Cameron Crowe to Moderate BEHIND THE LYRICS

MCC Theater (Bob LuPone, Bernie Telsey, Will Cantler, Co-Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) announced today that Oscar and Grammy Award-winning music and culture journalist Cameron Crowe (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Almost Famous) will moderate Behind the Lyrics, a special one-night event that will take a deep dive in to the songwriting process for Space Dogs.

Immediately following the Monday March 7 performance, Crowe will join actor-musicians Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire to discuss their creative process, artistic/genre influences, musical development, collaboration, cut lyrics, and more. The event is included with tickets purchased for that evening's performance, which are available at mcctheater.org.

Cameron Crowe covered music and culture as a journalist for such publications as Rolling Stone, Playboy, The New York Times, Newsweek, and Los Angeles Times. His first book, the nonfiction study of a year in the life of a California high school, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, became a best seller, and his subsequent screenplay was nominated for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium by the Writers Guild of America.

His other film credits include Jerry Maguire, nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. That year, Crowe also received a nomination from the Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film and received the PEN Literary Award for Screenplay. He next penned Conversations with Wilder, a heralded collection of interviews with the legendary director Billy Wilder. The book was published by Knopf in November 1999.

(Wilder, with tongue firmly in cheek, declared it "the best book I've ever read.") Almost Famous, released in September 2000, was the culmination of a 10-year process to put Crowe's experiences working for Rolling Stone on film. The movie received four Golden Globe nominations and four Academy Award nominations and won two Golden Globes (Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Kate Hudson). Crowe was also awarded the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. His other film credits include his directorial debut, Say Anything...; Vanilla Sky; Elizabethtown; and We Bought a Zoo.

His documentary work includes Elton John's The Union and Pearl Jam Twenty. Most recently, Crowe produced the acclaimed documentary David Crosby: Remember My Name, which debuted at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Crowe was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, for which he still frequently writes. A recent cover story of his was an in-depth portrait of Harry Styles.

Space Dogs tells the heartbreaking, mind-blowing true story of Laika and the Chief Designer -- a stray dog and the top-secret Russian scientist who sent her to space during the Cold War. Written and performed by actor-musicians Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire, this new musical is a sweeping, kaleidoscopic tale of invention, betrayal, international political intrigue, and the immortal friendship that exists between man and dog, as they journey together to the stars.

Directed by Ellie Heyman, Space Dogs features scenic design by Wilson Chin, costume design by Haydee Zelideth Atuñano, lighting design by Mary Ellen Stebbins, sound design by Nathan Leigh, projection design by Stefania Bulbarella and Alex Basco Koch, and puppet and props design by Amanda Villalobos. Choreography is by Darrell Grand Moultrie and Justin Scribner is the production stage manager. Noah Kieserman serves as the understudy. Casting is by The Telsey Office - Geoff Josselson CSA.

Space Dogs is produced in association with Tricia Small. The performance schedule for Space Dogs is as follows: Mondays and Tuesdays at 7:30pm; Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30pm; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30pm. Tickets start at $39 and are available now at mcctheater.org.

Space Dogs began previews on January 25 and opened on February 13 in the Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater and will play a twice-extended run through Sunday March 20, 2022 at MCC Theater (511 W 52nd Street New York, NY 10019).

The original cast album of Space Dogs is now available through Ghostlight Records. The album is produced by Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire, with Kurt Deutsch serving as executive producer, and is available at ghostlightrecords.lnk.to/SpaceDogs.

MCC Theater requires that all audience members provide proof of full vaccination and booster, if eligible, along with a government issued photo ID with matching name at the point of building entry on performance date. Masks must be worn at all times in the building. KN95/N-95 masks provide the strongest protection against COVID-19 and are strongly encouraged for audience members. The policy is outlined in detail here.

MCC Theater will stay current with and adhere to the guidelines of the CDC and WHO, therefore, this policy is subject to change pending any and all updates. Policy changes will be updated on MCC's website and all communication channels and ticket holders will be directly notified.

MCC is committed to the health and safety of its staff, artists, production crews, students and audience members. The theater has expanded its safety initiatives by installing a Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization (NPBI) technology system, upgrading the HVAC system with MERV 14 & MERV 15 filters, placing standing HEPA filters throughout the building, as well doubling the facility deep cleaning schedule, and going contactless with digital ticket scanning and digital playbills, among other efforts.

Following Space Dogs, Here She Is, Boys, by Ana Nogueira (Empathitrax) and directed by Mike Donahue (MCC's Collective Rage), will premiere in April 2022. The season will conclude in May 2022 with soft by Donja R. Love (one in two) and directed by Whitney White (What to Send Up When It Goes Down). MCC will also present Uncensored, an MCC Youth Company Production, in Spring of 2022. Additional information for these productions will be announced at a later date.

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