Kyle Donnelly Will Direct Arena Stages' OTHER DESERT CITIES

Hidden secrets are unearthed and family tensions fly high in Pulitzer Prize nominee Jon Robin Baitz's contemporary family drama Other Desert Cities. Helen Hayes Award winner and former Arena Stage Associate Artistic Director Kyle Donnelly returns to direct the D.C.-area premiere of the show with a cast that features Tony Award nominee and two-time Helen Hayes Award winner Helen Carey (Mary Tyrone in Arena Stage's Long Day's Journey into Night, Broadway's Hedda Gabler) as matriarch Polly Wyeth and two-time Tony Award nominee Larry Bryggman (Broadway's Harvey, CBS's As the World Turns) as patriarch Lyman Wyeth. Rounding out the cast are Emily Donahoe (Broadway's 33 Variations) as daughter Brooke Wyeth, Scott Drummond (Cherry Lane Theatre's A Perfect Future) as son Trip Wyeth and Martha Hackett (Pacific Resident Theatre's Nora) as their aunt Silda Grauman. Other Desert Cities runs April 26-May 26, 2013 in the Fichandler Stage.

"Jon Robin Baitz brings the perfect amount of humor and drama to his portrayal of a family struggling to reconcile their family secrets," shares Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith. "Full of conflict, emotional fireworks, unresolved feelings and explosive political dynamics, Other Desert Cities is a wonderfully intelligent story that keeps audiences on the edge of their seats. I'm thrilled to welcome Kyle back to lead our powerhouse cast in bringing this thoroughly American family to life."

In Other Desert Cities, after a six-year absence, Brooke Wyeth returns to her Reaganite parents' Palm Springs enclave for the holidays. But the warm desert air turns chilly when news of her upcoming memoir threatens to revive the most painful chapter of the family's history. Perception and reality grapple with love and mercy as old family wounds are opened, childhood memories are tested and the Wyeth clan learns that some secrets cannot stay buried forever. Full of surprisingly touching moments, Jon Robin Baitz (A Fair Country, creator of ABC's Brothers & Sisters) brings dysfunctional family drama to new heights in this witty, deeply enjoyable work that garnered a Tony Award nomination for Best New Play and won the 2012 Drama League Award.

"While it is always a joy to direct in the Fichandler Stage, I am particularly thrilled to work on Jon Robin Baitz's play in that magical space," shares Donnelly, who returns to the iconic in-the-round space by directing her 22nd show at Arena Stage. "I look forward to creating an intimate and almost tribal space for the secrets in this family drama to play out and reveal themselves."

Jon Robin Baitz (Playwright)'s plays include Mizlansky/Zilinsky or "schmucks," The Film Society, The Substance of Fire, The End of the Day, Three Hotels, A Fair Country, (an adaptation of) Hedda Gabler, Ten Unknowns and The Paris Letter. He is a Pulitzer Prize finalist for A Fair Country and a Guggenheim, NEA and American Academy of Arts and Letters Award winner. He is on the faculties of the New School's Graduate Drama Division and Stony Brook South Hampton's MFA in theater and film. His screenplays include The Substance of Fire and People I Know starring Al Pacino, both for Miramax. He created the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters in 2006, after writing an episode of The West Wing (The Long Goodbye). Other Desert Cities was nominated for Lortel, Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Awards, winning the latter two.

Kyle Donnelly (Director) was associate artistic director at Arena Stage (1992-98) and has directed Ah, Wilderness!, Dancing at Lughnasa (Helen Hayes Award, Best Production), Polk County (Helen Hayes Award, Best Musical) and numerous other productions. She directed the American premiere of Brian Friel's Give Me Your Answer, Do! off-Broadway and has worked with many regional theaters, including Old Globe (Orson's Shadow), Seattle Rep (The Three Musketeers, Constant Wife), Goodman (The Rover), Steppenwolf (Molly Sweeney), Huntington (Ah, Wilderness!,Aristocrats), ACT (Constant Wife), Studio (Baltimore Waltz) and Alliance (To Kill a Mockingbird). She has won Helen Hayes and Joseph Jefferson Awards and the Arthur and Molli Wagner Endowed Chair in Acting at UC San Diego, where she heads the MFA Program in Acting.

The Cast of Other Desert Cities (in alphabetical order)
Larry Bryggman (Lyman Wyeth) Broadway: Harvey, Twelve Angry Men, Proof (Tony nomination), Picnic (Tony nomination), Prelude to a Kiss, Richard lll, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Festen. Off-Broadway includes Edward Albee's Occupant, Groundswell. Romance (Obie Award), CQ/CX, The Collection & A Kind Of Alaska, 10x25 One Acts, Hothouse, Once in a Lifetime (Atlantic Theater), Proof, New England (Manhattan Theatre Club), Prelude and Liebestod (Manhattan Class Company), A Bad Friend, Bodies, Rest and Motion (Lincoln Center), King Lear, Henry Vlll, The Tempest, As You Like It, Henry lV Parts l and ll, Coriolanus, Rum and Coke, The Ballad of Soapy Smith, Museum, Marco Polo Sings a Solo and Mod Donna (The Public). Film: Spy Game, Die Hard with a Vengeance, And Justice For All, Looking for Richard, Side By Each and Family Games. Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, two Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Actor. Mr. Bryggman is a member of the Atlantic Theater Company.

Helen Carey (Polly Wyeth) last appeared at Arena in Long Day's Journey into Night (Helen Hayes nomination) and Noises Off (Helen Hayes nomination). At Washington's Shakespeare Theatre, productions include leading roles in Major Barbara (Helen Hayes Award), The Persians, Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth and Volpone (Helen Hayes Award). Broadway: London Assurance (Tony Award nomination, Theatre World Award), Pygmalion and Hedda Gabler. Her international credits include All My Sons (Irish Times/ESB Award nomination) at Dublin's Abbey Theatre and Arms and the Man at Ontario's Shakespeare Festival Theatre. Her association with the Guthrie Theater spans four decades. Some favorite productions have been Winter's Tale, The Cherry Orchard and Death of a Salesman. Film credits include Julie & Julia, The Next Three Days and Little Children. TV: House, Without a Trace and Seinfeld.

Emily Donahoe (Brooke Wyeth) Broadway: 33 Variations. Off-Broadway: Queens Boulevard (the musical) (Signature Theatre), The Attic (Play Company), Great Expectations (Theatreworks/Lucille Lortel), Deathbed (McGinn-Cazale), Apparition (Connelly), The Hasty Heart (Keen Company). Regional: Maple and Vine (American Conservatory Theater, West Coast premiere), The Wake (Center Theatre Group/Berkeley Rep), Shakespeare in Hollywood (Arena Stage world premiere/Helen Hayes Award "Outstanding Supporting Actress"), Wintertime (La Jolla Playhouse world premiere/L.A. Times "Critic's Choice"), Honour with Kathleen Chalfant and The Glass Menagerie with Rita Moreno (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Williamstown Theater Festival). Film/TV: Handsome Harry, National Lampoon's Dirty Movie, Zelimo, Weeki Wachi Girls, As The World Turns. National commercials and print for Match.com, MTV, Eureka, Procter & Gamble, Alcon and Glaxosmith-Kline.

Scott Drummond (Trip Wyeth) Off-Broadway credits include A Perfect Future (Cherry Lane Theatre) and Hamlet (Theatre for a New Audience). Other New York credits include The New Group, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Aquila (national tours of Catch-22, Julius Caesar) and The Play Company. Regionally, he has appeared at South Coast Repertory (Pride and Prejudice, dir. Kyle Donnelly), George Street Playhouse (One Slight Hitch, Twelve Angry Men), Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center (three seasons), Arena Stage (Well, dir. Kyle Donnelly), La Jolla Playhouse (Mother Courage), The Shakespeare Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Arden Theatre Company, New Repertory Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival and Creede Repertory Theatre (Denver Critics Circle nomination, Best Actor). Film and television appearances include Twilight Zones (dir. David Chase), Black Jack (pilot, Comedy Central) and All My Children. Training: MFA, UC San Diego/La Jolla Playhouse; BFA, Southern Methodist University/Meadows School of the Arts.

Martha Hackett (Silda Grauman)'s prior collaborations with Kyle Donnelly at Arena Stage include The Women and the world premiere of Tom Walker. Additionally, they worked together at Ford's Theatre for State of the Union. In New York she has appeared off-off-Broadway in Sleepwalk at the Fringe Festival and The Ballad of Emma Munroe at Rawspace. A Los Angeles-based actress, Martha has been seen at South Coast Rep in Tom Walker and at the Mark Taper Forum in The Kentucky Cycle. She is a long-time company member at the Pacific Resident Ensemble, appearing in over 20 productions. Favorites include Lady in Macbeth, Happy End (Garland Award, LADCC Best Revival), Barbarians (Dramalogue Award) and the highly acclaimed Nora. Films include Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Never Been Kissed, among others. Her many TV credits include recent appearances on The Last Resort, Masters of Sex and Perception. She holds an MFA in Theater from USC and a BA from Harvard.

The creative team for Other Desert Cities includes Set Designer Kate Edmunds, Costume Designer Nan Cibula-Jenkins, Lighting Designer Nancy Schertler, Original Music & Sound Designer David Van Tieghem, Stage Manager Martha Knight and Assistant Stage Manager Kurt Hall.

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