Michele Pawk Joins Cast of Playwrights Horizons' 'Prayer'

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced additional casting and details for the third production of its 2008/2009 Season, the New York premiere of PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY, a new play by two-time Tony Award nominee, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and two-time Obie Award winner Craig Lucas (Small Tragedy at Playwrights Horizons, The Light in the Piazza, Prelude to a Kiss, Reckless, The Dying Gaul).  PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY is the first of two plays by Mr. Lucas that will receive their New York premiere this season.  His play The Singing Forest will have its premiere at The Public in the spring.

Directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher (The Butterfly Collection at Playwrights Horizons, the current Broadway revival of South Pacific, The Light in the Piazza), PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY will begin previews on Friday, November 14 with an Opening Night set for Tuesday, December 9 at 7PM.  The limited engagement will run through Sunday, December 21 at Playwrights Horizons’ Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).  

Joining the cast of PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY is Tony Award winner Michele Pawk (Hollywood Arms, Hairspray, Mamma Mia!, Drama Desk nominations for Crazy For You, Cabaret and Off-Broadway’s The Paris Letter).  Ms. Pawk joins a cast that already features Tony Award winner Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza, the recent The Marriage of Bette and Boo at Roundabout, Follies and Juno at City Center, How to Succeed..., the film The Happening), Tony Award nominee Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening, the recent and Broadway-bound Hair for Shakespeare in the Park, currently filming Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock), 2008 Theatre World Award winner Cassie Beck (The Drunken City) and Skipp Sudduth (Lincoln Center’s current South Pacific).

The Playwrights Horizons production of PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY reunites three key team members behind the Tony Award-winning production The Light in the Piazza, which featured a book by Mr. Lucas, was directed by Mr. Sher and starred Ms. Clark.  It will also feature costume design by Piazza’s Tony-winning costume designer, Catherine Zuber.

A sixth and final cast member will be announced in the coming weeks. 

In PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY, a hell of a night for the Noones finds father Austin (Skipp Sudduth) watching his nature shows and trying to keep from falling off the wagon, mother Karen (Michele Pawk) keeping an eye on Austin, son Billy (Jonathan Groff) just back from Iraq, and pregnant daughter Marianne (Cassie Beck) upset about the state of her marriage to Tad, Billy’s childhood friend who may still harbor a crush on him.  As an enigmatic outsider, Dolores (Victoria Clark), relates a tale of taking responsibility for her ailing mother, an American family’s long-held secrets are dragged to the fore in what may be its final reckoning.  PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY is a paean to our age, a keenly-layered drama about the preciousness of life and the grace to share common ground – even with those we love the least. 

The production will feature scenic design by John McDermott, costume design by four-time Tony Award winner Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Stephen Strawbridge and sound design by Tony Award winner Scott Lehrer.  Production Stage Manager will be Lisa Ann Chernoff.

Playwrights Horizons’ 2008/2009 Season is generously supported by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Playwrights Horizons is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate.  In addition, Playwrights Horizons receives major support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, Charina Endowment Fund, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Shubert Foundation and Time Warner Inc.

     The performance schedule for PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY will be Tuesdays through Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2:30 & 8PM and Sundays at 2:30 & 7:30 PM.  There are additional performances set for Wednesday matinee, November 26 at 2:30 PM; Monday, December 1 at 8:00 PM; Wednesday matinee, December 3 at 2:30 PM; and Monday, December 8 at 8:00 PM.  Tickets are $65 and will go on sale to the general public starting Friday, October 17.  Tickets may be purchased online via TicketCentral.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily), or in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues).  Subscriptions for the 2008/2009 Playwrights Horizons season are also available.

A ticketing initiative created last season, 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 PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY will be for the first preview on Friday, November 14 at 8 PM.  Entries for the lottery will be accepted beginning Wednesday, November 5 at 10 AM, with theatergoers filling out an entry form at www.playwrightshorizons.org.  Entries will be accepted until Monday, November 10 at 12 Noon.  Winners of the lottery will be notified via email no later than 12 Noon on Tuesday, November 11 with instructions on how to book their $5 tickets.  One or two tickets may be purchased for $5 each.  At least 50 tickets will be available for Mainstage shows via the lottery.

