared in the Broadway productions of Enron and Prelude to a Kiss. Aubrey Dollar was recently seen in the ABC series "Women's Murder Club" and starred on the Fox drama "Point Pleasant." Brendan Griffin starred in Clybourne Park Off Broadway last season. Kristin Griffith last appeared at Atlantic in the 10X20 anniversary one act play festival and recently in Ernest in Love at the Irish Repertory Theatre. Jessica Love makes her Off Broadway debut following graduating from Julliard's acting program. Peter Maloney has appeared in fourteen Atlantic productions including the recent world premiere of Trumpery and the acclaimed production of David Mamet's adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance. K.K. Moggie was a series regular on NBC's "Mercy" and appeared Off-Broadway in Grace starring Lyn Redgrave.

The creative team for BOTTOM OF THE WORLD will feature scenic design by Walt Spangler, costume design by Emily Rebholz, lighting design by Matthew Richards, sound design by Robert Kaplowitz and movement consultation by Kelly Maurer.

BOTTOM OF THE WORLD was developed at the Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival in 2009.

Atlantic's Stage 2 programming and new play development activities are made possible, in part, by the leadership support of Time Warner, Inc.

Stage 2 programs are also supported by the Axe-Houghton Foundation, the Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the John Golden Fund, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, the Lila Acheson Wallace Fund for the Arts, and the Shubert Foundation as well as public funds from the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts which is celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State's 62 counties.

Crystal A. Dickinson (Abigail). Off Broadway: Clybourne Park (Playwrights Horizons), Broke-ology (Lincoln Center), Ruined (Manhattan Theatre Club), The First Breeze of Summer (Signature Theatre Company), Sun Down Names and Night Gone Things (Negro Ensemble Company). Regional: Baltimore Centerstage, The Alliance, 7 Stages, Georgia Shakespeare, Illinois Shakespeare, Synchronicity, Theatre-in-the-Square. Television: "Tyler Perry's House of Payne." Education: MFA University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, London Academy for Music and Dramatic Art, Member of Lincoln Center Directors Lab.

Brandon J. Dirden (Ely). Broadway: ENRON (dir. Rupert Goold), Prelude To A Kiss (Roundabout Theatre Company, dir. Daniel Sullivan). Off-Broadway: The First Breeze of Summer and Day of Absence (Signature Theatre). Regional: Magnolia (Goodman Theatre); Fences (Huntington Theatre and South Coast Repetory); Topdog/Underdog (Playmakers Repertory Company); Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (True Colors Theatre) Othello, Twelfth Night, Metamorphoses, Comedy of Errors, and others (Georgia Shakespeare Festival); A Death in the House..., A Christmas Carol, and The Breach (ALLIANCE THEATRE); Take Me Out (Theatre in the Square); Come On in My Kitchen (7 Stages); Miss Dessa (Ensemble Theater); Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Alley Theater); Harvey (Utah Shakespeare Festival); and Julius Caesar and As You Like It (North Carolina Shakespeare Festival). Training: B.A., Morehouse College and M.F.A., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Aubrey Dollar (Susan/Dana) recently played journalist "Cindy Thomas" in ABC's drama "Women's Murder Club" based on the successful series of James Patterson novels. Feature film credits include Hard Luck, Stepping Up and Failure to Launch with Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. Aubrey starred in the Fox drama "Point Pleasant" and created the role of Marina Cooper on CBS's daytime drama "Guiding Light." Stage credits include The Mistakes Madeline Made at the Yale Repertory, Juvenilia by Wendy McCloud for Playwrights Horizons as well as many productions at Boston University.

Brendan Griffin (Josh). Off-Broadway: Clybourne Park (Playwright's Horizons). Regional: Back Back Back, Cyrano de Bergerac, Coriolanus (The Old Globe Theatre), Clouds (Dog and Pony Theatre Company). Film: Taking Chance, The Nanny Diaries. Television: "The Good Wife," "Generation Kill," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Law & Order: SVU," "One Life To Live," "Guiding Light". Proud graduate of Kenyon College with a B.A. in Drama and a founding member of Chicago's Dog & Pony Theatre Co. Member of AEA.

