Photo Flash: The Atlantic Theater Company's NEW YORK IDEA In Rehearsal

Atlantic Theater Company Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director is proud to announce that Patricia Conolly, Michael Countryman, Francesca Faridany, Mikaela Feely-Lehmann, Rick Holmes, John Keating, Peter Maloney, Jaime Ray Newman, Patricia O'Connell, Jeremy Shamos, Joey Slotnick and Tom Patrick Stephens will star in the world premiere adaptation of THE NEW YORK IDEA by Tony Award^®winner David Auburn from the original play by Langdon Mitchell and directed by Mark Brokaw.

Commissioned by Atlantic, the new world premiere adaptation of the 1906 comedy will begin previews Thursday, January 6; officially open Wednesday, January 26; and play a limited engagement through Sunday, February 13, 2011 Off-Broadway at The Lucille Lortel Theatre 121 Christopher Street while its main stage Linda Gross Theater undergoes renovation.

Cynthia Karslake is a freewheeling young divorcee in 1906 New York City society. She has decided to settle down again into a much more stable, reliable relationship with the prominent Judge Philip Phillimore. Little does she know, however, that neither of their impetuous and unpredictable ex-spouses, nor her beloved race horse Cynthia K is yet down for the count. In this sharp-tongued comedy, David Auburn sheds new light on a little known play from a century ago that offers a surprisingly contemporary look at social mores, status and attitudes about sex and divorce in upper crust New York.

Pulitzer and Tony Award^® winning playwright David Auburn's plays include Proof, An Upset and Amateurs and Skyscraper. He wrote the screenplays for the feature films The Lake House starring Sandra Bullock and The Girl in the Park starring Sigourney Weaver, which he also directed. He recently staged A Delicate Balance at The Berkshire Theatre Festival.

Director Mark Brokaw is currently represented Off-Broadway with his staging of The Language Archive. He has directed After Miss Julie, The Constant Wife, Reckless and the musical Cry-Baby on Broadway. Off-Broadway, he received Obie, Drama Desk and Lortel Awards for his direction of Paula Vogel's acclaimed play How I Learned to Drive, a Lortel Award for Kenneth Lonergan's This is Our Youth and Lortel nominations for Lonergan's Lobby Hero and Vogel's The Long Christmas Ride Home. He has directed at London's Donmar Warehouse and Dublin's Gate Theatre and is the Artistic Director of the Yale Institute for Music Theatre.

Patricia Conolly returns to Atlantic following last season's acclaimed production of Moira

Buffini's Gabriel. Michael Countryman recently appeared on Broadway in Mary Stuart and has starred in Trumpery and The Bald Soprano at Atlantic. Francesca Faridany recently appeared on Broadway in the hit The 39 Steps and Off-Broadway in Sarah Ruhl's play Orlando. Mikaela Feely-Lehmann returns to Atlantic in a central role following understudying roles in Gabriel last season. Rick Holmes has starred in the Broadway musicals Spamalot and Cabaret and recently Off-Broadway in Distracted, directed by Mark Brokaw. John Keating most recently appeared in Measure for Measure Off-Broadway and in the HBO miniseries "John Adams." Peter Maloney has appeared in 17 Atlantic plays, most recently in Lucy Thurber's Bottom of the World and Peter Parnell's Trumpery. Jaime Ray Newman makes her New York stage debut following starring in Neil LaBute's Some Girls and Fat Pig at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. Patricia O'Connell returns to Atlantic after appearing in the award winning production of Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmann which also toured Ireland and England. Jeremy Shamos joins the cast direct from the Broadway comedy Elling. He received Lortel and Drama League nominations for his acclaimed performance in Clybourne Park Off-Broadway last season. Joey Slotnick returns to Atlantic after starring in the world premiere productions of Ethan Coen's Offices and Almost an Evening. Tom Patrick Stephens makes his debut in a central role after understudying roles in Atlantic's productions of The Collection, Gabriel and Parlour Song.

The creative team for THE NEW YORK IDEA features scenic design by Allen Moyer, costume design by Michael Krass, lighting design by Mary Louise Geiger and original music by Lewis Flinn.

Atlantic's critically acclaimed double bill, THE COLLECTION & A KIND OF ALASKA: TWO PLAYS BY Harold Pinter, directed by Atlantic founding member Karen Kohlhaas and starring Atlantic Theater Company members Larry Bryggman and Matt McGrath and guest artists Lisa Emery, Rebecca Henderson and Darren Pettie, is playing an extended run through December 19 Off-Broadway at Classic Stage Company 136 East 13^th Street.

David Auburn's Adaptation plays include Proof Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award^®, New York Drama Critics Circle Award, An Upset and Amateurs EST Marathons and Skyscraper. Films include The Girl in the Park writer/director and The Lake House. Recent directing credits include A Delicate Balance for BTF. His short plays have been collected in the volume "Fifth Planet and Other Plays" DPS. His work has been published in Harper's, New England Review, and Guilt and Pleasure; and he was a contributing editor to the Oxford American Writers Thesaurus. A former Guggenheim Fellow, he lives in New York City.

Mark Brokaw Director is currently represented with his staging of The Language Archive Off Broadway at Roundabout. Other New York credits include: After Miss Julie, Distracted, Suddenly Last Summer, The Constant Wife, Mouth To Mouth, The Busy World is Hushed, Cry-Baby, Reckless, Long X-Mas Ride Home, Lobby Hero, 2.5 Minute Ride, This Is Our Youth, Dying Gaul, As Bees In Honey Drown, How I Learned to Drive, The Good Times Are Killing Me.  Regional includes Guthrie, Seattle Rep, Center Theatre Group, South Coast Rep, Hartford Stage, La Jolla, Steppenwolf, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, Sundance and the O'Neill Conference. He has directed at London's Donmar Warehouse and Dublin's Gate Theatre, and is the Artistic Director of the Yale Institute for Music Theatre and is an artistic associate of the Roundabout Theatre.

Patricia Conolly Miss Henage returns to Atlantic following last season's acclaimed production of Moira Buffini's Gabriel. Most recently, The Last Romance with Marion Ross Old Globe, San Diego. Broadway appearances include Is He Dead? Enchanted April, Judgment at Nuremberg, Waiting in the Wings, The Sound of Music, The Heiress, The Real Inspector Hound, A Small Family Business, The Circle, Blithe Spirit, and 4 years with the APA Phoenix Repertory Company at The Lyceum Theater; Lincoln Center Theater: The Coast of Utopia, A Streetcar Named Desire; Circle in the Square:  The Importance of Being Earnest, Tartuffe; Roundabout: Hedda Gabler, Misalliance; Manhattan Theatre Club:  Woman in Mind, House and Garden. West End:  St. Joan of the Stockyards,Virginia; RSC: A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Physicists, King Lear, The Beggar's Opera. Regionally, productions at Hartford Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Shakespeare Festival Theatre Stratford, Ontario, Guthrie Theater, Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company, among others.

Michael Countryman Philip Philimore Broadway: Mary Stuart, Night Must Fall, Holiday, Laughter on the 23^rd Floor, A Few Good Men and Face Value. Numerous Off-Broadway credits include Shipwrecked! and The Stendhal Syndrome Primary Stages,Trumpery and The Bald Soprano Atlantic, Mary Rose Vineyard, Equivocation, House and Garden and Nine Armenians at MTC and All in the Timing John Houseman. He received a Drama Desk nomination for his work in Out! and The Common Pursuit. Film: Burn After Reading, Che!, P.S. I Love You, The Namesake, The Squid and the Whale, Black Knight, Loopy, You Can Count on Me, Ransom, Deceived, The Paper. Television: "John Adams," "The Sopranos," "NYPD Blue," "Law & Order," "Third Watch," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Ed," "Notes for my Daughter," "Spenser: For Hire," "Kate and Allie."

Francesca Faridany Vida Philimore. Broadway: The 39 Steps, The Homecoming. Off-Broadway: Orlando, The Stronger. Regional: As You Like It Shakespeare Theatre, D.C.; Agamemnon Getty Villa; Fräulein Else Sundance Theatre Lab, Berkeley Rep., La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf, McCarter. Other roles include: Titania Huntington, Beatrice Berkeley Rep., Elvira/Don Alonso in Don Juan , Anita/Wendy in Japes Bay Street, Hamptons, Gilda in Design for Living McCarter, Kyra in Skylight Chester Theater Co.,Violet in Waiting at the Water's Edge Magic Theatre, Ellie Dunn in Heartbreak House and Silvia in The Game of Love and Chance and Changes of Heart Berkeley Rep.. Film: Conceiving Ada. TV: "E.R.," "Deadline," "Law & Order," "L&O; SVU." Radio: Quartermaine's Terms.

