The Old Globe Extends World Premiere of Steve Martin's METEOR SHOWER

The Old Globe today announced further news about its 2016 Summer Season, which will feature new and familiar works directed by four major American stalwarts. Due to popular demand, an additional week has been added for the welcome return of Steve Martin (Bright Star) with the world premiere of his new play Meteor Shower, an adult comedy. It will be directed by Gordon Edelstein, in a co-production with Long Wharf Theatre, where Edelstein serves as Artistic Director (and no, they are not related). Meteor Shower will now play July 30 - September 11, 2016, with opening night on August 7, in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Tickets are currently available by subscription only. Single tickets begin at $29 and will go on sale to the general public on Friday, June 24 at 12:00 noon. As part of Long Wharf Theatre's 2016-2017 Season, their performances are scheduled for September 21 - October 16, 2016 (dates subject to change).

Get ready for the unexpected when Norm and his wife Corky invite another couple to their Ojai backyard to watch a Meteor Shower in the night sky. As the stars come out and the conversation gets rolling, cocktails flow, tempers flare, and sparks fly-literally. Steve Martin's surprising new comedy takes an offbeat and absurdist look at the comic anxiety lurking just beneath the surface of modern marriage.

The cast and creative team will be announced at a later date.

Meteor Shower continues Steve Martin's exciting and fruitful relationship with The Old Globe. Martin and Edie Brickell's musical Bright Star premiered at the Globe in summer 2015, played a limited engagement at The Kennedy Center, and received acclaim in its Broadway run at the Cort Theatre. In addition to five Tony Award nominations, Bright Star received Outstanding New Broadway Musical and Outstanding New Score at the Outer Critics Circle Awards. And in February, as part of the 2016-2017 Season, the Globe will mount a production of Marin's international hit comedy Picasso at the Lapin Agile, directed by the Globe's very own Barry Edelstein. Tickets for that show, which will run February 4 - March 12, 2017, are available now by subscription; single tickets will go on sale at a late date.

"Steve Martin's return to The Old Globe with this hugely funny and very insightful play is happy news," said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "That we will now be able to share Meteor Shower with many, many more San Diegans is an extra delight. I look forward to the sound of raucous laughter echoing off the walls of the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre this summer, and to an extended Balboa Park stay for Steve, Gordon Edelstein, and a talented team of artists."

Steve Martin (Playwright) began his career on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" (1967-1969), for which he earned his first Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music in 1969. In the mid-1970s, Mr. Martin shone as a stand-up on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and NBC's "Saturday Night Live." Martin's films are widely popular successes and are the kind of movies that are viewed again and again: The Jerk (1979), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), Roxanne (1987), Parenthood (1989), L.A. Story (1991), Father of the Bride (1991), and Bowfinger (1999). As an author, Martin's work includes the novel An Object of Beauty; the play Picasso at the Lapin Agile; a collection of comic pieces, Pure Drivel; a bestselling novella, Shopgirl; and his memoir, Born Standing Up. His writing has also appeared in The New Yorker. Mr. Martin is an accomplished, Grammy Award-winning, boundary-pushing bluegrass banjoist and composer who has won three Grammys for performing and composing. He has earned numerous honors including an Academy Award, five Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, the Mark Twain Prize, and the Kennedy Center Honor. Mr. Martin and Edie Brickell's musical Bright Star premiered at The Old Globe in summer 2015, played a limited engagement at The Kennedy Center, and received acclaim in its Broadway run at the Cort Theatre. In addition to five Tony Award nominations, Bright Star received Outstanding New Broadway Musical and Outstanding New Score at the Outer Critics Circle Awards.

Gordon Edelstein (Director) is in his 14th season as Artistic Director of Long Wharf Theatre. His most recent Long Wharf Theatre credits include The Second Mrs. Wilson, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Our Town, The Last Five Years, The Shadow of the Hummingbird, The Underpants, Ride the Tiger, Curse of the Starving Class, Satchmo at the Waldorf, My Name is Asher Lev, Shirley Valentine, and his own adaptations of A Doll's House and Uncle Vanya. His acclaimed Long Wharf Theatre production of The Glass Menagerie played at Roundabout Theatre Company and the Mark Taper Forum and was the recipient of the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival. He has a continued artistic association with Athol Fugard, directing the world premieres of The Shadow of the Hummingbird, Have You Seen Us?, and Coming Home as well as the East Coast premiere of The Train Driver. Edelstein most recently directed Audra McDonald in A Moon for the Misbegotten at Williamstown Theatre Festival, as well as the Off Broadway production of Satchmo at the Waldorf starring John Douglas Thompson at Westside Theatre. His New York City production of My Name is Asher Lev won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. He also directed the Broadway production of Fugard's The Road to Mecca for Roundabout Theatre Company. Among Edelstein's countless plays and workshops for Long Wharf Theatre are BFE, The Day the Bronx Died, A Dance Lesson, The Times, The Blue Album, We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!, A New War, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Anna Christie, The Front Page, and Mourning Becomes Electra. As a director of an extremely diverse body of work, Edelstein has garnered three Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, and under his artistic leadership, Long Wharf Theatre has received 17 additional Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, including six Outstanding Actor or Actress Awards in plays that he directed. He is also the recipient of the organization's Tom Killen Award, given annually to an individual who has made an indelible impact on the Connecticut theatrical landscape.

Long Wharf Theatre (Co-Producer) was founded in 1965 by Jon Jory and Harlan Kleiman and is currently led by Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein and Managing Director Joshua Borenstein. Long Wharf Theatre is an organization of international renown and has been a leader in American theatre, producing fresh and imaginative revivals of classic and modern plays, rediscoveries of neglected works, and a variety of world and American premieres. Under the artistic leadership of Arvin Brown for over 30 years, Long Wharf Theatre established itself as an important force in the regional theatre movement. Following Brown's leadership, Doug Hughes served as Artistic Director for four seasons. Throughout its history, Long Wharf Theatre has created a unique home in New Haven for theatre artists from around the world, resulting in the transfer of over 30 productions to Broadway or Off Broadway, including Satchmo at the Waldorf, My Name is Asher Lev, The Glass Menagerie, Durango, BFE, Sixteen Wounded, Wit (Pulitzer Prize), Hughie, American Buffalo, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Quartermaine's Terms (Obie Award for Best Play), The Gin Game (Pulitzer Prize), The Shadow Box (Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play), The Changing Room, The Contractor (New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play), and Streamers, among many others now in the American theatre canon. In 1978, Long Wharf Theatre was honored with a Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Currently in its 51st season, Long Wharf Theatre produces an annual season of six plays on its two stages, along with children's programming, new play workshops, and a variety of special events.

Meteor Shower is supported in part through gifts from Pamela J. Wagner and Hans Tegebo, Nina and Robert Doede, and Elaine Lipinsky Family Foundation.

TICKETS to Meteor Shower are currently available by subscription only. Single tickets begin at $29 and will go on sale to the general public on Friday, June 24 at 12:00 noon. Subscription packages can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE [234-5623], or by visiting the box office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Performances begin on July 6 and continue through August 15. Performance times: Previews: Saturday, July 30 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, July 31 at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, August 2 at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 3 at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, August 4 at 8:00 p.m., Friday, August 5 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, August 6 at 8:00 p.m., opening night is Sunday, August 7 at 7:00 p.m. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m., and Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors, military members, and groups of 10 or more.

Photo by Sandee Bartkowski