Kristin Griffith (Louise/Christine) previously appeared at Atlantic in Jody's Mother (10x20) directed by Neil Pepe. Recent work includes Ernest in Love, Director Charlotte Moore and Ciaran O'Reilly's production of Ibsen's The Master Builder with James Naughton at the Irish Repertory Theater and her critically acclaimed performance as Richard Nixon's secretary "Rose Mary Woods" in Susan Bernfield's Stretch (A Fantasia) directed by Emma Griffin. Ms. Griffith made her Broadway debut in A Texas Trilogy and has appeared in plays at the WPA, Hudson Guild, The Women's Project, MTC, The Promenade, UBU, The Roundabout, The Lambs, The Mint, and Atlantic Theater among others. A member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, she has appeared in 14 "Marathons" in the works of Frank Gilroy, Joyce Carol Oates, Peter Maloney, David Mamet, Edward Allen Baker, and Paul Austin. She has performed at regional theaters across the country and at The Shaw Festival in Canada. Feature films include Woody Allen's Interiors, Steven Soderbergh's King of the Hill and James Ivory's The Europeans. On TV she has guest-starred in the series "Law & Order" (and its franchises "SVU" & "CI"), "New Amsterdam," "Ed," "Wonderland" and "Third Watch." TV movie appearances include "Rose Hill" (w/ Jennifer Garner), "The Long Way Home" (w/ Jack Lemmon), "Gregory K: A Place to Be" and "Flesh and Blood" (w/ Denzel Washington and John Cassavetes).

Jessica Love (Kate) graduated last year from Juilliard's acting program. She has appeared in the world premiers of Rogelio Martinez's When Tang Met Laika (The Denver Center), Kay Maschulat's Don't Fuck With Love (The Redbull Theater), Adam Symkowitz's Incendiary (The Juilliard School) and Daniel Morgan Kelly's The Conveniences of Modern Living (Fringe 2010). Jessica is also an illustrator and animator. www.Jessicalove.org.

Peter Maloney (Marshall/Paul) most recently appeared at Atlantic in the world premiere of Peter Parnell's play Trumpery and the acclaimed production of David Mamet's adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance. He recently appeared on Broadway as "Doc" in the current revival of West Side Story. At Atlantic he has also been seen in 10 x 20 (Leavings), The Room, The Cherry Orchard, Hobson's Choice, The Water Engine, Mr. Happiness, The Duck Variations, Down the Shore and The Dadshuttle. Broadway: Arcadia, Carousel, Six Degrees of Separation, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Dinner at Eight and Our Town (Lincoln Center Theater), Judgment at Nuremberg, Stanley, Poor Murderer, Hughie. For four years he was a member of Joseph Chaikin's Open Theater, appearing here and in Europe in The Serpent, Terminal and Endgame in which he played Clov to Mr. Chaikin's Hamm. Film: 47 films, including K-Pax, Boiler Room, Requiem for a Dream, The Crucible, Washington Square. Television: Fans of "Rescue Me" will recognize him as "Uncle Red." Writer: his latest play Witness, (part of his Abu Ghraib Triptych), was just published by Applause Books in the collection Best American Short Plays. He is also published by Samuel French, Inc., Broadway Play Publishing, and Faber and Faber. Member: The Actors Studio, Ensemble Studio Theatre. Mr. Maloney is a Fox Foundation Fellow.

K.K. Moggie (Gina/Sally).Theatre credits include: The Bereaved (Partial Comfort), Grace (MCC), Richard III (CSC), A Peddlers Tale (Women's Project),The Proust Project (CSC Monday Nights), The Tempest (CSC Monday Night Tempest), Fetes de la Nuit, Love: A Tragic Etude, Metamorphosis from Ted Hughes' Tales from Ovid, Cleansed, Uncle Vanya, The Vagina Monologues, Our Country's Good, Agamemnon. Film and TV: NBC's "Mercy," MTV's "Gamekillers," Anna and the King, The Sleeping Dictionary. Training: Columbia University M.F.A acting program.

Lucy Thurber (Playwright) is the author of eight plays: Where We're Born, Ashville, Scarcity, Killers and Other Family, Stay, Bottom of The World, Monstrosity and Dillingham City. The Atlantic Theater Company opened its 2007/08 season with Scarcity, and developed Bottom of the World at Perry-Mansfield in 2009. Rattlestick Playwrights Theater has produced three of her plays, Where We're Born, Killers and Other Family and Stay, and produced a critically acclaimed revival of Killlers and Other Family in 2009, directed by Caitriona McLaughlin. Lucy has twice collaborated with the director Lear deBessonet , both on Quixote, a site-specific performance with the Psalters made for and with The Broad Street Community in Philadelphia, and also on her play Monstrosity for 13P. Scarcity was published in the December 2007 issue of American Theatre, and acting editions of her work are published by Dramatists Play Service. A member of New Dramatists, 13P, MCC Playwrights Coalition and the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages, she was also the recipient of the 2000-01 Manhattan Theatre Club Playwriting Fellowship. She has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, The Contemporary American Theatre Festival, and is developing a new musical with Bigheart productions, Lear deBessonet and The Citizen's Band. Lucy currently teaches writing at Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence College.

