Amanda Peet, Laurie Metcalf, Joe Mantello and More Announced for MCC in 2010-2011

By: Aug. 16, 2010
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MCC Theatre (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, Artistic Directors; William Cantler, Associate Artistic Director; Blake West, Executive Director) today announced three exciting additions to their upcoming 2010-11 season, which will mark the company's 25th Anniversary.

This fall, Amanda Peet (Broadway's Barefoot In the Park, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip") will appear opposite David Duchovny in the world premiere production of The Break of Noon, Neil LaBute's seventh collaboration with MCC Theater as Playwright-in-Residence, following the 2009 Tony Award-nominated Best Play, Reasons to be Pretty. Renowned for his darkly-comic morality plays (The Shape of Things, In a Dark Dark House), he teams up again with longtime collaborator, director Jo Bonney (Some Girl(s), Fat Pig), for this exploration of the daunting, sometimes harrowing process of "finding religion." As previously announced, David Duchovny ("Californication," "The X-Files") will star as John Smith, a man who, amidst the chaos and horror of the worst office shooting in American history, sees the face of God. Peet will play two roles in the production, John's wife ‘Ginger' and Ginger's cousin ‘Jesse,' both struggling to come to terms with the repercussions of John's revelation. A newcomer to faith, John urgently searches for a modern response to the age-old question: at what cost salvation? Performances begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on October 28, 2010 and continue through December 12, 2010. An official opening night is set for November 15, 2010. The Break of Noon is a co-production with the Geffen Playhouse (Gil Cates, Producing Director; Randall Arney, Artistic Director; Ken Novice, Managing Director).

Later in the year, Laurie Metcalf (Broadway's November, "Roseanne") will star in the world premiere production of Sharr White's The Other Place, MCC's second offering of the season. Joe Mantello (Glengarry Glen Ross, Take Me Out) will direct the production, making his return to MCC following his smash hit production of The Pride this past year. Hot off a string of hits in Seattle, Chicago, and L.A., fast-rising playwright Sharr White (Sunlight, Six Years) makes his New York debut with MCC Theater's production of this volatile and emotional new thriller. Just as Juliana Smithton's research leads to a potential breakthrough in Alzheimer treatment drugs, her life takes a disorienting turn. During a lecture to colleagues at an exclusive beach resort, she glimpses an enigmatic young woman in a yellow bikini amidst the crowd of business suits. One step at a time, a mystery unravels as contradictory evidence, blurred truth and fragmented memories collide in a cottage on the windswept shores of Cape Cod. Performances begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on March 10, 2011 and continue through April 24, 2011. An official opening night is set for March 28, 2011.

MCC Theater will also present the world premiere production of Michael Weller's Side Effects as the third and final production of the season. MCC's acclaimed 2008 hit Fifty Words (which starred Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Marvel) culminated in one desperate phone call. Side Effects is the story of what happened on the other end of the line. This harrowing and unique journey is expertly plotted by playwright Michael Weller, noted for Loose Ends and Moonchildren, a seminal work for the American stage. Hugh and Lindy's marriage seems picture-perfect, a beacon in their microcosmic Midwestern world of dinner parties and fundraisers. Behind closed doors they're falling apart - doors they can barely keep shut - and Hugh's rising political star is suddenly imperiled.

Subscriptions for the 2010-2011 season are on-sale now and are priced as low as $99 for the 3-play season. For more information visit www.mcctheater.org or to purchase packages, contact TicketCentral directly at www.ticketcentral.com or call 212-279-4200.

MCC Theater is one of New York City's leading Off Broadway theater companies, committed to presenting New York and world premieres each season. When MCC Theater was founded in 1986, its mission was simple: to bring new theatrical voices to theater-going audiences. MCC Theater continues to accomplish this yearly through presentation of its mainstage works; its Literary Program, which actively seeks and develops new and emerging writers and its Education & Outreach Program, allowing more than 1,200 students yearly to experience theater, increase literacy and discover their own voices in the arts. Notable MCC Theater highlights include: the 2008 Tony Award-nominated reasons to be pretty by Neil LaBute, last season's Fifty Words, the 2004 Tony-winning production of Bryony Lavery's Frozen; Neil LaBute's Fat Pig; Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living; Marsha Norman's Trudy Blue; Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit; Tim Blake Nelson's The Grey Zone and Alan Bowne's Beirut. Over the years, the dedication to the work of new and emerging artists has earned MCC Theater a variety of awards. For a complete production history, visit www.mcctheater.org.

