Photo Flash: Atlantic Theater's 'OFFICES' in Rehearsal

Previews will begin Wednesday, April 15 toward an official opening Thursday, May 7, and a limited engagement through Sunday, May 31, 2009 Off-Broadway at Atlantic Theater Company at the Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20 Street).

The ensemble cast will feature Academy Award® winner F. Murray Abraham (Coen's Almost an Evening), Daniel Abeles (Behold, the Bowery!), Brennan Brown (Atlantic's Celebration), Aya Cash (From Up Here), John Bedford Lloyd (Some Americans Abroad), Daniel London (Patch Adams), Mary McCann (Atlantic's Spring Awakening), Joey Slotnick (Almost an Evening), Greg Stuhr (November), C.J. Wilson (Atlantic's The Voysey Inheritance) and Daniel Yelsky (upcoming film Meet Monica Velour).

Hiring and firing are antisocial acts. Workplace pressures make for nasty competition. And the work itself can be meaningless and alienating. Accordingly, the three short plays that make up OFFICES are comedies.

Academy Award® winner Ethan Coen returns to Atlantic with another world premiere production of one-act comedies. He made his Off-Broadway debut last season with the hit world premiere of Almost an Evening, which transferred Off-Broadway following a sold out extended Atlantic Stage 2 run. Coen has made fourteen movies with his brother Joel, including the Academy Award® winning films No Country for Old Men and Fargo; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Raising Arizona; Barton Fink; The Hudsucker Proxy, The Big Lebowski and Burn After Reading.

Atlantic artistic director Neil Pepe made his acclaimed Broadway debut this season with the hit revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, and staged David Pittu's world premiere comedy What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling, which transferred Off-Broadway following a sold out engagement at Stage 2. He recently staged Harold Pinter's first and most recent plays, The Room and Celebration at Atlantic, and the world premiere of Mamet's Romance at Atlantic and at the Mark Taper Forum.

The design team for OFFICES will feature scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez, costume design by Laura Bauer, lighting design by David Weiner and sound design by Obadiah Eaves.
Atlantic and Druid's critically acclaimed production of Martin McDonagh's dark comedy The Cripple of Inishmaan, directed by Garry Hynes, concluded an extended engagement on March 14.

ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) is the award winning Off-Broadway theater dedicated to producing great plays simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble. Atlantic believes that the story of the play and the intent of the playwright are at the core of the creative process. Atlantic's acclaimed world premiere production of its first musical Spring Awakening, with music by Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics by Steven Sater and direction by Michael Mayer, won 8 Tony Awards®, including Best Musical. In 2006, Atlantic was awarded the Lucille Lortel Prize for Outstanding Body of Work.

Atlantic produced five world premieres during its 2007-2008 season: Academy Award® winner Ethan Coen's comedy Almost an Evening, directed by Neil Pepe and featuring Academy Award® winner F. Murray Abraham and Mark Linn-Baker; Peter Parnell's Trumpery, directed by David Esbjornson and featuring Tony Award® winner Michael Cristofer and Tony Award® nominee Manoel Felciano; Lucy Thurber's Scarcity, directed by Jackson Gay and featuring Emmy Award® winner Kristen Johnston, Jesse Eisenberg and Michael T. Weiss, Jez Butterworth's Parlour Song, directed by Neil Pepe and featuring Chris Bauer, Jonathan Cake and Emily Mortimer and Annie Baker's Body Awareness, directed by Karen Kohlhaas and featuring Academy Award® nominee JoBeth Williams, Peter Friedman and Mary McCann and the critically acclaimed New York premiere production of Oliver Award® winning and Tony Award® nominated playwright Conor McPherson's play Port Authority, directed by Henry Wishcamper and featuring Tony Award® nominee Brian d'Arcy James, Tony Award® winner John Gallagher, Jr. and Tony Award® winner Jim Norton.

Playwright Beau Willimon made his celebrated Off-Broadway debut this season with the world premiere of Farragut North starring Chris Noth and John Gallagher, Jr. The world premiere comedy What's That Smell: The Music Of Jacob Sterling, written and performed by Tony Award® nominee David Pittu, transferred Off-Broadway to New World Stages following a critically acclaimed extended engagement at Atlantic Stage 2.

Since it's inception in 1985, Atlantic has produced over 120 productions including the Tony Award® winning play The Beauty Queen of Leenane, the world premieres of Woody Allen's A Second Hand Memory and Writer's Block, the acclaimed world premiere of David Mamet's Romance and his new adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance, the musicals Spring Awakening and 10 Million Miles, Jez Butterworth's Mojo, Tom Donaghy's Minutes From The Blue Route, Edwin Sanchez' Trafficking in Broken Hearts and the American premieres of Blue/Orange, Dublin Carol and The Night Heron, the New York premieres of The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow and The Cider House Rules and revivals of American Buffalo, Edmond, The Hothouse and Hobson's Choice. Atlantic maintains an ensemble of acclaimed actors, writers and directors including Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and director David Mamet and Academy Award® nominee William H. Macy, who founded Atlantic over twenty years ago.

OFFICES will play Tuesday - Friday at 8p, Saturday at 2p & 8p and Sunday at 3p & 7p.

ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY AT THE LINDA GROSS THEATER is located at 336 West 20 Street (between 8 & 9 Avenue). Tickets are $65.00 and available by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 (ticketcentral.com).

For more information visit, www.atlantictheater.org.

Photos by Doug Hamilton

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