Diverse City Theater Announces Cast of Lee Blessing’s TWO ROOMS

Diverse City Theater Company ("DCT") today announced the complete cast for its summer season offering of Two Rooms by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award nominee Lee Blessing, directed by Jamie Richards. The production opens for a limited run on Thursday, August 9th at 8PM at Theatre Row's The Lion Theatre located at 410 West 42nd Street in New York City. Performances run thru Saturday, August 25th. Tickets are $19.25 and can be purchased on Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200.

Two Rooms will feature Curran Connor* (Julius by Design, 39 Steps), Dawn Evans* (The Ladies of the Corridor, The Sopranos), Victor Lirio* (Resurrection, The Female Heart), and Bree Michael Warner (Balm in Gilead, Six Feet Under) in the lead role of Lainie.

Originally commissioned and produced by La Jolla Playhouse in 1988 and named Best Play of the Year by Time Magazine, Two Rooms is about Michael (Connor), an American professor who is held hostage in a dark room in Beirut. His wife, Lainie (Warner), holds a vigil for him in an empty room in their home outside of DC. As events in the Middle East begin to spin out of control, the possibility of bringing Michael safely back home becomes more tenuous.

In a previous announcement, actor Victor Lirio, also artistic director of DCT, commented: "In light of current tensions between the West and Arab world, we are re-examining friction from the recent past and asking the question, 'how far have we progressed in the span of nearly 25 years?'"
Lee Blessing is an American playwright best known for his play, A Walk in the Woods, produced on Broadway and the West end, for which he earned a Pulitzer Prize as well as a Tony Award nomination. His Off-Broadway productions include A Body Of Water at Primary Stages; Going To St. Ives at Primary Stages (Outer Critic's Circle Award for Best Play; Obie Award for Ensemble Performance); Thief River at Signature Theatre (Drama Desk nomination, Best Play); Cobb at Lucille Lortel Theatre (Drama Desk award, Best Ensemble); Chesapeake at New York Stage and Film at Second Stage; Eleemosynary at Manhattan Theatre Company, and Down The Road at Weissberger Group at the Atlantic Theatre. The Signature Theatre dedicated its 1992-1993 season to his work, consisting of Fortinbras, Lake Street Extension, Two Rooms, and the world premiere of Patient A. He currently serves as Head of the graduate playwriting program at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Jamie Richards directed the critically acclaimed production of Linda Faigao-Hall's The Female Heart for DCT in 2005, and again in 2007 for the 1st National Asian American Theater Festival. She has directed Stonewall Jackson's House (American Place Theater), Light Years (Playwright's Horizons), Klonsky and Schwartz, The Secret Order, District of Columbia, Flight, Heaven Knows, and Hell's Kitchen Sink (EST). Plays for EST's Marathon include Little Duck, Brown, Night Rules, Cats and Dogs, Reunions, Real Real Gone, and The 100 Most Beautiful Names of Todd. She has directed and developed plays at Williamstown Theatre Festival, New York Stage and Film, Primary Stages, and Youngblood. She is Artistic Director of 9th Ave Theater Project, which produces the new play development program, 9th & Madison. She served as Executive Producer of EST, where she produced premieres of plays by David Mamet, Arthur Miller, David Ives, Paul Rudnick, Lynn Nottage, and many others, as well as the Going to The River Festival.

* Member of Actors' Equity Association

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