Cast, Creative Team Announced for MUSWELL HILL at The Barrow Group

The Barrow Group Theatre Company, recipient of a Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award, launches their 2017-2018 season with the New York premiere of Muswell Hill, a play by Torben Betts, in a co-production with The Pond Theatre Company.

Directed by Shannon Patterson, the six-member cast features Jason Alan Carvell (War Horse), as Mat, Colleen Clinton (Abigail's Party) as Jess, Lily Dorment (Abigail's Party) as Karen, Richard Hollis (The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-Time) as Simon, John Pirkis ("The Tick") as Tony, and Sarah Street (Abigail's Party) as Annie.

Performances begin Saturday, November 11, 2017 for a limited engagement through Saturday, December 16, 2017 at The Barrow Group Mainstage Theatre (312 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor). Opening Night is set for Monday, November 20, 2017 at 7:00PM.

Following the sold-out run of Abigail's Party last fall, The Barrow Group Theatre Company and The Pond Theatre Company reunite to present the New York premiere of Muswell Hill by Torben Betts.

Set in the leafy north London suburb of Muswell Hill, a dinner party turns dangerously fraught, yet increasingly comical, as the host and guests rattle their upper middle class complacency to a point of no return. Amidst this domestic disaster, an earthquake in a developing nation rocks the rest of the world. How can they justify their everyday worries in an ever more fragile world?

Torben Betts is a multi award-winning British playwright, described by Alan Ayckbourn as "one of the most exciting theatre writing talents I have come across in many a year."

The creative team for Muswell Hill includes: Edward T. Morris (set), Kristin Isola (costumes), Solomon Weisbard (lights), and Addison Heeren (props). The Production Stage Manager is Allison Raynes.

Muswell Hill will play the following performance schedule: Monday at 8:00 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Please note: There is a special added performance on Tuesday, November 14 at 8:00 p.m. and no performances on November 15 & 16. Single tickets for Muswell Hill are priced at $35 (Premium Seats) & $25 and are available by visiting the website at www.barrowgroup.org or by calling OvationTix at 866-811-4111.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Jason Alan Carvell (Mat) was last seen in Lincoln Center and The National Theatre of Great Britain's national tour of War Horse. He has performed at The New York Public Theatre in Lovers Fire, as the title character in Othello at The Cottage Theatre in London, in Twelfth Night at LaMama, and in Romeo and Juliet at The New Victory Theater. You may have seen him on television in one of the following: "Blue Bloods," "Blindspot," "Daredevil," "Body of Proof," "Prime Suspect," "Nurse Jackie," or "Guilty," among others. Jason trained at Carnegie Mellon and Moscow Art Theatre School.

Colleen Clinton (Jess) is an actor, playwright and founding member of The Pond Theatre Company. She was last seen in Abigail's Party (The Barrow Group and The Pond Theatre Company), Proof (Holmdel Theater), The Beautiful Dark, FAB: The Power Plays, and the original Fast & FAB (The Barrow Group). Other theater credits include The Old Man (Irish Arts Center), Autoeroticism in Detroit (Blue Heron Arts), A Servant of Two Masters (Sasquatch Theater), As You Like It (Expanded Arts Center). Film/TV: GONE, "Blue Bloods," "Law and Order," "Law and Order: Criminal Intent," "Rescue Me," "Third Watch," Hack. BFA: The University of Michigan.

Lily Dorment (Karen) is an actor and director and a founding member of The Pond Theatre Company. She studied at Yale, Columbia, RADA, and The Barrow Group. Recent credits include: Abigail's Party (The Barrow Group and The Pond Theatre Company), The Unrepeatable Moment (The Barrow Group), Calendar Girls (U.S Premiere, Ivoryton Playhouse), Platanov (Columbia Stages), as well as plays at The Classic Stage Company, the NY Fringe Festival and others. Film: Nica, Lamb to the Slaughter, The Sonnet Project: Sonnet 94.

Richard Hollis (Simon) was last seen in New York on Broadway in the five-time Tony award winning The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-Time. He met his wife at the National Theatre when they were both in the world premiere of Tom Stoppard's Coast of Utopia. His first TV job was in the original UK series of "The Office." In and around all that, he's done shows in Houston, Boston and Baltimore. He's done plays by Moliere, John Guare and Shakespeare. He was in "Believe" for NBC and "Waking the Dead" for the BBC. He's been in Noel Coward's Present Laughter twice: in the UK opposite Simon Callow and in the US opposite Michael Cumpsty. And he's done four shows at The Orange Tree Theatre in London, home of the original production of Muswell Hill.

