Gionfriddo's BECKY SHAW Opens Tonight 1/8

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director) will continue its 30th Anniversary Season with the New York premiere of Gina Gionfriddo's play, BECKY SHAW, directed by Peter Dubois.

The recent runaway hit of the Humana Festival, BECKY SHAW which began previews Tuesday, December 16 at Second Stage Theatre (307 West 43rd Street) will officially open tonight, Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 6:30pm. For tickets or more information, please visit www.2ST.com.

In BECKY SHAW, a newlywed couple fixes up two romantically challenged friends: wife's best friend, meet husband's sexy and strange new co-worker. When an evening calculated to bring happiness takes a dark turn, crisis and comedy ensue in this wickedly funny new play that asks what we owe the people we love and the strangers who land on our doorstep.

BECKY SHAW features David Wilson Barnes (reprising his acclaimed performance from the world premiere production at the Humana Festival), Emily Bergl ("Men in Trees," Second Stage Theatre's Some Americans Abroad), Kelly Bishop ("Gilmore Girls," original cast of Six Degrees of Separation, Tony Award-winner for A Chorus Line), Annie Parisse (who created the title role of Becky Shaw in the world premiere production at the Humana Festival), and Thomas Sadoski (reasons to be pretty, Second Stage Theatre's Reckless, Gemini, This Is Our Youth, All This Intimacy).

BECKY SHAW will feature scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Jeff Mahshie, lighting design by David Weiner, and sound design by Walter Trarbach.

GINA GIONFRIDDO is the author of After Ashley (Vineyard Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville), U.S. Drag (Clubbed Thumb, Connecticut Rep; published by Smith & Kraus in Women Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2002), Guinevere (Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference), Safe, and Trepidation Nation (both at Actors Theatre of Louisville), among other plays. She has received an Obie Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, a Lucille Lortel Fellowship, and a Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship.

Director Peter Dubois is the newly appointed Artistic Director of Boston's Huntington Theatre Company. Also a former Artistic Director of Alaska's innovative Perseverance Theatre Company, DuBois' recent work includes the Obie Award-winning production of David Grimm's Measure for Pleasure, as well as Richard III starring Peter Dinklage (both at the Public Theatre) and the LAByrinth Theatre Company's co-production of Bob Glaudini's Jack Goes Boating starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Ortiz, Beth Cole and Daphne Rubin-Vega. He recently staged a new adaptation of Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre.

David Wilson Barnes appeared in the world premiere production of Becky Shaw at the Humana Festival. Other theatre credits include Saint Crispin's Day, Rattlestick Theatre; Men Without Shadows, The Flea; Jersey Story, Cherry Lane; The Square, Ma Yi Theatre Company/The Public Theatre; Hamlet, The Public Theater; Mirandolina, The Pearl; A Midsummer Night's Dream, 78th St. Theatre Lab; The Caucasian Chalk Circle and The Bald Soprano, La Mama ETC; Hedda Gabler, Horace Mann Theatre. Television: "Law and Order," "L & O: Criminal Intent," and "Sex and the City." Film: Capote, Ozark Savage, Extreme Mom, Nose.

Emily Bergl returns to Second Stage Theatre where she appeared in this summer's production of Some Americans Abroad. She just finished two seasons playing Annie on the ABC series "Men in Trees" and has appeared on Broadway in A Touch of the Poet, The Rivals, and The Lion in Winter (FANY Award). Her Off-Broadway credits include Fiction, Where Do We Live, and Old Money and regionally, Proof, The School for Wives, and The Country, among many others. Films include Fur, The Hard Easy, Chasing Sleep, Happy Campers, The Rage: Carrie 2.

Kelly Bishop has appeared on Broadway in Proposals, Bus Stop, Six Degrees of Separation, Precious Sons and A Chorus Line (Tony and Drama Desk awards). Her Off-Broadway credits include The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Death Defying Acts (Woody Allen's Central Park West), Pterodactyls, Piano Bar and A Lady Needs a Change. She has performed Off Off-Broadway and in regional theatre productions of It Changes Every Year and The Substance of Fire (both written by Jon Robin Baitz), The Last Girl Singer, The Fourth Wall (A.R. Gurney), A Little Night Music, The Voice of the Turtle, The Three Penny Opera, Perfectly Frank, Vanities and Pal Joey. She is well known to TV audiences for her role as Emily Gilmore on the hit series "Gilmore Girls," and has made guest appearances on "Murphy Brown," "Law & Order," "Kate and Allie," "The New Odd Couple," and even "Hawaii Five-O." Her film credits include An Unmarried Woman, Dirty Dancing, Me and Him, Cafe Society, Miami Rhapsody and Private Parts.

