LONELY PLANET, Starring Arnie Burton & Matt McGrath, Opens Tonight at Keen Company

Steven Dietz's landmark play Lonely Planet, directed by Keen Artistic Director Jonathan Silverman (The Tempramentals) and starring Arnie Burton (The Government Inspector) and Matt McGrath (The Legend of Georgia McBride) opens tonight, October 19th, for a limited Off-Broadway engagement at The Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street), continuing through November 18th.

Mr. Dietz's play is a testament to the value of friendship during a time of crisis. Keen Company creates theater that provokes identification, reflection, and emotional connection. In intimate productions of plays and musicals, we tell wholehearted stories about people striving to do their best. Keen has been honored with eleven Drama Desk Nominations, two Drama Desk Awards, two Drama League Nominations, and two Obie Awards.

Lonely Planet is the story of friendship in a time of crisis. Set in a small map store on the oldest street in an American city, Lonely Planet is an intimate portrait of two friends at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Shop owner Jody becomes increasingly fearful of the world outside and the dangers it poses, refusing to leave his shop. Meanwhile Carl, his spirited friend, begins filling the store with a variety of mysterious chairs. Funny, moving, and deeply human, Steven Dietz's landmark play examines how we all navigate troubled times. 25th anniversary production!

Arnie Burton's Broadway credits include Machinal, Peter and the Starcatcher, The 39 Steps, The New Yorkers (Encores!), A Free Man of Color, Amadeus. Off-Broadway credits include The Government Inspector (Red Bull Theater); Mystery of Irma Vep (Drama League Nomination); Talespin!;, Lives of the Saints; The Tempamentals (Drama Desk Award, outstanding ensemble); Peter and the Starcatcher (NYTW); The Merchant of Venice/The Jew of Malta (TFANA); Mere Mortals (Primary Stages and commercial run); The Last Sunday in June (Rattlestick and commercial run); The Venetian Twins, The Cherry Orchard (Pearl Theatre) UK: The Merchant of Venice (RSC, Stratford) Regional highlights include The Confederacy of Dunces (Huntington Theater), Big Sky (Geffen Playhouse), How to Succeed in Business... (TUTS), I Am My Own Wife (Kevin Kline Award, best actor, St Louis; Helen Hayes Nomination best actor, DC); All in the Timing ( Geffen Playhouse LA); The Santaland Diaries, The Seagull, The Taming of the Shrew (Old Globe) Mystery of Irma Vep (Berkeley Rep) Also The Alley Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Co, The Huntington, Berkshire Theatre Fest. TV: "Elementary," "Jessica Jones," "Flesh and Bone", "Frasier," "Law and Order" (also "Criminal Intent"), "White Collar," "Blue Bloods," "Life on Mars," "6 Degrees," "Hope and Faith," "Caroline in the City." Film: The Greatest Showman, The Invention of Lying, Igby Goes Down, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Game 6.

Matt McGrath recently received the Lucille Lortel Award for his performance as Miss Tracy Mills in The Legend Of Georgia McBride at MCC (DCPA, Geffen Playhouse). He starred as Wilhelm in Robert Wilson's The Black Rider at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles, San Francisco, London and Sydney. Broadway: Cabaret (Emcee), A Streetcar Named Desire. Off-Broadway: Steve (The New Group), Verite (LCT3 - Lincoln Center), Hedwig and the Angry Inch, A Fair Country (Lincoln Center), Collection/A Kind of Alaska, Minutes from the Blue Route, The Dadshuttle (Atlantic), Fat Men in Skirts, The Old Boy, Life During Wartime, Amulets Against the Dragon Forces, Dalton's Back (Drama Desk nomination). Regional: Black Stach in Peter and the Starcatcher, Putting It Together, Ridiculous Fraud and Raised in Captivity (SCR); His Girl Friday (La Jolla Playhouse); The Rocky Horror Show (Old Globe); Romance, Japes and Bell, Book and Candle (Bay Street Theatre); Caroline in Jersey, Loot (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Distant Fires (LA Weekly Award), and Snakebit. Films: Full Grown Men, Boy's Don't Cry, The Notorious Bettie Page, The Anniversary Party, The Broken Hearts Club, The Impostors. Television: "Modern Family" "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Little Britain USA," "Cruel Doubt."

Steven Dietz's thirty-plus plays have been seen at over one hundred regional theatres in the United States, as well as Off-Broadway and in over twenty countries internationally. Mr. Dietz received the 2016 Steinberg New Play Award Citation for Bloomsday (ACT-Seattle, world premiere), having previously been a finalist for Last of the Boys and Becky's New Car. Other recent premieres include This Random World, presented at this year's Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actor's Theatre of Louisville, Kentucky; and the thriller, On Clover Road, seen at multiple U.S. theatres as part of a National New Play Network rolling world premiere. Other awards include the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award for both Fiction and Still Life with Iris; the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Play for Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure; the PEN USA West Award in Drama for Lonely Planet; and the 1995 Yomuiri Shimbun Award (the Japanese "Tony") for his adaptation of Shusaku Endo's novel Silence. Other widely produced plays include Rancho Mirage, Yankee Tavern, Shooting Star, Jackie and Me (from Dan Gutman), Inventing van Gogh, God's Country, Private Eyes, Dracula (from Bram Stoker), and The Nina Variations. Mr. Dietz and his family divide their time between Seattle and Austin, where he teaches playwriting and directing at the University of Texas.

Performances for this limited Off-Broadway engagement of Lonely Planet, directed by Keen Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein, will begin Tuesday, October 3rd, and continue through November 18th only, with opening night set for Thursday, October 19th. There will be an additional matinee on Wednesday November 15th at 2pm. All performances will be at The Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues).