Benjamin Scheuer's THE LION to Make American Premiere at MTC This June

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director), Barry Grove (Executive Producer), and Mandy Greenfield (Artistic Producer) just announced that Manhattan Theatre Club will produce the American premiere of THE LION, the new autobiographical musical written and performed by 2013 ASCAP Cole Porter Songwriting Award winner Benjamin Scheuer, directed by Sean Daniels. The five-week limited engagement for THE LION will begin previews on Tuesday, June 10 and open Thursday, June 26 as the second production of MTC's 2013-2014 season of The Studio at Stage II - Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Series at New York City Center - Stage II (131 West 55th Street).

A true story of love, loss, family loyalty, and the redemptive power of music. Following an award-winning run at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, writer/performer Benjamin Scheuer (winner of the ASCAP Cole Porter Award for songwriting) shares his gripping coming-of-age tale. Directed by Sean Daniels, whose work has been seen at The Kennedy Center and Actor's Theatre of Louisville,THE LION is a candid, poignant, and charming new solo musical from a next-generation troubadour.

The music video for the show's title song (director/animator Peter Baynton) premiered at the 2013 Annecy Film Festival in France, where it won the Special Jury Award for Best Commissioned Film. The video has also won Best Music Video and Best Animated Video at London's 2013 Crystal Palace International Film Festival.

The creative team for THE LION includes Neil Patel (scenic design), Jennifer Caprio (costume consultant), Ben Stanton (lighting design), and Leon Rothenberg (sound design).

In order to ensure that tickets to THE LION are affordable to the widest possible, most diverse audiences, MTC is pricing all tickets during the five-week run at $30. Tickets will go on sale starting April 25, 2014 via CityTix® (212-581-1212), www.nycitycenter.org and at the New York City Center Box Office.

For additional details on THE LION and offers to all MTC shows, please sign up for MTC's "30 Under 30" program for theatergoers age 30 and under https://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/30under30/.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, MTC has become one of the country's most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. Over the past three decades, MTC productions have earned a total of 19 Tony Awards and six Pulitzer Prizes, an accomplishment unparalleled by a New York theatrical institution. MTC has a Broadway home at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) and an Off-Broadway theatre at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street). Since January 2011, Mandy Greenfield (Artistic Producer) has taken the lead in programming and execution at MTC's Off-Broadway home. Renowned MTC productions include The Assembled Parties; Venus in Fur; Master Class; Good People; The Whipping Man; Time Stands Still; The Royal Family; Ruined; The American Plan; Come Back, Little Sheba; Blackbird; Translations;Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Proof; The Tale of the Allergist's Wife; Love! Valour! Compassion!; A Small Family Business; Sylvia;Putting It Together; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain't Misbehavin.'

The Studio at Stage II is Manhattan Theatre Club's new initiative, under the leadership of Mandy Greenfield, at New York City Center - Stage II (131 West 55th Street). The initiative launched last season with the sold out, critically acclaimed world premiere of MURDER BALLAD the new rock musical by Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash and has continued with the critically acclaimed American premieres of CHOIR BOY by Tarell Alvin McCraney and TAKING CARE OF BABY by Dennis Kelly. As part of The Studio at Stage II, MTC and Ars Nova (Jason Eagan, Artistic Director; Renee Blinkwolt, Managing Director) have partnered to launch The Writer's Room a program to commission, develop, and support playwrights in the process of creating new work for the stage. Commissioned writers for The Writer's Room include Adam Bock and Justin Levine collaborating on the creation of a new musical; Rachel Bonds; Thomas Bradshaw; Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig; Jackie Sibblies Drury; Samuel D. Hunter; the band of actors, musicians, and storytellers known as PigPen Theatre Co.; and Sharyn Rothstein.

The Studio at Stage II has been partially underwritten with a major grant from The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

In order to ensure that tickets to THE LION are affordable to the widest possible, most diverse audiences, MTC is pricing all tickets during the five-week run at $30. Tickets will go on sale starting April 25, 2014 via CityTix® (212-581-1212), www.nycitycenter.org and at the New York City Center Box Office (131 West 55th Street).

The Lion - Benjamin Scheuer/Escapist Papers from Radish Pictures on Vimeo.

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