CAITRIONA MC LAUGHLIN (Director) is an Irish theatre director currently based in London. Recent productions include Still, the Blackbird Sings by Dave Duggan (Playhouse Derry and Irish Tour, 2010), Killers and other Family by Lucy Thurber (Rattlestick Theatre), The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar (Farquhar festival, Blue Eagle Theatre Company). Previous directing work includes The New Statesman (Ambassadors Theatre Group and No.1 Tour), Shadowbox (Southwark Playhouse), Masks and Faces, Frank Pig Says Hello, Allports Revenge and Lullabies of Broadmoor (The Finborough Theatre) and Roman Nights, Modern Man and Pete n Me (The New End Theatre, London). Caitriona was awarded a Clore Fellowship in 2007 and spent time on secondment at The Royal Court Theatre in London before becoming Associate Director of The Playground Studio in London.

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) is the award winning Off-Broadway theater company dedicated to producing great plays simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble. Atlantic believes that the story of the play and the intent of the playwright are at the core of the creative process. Atlantic maintains an ensemble of acclaimed actors, writers and directors including Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and director David Mamet and Academy Award® nominated actor William H. Macy who founded Atlantic twenty five years ago in 1985.

Atlantic and Neil Pepe were awarded a 2009 Drama Desk Award last season for "exceptional craftsmanship, dedication to excellence and productions that engage, inspire and enlighten." In 2006, Atlantic was awarded the Lucille Lortel Prize for Outstanding Body of Work as its critically acclaimed production of Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant Of Inishmore transferred to Broadway, where it was nominated for five 2006 Tony Awards® including Best Play.

Atlantic's acclaimed world premiere production of its first musical Spring Awakening, with music by Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics by Steven Sater and direction by Michael Mayer, won 8 Tony Awards®, including Best Musical.

Last season, Atlantic and Druid's critically acclaimed production of Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan, directed by Tony Award® winner Garry Hynes, was extended three times and received four 2009 Lucille Lortel Award nominations including Outstanding Revival, three Outer Critics Circle Award nominations including Outstanding Revival, a Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Revival, and was awarded a 2009 Lortel for Outstanding Ensemble Performance.

Since its inception, Atlantic has produced over 125 productions including the Tony Award® winning play The Beauty Queen of Leenane, the world premieres of Academy Award® winner Ethan Coen's comedies Almost an Evening and Offices, Woody Allen's A Second Hand Memory and Writer's Block, David Mamet's Romance and his adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance, the musicals Spring Awakening and 10 Million Miles, Conor McPherson's Port Authority, Peter Parnell's Trumpery, Lucy Thurber's Scarcity, Annie Baker's Body Awareness, Beau Willimon's Farragut North, Bekah Brunstetter's Oohrah!, David Pittu's What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling, Leslie Ayvazian's Make Me, Tom Donaghy's Minutes From The Blue Route, Edwin Sanchez's Trafficking in Broken Hearts, the American premieres of Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange, Conor McPherson's Dublin Carol, Jez Butterworth's The Night Heron, the New York premieres of David Mamet's Keep Your Pantheon and School, Jez Butterworth's Parlour Song and Mojo, Rolin Jones' The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow and Peter Parnell's The Cider House Rules as well as revivals of David Mamet's American Buffalo and Edmond, Harold Pinter's The Hothouse and the double bill of Celebration and The Room and Harold Brighouse's Hobson's Choice.

BOTTOM OF THE WORLD will play Tuesday - Saturday at 7:30p and Saturday and Sunday at 2:30pm. There will be an added 7:00pm performance on Sunday, September 5.

All tickets are $45 and will be available beginning Monday, April 12, 2010 by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 (ticketcentral.com) or in person at the ATLANTIC STAGE 2 box office located at 330 West 16th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues).

Purchase an "All -In-One Membership" and see every main stage and Atlantic Stage 2 production for $195 (plus an $8 service charge).

For general inquiries and/or group sales for both the main stage Linda Gross Theater

and Atlantic Stage 2, call 212-645-1242.

For more information, visit www.atlantictheater.org.

 

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