Greta Gerwig Replaces Maggie Gyllenhaal in MCC Theater's THE VILLAGE BIKE

MCC THEATER has announced that indie film star Greta Gerwig will now lead the cast of the American premiere of Penelope Skinner's celebrated play The Village Bike, the final production of MCC's 2013-14 Main Stage season. The Village Bike will be directed by Sam Gold, who recently directed the much-raved new musical Fun Home. It will premiere at The Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) beginning May 22, 2014 with an official opening on June 10, 2014.

Greta Gerwig -- who will be making her stage debut -- rose to fame this past year with her critically-acclaimed and Golden Globe-nominated performance in Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha, which she also co-wrote with Baumbach. She will next lead the cast of the 20th Century Fox comedy pilot "How I Met Your Dad," a spin-off of the popular "How I Met Your Mother." A full biography appears below.

William Cantler, Co-Artistic Director of MCC Theater said, "We've been fans of Greta since we saw her in Greenberg, and we've been obsessive since her amazing performance in Frances Ha. I can't think of anything better than introducing her to the New York stage in a rich, complex role like this - she's so damn fearless and full of surprises."

In Penelope Skinner's The Village Bike, Becky is pregnant -- and friskier than ever. But she can't seem to get the attention of her husband, who is preoccupied with preparing for the baby's months-away arrival. So Becky takes matters into her own hands and sets out on an adventure that starts with the purchase of a used bike from a man in town and takes her further than she ever expected she'd go. Playwright Skinner won the Evening Standard Award Most Promising Playwright for The Village Bike in 2011, which premiered to rave reviews and sold-out audiences at The Royal Court Theatre in London.

MCC Theater - founded in 1986 as Manhattan Class Company - is driven by a mission to provoke conversations that have never happened and otherwise never would. Led by Artistic Directors Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, and Executive Director Blake West, MCC fulfills its mission by producing new work that challenges artists and rewards audiences, and by nurturing the development of playwrights and students through a variety of literary and education programs that enable nearly 1,200 New York City high school students to find - and use - their own unique voice each year through the creation and performance of original theater pieces. MCC currently produces its annual season at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street) and will open its own two-theater complex on West 52nd Street and 10th Avenue in 2017. Notable productions include the recent hits Hand to God and Small Engine Repair; The Other Place; Really Really; The Submission, winner of the inaugural Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award for new American plays; The Pride; Fifty Words; Nixon's Nixon; The Grey Zone; the Tony Award-winningFrozen; the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit; the re-imagined production of the musical Carrie; and eight plays by Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute, including Fat Pig, Reasons to Be Pretty and last season's hit Reasons to Be Happy.

GRETA GERWIG has rapidly emerged as one of Hollywood's most engaging actresses. She will next star in, write and produce the 20th Century Fox pilot HOW I MET YOUR DAD -- CBS' spinoff from long-running comedy series HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. Gerwig will star as Sally, a female Peter Pan who has never grown up and has no idea of where she's going in life. After breaking up with her husband of less than a year, she finds a solid circle of support in her friends and family.

Gerwig recently wrapped production on Barry Levinson's THE HUMBLING opposite Al Pacino and Dianne Wiest. She is also set to star in MAGGIE'S PLAN, a romantic comedy of manners, which is written and will be directed by Rebecca Miller.

She was last seen in FRANCES HA, a comedy she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach about an aspiring dancer who moves to New York City and becomes caught up in a whirlwind of flighty fair-weather friends, diminishing fortunes and career setbacks. For her performance, she earned a Golden Globe and Broadcast Film Critics Association Award nomination in the category of "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy." The film, which also earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for "Best Feature," premiered at the 2012 Telluride Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, and New York Film Festival and was released by IFC in May 2013.

The actress also co-starred in Woody Allen's TO ROME WITH LOVE opposite Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg and Ellen Page. Other credits include Whit Stillman's comedy DAMSELS IN DISTRESS and the title character of "Lola" in Fox Searchlight's LOLA VERSUS.

Gerwig first received critical acclaim for her breakout role as "Florence" in GREENBERG which marked her first collaboration with writer/director, Noah Baumbach. In the film, she starred opposite Ben Stiller and her performance earned her several nominations including a Gotham Award nomination for Breakthrough Performance and an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. Gerwig then went on to star alongside Russell Brand and Helen Mirren in the comedy ARTHUR, which she followed with a supporting role in the romantic comedy NO STRINGS ATTACHED with Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher.

A darling of the independent film scene, Gerwig's prior credits include Ti West's "art-house horror film" HOUSE OF THE DEVIL; the Duplass brothers' genre-bender BAGHEAD. She has twice collaborated with director and actor Joe Swanberg, first on HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS as a writer and actress, and then for NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS, which she also co-wrote and co-directed.

Gerwig graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College, and currently resides in New York City.

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