Playwright Horizon's Extends CLYBOURNE PARK By Two Weeks

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced a two-week extension for the World Premiere of CLYBOURNE PARK, a new play by Bruce Norris ("A wonderful, original, grab-you-by-the-guts playwright" - WOR Radio; "He specializes in comedies of discomfort" - The New York Times) that has just opened to excellent reviews. Directed by Pam MacKinnon ("A specialist in sharp-edge scrapings" - Newsday; "She's staged the play with the precision of an orchestra conductor" - Associated Press), the production opened Sunday, February 21. Originally set to run through Sunday, March 7, the limited engagement will now play through Sunday, March 21 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).
CLYBOURNE PARK is the third consecutive, critically-acclaimed hit production to open at Playwrights Horizons this season, following Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation and Melissa James Gibson's This. Like CLYBOURNE PARK, both Circle Mirror Transformation and This were praised for their exceptional writing, high production values and strong ensemble casts.

Critics are calling the play "A spiky and damningly insightful new comedy" (Ben Brantley, The New York Times), "Absolutely sensational" (Elisabeth Vincentelli, The New York Post), "A superb world premiere! A tangy new play about race and real estate" (Joe Dziemianowicz, Daily News), "Remarkably perceptive, often hilarious and surprisingly poignant" (Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press), "A terrific new play and well worth seeing!" (David Richardson, WOR Radio), "Inventive, provocative and bitterly funny" (Michael Sommers, New Jersey Newsroom) and "Absolutely fascinating. I urge you to go see it!" (Joan Hamburg, WOR Radio). In addition, it was chosen as a highly-coveted "Critic's Pick" by The New York Times.

The "Dynamite" (Daily News), "Crackerjack ensemble cast" (Associated Press) "Firing on all cylinders" (The New York Post), features Tony Award winner Frank Wood (Side Man, August: Osage County), Emmy Award nominee Annie Parisse (Becky Shaw, The Credeaux Canvas), Jeremy Shamos (100 Saints You Should Know, Gutenberg! The Musical!), Crystal A. Dickinson (Broke-ology), Brendan Griffin (Back Back Back), Damon Gupton (Inked Baby) and Christina Kirk (God's Ear, Suitcase, [sic]).

CLYBOURNE PARK is Mr. Norris' first play to have its World Premiere in New York. While Playwrights Horizons presented his first New York premiere with The Pain and the Itch in 2006, his previous five plays all had their World Premieres at Steppenwolf Theatre.
CLYBOURNE PARK begins in 1959 as a white family moves out. In Act Two, it's 2009 and a white family moves in. In the intervening years, change overtakes a neighborhood, along with attitudes, inhabitants and property values. Loosely inspired by Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, this pitch-black comedy from Mr. Norris takes on the specter of gentrification in one of America's most recognizable communities - leaving no stone unturned in the process.

The production features scenic design by Daniel Ostling, costume design by Ilona Somogyi, lighting design by Allen Lee Hughes and sound design by John Gromada. Production Stage Manager is C. A. Clark.

Playwrights Horizons' production of CLYBOURNE PARK has received generous support from the Eleanor Naylor Dana Charitable Trust. Special thanks to the Tobin Theatre Arts Fund for supporting the set and costume designer fees for this production.

Playwrights Horizons' season productions are 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, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Shubert Foundation and Time Warner Inc.

The performance schedule for CLYBOURNE PARK is Tuesdays through Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2:30 & 8PM and Sundays at 2:30 & 7:30 PM. Tickets, $65, 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).

Reflecting Playwrights Horizons' ongoing commitment to making its productions more affordable to younger audiences, the theater company offers 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.
HOTtix and STUDENT RUSH are two of Playwrights Horizons' popular Arts Access initiatives, which allow the institution to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket. This program is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, McGraw-Hill Companies and the Elroy and Terry Krumholz Foundation.

The next production at Playwrights Horizons will be the World Premiere of A COOL DIP IN THE BARREN SAHARAN CRICK, a new play by Kia Corthron. Directed by Obie Award winner Chay Yew, it begins previews Thursday, March 4 at Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (416 West 42nd Street).

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 

Bruce Norris (Playwright) is a writer and actor whose play The Pain and the Itch was produced at Playwrights Horizons in 2006, as well as at The Royal Court Theatre in London and Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, which has premiered five of his plays: The Infidel (2000), Purple Heart (2002), We All Went Down to Amsterdam (2003), The Pain and the Itch (2004) and The Unmentionables (2006) and which will produce a sixth this summer, entitled A Parallelogram. He is the recipient of the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Whiting Prize, and the Kesselring Prize, Honorable Mention, as well as two Joseph Jefferson Awards (Chicago) for Best New Work. As an actor, he has appeared in numerous plays and can be seen in the upcoming film All Good Things.
Pam MacKinnon (Director) is a frequent interpreter of the plays of Edward Albee, with world premieres of Peter and Jerry (Second Stage) and Occupant (Signature), as well as A Delicate Balance (Arena Stage) as recent credits. Other recent productions include Rachel Axler's Smudge (Women's Project), Cusi Cram's A Lifetime Burning (Primary Stages), Itamar Moses' The Four of Us (MTC and Old Globe), Richard Greenberg's Our Mother's Brief Affair (South Coast Rep), Jason Grote's Maria/Stuart (Woolly Mammoth), Bruce Norris' The Unmentionables (Woolly Mammoth), Roberto Aguirre Sacasa's Good Boys and True (Steppenwolf), Itamar Moses' Bach at Leipzig (NYTW and Milwaukee Rep), Sheri Wilner's Father Joy (SPF and CATF), Adrian Hall's adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men (Intiman) and Richard Dresser's Below the Belt (ACT-Seattle). Later this season, Pam will direct Othello (Shakespeare Santa Cruz). She is a Clubbed Thumb, Inc. Affiliated Artist and a Drama League alumna.
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 39 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 Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation, Melissa James Gibson's This, Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie's Grey Gardens (three 2007 Tony Awards), Craig Lucas's Prayer For My Enemy and Small Tragedy (2004 Obie Award, Best American Play), Adam Rapp's Kindness, Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins, Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, Bruce Norris's The Pain and the Itch, Lynn Nottage's Fabulation (2005 Obie Award for Playwriting), Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, David Greenspan's She Stoops to Comedy (2003 Obie Award), Kirsten Childs's The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (2000 Obie Award), 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, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Once on This Island, 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.

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