Peccadillo Theater Company's TEN CHIMNEYS Begins Rehearsals

The award-winning Peccadillo Theater Company will present the New York City premiere of TEN CHIMNEYS, a new comedy by Jeffrey Hatcher, starring Byron Jennings as Alfred Lunt, Carolyn McCormick as Lynn Fontanne, Mariette Hartley as Lunt's mother Hattie and Michael McCarty as Sydney Greenstreet. Rehearsals are set to begin today, August 27th. Performances will begin on September 21st with the Opening on Sunday, September 30th at Theatre at St. Clement's, 423 West 46th Street (between Ninth & Tenth Aves.) The cast of TEN CHIMNEYS also features Charlotte Booker, Julia Bray and John Wernke, under the direction of OBIE Award winner Dan Wackerman.

TEN CHIMNEYS peers into the backstage lives of the two most revered stars of the Broadway stage, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Set on the couple's legendary Wisconsin estate in 1938, love triangles and family dysfunction reveal themselves when the rehearsal process for an upcoming production of Chekhov's The Seagull becomes a true-to-life plot involving a young actress named Uta Hagen. Hilarious and heartwarming, TEN CHIMNEYS uncovers the depths of truth, loyalty and love in the private lives of these giants of the American Theatre.

Byron Jennings starred on Broadway in Noises Off, Twelve Angry Men, Arcadia, The Invention of Love, Is He Dead?, Inherit the Wind, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Heartbreak House, The Merchant of Venice and Accent on Youth, and his film and TV credits include "White Collar," "Kings," "Damages," Quiz Show, The Ice Storm, A Time to Kill, "Gossip Girl," Julie & Julia and Spielberg's soon-to-be-released Lincoln.

Carolyn McCormick is best known as Dr. Elizabeth Olivette on "Law & Order" and she also appeared on TV's "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Cold Case," "Wishbone's Dog Days of the West," and "Body of Proof," and in the films Whatever Works and Enemy Mine. Carolyn has had starring roles on Broadway in Neil Simon's The Dinner Party and Equus, in which she played the mother of Alan Strang (Daniel Radcliffe).

Emmy winner Mariette Hartley's New York stage credits include Cabaret, Ancestral Voices, Sylvia and King John, and she starred in the national tours of Deathtrap, The Sisters Rosensweig and Copenhagen. She has appeared in countless films and hit TV shows including "Twilight Zone," "M*A*S*H," "Star Trek," "Columbo," "NCIS," "Peyton Place," Ride the High Country, "Grey's Anatomy" and Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie.

Michael McCarty's numerous Broadway credits include Mary Poppins, 42nd Street, Amadeus, Big River, Oklahoma! and Sweeney Todd, and his TV and film appearances include "Great Performances: Show Boat," "Quantum Leap," "3rd Rock from the Sun," Dead Man, "ER," "Orpheus Descending" and The Legend of Bagger Vance.

Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher is the author of Tuesdays with Morrie, Three Viewings, Never Gonna Dance, A Picasso, The Turn of the Screw and Scotland Road. Mr. Hatcher wrote the screenplays for Stage Beauty, The Duchess and Casanova, as well as episodes of TV's "Columbo."

Scenic and lighting design for TEN CHIMNEYS is by Harry Feiner, with costume design by Sam Fleming. Executive producer is Sarahbeth Grossman (Stick Fly, The Irish Curse).

Founded in 1994, The Peccadillo Theater Company (Artistic Director, Dan Wackerman) is a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to the rediscovery of classic American theater, particularly those works which, despite their obvious literary and theatrical value, are not regularly revived. In recent years, Peccadillo has broadened its mission to include original plays and musicals that share some of the virtues of classic American theater – qualities such as period style, well-defined characters and strong plotting. Such was the case with The Talk of the Town, an original musical about the legendary wits of the Algonquin Roundtable, several of whose plays Peccadillo has produced. And Zero Hour, a one-man show about the actor/comedian, Zero Mostel, whose appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee was just as explosive as his stage performances.

TEN CHIMNEYS will play a limited Off-Broadway engagement through October 27th. The performance schedule is Wednesdays at 7 pm, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm, with matinees Saturday at 2 pm and Sunday at 3 pm. Tickets are available through www.ThePeccadillo.com or by calling OvationTix at 212-352-3101.