Harris, Ashmanskas, Poe & More Join Garber in Roundabout's PRESENT LAUGHTER

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is proud to announce the full company for the new Broadway production of Noël Coward's comedy Present Laughter, starring Victor Garber as "Garry Essendine", directed by Nicholas Martin.

Present Laughter will begin preview performances on January 2nd, 2010 and open officially on January 21st, 2010 at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway (227 West 42nd Street). This is a limited engagement through March 21, 2010.

The cast will also include Harriet Harris (Monica Reed), Brooks Ashmanskas (Roland Maule), Lisa Banes (Liz Essendine), Nancy E. Carroll (Miss Erickson), Alice Duffy (Lady Saltburn), Holley Fain (Daphne Stillington), Pamela Jane Gray (Joanna Lypiatt), James Joseph O'Neil (Fred), Richard Poe (Henry Lypiatt), Marc Vietor (Morris Dixon).

The design team includes Alexander Dodge (Sets), Jane Greenwood (Costumes), Rui Rita (Lights) & Drew Levy (Sound).

In Noël Coward's classic comedy, matinee idol Garry Essendine (Garber) sits at the center of his own universe. While Garry struggles to plan his upcoming trip to Africa, his elegant London flat is invaded by a love struck ingenue, an adulterous producer and a married seductress, not to mention Garry's estranged wife and a crazed young playwright. Just before Garry escapes, the full extent of his misdemeanors is discovered and all hell breaks loose.

The Huntington Theatre Company produced a production of Present Laughter in 2007 directed by Nicholas Martin.

Roundabout Theatre Company welcomes Victor Garber following his performance in their gala concert of A Little Night Music, also starring Natasha Richardson & Vanessa Redgrave. Garber also won the 1973 Theatre World Award for his performance in Roundabout's production of Ghosts. Brooks Ashmanskas & Harriet Harris return to the Roundabout stage, following their recent respective roles in the Broadway productions of The Ritz and Old Acquaintance.

Lead support for Present Laughter provided by Roundabout's Play Production Fund partners: Beth and Ravenel Curry, Steven and Liz Goldstone, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Mary and David Solomon.

Beginning November 2009, tickets will be available by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212)719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the American Airlines Box Office (227 West 42nd Street).

Ticket prices range from $66.50 to $116.50. Through ACCESS Roundabout, 100 tickets are available for the first four preview performances beginning January 2 for only $10 each.

Present Laughter will play Tuesday through Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.

Victor Garber (Garry Essendine). Victor Garber is one of the most respected and talented actors of his generation. With six Emmy and four Tony nominations to his credit, he has been seen in some of the most memorable works of film, television and stage. Most recently, Garber portrayed San Francisco mayor George Moscone in Gus Van Sant's Academy Award©-nominated film Milk. Additional film credits include The First Wives Club, Sleepless in Seattle, Legally Blonde and the highest-grossing film of all-time: Titanic. For his work on television, Garber has been nominated for six Emmy Awards, including three for the ABC drama, "Alias, " two for comedic guest-star roles on "Frasier" and "Will & Grace;" and a nomination for his portrayal of Sid Luft in the television movie "Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows." He most recently appeared in ABC's "Eli Stone," FOX's "Justice," "Laughter on the 23rd Floor," "Meredith Willson's The Music Man," ABC's musical version of "Annie," and in "The Wonderful World of Disney" film "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella." Garber also appeared in the miniseries "Dieppe" and the TV movie "First Circle." Garber's earned four Tony nominations for his work in Damn Yankees, Lend Me A Tenor, Deathtrap and Little Me. He performed in the workshop of Sondheim's Wiseguys, and in the Tony Award-winning play Art. His stage credits also include the original Broadway casts of Arcadia, The Devil's Disciple, Noises Off and Sweeney Todd. Additionally, Victor garnered rave reviews in Sondheim's Follies for City Center Encores! And Present Laughter, directed by Nicholas Martin at the Huntington Theatre.

Harriet Harris (Monica Reed) is the recipient of the 2002 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance of Mrs. Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie. She appeared on Broadway last season in Cry Baby: The Musical. Previously at the Roundabout: Old Acquaintance, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Crucible, and Man and Superman. Other New York credits include Jeffrey (Drama Desk nomination), Bella, Belle of Byelorussia (Drama Desk nomination), Innocents' Crusade, Christmas on Mars, Rude Entertainment, and Hamlet. Recent regional appearances include Dotty in Noises Off at N.J Shakespeare Festival, Unusual Acts of Devotion at La Jolla, Pippin at the Mark Taper, Not Waving at Williamstown, Amanda in The Glass Menagerie at the Guthrie, Vera in Mame at the Kennedy Center, On the Town (2006 L.A. Stage Alliance Award), Tartuffe, A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Month in the Country, and Hedda Gabler. Film credits include Memento, Monster-in-Law, Nurse Betty, and Addams Family Values. TV credits include "Desperate Housewives" (recurring as Felicia Tillman), "Frasier" (recurring as agent Bebe Glazer), "Six Feet Under", "The X-Files", "It's All Relative" (series regular), "Union Square" (series regular), and "The Five Mrs. Buchanans" (series regular). Member of The Acting Company, AEA.

Brooks Ashmanskas (Roland Maule). Broadway: The Ritz (Joe Mantello, dir.), Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me (Scott Wittman, dir.; also CD; Tony and Drama Desk nominations), The Producers (Susan Stroman, dir.), Gypsy (Sam Mendes, dir.; also CD), Little Me (Rob Marshall, dir.; also CD), Dream (Wayne Cilento, dir.), How to Succeed... (Des McAnuff, dir.), On the Twentieth Century (Peter Flynn, dir.). Off-Broadway: Wise Guys (Sam Mendes, dir.), Labor Day (Jack O'Brien, dir.), Songs for a New World (Daisy Prince, dir.; also CD), London Suite (Daniel Sullivan, dir.), It Changes Every Year (Nicholas Martin, dir.). Regional: Kennedy Center, Huntington, Hartford, Williamstown, Old Globe, Arena, Paper Mill, etc. Tours: Cinderella, Noises Off. Graduate: Bennington College.

Lisa Banes (Liz Essendine). Appeared on Broadway in Rumors, Arcadia, Accent on Youth and High Society. Off Broadway credits include Look Back in Anger (Theatre World Award) A Call from the East, My Sister in this House (OBIE Award), Three Sisters, Antigone, Isn't It Romantic (Drama Desk nomination), Ten by Tennessee, The Cradle Will Rock, On the Verge, Fighting International Fat and Emily. Regionally she has appeared in Present Laughter (The Huntington Theatre), Mrs. Warren's Profession (Berkshire Theatre Festival),The Admirable Crichton and Progress (Long Wharf Theatre), A Doll House (Yale Repertory Theatre), Much Ado about Nothing and King Lear (The Old Globe) Money and Friends (Ahmanson Theatre) and Julius Caesar (Mark Taper Forum). Ms. Banes' film appearances include The Hotel New Hampshire Marie, Young Guns, Cocktail, Without Limits, The Jackal, Dragonfly, Pumpkin, The Brothel, Legally Blondes and Freedom Writers. Television series credits include "The Trials of Rosie O'Neil", "Son of the Beach," "Girls Club" and recurring roles on "Footwork," "China Beach," "The King of Queens," "Six Feet Under" and "Saved." Television films include "Hemingway", "Kane and Able", "The Doris Duke Story" and the immortal "Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?" Guest star roles include "The Equalizer," "Spenser: For Hire," "Life Goes On," Rosanne" "Frasier," "Murder She Wrote," "Murder One," "L.A. Law," "The Practice," "Boston Legal," "NYPD Blue," "The Unit," "It's All Relative," "Out of Practice" and "Desperate Housewives," and her best pilot "Gloria Vane." Ms. Banes is an alumna of The Acting Company and a graduate of The Juilliard School.

Nancy E. Carroll (Miss Erickson). Regional credits include Ms. Erickson in Present Laughter, The Strega in The Rose Tattoo, Mrs. Martin in Dead End and the Woman in Brendan (Huntington Theatre Company). Sister Aloysius Beauvier in Doubt, Winnie in Happy Days, Ruth Steiner in Collected Stories, and Mathilde Giffard in My Old Lady (Gloucester Stage Company); Joan in Year of Magical Thinking, Amanda in The Glass Menagerie (Lyric Stage Company); Virginia in The Clean House, Nancy in Frozen, Evelyn in Kindertransport, and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (New Repertory Theatre); Homebody in Homebody/Kabul (Boston Theatre Works); Nancy Blake in The Women and Joanne in Company (SpeakEasy Stage Company); Lily in A Man of No Importance (SpeakEasy Stage Company and The Súgán Theatre Company co-production); Mommo in Bailegangaire (The Súgan Theatre Company); Halie in Buried Child and The Woman in The Unexpected Man (Nora Theatre Company); the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet (North Shore Music Theatre); Delores in' The Order of Things (Centastage); Gertrude in Hamlet and Paulina in The Winter's Tale (Publick Theatre); and Kate in Dancing at Lughnasa (Foothills Theatre Company). She received the IRNE Award for Outstanding Actress for Mrs. Lovett in SWEENEY TODD at the New Repertory Theatre and has received Elliott Norton Awards for Outstanding Actress for Mommo in BAILEGANGAIRE at the Sugan Theatre and for Brendan and Present Laughter at the Huntington.

ALICE DUFFY (Lady Saltburn). Alice Duffy was last seen at the Huntington as Madame de Rosemonde in Les Liaisons Dangereuses. She has also appeared in Dead End, Heartbreak House and A Month in the Country, for which she received the 2002 IRNE for Best Supporting Actress. Most recently, she has appeared in The Women at the Speakeasy Stage Company. Other regional credits include Shear Madness, Kindertransport (New Repertory Theatre), Pygmalion and Morning's at Seven (Lyric Stage Company). Film credits include Housesitter and School Ties.

HOLLEY FAIN (Daphne Stillington). Off-Broadway: Frank's Home (Playwrights Horizons); Measure for Measure (The Pearl Theatre Co.). Regional: Present Laughter (Huntington Theatre); As You Like It and Julius Caesar (North Carolina Shakespeare); The Merry Wives of Windsor (The Shakes Theatre of NJ); The Glass Menagerie, The Rivals and The Merchant of Venice (Texas Shakespeare Fest). Film: Blinders, One Night. TV: "Gossip Girl," "Lipstick Jungle."

PAMELA Jane Gray (Joanna Lypiatt). Recent favorites: Nicholas Martin's production of Dead End at the Ahmanson; the NY premiere of Orange Flower Water by Craig Wright directed by Caroline Cantor. Broadway: Butley (Nicholas Martin, dir.), Night Must Fall (John Tillinger, dir.) NY: Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Edge, the National Theatre, Julia Miles Theatre, Actors Studio Theatre, Theatre for a New Audience. Regional: South Coast Rep, Center Stage, Old Globe, Arena Stage, New Jersey Shakespeare, Huntington, Portland Stage, Dallas Theater Center. Film and TV: Michael Clayton, Corn, I'll Take You There, The Devil's Advocate, Fish in the Bathtub, The ‘M' Word, Commandments, Dogs, The Stranger, "St. Maybe," "Sex and the City," "Law & Order," "L&O: Criminal Intent."

JAMES JOSEPH O'NEIL (Fred). Off Broadway: Look Back in Anger- CSC, The Hired Man- 47th Street Theatre Regional: The House of Blue Leaves (Nicholas Martin) & iWitness - Mark Taper Forum, Doubt- South Coast Rep, Present Laughter (Nicholas Martin), A Month in the Country (Nicholas Martin) & Heartbreak House- Huntington Theatre Co. King Lear & She Stoops to Conquer- Baltimore Center Stage, Anthony & Cleopatra, As You Like It, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth (Nicholas Martin), The Taming of the Shrew, Henry IV Parts 1&2 (Jack O'Brien), Dancing at Lughnasa & Mister Roberts- Old Globe, Bus Stop & West Side Story- American Stage Festival, Anna Christie-Long Wharf . Film: Fair Game (Doug Liman), Zodiac (David Fincher), Acts of Worship (Rosemary Rodriquez), Redemption (Jon Cassar) TV: "Law & Order:CI", "24", "Veronica Mars", "Numb3rs", "Charmed", "Law & Order: SVU", "Sex & the City" (Allen Coulter), "Third Watch", "Law & Order". Training: MFA - The Old Globe - USD

Richard Poe (Henry Lypiatt). Broadway: Cry-Baby; M. Butterfly; The Pajama Game; Journey's End; 1776; Our Country's Good; The Dinner Party; Execution of Justice; Tom Sawyer; Moon Over Buffalo, Fiddler On The Roof. Girl Crazy. TV: "Star Trek"; "Frasier"; "Law and Order"; "Ed"; "Queen"; "The Prosecutors". Film: Transamerica; Burn After Reading; Born On The Fourth of July; Peacemaker; The Jackal; Presumed Innocent; The Night We Never Met. Over 80 recorded book narrations.

Marc Vietor (Morris Dixon). Marc Vietor is an actor, born in La Jolla, California and now living in New York. He acted most recently in Nicholas Martin's production of She Loves Me at The Huntington Theatre Company and at The Williamstown Theatre Festival. He is a graduate of the Drama Division of the Juilliard School and Yale College. In New York he has appeared in productions for The Roundabout Theatre Company (The Moliere Comedies), The Public Theatre (Two Gentlemen Of Verona), Theatre For A New Audience (The Merchant Of Venice, The Jew Of Malta, King John), The Red Bull Theatre (The Revenger's Tragedy, Edward The Second), and Playwrights Horizons (Grey Gardens). He has also appeared outside of New York in the European tour of West Side Story, at The Old Globe Theatre, The Humana Festival, The Kennedy Center, The O'neill Theater Center, The New York Theatre Workshop at Dartmouth, The Long Wharf Theatre, The South Coast Repertory Theatre, The Hartford Stage, The Sundance Theatre Lab, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Huntington Theatre Company and The Virginia Stage Company. He has also appeared on "Law And Order" and will be in the upcoming feature film, The Asylum Seekers. Marc has worked as an Associate Director of Tony Randall's National Actors Theatre on Broadway, variously assisting on four productions. On Broadway he also worked as an adaptor (The Government Inspector) and musical supervisor (Waiting In The Wings) and was one of the producers of Full Gallop with Mary Louise Wilson as well as The Beauty Queen Of Lenane (The Atlantic Theater Company on Broadway). At The Flea Theater he produced Chere Maitre starring Irene Worth and Peter Eyre.

NOËL COWARD (Playwright). Nöel, actor, author, composer, and director, was born December 16, 1899. He had his first outstanding success with The Vortex in 1924, and went on to become one of the greatest and certainly most versatile theatrical figures of our time. He was the author of numerous plays, mostly sophisticated comedies, several of which he adapted to the screen. Some of his comedies, including Private Lives, Blithe Spirit, and Hay Fever, have become classics. His operettas and musical plays include Bitter Sweet, Cavalcade, Conversation Piece, Operette, and Sail Away. Nöel Coward appeared in several films, including Our Man in Havana, Surprise Package, Bunny Lake Is Missing, and Boom! In 1942 he received a special Academy Award "for his outstanding production achievement" on In Which We Serve, a magnificent WWII sea saga that he produced, co-directed (with David Lean), scored, and in which he starred. In 1960, his first novel, Pomp and Circumstance, was on the best-sellers list in the United States for 16 weeks. He was the author of two autobiographical books, Present Indicative and Future Indefinite, and several volumes of short stories, as well as a book of poems entitled Not Yet the Dodo. Sir Nöel made rare but brilliantly successful appearances in cabarets on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1966, he made a triumphant return to the London stage in his new trilogy of plays, Suite In Three Keys, in which he played the leading role in each play. Nöel Coward died at Blue Harbour, Port Maria, Jamaica in the British West Indies on March 26, 1973. He was knighted in 1970.

Nicholas Martin (Director). Broadway: Butley, Match, Hedda Gabler, The Rehearsal. Off Broadway: Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them (Public); Saturn Returns, The New Century, Observe the Sons of Ulster... (Drama Desk nom.), The Time of the Cuckoo, and Chaucer in Rome (Lincoln Center Theater); Fully Committed (Vineyard and Cherry Lane); Full Gallop (MTC and West Side Arts); You Never Can Tell (Roundabout); Betty's Summer Vacation (Obie Award, Drama Desk nom.) and Sophistry (Playwrights Horizons); Bosoms and Neglect (Signature Theatre). Regional: The House of Blue Leaves (Mark Taper Forum); Dead End (Ahmanson); Macbeth (Old Globe), and the West Coast and London productions of Full Gallop. Mr. Martin is the Artistic Director of Williamstown Theatre Festival where his directing credits include Knickerbocker, She Loves Me, The Corn is Green, Where's Charley?, Camino Real, Dead End, and The Royal Family among others. He is Artistic Director Emeritus of Boston's Huntington Theatre Company. Upcoming: Noel Coward's Present Laughter with Victor Garber on Broadway.

Roundabout Theatre Company is one of the country's leading not-for-profit theatres. The company contributes invaluably to New York's cultural life by staging the highest quality revivals of classic plays and musicals as well as new plays by established writers. Roundabout consistently partners great artists with great works to bring a fresh and exciting interpretation that makes each production relevant and important to today's audiences.

Roundabout Theatre Company currently produces at three permanent homes each of which is designed specifically to enhance the needs of the Roundabout's mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout's Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. Together these three distinctive venues serve to enhance the work on each of its stages.

American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts; and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

Roundabout Theatre Company's 2009-2010 season includes Patrick Marber's After Miss Julie, starring Sienna Miller & Jonny Lee Miller, directed by Mark Brokaw; Michael Stewart, Lee Adams and Charles Strouse's Bye Bye Birdie, starring John Stamos, Gina Gershon, Bill Irwin & Nolan Gerard Funk, directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom; Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking, directed by Tony Taccone; Theresa Rebeck's The Understudy, with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Justin Kirk and Julie White, directed by Scott Ellis; Adam Gwon's Ordinary Days, directed by Marc Bruni; Noël Coward's Present Laughter starring Victor Garber, directed by Nicholas Martin; Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sondheim on Sondheim starring Barbara Cook and Vanessa Williams, and Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, directed by Gordon Edelstein. Roundabout's sold out production of The 39 Steps made its second Broadway transfer to the Helen Hayes Theatre on January 21, 2009.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

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