THE PORTUGUESE KID, Starring Jason Alexander, Opens Tonight at Manhattan Theatre Club

Manhattan Theatre Club's world premiere of The Portuguese Kid, a new play written and directed by Tony, Pulitzer Prize, and Academy Award winner John Patrick Shanley, opens tonight October 24, at MTC at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street).

The cast of The Portuguese Kid stars Tony Award winner Jason Alexander (six-time Emmy Award nominee for "Seinfeld," Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Merrily We Roll Along), Pico Alexander (Punk Rock, What I Did Last Summer, Home Again), Aimee Carrero ("Young & Hungry," "Elena of Avalor," and the upcoming "American Horror Story"), three-time Tony Award nominee Sherie Rene Scott (The Front Page, Whorl Inside a Loop, Everyday Rapture), and two-time Tony nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Mary Testa (The Government Inspector, First Daughter Suite, Queen of the Mist).

In Providence, Rhode Island, habitually widowed Atalanta (Sherie Rene Scott) pays a visit to her second-rate lawyer Barry Dragonetti (Jason Alexander). Intending to settle her latest husband's affairs, this larger-than-life Greek tightwad quickly becomes a nightmare for her cheesy, self-aggrandizing attorney. Add Barry's impossible Croatian mother (Mary Testa), a dash of current politics and a couple of opportunistic young lovers, and you have in hand a recipe for comic combustion.

This feisty romantic comedy could only come from John Patrick Shanley, the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the MTC hits Doubt and Outside Mullingar, and the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Moonstruck.

The Portuguese Kid marks MTC's 12th collaboration with Shanley, a partnership that spans over three decades.

The creative team for The Portuguese Kid features John Lee Beatty (scenic design), William Ivey Long (costume design), Peter Kaczorowski (lighting design), and Obadiah Eaves (original music and sound design).

Special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting Manhattan Theatre Club. The Portuguese Kid is a recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

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 six 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 Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes; August Wilson's Jitney; Cost of Living by Martyna Majok; Vietgone by Qui Nguyen; Sell/Buy/Date by Sarah Jones; Heisenberg by Simon Stephens; The Father by Florian Zeller with translation by Christopher Hampton; Fool For Love by Sam Shepard; Casa Valentina by Harvey Fierstein; Outside Mullingar and Doubt by John Patrick Shanley; Murder Ballad by Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash; Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney; 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; The Piano Lesson by August Wilson; Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley; and Ain't Misbehavin', the Fats Waller musical. For more information on MTC, visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.