BURIED CHILD with Ed Harris and Amy Madigan, Cynthia Nixon-Helmed STEVE & More Set for The New Group's 2015-16 Season

The New Group has announced three productions for its 2015-2016 Season. The company's new season kicks off in Summer 2015 with the Off-Broadway premiere of Philip Ridley's Mercury Fur, directed by Scott Elliott. The season continues in Fall 2015 with the world premiere of Mark Gerrard's Steve, with director Cynthia Nixon returning to The New Group, where she made her directorial debut earlier this year. In Winter 2016, Scott Elliott directs Sam Shepard's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Buried Child, featuring Ed Harris and Amy Madigan, who return to The New Group with this production.

Productions in The New Group's 2015-2016 Season take place at The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street.

Subscriptions and memberships for The New Group's 2015-2016 season are available now. For subscription & season info, please visit www.thenewgroup.org. Subscriptions can be purchased by calling Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, or in person at 416 West 42nd Street (12-8pm daily).

Summer 2015:

Mercury Fur by Philip Ridley. Directed by Scott Elliott. Previews begin August 2015 in The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre (480 West 42nd Street).

In a society ravaged by warring gangs and a hallucinogenic-drug epidemic, Elliot and Darren, under the sway of the ruthless Spinx, throw parties for rich clients in abandoned apartment buildings, parties that help guests act out their darkest, most sinister fantasies. As the teenage brothers prepare for the latest festivities, some unexpected guests threaten the balance of the world they have created in the midst of this dystopian nightmare. The New Group opens its 2015-2016 season with the Off-Broadway premiere of Philip Ridley's Mercury Fur, a terrifying yet tender look at just how far people will go to protect those they love the most. Scott Elliott directs. Casting to be announced.

This production marks the Off-Broadway premiere of Mercury Fur, bringing back Philip Ridley to The New Group, where his play The Fastest Clock in the Universe received its US premiere in 1998. Mercury Fur premiered in February 2005 at the Plymouth Theatre Royal and transferred to the Menier Chocolate Factory, London in March 2005.

Fall 2015:

Steve by Mark Gerrard. Directed by Cynthia Nixon. Previews begin November 2015 in The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre (480 West 42nd Street).

As Steven, a failed Broadway chorus boy turned stay-at-home dad, celebrates yet another birthday, he finds himself filled with fear and uncertainty. Is Stephen, his partner of 14 years, cheating on him? Why is one of his best friends dying of cancer? And what, exactly, has he done with his life? A portrait of a group of longtime, theater-loving friends as they navigate the many facets of midlife and mortality, Mark Gerrard's Steve is a biting and bittersweet comedy about relationships and the unavoidable consequences of aging and the passage of time. Cynthia Nixon directs. Casting to be announced.

Steve, Mark Gerrard's New York debut as a playwright, was developed through The New Group's New Group/New Works reading series. With this world premiere, director Cynthia Nixon returns to The New Group, where she recently made her directorial debut with the hit production of Joel Drake Johnson's Rasheeda Speaking, which received an Outer Critics Circle nomination for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. In 2006, she starred in The New Group production The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Winter 2016:

Buried Child by Sam Shepard. Directed by Scott Elliott. Previews begin February 2016 in The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre (480 West 42nd Street).

Sam Shepard's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Buried Child returns 20 years after its last major New York production. Directed by Scott Elliott for The New Group, this production features Oscar nominees Ed Harris and Amy Madigan. Dodge (Harris) and Hallie (Madigan) are barely hanging on to their farmland and their sanity while looking after their two wayward grown sons. When their grandson Vince arrives with his girlfriend, no one seems to recognize him, and confusion abounds. As Vince tries to make sense of the chaos, the rest of the family dances around a deep, dark secret. Poetic and cuttingly funny, this American family drama gleefully pulls apart the threadbare deluded visions of our families and our homes.

This production reunites Sam Shepard with The New Group, following its 2010 production of his play A Lie of the Mind, directed by Ethan Hawke. In Buried Child, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan return to the company after appearing in the acclaimed 2013 production of Beth Henley's The Jacksonian, directed by Robert Falls. Buried Child had its New York premiere in 1978 and was revived on Broadway in 1996.

The New Group, led by founding Artistic Director Scott Elliott and Executive Director Adam Bernstein, is an award-winning, artist-driven company with a commitment to developing and producing powerful, contemporary theater. Founded in 1995, The New Group was born of Artistic Director Scott Elliott's desire to develop a place for artists to experiment, take risks and learn from each other without the pressures of commercial theater. The current 2014-2015 season marks The New Group's 20th Anniversary. The company began its 20th Anniversary Season with David Rabe's Sticks and Bones, directed by Scott Elliott and featuring Richard Chamberlain, Nadia Gan, Holly Hunter, Morocco Omari, Bill Pullman, Ben Schnetzer and Raviv Ullman, followed by Joel Drake Johnson's Rasheeda Speaking, featuring Patricia Conolly, Darren Goldstein, Tonya Pinkins and Dianne Wiest, helmed by Cynthia Nixon. The New Group is currently represented Off-Broadway by the world premiere of Jesse Eisenberg's The Spoils. Directed by Scott Elliott, The Spoils features Erin Darke, Jesse Eisenberg, Kunal Nayyar, Annapurna Sriram and Michael Zegen. A limited engagement plays through June 28, with Opening Night on June 2.

The company's 2013-2014 season included 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; the world premiere of Thomas Bradshaw's Intimacy, directed by Scott Elliott; and the New York premiere of Sharr White's Annapurna, directed by Bart DeLorenzo, starring Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman. Other notable productions include Ecstasy, This is Our Youth, Aunt Dan and Lemon, Hurlyburly, Abigail's Party, Rafta, Rafta..., The Starry Messenger, A Lie of the Mind, Blood From a Stone, Marie and Bruce, and many more. The company has received nearly 100 awards and nominations for excellence. The New Group is a recipient of the 2004 Tony® Award for Best Musical (Avenue Q). In 2011, The Kid received five Drama Desk nominations and the Outer Critics Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical. That year, The New Group and Scott Elliott were honored with a Drama Desk Special Award "for presenting contemporary new voices, and for uncompromisingly raw and powerful productions."

The Pershing Square Signature Center, the permanent home of Signature Theatre, is a three-theatre facility on West 42nd Street designed by Frank Gehry Architects to host Signature's three distinct playwrights' residencies and foster a cultural community. The Center is a major contribution to New York City's cultural landscape and provides a venue for cultural organizations that supports and encourages collaboration among artists throughout the space. In addition to its three intimate theatres, the Center features a studio theatre, rehearsal studio, a bookstore, and Signature Café and Bar, open to public from noon-midnight Tuesdays-Sundays. For more information on renting the Center, please visit www.signaturetheatre.org/rentals.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride