Public Extends 'Little Flower' Until 5/4

 LAByrinth Theater Company (Artistic Director John Ortiz; Co-Artistic Director Philip Seymour Hoffman; Co-Artistic Director and Executive Director John Gould Rubin) and The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) announced today that the world premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis' THE LITTLE FLOWER OF EAST ORANGE will extend its run through Sunday, May 4.  The production, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, will open on Sunday, April 6 and was originally scheduled to close on Sunday, April 20.  
 
THE LITTLE FLOWER OF EAST ORANGE is an inter-generational ghost story set in a charity hospital in the Bronx.
 
The cast for THE LITTLE FLOWER OF EAST ORANGE features Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream), Elizabeth Canavan (LAByrinth's Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train), Liza Colón-Zayas (LAByrinth's A View From 151st Street), Arthur French (Dividing the Estate at Primary Stages), Gillian Jacobs (A Feminine Ending at Playwrights Horizons), Ajay Naidu (Office Space), Howie Seago (Peter Sellars' Ajax), Michael Shannon (Tracy Letts' Bug), Sidney Williams ("The Sopranos"), and David Zayas ("Dexter").
 
THE LITTLE FLOWER OF EAST ORANGE features scenic design by Narelle Sissons; costume design by Mimi O'Donnell; lighting design by Japhy Weideman; and composition and sound design by David Van Tieghem.
 
Stephen Adly Guirgis (Playwright) has been a LAByrinth Company Member since 1994. His plays have been produced on five continents and throughout the United States. They include Our Lady of 121st Street (10 best plays of 2003; Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Best Play Nominations), Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train (Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award, Detroit Free Press Best Play of the Year, as well as a Laurence Olivier Nomination for Best New Play), In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings (10 Best of '99, Time Out New York), and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, produced by LAByrinth in collaboration with The Public Theater in 2005. All four plays were originally produced by LAByrinth and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. They are published by Dramatists Play Service as well as by Faber and Faber in the anthology Three Plays By.... Stephen was awarded a 2004 TCG fellowship, attended the 2004 Sundance Screenwriter's Lab, and was named one of 2004's 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine. He is the recipient of new play commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club and South Coast Repertory, and is a member of New Dramatists, MCC's Playwright's Coalition, New River Dramatists, Primary Stages, and The Actor's Studio Playwright/Directors Unit. He developed and directed Liza Colón-Zayas' Sistah Supreme for Danny Hoch's Hip Hop Theater Festival, and Marco Greco's award winning Behind the Counter with Mussolini in New York and Los Angeles. As an actor, he appeared in Brett C. Leonard's Guinea Pig Solo, produced by LAByrinth at the Public Theatre in 2004, and has leading roles in Todd Solondz's Palindromes, Brett C. Leonard's Jailbait opposite Michael Pitt, and in Kenneth Lonergan's upcoming Margaret.
 
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Director). LAByrinth Company Member since 1995 and Co-Artistic Director. He recently directed Andrew Upton's play Riflemind at Australia's Sydney Theatre Company. Other directing credits include In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings, Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train, Our Lady of 121st Street and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot all by Stephen Adly Guirgis with LAByrinth. In 2001, he directed Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living at MCC Theater. As an actor, his stage credits include Jack Goes Boating (LAByrinth at The Public), Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Seagull, True West, Defying Gravity, The Merchant of Venice (dir. Peter Sellars), Shopping and f-ing and The Author's Voice. His film credits include Capote, Charlie Wilson's War, The Savages, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Mission: Impossible III, Along Came Polly, Cold Mountain, The Party's Over, Owning Mahowny, Love Liza, Punch-Drunk Love, 25th Hour, Red Dragon, Almost Famous, State and Main, Flawless, Magnolia, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Boogie Nights, Happiness, Patch Adams, The Big Lebowski, Twister, Scent of a Woman, Nobody's Fool and "Empire Falls" on HBO. He has recently completed production on Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York as well as the film version of Doubt, written and directed by John Patrick Shanley.
 
LABYRINTH THEATER COMPANY was founded in 1992 by a group of actors who wanted to push their artistic limits, hone their craft, and create new plays that truly reflected their heritage and experience.  Today, LAByrinth is comprised of more than 100 established and emerging theater artists from a wide array of cultural perspectives.  Led by Artistic Director John Ortiz, co-Artistic Director Philip Seymour Hoffman and co-Artistic Director and Executive Director John Gould Rubin, the inclusive, multicultural ensemble encourages all members to write, act, direct, and design, and supports multidisciplinary growth and exploration in the creation of daring new work that celebrates the diversity of its New York City home.
 
Over the last fifteen seasons, LAByrinth has developed hundreds of new plays and staged 49 productions including:  UNCONDITIONAL (2008), A View from 151st Street (2007), Jack Goes Boating (2007), A Small, Melodramatic Story (2006), Sailor's Song (2004), Dutch Heart of Man (2003), Dirty Story (2003), Our Lady of 121st Street (2002), Where's My Money? (2001), Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train (2000), and In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings (1999).  Now in its fifth season of residency at The Public Theater, LAByrinth has collaborated with The Public to develop new work, with co-productions such as School of The Americas (2006), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (2005), and Brett C. Leonard's Guinea Pig Solo (2004).  For more information on LAByrinth Theater Company visit www.LABtheater.org  
 
THE PUBLIC THEATER (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 as the Shakespeare Workshop and is now one of the nation's preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals, productions of Shakespeare, and other classics at its headquarters on Lafayette Street and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.  The Public's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day on stage and through its extensive outreach and education programs. Each year, over 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe's Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public has won 40 Tony Awards, 141 Obies, 39 Drama Desk Awards, 23 Lucille Lortel Awards and 4 Pulitzer Prizes.