Reflecting Playwrights Horizons’ ongoing commitment to making its productions more affordable to younger audiences, the theater company will 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. 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 some 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.  Playwrights Horizons is grateful to Goldman, Sachs & Co., lead sponsor of Arts Access at Playwrights Horizons.  This program is also supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Elroy and Terry Krumholz Foundation.

A special open captioned performance of PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY for theatergoers who are deaf and hard of hearing will be held on Saturday, November 22 at 2:30 PM.  Funding for this program is provided, in part, by the Theodore H. Barth Foundation and the Theatre Development Fund’s TAP Plus program in cooperation with the New York State Council on the Arts.

How to order tickets for the open captioned performance:

 ● Online:  log on to www.playwrightshorizons.org

 ● Phone:  call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily) via Relay Service (800) 421-1220

 ● TTY:  call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 (noon-8pm daily) via Relay Service (800) 662-1220

 ● By fax:  a printable order form may be found online at www.playwrightshorizons.org/tickets.html

     In addition, special Post-Performance Discussions with members of the cast and creative team will take place immediately after the following three performances: Wednesday, November 19 at 8PM, Sunday, November 23 at 2:30 PM and Monday, December 1 at 8:00 PM.

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

BIOGRAPHIES

Craig Lucas (Playwright) has been represented at Playwrights Horizons in 1987 with the book of the musical Three Postcards (with a score by Craig Carnelia) and in 2004 with the play Small Tragedy (Obie Award for Best New American Play).  He’s been nominated for two Tony Awards (Best Play for Prelude to a Kiss in 1990 and Best Book of a Musical for The Light in the Piazza in 2006) and was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (Prelude to a Kiss and The Dying Gaul).  His other plays include This Thing of Darkness, Stranger, God’s Heart, Blue Window, Reckless and Missing Persons, and a translation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie.  As a director, his credits include the play Saved or Destroyed (Obie Award) and the films The Dying Gaul (based on his own play) and the recent Birds of America.  Screenplays include The Secret Lives of Dentists (New York Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay), Longtime Companion, Prelude to a Kiss, Reckless and Blue Window. He co-wrote the opera libretti to Orpheus in Love and created the bookless musical Marry Me a Little. He is Associate Artistic Director at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle, where he premiered his most recent plays The Singing Forest and Prayer for My Enemy.  The Singing Forest will have its New York premiere this spring at The Public.

Bartlett Sher (Director) directed the play The Butterfly Collection at Playwrights Horizons in 2000. He’s represented on Broadway by the current hit Lincoln Center revival of South Pacific, for which he’s earned 2008 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards. He also received Tony Award nominations for Awake and Sing! in 2005 and The Light in the Piazza in 2006.  Since 2000, he’s been Artistic Director at Intiman Theatre Company, where he’s directed Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth and Our Town; Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters, both in new adaptations by Craig Lucas; the world premieres of Prayer for My Enemy and The Singing Forest by Craig Lucas (both also for Long Wharf Theatre); as well as Lucas’s The Dying Gaul.  He directed a new production of Cymbeline in 2002, produced by Theatre for a New Audience, which premiered in England as the first American Shakespeare ever performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company and he received the Callaway Award for the production’s award-winning Off-Broadway run. He made his opera directing debut in 2006 at the Metropolitan Opera with The Barber of Seville and he’ll direct Roméo et Juliette this year for the Salzburg Festival. He’ll also direct the world premiere of the new musical Bruce Lee: Journey to the West, slated for Broadway in 2010.

Cassie Beck (Marianne) appeared last season at Playwrights Horizons in Adam Bock’s The Drunken City, for which she won a 2008 Theatre World Award.  She previously worked with Mr. Bock in the world premiere of Thursday.  Her credits with TheatreWorks include All My Sons, Living Out and Be Aggressive.  Regional work includes the world premiere of Haunting of Winchester (San Jose Rep), On the Verge (Napa Valley Rep), Marriage of Figaro (Centre Rep Theatre), Communicating Doors (Marin Theatre Company) and Richard III (Napa Valley Shakespeare).

