Kenneth Lonergan's HOLD ON TO ME DARLING Premiere Rounds Out Atlantic Theater's 30th Season

Atlantic Theater Company has announced the final production of its 30th anniversary season, the world premiere of Academy Award nominee and Pulitzer Prize finalist Kenneth Lonergan's latest play HOLD ON TO ME DARLING, directed by Atlantic Artistic Director Neil Pepe.

HOLD ON TO ME DARLING will begin previews Wednesday, February 24, officially open Monday, March 14 and play a limited engagement through Sunday, April 3, 2016 Off Broadway at Atlantic Theater Company's Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20 Street).

On learning of his mother's death, world famous country and western star Strings McCrane begins questioning the meaning of his life and what it all adds up to. Determined to abandon his celebrity and career, he moves back to his hometown in Tennessee. It doesn't go well. This compelling new play from acclaimed playwright Kenneth Lonergan examines the costs of fame, fortune and narcissism in pursuit of the American Dream.

Prolific playwright and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan makes his Atlantic Theater Company debut following last season's Tony Award nominated hit Broadway revival of This is Our Youth. His plays include the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Waverly Gallery; Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominated play Lobby Hero; The Starry Messenger and Medieval Play. His debut feature film, You Can Count on Me, which he wrote and directed, was an Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee for Best Screenplay and won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize. He co-wrote the screenplays for Analyze This and Gangs of New York, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Atlantic Theater Company Artistic Director Neil Pepe recently staged the American premiere of Moira Buffini's Dying For It and the acclaimed world premiere production of John Guare's 3 Kinds of Exile at Atlantic and the Broadway productions of the new musical Hands on a Hardbody, the hit revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow and Mamet's A Life in the Theatre. Off-Broadway highlights include Jez Butterworth's Parlour Song, Mojo and The Night Heron; Ethan Coen's Happy Hour, Offices and Almost an Evening; Harold Pinter's Celebration and The Room and Adam Rapp's Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling.

Casting, design team and schedule will be announced shortly.

Kenneth Lonergan (Playwright). Plays include This is Our Youth (1996), Drama Desk Best Play nominee, 2015 Tony Award Best Revival nominee (Steppenwolf); The Waverly Gallery (2000), Pulitzer Prize finalist; Lobby Hero (2001), Drama Desk Best Play nominee, Outer Critics Circle Best Play nominee, 2002 Olivier Award nominee for Best Play during its West End run; The Starry Messenger (2009), and Medieval Play (2012). His first film, You Can Count On Me (2000), which he wrote and directed, was an Academy Award and Golden Globe Nominee for Best Screenplay, and won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, NY Film Critics Circle, LA Film Critics Circle, Independent Spirit Award for Best Film and Best Screenplay, among numerous awards and nominations. His second film, Margaret (2011) and Margaret - Extended Edition (2012), won the European Film Critics' FIPRESCI Award at the Vienna Film Festival, and the Traverse City Film Festival Founders Prize, and received widespread critical acclaim both in the U.S. and abroad, as well as becoming a cause celebre among cinema journalists and critics worldwide. He also co-wrote the screenplays for Analyze This and Gangs of New York (2002 WGA and Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay). He lives in New York City with his wife and frequent collaborator, actress J. Smith-Cameron, and their daughter, Nellie.

Neil Pepe is an acclaimed director who has been the Artistic Director of Atlantic Theater Company since 1992. As a director, his Broadway credits include Doug Wright, Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green's musical Hands on a Hardbody, the acclaimed revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow as well as Mamet's A Life in the Theatre. At the Atlantic, Neil has most recently directed John Guare's 3 Kinds of Exile, Moira Buffini's Dying for It, Jez Butterworth's Parlour Song, Mojo and The Night Heron. Other Off-Broadway and Regional credits include: Ethan Coen's Happy Hour, Offices and Almost an Evening; Harold Pinter's Celebration and The Room; Adam Rapp's Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling; David Mamet's American Buffalo (Donmar Warehouse, Atlantic); Romance, Keep Your Pantheon/School (Center Theatre Group, Atlantic); Zinnie Harris' Further than the Furthest Thing (Manhattan Theatre Club); Jessica Goldberg's Refuge (Playwrights Horizons); Frank Gilroy's The Subject Was Roses with Martin Sheen (CTG) and Eric Bogosian's Red Angel (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Neil has been a master teacher at the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School at New York University Tisch School of the Arts and an associate adjunct professor of directing at Columbia University Graduate Film Division. He has been a guest at The O'Neill Playwrights Conference as well as the American Theatre Wing.

ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) is the award winning Off-Broadway theater that produces great plays simply and truthfully, utilizing an artistic ensemble. Atlantic believes that the story of a play and the intent of its playwright are at the core of the creative process. The plays in the Atlantic repertory, from both new and established playwrights, are boldly interpreted by today's finest theater artists and resonate with contemporary audiences. Now in its 30th Anniversary Season, Atlantic has produced more than 150 plays including Tony Award winning productions of Spring Awakening (Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater) and The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Martin McDonagh); New York Drama Critics Circle winner for Best New Play, The Night Alive (Conor McPherson) world premieres of Almost an Evening, Offices, Happy Hour and Women or Nothing (Ethan Coen); the musical revival of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera directed by Martha Clarke; Our New Girl (Nancy Harris) Bluebird and Harper Regan (Simon Stephens); What Rhymes With America (Melissa James Gibson); 3 Kinds of Exile (John Guare); Storefront Church (John Patrick Shanley); The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Cripple of Inishmaan (Martin McDonagh); Body Awareness (Annie Baker); Romance (David Mamet); Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman, adapted by Jenny Worton); Farragut North (Beau Willimon); Blue/Orange (Joe Penhall); Port Authority and Dublin Carol (Conor McPherson); Writer's Block (Woody Allen); American Buffalo and Edmond (David Mamet); The Cider House Rules (adapted by Peter Parnell); Good Television (Rod McLachlan); Celebration & The Room, The Collection & A Kind of Alaska and The Hothouse (Harold Pinter); Dying For It, Gabriel (Moira Buffini); Oohrah! (Bekah Brunstetter); Mojo, Parlour Song (Jez Butterworth); Boys' Life and The Lights (Howard Korder); Distant Fires (Kevin Heelan); The Lying Lesson, Missing Persons (Craig Lucas).

Atlantic has garnered 12 Tony Awards, 15 Lucille Lortel Awards, 16 Obie Awards, 7 Drama Desk Awards, 6 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 3 Drama League Awards, 3 New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Atlantic also operates The Atlantic Theater Company Acting School, which has an undergraduate program in conjunction with NYU, as well as a two-year professional acting program and a six-week intensive workshop every summer. Atlantic for Kids and the Educational Outreach Program partners with schools and teachers throughout the greater metropolitan area coordinating in-school visits of teaching artists and post-theater talkbacks.

Atlantic Theater Company's Linda Gross Theater is located at 336 West 20 Street (between 8 and 9 Avenues).

Photo Credit: Walter McBride

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