Mikaela Feely-Lehmann Jacqueline. Credits include the short film One Last Question VisionFest '10, West Lethargy 59E59/Edinburgh Festival Fringe/FringeNYC, Unrequited Public Theater Shakespeare Lab. She understudied the roles of "Lily" and "Estelle" in Gabriel at Atlantic Theater Company. Training: BFA NYU Tisch '09 Atlantic/Stonestreet, Public Theater Shakespeare Lab Alum '07.

Rick Holmes Wilfred Cates-Darby most recently starred in the new musical Robin and the Seven Hoods at The Old Globe in San Diego this past summer. Broadway:  Spamalot, Pillowman, Cabaret, Major Barbara, The Deep Blue Sea, St. Joan, Government Inspector, Timon of Athens.  Off-Broadway:  Distracted, Stop Kiss, Dog Opera Public; Clean Atlantic; Christina Alberta's Father Vineyard; Hapgood LCT; Othello, Richard III NYSF and An Evening Without Monty Python, directed by Eric Idle. National Tours: Spamalot, Cabaret, Angels in America, Shadow of a Gunman. Film:  The Girl in the Park upcoming, Melinda and Melinda, Stepford Wives, Glow Ropes.  TV:  "Law & Order," "Talk to Me," "The City," "The Petrified Forest, "All My Children." Training:  M.F.A. from NYU.

John Keating Fiddler most recently appeared in Measure for Measure Off-Broadway at Theater for a New Audience. Mint: Is Life Worth Living?, "John Ferguson"; Roundabout: Juno and the Paycock. Irish Rep Company Member: 11 shows including Aristocrats, Around the World in 80 Days; Talking Band Belize. Regional: A.C.T., McCarter, Old Globe, world premiere of Raw Boys at Wilma Barrymore nomination, Lead Actor, Westport Playhouse, Hartford Stage, Two River, Cincinnati Playhouse. Television: "Pickering" in HBO miniseries "John Adams," "Law & Order: SVU," "Lipstick Jungle," "Nurse Jackie," "Boardwalk Empire." Numerous audio book narrations three Earphone awards, Audie nomination.

Peter Maloney Sudley most recently appeared at Atlantic in the world premiere of Lucy Thurber's Bottom of the World, Peter Parnell's play Trumpery and the acclaimed production of David Mamet's adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance. He recently appeared on Broadway as "Doc" in the current revival of West Side Story. At Atlantic he has been seen in 17 plays including 10 x 20 Leavings, The Room, The Cherry Orchard, Hobson's Choice, The Water Engine, Mr. Happiness, The Duck Variations, Down the Shore and The Dadshuttle. Broadway: Arcadia, Carousel, Six Degrees of Separation, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Dinner at Eight and Our Town Lincoln Center Theater, Judgment at Nuremberg, Stanley, Poor Murderer, Hughie. For four years he was a member of Joseph Chaikin's Open Theater, appearing here and in Europe in The Serpent, Terminal and Endgame in which he played Clov to Mr. Chaikin's Hamm. Film: 47 films, including K-Pax, Boiler Room, Requiem for a Dream, The Crucible, Washington Square. Television: Fans of "Rescue Me" will recognize him as "Uncle Red." Writer: his latest play Witness, part of his Abu Ghraib Triptych, was just published by Applause Books in the collection Best American Short Plays. He is also published by Samuel French, Inc., Broadway Play Publishing, and Faber and Faber. Member: The Actors Studio, Ensemble Studio Theatre. Mr. Maloney is a Fox Foundation Fellow.

Jaime Ray Newman Cynthia Karslake is thrilled to be making her New York stage debut.  A Los Angeles resident, her theater credits include Some Girls directed by Neil LaBute and Fat Pig directed by Jo Bonney, both at The Geffen Playhouse, Turnaround opposite David Schwimmer and First Nights Beethoven at Disney Hall.  Most recent TV and film credits: series regular on ABC's "Eastwick" based on "The Witches of Eastwick," recurring characters on "Drop Dead Diva," "Eureka," "Nip/Tuck," "Royal Pains," "Veronica Mars" and the title character in the pilots "I'm Paige Armstrong" directed by Rod Lurie, and "Hollis and Rae" produced by Steven Bochco.  She recently finished shooting one of the leads in Alex Karpovsky's latest untitled feature, due out next year.

