MCC Extends Neil LaBute's THE MONEY SHOT

MCC THEATER has announced that the world premiere of MCC Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute's new play, The Money Shot, directed by Terry Kinney, has been extended due to popular demand now through October 19, 2014. The production was originally scheduled to close on October 12, 2014. The Money Shot stars Emmy Award nominee Elizabeth Reaser, Golden Globe nominee Callie Thorne, Frederick Weller and Gia Crovatin. Performances began at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on September 4, 2014. An official opening is set for September 22, 2014. Tickets are now on sale. For info, please visit www.mcctheater.org.

In The Money Shot, Karen (Reaser) and Steve (Weller) are glamorous movie stars with one thing in common: desperation. It's been years since either one's had a hit, but the latest movie by a hot shot European director could change that. The night before filming a big scene (that seems destined to assure them a spot back on the pop culture radar), Karen, her partner Bev (Thorne), Steve, and his aspiring actress wife Missy (Crovatin) meet in order to make an important decision: how far will they let themselves go to keep from slipping further down the Hollywood food chain? The Money Shot reunites Neil LaBute with director Terry Kinney (Reasons to be Pretty) for a hilarious and insightful comedy about ambition, art, status and sex in an era - and an industry - where very little is sacred and almost nothing is taboo.

The cast features: screen and stage star Elizabeth Reaser, best known for her work in the Twilight film franchise, Young Adult, The Family Stone, and memorable television appearances on "Grey's Anatomy," "The Good Wife," and "True Detective," among many others; Gia Crovatin, of Showtime's "Californication" and LA Theatreworks' productions of LaBute's Reasons to Be Pretty and Reasons to Be Happy; stage and screen actress Callie Thorne, a 2012 Golden Globe nominee for her work on the USA series "Necessary Roughness"; and Fred Weller, most recently on Broadway opposite Tyne Daly in the Tony nominated Mothers and Sons and last seen at MCC in LaBute's Reasons to Be Happy, for which he was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award.

Prolific playwright and filmmaker Neil LaBute is the author of the renowned plays The Shape of Things, Fat Pig, Reasons to Be Happy, and Reasons to Be Pretty, the latter of which served as his Broadway debut in 2009, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. On stage, he previously directed his plays The Mercy Seat, Wrecks, and The Shape of Things. For film, LaBute wrote and directed the Cannes Palme d'Or finalist Nurse Betty, Your Friends & Neighbors, The Shape of Things, and In the Company of Men, for which he won the Independent Spirit Award and New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Feature. He also directed the hit dark comedy Death at a Funeral. LaBute is currently the Playwright-in-Residence at MCC Theater.

Director Terry Kinney is a co-founder of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. His directing credits there include The Violet Hour, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Clockwork Orange, Of Mice and Men, and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, which moved to Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. NYC directing credits include the world premiere of Checkers by Doug McGrath, reasons to be pretty for MCC and Broadway, After Ashley and Beautiful Child at the Vineyard Theatre, among others. Upcoming projects include Sins of the Mother by Israel Horowitz, and Rear Window, adapted by Keith Reddin. Mr. Kinney's film directing credits include the short film Kubuku Rides (This Is It) for Steppenwolf Films, and Diminished Capacity with Matthew Broderick and Alan Alda. Film appearances include Save the Last Dance, Sleepers, Fly Away Home, Last of the Mohicans, The Firm, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Turn The River. TV credits include Tim McManus in HBO's prison drama Oz, The Mentalist, The Unusuals (ABC), The Laramie Project, thirtysomething, Kidnapped, Black Box, George Wallace, and The Good Wife with Julianna Margulies.

All performances of The Money Shot will offer $30 Under 30 seating, with Rush seats available two hours prior to each curtain, pending availability, for $30 to patrons 29 years old or younger on the day of the performance. Advanced $30 Under 30 seating is also offered online for each performance, with tickets available for pick-up at will call with valid ID. One ticket per ID. No exceptions. Additionally, $20 Student Rush tickets for full-time high school and college students, 20 minutes before curtain (cash only) with valid ID. General tickets are $69-$125 and are available by visiting www.mcctheater.org or calling 212-352-3101.

The 2014-15 MCC Theater Main Stage Season will also feature: the New York premiere of Punk Rock, a new play by Simon Stephens, the playwright of the Broadway-bound British import The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and directed by Trip Cullman (October 29-December 7, 2014); the New York premiere of Jennifer Haley's The Nether, winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize to be directed by Anne Kauffman (February 4-March 15, 2015); and the world premiere of Permission, the latest work by Hand to God playwright Robert Askins (April 29-June 7, 2015).

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus