'Circle in the Square Theatre' Has Joined Culture Project As Producer of 'The Athiest'

Circle in the Square Theatre (Theodore Mann, Artistic Director and Paul Libin, Managing Director) has joined Culture Project as producer of the upcoming New York production of The Atheist, presented by Culture Project (Allan Buchman, Artistic Director). The dark comedy, written by Ronan Noone, directed by Justin Waldman and starring Campbell Scott as ‘Augustine Early,’ begins performances at Culture Project’s temporary new home, Barrow Street Theatre, on Tuesday, October 7 with an official opening night set for Sunday, October 12.

In The Atheist, Scott plays a crooked reporter who will do anything to get his next front-page story. When Augustine turns a prominent local politician’s tawdry predilections into front page news, the scandal threatens to undo the one person Augustine thought was immune - himself.  The Atheist is a searing and hilarious play about catching the perfect front-page headline, whatever the cost. In a statement, Mr. Mann and Mr. Libin said, “Circle in the Square Theatre has a long and distinguished history with George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst, and it is our honor to be co-producing their son Campbell Scott in this special, tour-de-force event to New York audiences.”Mr. Buchman added, “TEd Mann and Paul Libin are kindred spirits and we at Culture Project are all inspired by this unique collaboration.”

The Atheist returns to Culture Project after a sold-out special one-night-only engagement in May.  The solo show also had a critically acclaimed run at Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company last year and recently completed an equally acclaimed run as part of the 2008 Williamstown Theatre Festival. The design team for The Atheist includes Ben Stanton (Lighting Design), Cristina Todesco (Set Design), Alex Neumann (Sound Design) and Emily Ellen Roberts (Stage Manager) The Atheist will be performed in rotating rep with In Conflict.  Beginning October 7, The Atheist will be performed every other week as follows: Tuesday – Thursday at 8:00 p.m., Friday at 9:00 p.m., Saturday at 4:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m. and Sunday at 4:00 p.m.  Tickets are priced at $45 and are available by calling 212-352-3101 or visiting www.cultureproject.org.  Student tickets ($2o) are available at the box-office. Culture Project at the Barrow Street Theatre is located at 27 Barrow Street at 7th Avenue.

Campbell Scott has appeared on Broadway in Long Day’s Journey into Night with Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst, Ah!, Wilderness, Hay Fever and The Queen and the Rebels.  His Off Broadway credits include The Last Outpost, Copperhead, A Man for All Seasons and On the Bum.  He played the title role in Hamlet at The Old Globe in San Diego and at The Huntington Theatre Company in Boston.  Other Shakespearean roles include Angelo in Measure for Measure (Lincoln Center), the title role in Pericles (The Public Theater/NYSF) and Iago in Othello (Philadelphia Drama Guild).  Film roles include From Hollywood to Deadwood, Longtime Companion, Dead Again (directed by Kenneth Branagh), Dying Young (opposite Julia Roberts), Singles (directed by Cameron Crowe), The Innocent, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, David Mamet’s The Spanish Prisoner, Big Night, Lush, Delivering Milo, Rodger Dodger, The Secret Lives of Dentists, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Music and Lyrics.  For television, he most recently starred in ABC’s “ Six Degrees.” He starred in, co-directed and produced Hamlet for the Odyssey Network.  Other TV credits include The Kennedys of Massachusetts (as Joseph Kennedy, Jr.), Sweeney Todd (Showtime), The Love Letter and Follow the Stars Home (Hallmark Hall of Fame) and Shot in the Hart (HBO). 

As a director, Mr. Scott directed the films Off the Map, starring Joan Allen and Sam Elliot and Final starring Hope Davis and co-directed with Stanley Tucci Big Night.  For the stage, he has directly Miss Julie, Snake Pitt and Recruiting Officer.  Most recently, Mr. Scott directed and produced the film Company Retreat. Ronan Noone began writing his first play, The Lepers of Baile Baiste, while working on Martha’s Vineyard.  The play caught the attention of Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, head of Boston University’s M.A. program in Playwriting, and Noone was asked to join the program.  Lepers won the Michael Kanin National Playwriting Award at the American College Theatre Festival, was produced at The Kennedy Center, and played Off Broadway in 2004.  Mr. Noone’s second play, The Blowin of Baile Gall, was nominated by the American Theatre Critics Association for the Steinberg New Play Award, and won the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script.  Both plays shared the Independent Reviewers of New England Award (IRNE) for Best New Script.  Blowin was produced Off Broadway by Gabriel Byrne in 2005.  Mr. Noone’s plays have had productions in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and London.   Justin Waldman is the artistic associate of Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company and the founder / producing artistic director of Next Stages.  Boston credits include Present Laughter, Persephone, The Cherry Orchard, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Sonia Flew, The Rose Tattoo, Springtime for Henry, Breath, Boom (all for Huntington) and Over It (Next Stages). 

He is a graduate of Tufts University. Culture Project's mission is to bear witness to injustice, to stimulate challenging conversation about the most profound and urgent matters of our time and to convert interest, energy and engagement into a motivational demand for progressive change.  Culture Project has premiered celebrated shows including The Exonerated, Sarah Jones’ Bridge & Tunnel, Guantanamo, Lawrence Wright’s My Trip To Al-Qaeda, Tings Dey Happen and most recently, the Lucille Lortel Award-winning World Premiere of George Packer’s Betrayed.  It will next present In Conflict, a searing portrait of Iraq war veterans. Circle in the Square Theatre’s mission is to present new exceptional talent, actors, playwrights and directors to the theater world in performances of classic American and European plays. Theodore Mann and Paul Libin (co-producers) have been partners based on a handshake for the past 45 years. 

The Circle in the Square Theatre is famous for giving birth to Off-Broadway with the production of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke, and for the re-recognition of Eugene O'Neill by virtue of their outstanding productions of his plays.  Paul Libin produced many plays at the Martinque Theatre and trhe groundbreaking production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible.  Together, Mann and Libin have produced nineteen O'Neill productions, four Greek classics, six plays by Tennessee Williams, many plays by Noel Coward and George Bernard Shaw, and new plays by Jules Feiffer, Horton Foote, Murray Schisgal, and Terrence McNally, among others. 

Actors whose careers have been encouraged by the Circle include George C. Scott, Colleen Dewhurst, James Earl Jones, Vanessa, Lynn and Corin Redgrave, Jason Robards, Nathan Lane, Kevin Kline, Annette Bening, Laura Linney, Ruby Dee, JoAnne Woodward, Dustin Hoffman, and many more.  In 1972, Circle in the Square Theatre moved from its Greenwich Village origins to its new home on Broadway.  The most recent production at the Circle was The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which ran for three years. Mann and Libin also direct the celebrated Circle in the Square Theatre School, which they founded in 1963 and includes among its alumni Philip Seymour Hoffman, Felicity Huffman, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Bacon and Idina Menzel.  

Mann has recently published a book, JOURNEYS IN THE NIGHT: Creating a New American Theatre with Circle in the Square, and Libin is Vice President and Producing Director of the successfully prolific Jujamcyn Theatres.  Mann and Libin brought The Atheist to the attention of Mr. Buchman.

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