Annie Parisse created the role of Becky Shaw in the play's world premiere production at the Humana Festival. She appeared on Broadway in Craig Lucas' Prelude To a Kiss. Other theatre credits include Misalliance, dir. David Warren (Roundabout Theatre Company); The Internationalist, dir. Ken Rus Schmoll (Vineyard Theater); Coastal Disturbances, dir. Mark Nelson (Berkshire Theatre Festival); Monster, dir. Michael Greif (Classic Stage Company); The Credeaux Canvas, dir. Michael Mayer (Playwrights Horizons); The Crackwalker (Soho Rep/Walkerspace); The Wild Duck (NY Performance Works). Film: Definitely/Maybe, Blackbird, Prime, Monster-in-Law, National Treasure, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. Television: "Law & Order," "Friends," "Third Watch," "Big Apple," "As the World Turns" (Emmy nomination).

Thomas Sadoski recently appeared off-Broadway in Neil LaBute's reasons to be pretty. He has appeared in several Second Stage Theatre productions, including Reckless, This Is Our Youth, Gemini, and All This Intimacy. Other off-Broadway credits include Where We're Born (Rattlestick), The Mistakes Madeline Made (Naked Angels), Jump/Cut (The Women's Project), The General from America (Theater For a New Audience), Man Measures Man (The Lark). Regionally, Tom has appeared in Moonlight & Magnolias (Alliance Theater), The General from America (Alley Theater), Left (New York Stage & Film), The Waverly Gallery (Long Wharf), Street Scene, The Skin Of Our Teeth, Hot L Baltimore, Rodney's Wife (Williamstown Theater Festival). Film/TV: Loser; Happy Hour; Company K; Winter Solstice; "As The World Turns," "Law & Order."

Founded in 1979 under the leadership of Artistic Director Carole Rothman, SECOND STAGE THEATRE produces a diverse range of premieres and new interpretations of America's best contemporary theatre, including Tiny Alice and Peter and Jerry by Edward Albee; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Little Murders by Jules Feiffer; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; A Soldier's Play by Charles Fuller; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo's Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; Painting Churches and Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants and On the Stem by Ricky Jay; Living Out by Lisa Loomer; This Is Our Youth and The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan; Some Men by Terrence McNally; eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Crowns by ReGina Taylor; Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein; Spoils of War by Michael Weller; Before It Hits Home, Jar the Floor and Birdie Blue by Cheryl L. West; Jitney by August Wilson; Lemon Sky, Serenading Louie and Sympathetic Magic by Lanford Wilson; and Metamorphoses and The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci by Mary Zimmerman. The company's more than 125 citations include the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed), 2005 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, ...Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, ...Spelling Bee), 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses), the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 23 Obie Awards, four Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Clarence Derwent Awards, nine Drama Desk Awards, five Theatre World Awards, 11 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 15 AUDELCO Awards.

In 1999, Second Stage Theatre opened its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theatre, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched "Second Stage Theatre Uptown" series to showcase the work of up and coming artists at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre. The Theatre supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs.

SECOND STAGE THEATRE AT THE Helen Hayes

Second Stage Theatre recently announced that it has acquired the right to purchase the historic Helen Hayes Theatre, located at 240 W. 44th Street. With this new home, Second Stage will be the only theater company on Broadway dedicated exclusively to the development and presentation of contemporary American theatrical productions. Second Stage will also become one of only four non-profit theater companies that own and operate theaters on Broadway. The company will continue to lease and operate their original theaters on the city's Upper West Side and in Midtown Manhattan. Programming in the Helen Hayes will begin in 2010.

BECKY SHAW will be performed through Sunday, February 1, 2009 at Second Stage Theatre (307 West 43rd Street, just west of 8th Avenue) on the following schedule: Tuesday at 7:00pm, Wednesday - Saturday at 8:00pm, Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00pm, and Sunday at 3:00pm.

NOTE: All weekday evening performances the week of January 12 will begin at 7:00pm. Weekend curtain times remain the same.

NOTE: There will be no performance on Friday, January 9th.

Tickets are $70 and may be purchased by phoning 212-246-4422 or 800-766-6048 or online at www.2ST.com. Patrons age 30 and under may purchase a limited number of specially-priced $30 tickets in advance. A limited number of student rush tickets are $15 and are available 30 minutes prior to curtain.

Group tickets are available by phoning 212-889-4300 or (800) 331-0472. Box-office hours are Monday, 10:00am - 6:00pm, Tuesday 10:00am - 7:00pm, Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00am to 8:00pm, and Sunday, 10:00am to 3:00pm.

For more information, please visit www.2ST.com

 

 

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