'Dead Man's Cell Phone' Sparks Live-for-Five Lotto Jan.30

Starting Wednesday, January 30 at 10AM, Playwrights Horizons will be accepting entries for its popular online lottery LIVEforFIVE for 50 tickets to its next production, Dead Man's Cell Phone, a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl (The Clean House, Eurydice).

A new initiative created this season as part of the theater company's Arts Access program, LIVEforFIVE makes available $5 tickets for the first preview performance of each Playwrights Horizons production through a lottery via the company's website.  The LIVEforFIVE lottery for Dead Man's Cell Phone will be for tickets to the first preview on Friday, February 8 at 8PM at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).  

Directed by 2-time Obie Award winner Anne Bogart (Artistic Director of SITI Company), the New York premiere of Dead Man's Cell Phone features Tony, Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner Mary-Louise Parker (Proof, "Weeds") in her eagerly-awaited return to the stage, along with Drama Desk and Obie Award winner Kathleen Chalfant (Wit, Tony nomination for Angels in America), Obie Award winner Bill Camp (Homebody/Kabul, Coram Boy, The Misanthrope), David Aaron Baker, Carla Harting and Kelly Maurer.  The production will have its official opening on Tuesday, March 4 at 7PM and continue through Sunday, February 23.

Details for the LIVEforFIVE lottery are as follows: beginning Wednesday, January 30 at 10AM, theatergoers can enter the lottery by filling out an entry form at www.playwrightshorizons.org. Entries will be accepted until Monday, February 4 at 12 Noon.  Winners of the lottery will be notified via email by February 5 with instructions on how to book their $5 tickets.  One or two tickets may be purchased for $5 each.  A total of 50 tickets will be available for the show via the lottery.

"Gordon (Mr. Camp) is dead, but his cell phone lives on.  When Jean (Ms. Parker), an empathetic museum worker, answers his ringing phone beside her in a café, she is soon playing unwitting comforter and confessor to the man's grieving friends and family.  Before she knows it, Jean is ensnarled in the underbelly of the dead man's bizarre life.  A wildly imaginative new comedy, Dead Man's Cell Phone is the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her assumptions about morality, redemption and the need to connect in a technology-obsessed world," explain press notes.

Debuting with the current 2007/2008 season, LIVEforFIVE is a new initiative as part of the theater company's Arts Access program, which allows the institution to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket.  

Reflecting Playwrights Horizons' ongoing commitment to making its productions more affordable to younger audiences, the theater company will continue to offer HOTtix, $20 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before showtime to patrons aged 30 and under. Proof of age required. One ticket per person, per purchase.  The company will also continue to offer Student Rush $15 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before curtain to full-time graduate and undergraduate students. One ticket per person, per purchase. Valid student ID required.

LIVEforFIVE, HOTtix, and Student Rush are just a few of Playwrights Horizons' popular Arts Access initiatives, which allow the theater company to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket.

For subscription and ticket information to all Playwrights Horizons productions, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, Noon to 8 pm daily, or purchase online at the Playwrights Horizons website at www.playwrightshorizons.org

Mary-Louise Parker (photo by Sheryl Nields)