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Joe Mantello's directing credits include The Pride, Pal Joey, 9 to 5, November, The Receptionist, The Ritz, Blackbird, Three Days of Rain, The Odd Couple, Glengarry Glen Ross (Tony Nomination), Laugh Whore, Assassins (Tony Award), Wicked, Take Me Out (Tony Award), Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune, A Man of No Importance, Design For Living, Terrence McNally and Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking for San Francisco Opera. The Vagina Monologues, Bash, Another American: Asking and Telling, Love! Valour! Compassion! (Tony Nomination), Proposals, The Mineola Twins, Corpus Christi, Mizlansky/Zilinsky..., Blue Window, God's Heart, The Santaland Diaries, Snakebit, Three Hotels, Imagining Brad. As an actor: Angels in America (Tony Nomination) and The Baltimore Waltz. He is recipient of Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Clarence Derwent, Obie and Joe A. Callaway awards. He is a member of Naked Angels and an associate artist at Roundabout Theatre Company.

Laurie Metcalf. In New York, Metcalf most recently appeared on Broadway in Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, directed by David Cromer. Laurie has also appeared on Broadway opposite Nathan Lane in David Mamet's comedy November, directed by Joe Mantello, and Alexandra Gersten's My Thing of Love, directed by Michael Maggio. Metcalf has also appeared in Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind, directed by Ethan Hawke, and Balm in Gilead at the Circle Rep, for which she received Drama Desk, Obie and Theatre World Awards. An ensemble member at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company since 1976, Metcalf is the recipient of seven Joseph Jefferson Awards and two L.A. Ovation Awards. Metcalf won three Emmy awards for her role as ‘Jackie Harris' on "Roseanne." She was also nominated for an Emmy, for her work on "Desperate Housewives." Metcalf's film credits include Internal Affairs, Desperately Seeking Susan, Toy Story, Bulworth and Leaving Las Vegas.

Amanda Peet is an accomplished and versatile film actress who is best known for her diverse choice of roles in romantic comedies, dramas and thrillers. This fall, she starred in the successful disaster film, 2012, directed by Roland Emmerich and co-starring John Cusack. She recently finished filming 20th Century Fox's Gulliver's Travels starring Jack Black and Jason Segel, and she stars in the upcoming dramatic comedy Please Give, directed by Nicole Holofcener and co-starring Catherine Keener and Rebecca Hall. Peet starred as Jordan McDeere on Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." In 2006, she made her Broadway debut opposite Patrick Wilson in the revival of Neil Simon's Barefoot In the Park. She also starred, to critical acclaim, in the Neil LaBute Off Broadway play This Is How It Goes opposite Ben Stiller and Jeffrey Wright. Her numerous film credits include the Oscar nominated Warner Bros./Section Eight thriller Syriana, What Doesn't Kill You (with Mark Ruffalo and Ethan Hawke) and A Lot Like Love. Other credits include Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda; The Whole Nine Yards and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards and the 2003 hit Something's Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton. In 2003 Peet starred alongside John Cusack and Ray Liotta in the thriller Identity. In 2002, Peet was seen in Changing Lanes opposite Ben Affleck. That same year, she appeared as Jeff Goldblum's mistress, a beautiful and privileged young woman who is hooked on drugs, in Igby Goes Down. Audiences first warmed to Amanda when she starred as Jack on the hit drama, "Jack and Jill". A native of New York, Peet graduated from Columbia University with a degree in American History. While there, she also studied acting under Uta Hagen, which ultimately lead her to pursue acting as a career.

 

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.



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