Patricia O'Connell Mrs. Philimore returns to Atlantic after most recently playing "Mammy" Drama Desk Award in the Druid Theatre Company co- production of The Cripple of Inishmann which played in Ireland, England and New York. Other theater: Roger is Dead George Street Theatre; Waiting in the Wings, Whose Life is it Anyway?, Summer Brave, Break a Leg, The O'Neill Plays Broadway; Gaslight; She Stoops to Conquer; Bailegangaire Irish Repertory Theatre; Misalliance, Come Back Little Sheba Roundabout; The Man Who Came to Dinner, Coastal Disturbances Circle in the Square; Who Killed Richard Cory Circle Rep; Long Island South T.A.C.T; Night Bloomers Lincoln Center's Director's Lab; Eleemosynary Spoleto Festival; Suddenly Last Summer American Masters Festival; The Cripple of Inishmaan Wilma Theater, Philadelphia; Under Milkwood, Tartuffe, Middle Ages, A Perfect Ganesh, The Cherry Orchard, A Doll's House, Long Day's Journey into the Night, Major Barbara, Miss Liberty York Theater, and a season at the San Diego Shakespeare Festival. Film & Television: Passed Away, Joe's Apartment, A Very Serious Person Dir. Charles Busch, One Life to Live, Law & Order: Criminal Intent. She is a member of the WorkShop Theater Company and the Irish Repertory Theatre Company.

Obie Award winner Jeremy Shamos John Karslake joins the cast following the recently terminated Broadway run of Elling. Other Broadway credits include Reckless and The Rivals. Off-Broadway credits include Clybourne Park Drama League, Lucille Lortel Award nominations; Animals Out of Paper Drama Desk Award nomination; Engaged Obie Award; 100 Saints You Should Know, Miss Witherspoon Playwrights Horizons; Gutenberg! The Musical! Actors' Playhouse/59E59; Observe the Sons of Ulster... Linclon Center Theater, Shakespeare Abridged Century Center; Race, The Alchemist Classic Stage Company; Stranger Vineyard; Hamlet, Cymbeline and Paris Commune Public Theater; Corpus Christi MTC. "Bottom" in New York Philharmonic's Midsummer's... Sir Neville Mariner. Regional: McCarter, Huntington, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf, La Jolla Playhouse, Court Theater in Chicago and Williamstown Theater Festival. Film work includes Taking Woodstock, Dedication, The Rebound, Trust the Man. On television he has been seen on "Fringe," "L&O: CI," "Damages," "Stella" and "Hack." This is Mr Shamos' fourth collaboration with director Mark Brokaw.

Joey Slotnick Matthew Philimore returns to Atlantic after starring in the world premiere production of  Ethan Coen's Offices.   He was also seen in Mr. Coen's Almost an Evening, which transferred to The Theatres at 45 Bleecker Street following a sold out extended run at Atlantic. Recent credits include Romance at Bay Street Theatre and Animal Crackers at The Goodman Joseph Jefferson nomination.  He is a member of Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Co. Credits there include  Our Town, co-directed by Anna D. Shapiro and Jessica Thebus, Wants & Needs, Great Men of Science Nos. 21 & 22, Hard Times, Arabian Nights directed by Mary Zimmerman, The Master & Margarita, Up Against It, Third Voyage. Other New York credits include The CartellsComix, The Altruists Vineyard, Slotnick Katz & Lehr Trocadero. Upcoming film work includes: HBO's "Too Big to Fail," "Elevator."  Other films: Brief Interviews with Hideous Men,Made in Romania, Jesus Cooks Me Breakfast, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, Hollow Man, Blast from the Past, Twister, Since You've Been Gone, Judas Kiss, Dinner and Driving.  Television:  "The Office," "Pushing Daisies",  "Nip/Tuck," "Boston Legal,"  "Law & Order: SVU," "CSI,"  "Alias," regular on "Boston Public" and "The Single Guy," "Ellen," TNT's "Pirates of Silicon Valley." 

