THE NICETIES Opens Tomorrow At MTC's The Studio

Manhattan Theatre Club's New York premiere of The Niceties, written by Eleanor Burgess and directed by Kimberly Senior (Disgraced), opens tomorrow at The Studio at Stage II - Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Series at New York City Center (131 W. 55th Street). Performances began on Friday, October 12.

The Niceties stars Lisa Banes (Present Laughter) and Jordan Boatman (Hulu's "The Path").

MTC is pleased to present The Niceties in association with Huntington Theatre Company and McCarter Theatre Center. This production debuted at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, MA from August 31 - September 30, 2018 prior to arriving at Manhattan Theatre Club; it will then play McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ from January 11 - February 10, 2019. The Niceties was originally presented as part of MTC's Ted Snowdon Reading Series in 2017.

At an elite East Coast university, an ambitious young black student and her esteemed white professor meet to discuss a paper the college junior is writing about the American Revolution. They're both liberal. They're both women. They're both brilliant. But very quickly, discussions of grammar and Google turn to race and reputation, and before they know it, they're in dangerous territory neither of them had foreseen - and facing stunning implications that can't be undone. Written with powerful truth and humor by Eleanor Burgess, this deeply resonant work is directed by Kimberly Senior (Disgraced). The Washington Post hails it as "a barnstormer of a play," adding that it's "one of the best plays I've seen about who gets to tell the story of America, and how."

The design team includes Cameron Anderson (Scenic Design), Kara Harmon (Costume Design), D.M. Wood (Lighting Design), and Elisheba Ittoop (Original Music & Sound Design).

Manhattan Theatre Club, under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, has become one of the country's most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. Over the past four and a half decades, MTC productions have earned numerous awards including 7 Pulitzer Prizes and 23 Tony Awards. MTC has a Broadway home at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) and two Off-Broadway theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street). Renowned MTC productions include the 2018 Pulitzer Prize winner Cost of Living by Martyna Majok; Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes; August Wilson's Jitney and The Piano Lesson; Heisenberg by Simon Stephens; The Father by Florian Zeller with translation by Christopher Hampton; Fool For Love by Sam Shepard; Airline Highway by Lisa D'Amour; Casa Valentina by Harvey Fierstein; Outside Mullingar and Doubt by John Patrick Shanley; The Commons of Pensacola by Amanda Peet; Murder Ballad by Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash; The Assembled Parties by Richard Greenberg; Wit by Margaret Edson; Venus in Fur by David Ives; Good People and Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire; The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez; Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies; Ruined by Lynn Nottage; Proof by David Auburn; The Tale of the Allergist's Wife by Charles Busch; Love! Valour! Compassion! by Terrence McNally; Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley; and Ain't Misbehavin', the Fats Waller musical. For more information on MTC, please visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

The Studio at Stage II is Manhattan Theatre Club's initiative at New York City Center - Stage II (131 West 55th Street). The initiative launched in 2012 with the sold out, critically acclaimed world premiere of Murder Ballad, the rock musical by Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash and has continued with the critically acclaimed premieres of Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney, Taking Care of Baby by Dennis Kelly, The Lion by Benjamin Scheuer, By The Water by Sharyn Rothstein, Heisenberg by Simon Stephens, Important Hats of the Twentieth Century by Nick Jones, The Ruins of Civilization by Penelope Skinner, Sell/Buy/Date by Sarah Jones, Actually by Anna Ziegler, and Sugar in Our Wounds by Donja R. Love.

The Studio at Stage II has been partially underwritten with a major grant from The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

In order to ensure that tickets to The Niceties are affordable to the widest and most diverse audiences possible, MTC will price all tickets during the show's initial five-week run at $35.

Tickets for The Niceties can be purchased online at www.nycitycenter.org, by calling CityTix at 212-581-1212, or by visiting the New York City Center box office (131 West 55th Street). New and renewing subscribers can join MTC's 2018-2019 season by calling The MTC Clubline at 212-399-3050. For more information, please visit www.manhattantheatreclub.com.

To sign up for MTC's "30 Under 35" program, offering $30 tickets for theatregoers age 35 and under, visit www.manhattantheatreclub.com/30under35/.