Casting Announced for Durang's Miss Witherspoon

By: Aug. 05, 2005
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Casting has been set for the New York premiere of Miss Witherspoon, the third production of Playwrights Horizon's 2005/2006 35th Anniversary Season. Miss Witherspoon is the newest play written by Tony Award-nominee and two-time Obie Award winner Christopher Durang (Betty's Summer Vacation, Baby with the Bathwater, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, all at Playwrights Horizons).

Directed by Tony Award-nominee and Obie Award-winner Emily Mann (Anna in the Tropics, Having Our Say, Artistic Director of The McCarter Theatre), previews will begin Friday, November 11th with an official opening on Thursday, December 1st, the show will run through Sunday, December 18 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). Miss Witherspoon is a co-production with The McCarter Theatre, where it will be presented as that company's season opener (from September 9 through October 16), prior to the production at Playwrights Horizons.

The cast will feature 2-time Obie Award winner Kristine Nielsen (Durang's Betty's Summer Vacation at Playwrights Horizons and Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge, A Streetcar Named Desire ) in the title role, along with Lynda Gravátt (Intimate Apparel, Audelco Award for Crowns), recent Juilliard graduate Mahira Kakkar, Jeremy Shamos (on Broadway in The Rivals, Reckless) and Colleen Werthmann (Recent Tragic Events at Playwrights Horizons, Blue Surge).

"In life, Veronica (Nielsen) turned her back on religion – so why is she spending eternity in the netherworld with a Hindu spirit guide (Kakkar) who calls her Miss Witherspoon? And why is she continually being sent back to earth to live lives she adamantly refuses to lead? Will she open herself up to enlightenment and learn her place in the world?," query production notes. The production will feature sets by David Korins, costumes by Jess Goldstein, lighting by Jeff Croiter and sound design by Darron L. West.

"Playwrights Horizon, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, is a writer's theater dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. In its 35 years, Playwrights Horizons has presented the work of more than 350 writers and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Notable productions include four Pulitzer Prize winners: Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife (2004 Tony Award, Best Play), Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles, Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George, as well as Lynn Nottage's Fabulation (2005 Obie Award for Playwriting), Craig Lucas's Small Tragedy (2004 Obie Award, Best American Play), Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, Kirsten Childs's The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey's James Joyce's The Dead, William Finn's March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, Christopher Durang's Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You and Betty's Summer Vacation, Richard Nelson's Goodnight Children Everywhere and Franny's Way, Jon Robin Baitz's The Substance of Fire, Scott McPherson's Marvin's Room, A.R. Gurney's Later Life, Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's Floyd Collins and Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley's Violet."

The performance schedule for Miss Witherspoon will be Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 2:30 & 8 PM and Sundays at 2:30 & 7:30 PM. Tickets are $60. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, October 12. The first preview (on November 11th at 8, tickets on sale at 7) will be a pay-what-you-can-night, while Playwrights Horizon also offers younger audiences HOTtix, and $20 (for those 30 and younger) and $15 (for students) rush tickets. A close-captioned performance for deaf and hard of hearing theater-goers will be held on Saturday, November 19 at 2:30 PM.

For subscription and ticket information to all Playwrights Horizon productions, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, Noon to 8 pm daily, or purchase online at the Playwrights Horizons website at www.playwrightshorizon.org. 
 
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