Tom Patrick Stephens Thomas Off-Broadway: The Collection, Gabriel, Parlour Song all u/s Atlantic Theater Company. Off-Off-Broadway: Brit Bits Mind The Gap; The Girl in the Park NY Fringe Festival. Regional: The Pillowman, Noises Off, The Mystery of Irma Vep all Wellfleet Harbour Actors Theater, MA. Film: Baby Mama. TV: "John Adams," "One Life To Live," "As the World Turns." 

LANGDON ELWYN MITCHELL Original Playwright. 1862-1935 American playwright and poet. He was born in Philadelphia, he studied in Dresden and Paris, attended the Harvard and Columbia law schools and was admitted to the New York bar in 1886. He often wrote under the pen name of John Philip Varley, and his plays include In the Season London, 1893, Becky Sharp 1899, a dramatization of Thackeray's Vanity Fair, and The New York Idea. Mitchell became a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. The world premiere of The New York Idea opened at The Lyric Theatre in November of 1906, and ran until January of 1907. It was notably produced and staged by Harrison Fiske as a star vehicle for his famous wife, Mrs. Fiske.

 Atlantic Theater Company Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director is the award winning Off-Broadway theater company 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 maintains an ensemble of acclaimed actors, writers and directors including Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and director David Mamet and Academy Award^® nominated actor William H. Macy who founded Atlantic twenty five years ago in 1985. 

Atlantic and Neil Pepe were awarded a 2009 Drama Desk Award last season for "exceptional craftsmanship, dedication to excellence and productions that engage, inspire and enlighten." In 2006, Atlantic was awarded the Lucille Lortel Prize for Outstanding Body of Work as its critically acclaimed production of Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant Of Inishmore transferred to Broadway, where it was nominated for five 2006 Tony Awards^® including Best Play.

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.

During the 2008-2009 season, Atlantic and Druid's critically acclaimed production of Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan, directed by Tony Award^® winner Garry Hynes, was extended three times and received four 2009 Lucille Lortel Award nominations including Outstanding Revival, three Outer Critics Circle Award nominations including Outstanding Revival, a Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Revival, and was awarded a 2009 Lortel for Outstanding Ensemble Performance.

Since its inception, Atlantic has produced over 125 productions including the Tony Award^® winning play The Beauty Queen of Leenane, the world premieres of Academy Award^® winner Ethan Coen's comedies Almost an Evening and Offices, Woody Allen's A Second Hand Memory and Writer's Block, David Mamet's Romance and his adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance, the musicals Spring Awakening and 10 Million Miles, Conor McPherson's Port Authority, Peter Parnell's Trumpery, Lucy Thurber's Scarcity, Annie Baker's Body Awareness, Beau Willimon's Farragut North, Bekah Brunstetter's Oohrah!, David Pittu's What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling, Leslie Ayvazian's Make Me, Tom Donaghy's Minutes From The Blue Route, Edwin Sanchez's Trafficking in Broken Hearts, the American premieres of Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange, Conor McPherson's Dublin Carol, Jez Butterworth's The Night Heron, the New York premieres of David Mamet's Keep Your Pantheon and School, Jez Butterworth's Parlour Song and Mojo, Rolin Jones' The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow and Peter Parnell's The Cider House Rules as well as revivals of David Mamet's American Buffalo and Edmond, Harold Pinter's The Hothouse and the double bill of Celebration and The Room and Harold Brighouse's Hobson's Choice. 

THE NEW YORK IDEA will play Tuesday-Saturday at 8pm, with Wednesday and Saturday performances at 2pm and Sunday performances at 3pm.

Performance schedule variations:

No Saturday matinee 1/8/11, Added Sunday evening performance at 7:00pm on 1/9/11.

No Wednesday matinee 1/12/11, added Sunday evening performance at 7:00pm on 1/16/11.

No Wednesday matinee 1/26/11, added Sunday evening performance at 7:00pm on 1/30/11.

No Wednesday matinee 2/9/11.

THE Lucille Lortel THEATRE is located at 121 Christopher Street between Seventh Avenue South and Hudson Street.

All tickets are $65 and available by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 ticketcentral.com, in person at the Ticket Central box office or in person at the ATLANTIC STAGE 2 box office located at 330 West 16^th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.

Atlantic Memberships are still available. Memberships start at just $65 and allow members to purchase tickets to all main stage productions for over 40% off the regular ticket price at only $35 each.

Photo Credit: Kevin Thomas Garcia

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