John Pirkis (Tony) was last seen on the New York stage in The Barrow Group and The Pond Theatre Company's production of Abigail's Party. He has appeared on stage in the West End, and throughout the United Kingdom, Europe and the U.S. over the past 35 years. John co-founded the multi award winning, internationally acclaimed Theatre503 in London - "the home of cutting edge new writing". Theatre503 continues to thrive, launching the careers of emerging writers, directors and actors. John trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the UK, and has appeared in numerous British and American TV series and films. Most recently, John has Guest Starred in several TV shows in the U.S. including: "The Blacklist," "Daredevil" (recurring guest), "Blue Bloods," "Billions," "Turn: Washington Spies," "Madame Secretary," and in Stephen Gaghan's feature GOLD starring Matthew McConaughey. He can currently be seen in the recurring guest role of 'Dr. Karamazov' in Amazon Prime's "The Tick."

Sarah Street (Annie) is an actor, playwright, and founding member of The Pond Theatre Company. This past year Sarah has been seen in Abigail's Party at The Barrow Group and co-produced by The Pond, the world premiere of Rebel in the Soul at The Irish Repertory Theatre, and Subprime at Jersey City Theatre Center. Her TV credits include recurring roles on "Law & Order:SVU," "The Following," and commercial spots include Amazon Fire Stick and NBC: Non Stop. Sarah is so excited to be back on stage this Autumn, playing Annie in Muswell Hill.

Shannon Patterson (Director) is a New York based director, actress and coach with a passion for bringing new stories to the stage, and soon the screen. As a director, two of her most recent and exciting credits were the New York premieres of Erik Gernand's The Beautiful Dark and John Yearly's The Unrepeatable Moment; both produced at The Barrow Group. She also works with the F.A.B. (For, About, By) Women@TBG, workshopping countless new stories and plays and is thrilled to be back directing at TBG, her creative home. shanpatterson.com

Torben Betts (Playwright) Theatre credits include: The National Joke, (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough) Invincible (Orange Tree Theatre and St James Theatre, London, Brits-off-Broadway); What Falls Apart (Live Theatre, Newcastle); Get Carter (Northern Stage); The Seagull (Regent's Park Open Air); A Listening Heaven (Edinburgh Royal Lyceum, nominated as TMA Best New Play 2001); The Unconquered (Traverse/Tron/Brits-off-Broadway/UK tour, winner of Best New Play at the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland, 2007); Muswell Hill (Orange Tree Theatre and Park Theatre, London); The Company Man (Orange Tree Theatre); The Error of their Ways (HERE Arts Center, New York); Lie of the Land (Arcola Theatre, London/Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh); The Swing of Things; Her Slightest Touch (both Stephen Joseph Theatre); Incarcerator (Battersea Arts Centre, London); The Lunatic Queen (Riverside Studios, London); Five Visions of the Faithful (Edinburgh Festival Theatre); Clockwatching (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond and Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough); The Biggleswades (Southwark Playhouse), Silence and Violence (White Bear Theatre, London). His versions of The Misanthrope at Northampton's Royal and Derngate and Boeing Boeing at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, will be presented on 2018. His plays have been performed around the world and to date have been translated into Spanish, French, German, Finnish, Czech, Polish and Portuguese. Torben wrote the screenplay for the British independent feature film Downhill, which was released in cinemas in May 2014. He is represented by Independent Talent Group, London and is published by Oberon Books, London.

The Barrow Group has won numerous awards, including a Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award, and received numerous nominations over the years. Past company members and alumni have won Academy, Emmy, Tony, OBIE, and Lucille Lortel Awards. The Company has received support from the W Trust, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The Dramatists Guild, the Jewish Communal Fund, the Dramatists Play Service, the Citrin Foundation, the Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment of the Arts, and the American Theatre Wing. Thirty-one years old, The Barrow Group is a thriving non-profit, with a strong Board of Trustees, making a meaningful contribution to New York City's cultural landscape.

The Barrow Group Theatre Company and School offers theatre patrons and performing arts students an artistic experience focused on simplicity, clarity, and spontaneity in their 10,000 sf. arts center in midtown Manhattan.

The Pond Theatre Company presents US premieres of plays by emerging British and Irish playwrights and provides a context for those works through the revival of modern classics. Founded by an international group of actors from the UK, Ireland and the United States, The Pond is dedicated to showcasing the work of emerging playwrights whose work may have been produced in the UK or Ireland but who have had few, if any, opportunities to present their work to US audiences.

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