Elisabeth Moss Joins 'Speed-The-Plow' Cast

 The 20th Anniversary revival of David Mamet's Speed-The-Plow announces its final cast member.  ELISABETH MOSS (Mad Men) joins the cast in the pivotal role of Karen, the temporary secretary to executive producer Bobby Gould, a role which was originally played on Broadway by Madonna. Like Madonna – MOSS is making her Broadway debut in this role, though she has a long list of stage credits.   Performances begin Friday, October 3, 2008 with an official opening set for Sunday, October 26, 2008 at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44th Street).  Performances will be Tuesday–Friday at 8 pm, Saturdays at 2 pm and Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets will be sold through Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200.

MOSS joins the previously announced Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Jeremy Piven ("Entourage", Fat Pig) as ambitious producer Charlie Fox and three-time Tony-nominee RAÚL ESPARZA (The Homecoming, Company, Taboo) as film production exec Bobby Gould.  Neil Pepe (David Mamet's Romance, Ethan Coen's Almost an Evening) will direct.  

Speed-The-Plow is Mamet's scathing portrait of the film industry and the people who are willing to sell their souls for sex, fame and fortune.  The revival is being produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel and Steve Traxler, currently represented on Broadway by Tracy Letts' August: Osage County and Spring Awakening.   

ELISABETH MOSS currently stars as Peggy Olson in the critically acclaimed Mad Men for which she nominated in 2008 for a SAG Award along with her Mad Men castmates for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Mad Men, the Golden Globe®-winning series for Best TV drama and actor and was also just nominated for 16 Emmys including "Outstanding Drama Series" will return for its second season this month.  Moss' theatre credits include: Young Franny in Franny's Way presented by Playwrights Horizons at the Atlantic Theater Company. She also played the same role at the Geffen Playhouse, L.A.  Other stage credits include: Big Tush/Little Tush at The Groundling Theatre, L.A., Sound of Music at The Academy Theatre, Chicago and Christmas Dragon with the Group Repertory Theatre, L.A. Elisabeth has also performed in The Nutcracker with The Joffrey Ballet and in Sleeping Beauty with The New York City Ballet.  Film credits include: Buddy Gilbert Comes Alive, Day Zero, The Attic, The Missing, Girl, Interrupted, The Joyriders, Mumford, Imaginary Crimes and Virgin, for which she was nominated for a 2004 Independent Spirit Award of Best Female Lead and won the Director's Choice Award for Best Actress in the 2004 Sedona International Film Festival for the same role.    She was also nominated for a 2001 Young Artist Award of Best Performance in a TV Drama Series for playing Zoey Bartlet in The West Wing.   

RAÚL ESPARZA most recently starred in the Tony-nominated revival of The Homecoming for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. Prior to that he starred in the Tony-Award winning Company, for which he received Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards and a Tony nomination. His previous New York stage appearances include Taboo, for which he also received a Tony nomination, The Normal Heart, Comedians, and tick, tick…Boom!, all of which earned him Drama League nominations. He received a 2001 Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut in the revival of The Rocky Horror Show.

Jeremy Piven.  Piven's critically acclaimed, award winning portrayal of the slick, fast talking super agent, "Ari Gold" in the smash-hit HBO original series Entourage has propelled him to the forefront of the entertainment industry. The role has earned him a Golden Globe and two Emmy Awards.  Piven, will next be seen starring in the feature film comedy The Goods for Paramount Vantage as well as the Guy Ritchie directed Rocknrolla. Piven was most recently seen on the big screen in director Peter Berg's political drama The Kingdom opposite Jamie Foxx and in Joe Carnahan's Smokin Aces, in which he starred opposite Andy Garcia and Ray Liotta.  Prior to Entourage, Piven had already established his presence in over 40 feature films with a number of impressive credits which include, The Player, Runaway Jury, Old School, Serendipity, Black Hawk Down, Very Bad Things, Singles,  Rush Hour 2 and The Family Man.  On the small screen Piven was a series regular on Cupid and Ellen and appeared on The Larry Sanders Show and in the telepic Don King: Only in America.  In 2005, Piven returned to his theater acting roots when he starred alongside Keri Russell and Andrew McCarthy in the off-Broadway hit, Fat Pig by Neil LaBute. For his role, Piven received a Distinguished Performance Honor from the Drama League.   Piven was born and raised in Chicago where his parents founded the Piven Theatre Workshop. His father, Byrne, taught the likes of John and Joan Cusack, Roseanna Arquette and Aidan Quinn. Jeremy is still very active with this Theatre and returns to Chicago frequently to help keep his father's dream alive.

David Mamet was most recently represented on Broadway by November and won the Pulitzer Prize for his play Glengarry Glen Ross. His other stage credits include Speed-The-Plow (Tony nom.), The Cryptogram (Pulitzer nom.), Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Oleanna, Romance, Boston Marriage, The Old Neighborhood, A Life in the Theatre and the adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance. Mamet is also a two-time Academy Award-nominee for The Verdict and Wag the Dog whose other film credits include State and Main, The Winslow Boy, The Spanish Prisoner, Homicide and The Untouchables. He a writer and co-producer for the current CBS hit "The Unit" and the author of numerous novels including The Wicked Son and Bambi vs. Godzilla.

Neil Pepe has helmed such heralded productions as David Mamet's Romance, Harold Pinter's Celebration/The Room, Sea of Tranquility, Shaker Heights (Outer Critics Circle nom.) and the Drama League nominated production of Mojo. As the Artistic Director of Atlantic Theatre Company, he has produced the Tony Award-winning productions of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, and 2007's Best Musical Spring Awakening.

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