Jan Maxwell, John Aylward, Barbara Garrick & More to Star in Anthony Giardina's THE CITY OF CONVERSATION at Lincoln Center Theater

Lincoln Center Theater has announced that John Aylward, Kristen Bush, Beth Dixon, Barbara Garrick, Jan Maxwell, Luke Niehaus, Kevin O'Rourke and Michael Simpson will be featured in its upcoming production of THE CITY OF CONVERSATION, a new play by Anthony Giardina, directed by Doug Hughes. THE CITY OF CONVERSATION begins previews Thursday, April 10 and opens on Monday, May 5 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street). Additional casting for THE CITY OF CONVERSATION will be announced at a later date.

Henry James once described Washington D.C. as "the city of conversation." THE CITY OF CONVERSATION, tells the story of political hostess Hester Ferris (to be played by Jan Maxwell), a behind the scenes mover and shaker in the nation's capital, and of the political gains and personal losses that her choices inflict on her family over a period of 30 years, from the waning days of the Carter administration to the beginning of the Obama presidency.

THE CITY OF CONVERSATION will have sets by John Lee Beatty, costumes by Catherine Zuber, lighting by Tyler Micoleau and original music and sound by Mark Bennett.

Anthony Giardina is a playwright and novelist. His plays, including Living at Home, An American Family, Scenes from La Vie de Boheme, The Beach, Black Forest and Custody of the Eye, have been produced at Playwrights Horizons and Manhattan Theatre Club in New York and regionally at Arena Stage, Seattle Repertory, Yale Repertory, Long Wharf Theatre and the Cleveland Playhouse. He is the author of five novels, including his most recent Norumbega Park and The Country of Marriage, a collection of stories.

Doug Hughes directed the LCT production of Richard Greenberg's The House in Town. He is currently represented on Broadway with his critically acclaimed production of John Patrick Shanley's new play Outside Mullingar at Manhattan Theatre Club. His recent New York credits include The Big Knife, An Enemy of the People, Born Yesterday, The Royal Family, Mauritius, Doubt (for which he won a Tony Award), Frozen and The Whipping Man.

This spring, Lincoln Center Theater is also producing Act One, a new play written and directed by James Lapine from the autobiography by Moss Hart, beginning previews Thursday, March 20 in the Vivian Beaumont Theater. LCT3's current presentation of Rude Mechs' Stop Hitting Yourself runs through Sunday, February 23 in the Claire Tow Theater and will be followed by Ayad Akhtar's new play The Who and the What, directed by Kimberly Senior, beginning performances Saturday, May 31.

THE CITY OF CONVERSATION will be performed Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8pm, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3pm. Please note there will be no matinee on Saturday, April 12.

JOHN AYLWARD Broadway: The Kentucky Cycle. Regional theater: many productions at such theaters as The Old Globe Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Mark Taper Forum. Film: A Million Ways To Die, North Country, Path to War, Finding Graceland, Armageddon, Father's Day. TV: many credits include House of Lies, Mad Men, Brothers & Sisters, ER, The West Wing, Alias, The Practice, American Horror Story, Fringe.

KRISTEN BUSH Broadway: The Common Pursuit, A Touch of the Poet. Off-Broadway: Taking Care of Baby, Isaac's Eye, Kin, King Lear, As You Like It. Film: Ashboroug; Liberal Arts; Synecdoche, New York. TV: Elementary, Unforgettable, Person of Interest, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife.

BETH DIXON Broadway: Major Barbara, Wrong Mountain, The Royal Family. Off-Broadway: Wings; The Cripple of Inishmaan; Therese Raquin; The Show-Off; Rapture, Blister, Burn. Film: Non-Stop, Infinitely Polar Bear, The Ballad of the Sad Café, Dark Ties, Kinsey. TV: The Blacklist; Game Change; Law & Order: CI; Law & Order; Home Improvement; One Life to Live.

BARBARA GARRICK Broadway: A Thousand Clowns, Stanley, A Small Family Business, Eastern Standard (also Off-Broadway). Off-Broadway: Beauty on the Vine, Eight Days Backwards, The Winter's Tale, Baby Anger, Elliot Loves. Film: Blue Jasmine, Far From Heaven, Pollock, The Ice Storm, Miami Rhapsody, The Firm, Sleepless in Seattle, Days of Thunder, Postcards from the Edge, Working Girl, Eight Men Out. TV: Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, all three Law & Orders, Sex and the City.

JAN MAXWELL LCT: A Bad Friend. Broadway: Follies (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Lend Me A Tenor (Tony nomination), The Royal Family (Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations), To Be or Not to Be, Coram Boy (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Tony and Outer Critics nominations), The Sound of Music, The Dinner Party, A Doll's House, Dancing at Lughnasa. Off-Broadway: Wings, The Bald Soprano and The Lesson, House/Garden, Entertaining Mr. Sloane (Drama Desk nomination). Film: Something Sweet. TV: The Divide, One Life to Live, Gossip Girl, All My Children, Law & Order.

KEVIN O'ROURKE Broadway: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Spoils of War, Along Together. Off-Broadway and regional theater: many credits include productions at the Vineyard Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, Public Theater, Primary Stages, ACT, Arena Stage, Yale Repertory. Film: The Aviator, Riding in Cars with Boys, Vice Versa, Tattoo. TV: Boardwalk Empire, Veep, Blue Bloods, Damages, The Sopranos, Remember WENN.

MICHAEL SIMPSON Regional theater credits include productions at the Kennedy Center, Pittsburgh Public Theater and the Old Globe. Film: Mooz-Lum; Behind Enemy Lines: Axis of Evil; Blood in the Sand. TV: One Life to Live, House, The O.C., The Cleaner.

Photo by Walter McBride

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