Victoria Clark (Dolores) received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards, as well as a Drama League Honor, for her performance as Margaret Johnson in The Light in the Piazza.  Her other Broadway credits include Titanic, How to Succeed…, Urinetown, Cabaret, Guys & Dolls, A Grand Night for Singing and Sunday in the Park with George, plus national tours of Les Misérables and Cats.  For City Center’s Encores! she’s appeared in Juno, Follies and Bye, Bye Birdie. She recently appeared in the Roundabout production of The Marriage of Bette and Boo and additional Off-Broadway credits include The Agony and the Agony (Vineyard) and Tres Ninas (The Zipper). Film and TV credits includes The Happening, Cradle Will Rock, vocal work for several Disney animated features, “Law & Order” and the PBS broadcast of Sweeney Todd in Concert with the San Francisco Philharmonic. Concert work includes the Stephen Sondheim tribute Opening Doors at Carnegie Hall and the American Songbook series at Jazz at Lincoln Center. As a director, her work includes Serenade in Blue: The Mack Gordon Song Cavalcade (92nd Street Y).  Last fall, she released her debut solo album Fifteen Seconds from Grace.  

Jonathan Groff (Billy) was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk awards for his performance as Melchior in Spring Awakening, a role he created Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater. Broadway: In My Life. Tours/regional: The Sound of Music (Rolf), Fame (Nick Piazza), Bat Boy (Bat Boy), Honk! (Ugly). Thanks to Mom, Dad, Skinny David, Cody, the Gage Group, Mama Lynda, Jen Waldman and this incredible cast and crew. Proud member of Actors’ Equity. This summer he starred as Claude in the Shakespeare in the Park production of Hair, which is now Broadway-bound for spring 2009.  He’s currently filming the new Ang Lee movie, Taking Woodstock.

Michele Pawk (Karen) won a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in Hollywood Arms, directed by Harold Prince.  Her other Broadway credits include Cabaret (revival, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations), Crazy for You (Drama Desk nomination) Mamma Mia!, Chicago (revival), Seussical, Triumph of Love, Losing Louie and Mail. Off-Broadway: The Paris Letter (Drama Desk nomination), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Reefer Madness, After the Fair, Hello Again, Merrily We Roll Along, john & jen, A Little Night Music (NYC and L.A. Operas). Regional: Natural History. Her Film and television work includes Cradle Will Rock Jeffrey, all three “Law & order” series, “Guiding Light,””All My Children,” “The Golden Girls” and “LA Law.”

Skipp Sudduth (Austin) is currently playing Captain George Brackett in South Pacific. Other Lincoln Center: Twelfth Night. Broadway includes The Iceman Cometh, On the Waterfront and The Grapes of Wrath (also at London's National Theatre). Off-Broadway: 10 Million Miles and Writer's Block (both at Atlantic Theater Company), The Big Funk and Marisol (Public Theater). TV includes Officer John ‘Sully’ Sullivan in the Emmy Award-winning “Third Watch” (six seasons), “Criminal Minds,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Oz,” “Trinity,” “Homicide: Life on the Street.” Film: Ronin, Flawless, Money Train, Clockers, American Cuisine, Drunkboat (TBR). TV directing: “Third Watch,” “ER,” “Criminal Minds,” “Women’s Murder Club.”

Playwrights Horizons, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, is a writer’s theater dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American Playwrights, composers and lyricists, and to the production of their new work.  In its 38 years, Playwrights Horizons has presented the work of more than 375 writers and has received numerous awards and honors, most recently being honored with a special 2008 Drama Desk Award for “ongoing support to generations of theater artists and undiminished commitment to producing new work.”  Notable productions include four Pulitzer Prize winners: Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife (2004 Tony Award, Best Play), Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles (1989 Tony Award, Best Play), Alfred Uhry’s Driving Miss Daisy and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Sunday in the Park with George, as well as John Dempsey, Michael Friedman and Rinne Groff’s Saved, Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie’s Grey Gardens (2006 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical), Bruce Norris’s The Pain and the Itch, Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation (2005 Obie Award for Playwriting), Craig Lucas’s Small Tragedy (2004 Obie Award, Best American Play), Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, Kirsten Childs’s The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey’s James Joyce’s The Dead, William Finn’s March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, Christopher Durang’s Betty’s Summer Vacation and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, Richard Nelson’s Goodnight Children Everywhere and Franny’s Way, Jon Robin Baitz’s The Substance of Fire, Scott McPherson’s Marvin’s Room, A.R. Gurney’s Later Life, Adam Guettel and Tina Landau’s Floyd Collins and Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley’s Violet.

Photo by Ben Strothmann

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