LCT3 Announces THE COWARD 11/8 & WHEN I COME TO DIE 1/31

LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater's programming initiative devoted to producing the work of new artists and developing new audiences, has announced the first two productions of its 2010-2011 season: the world premieres of THE COWARD, a new play by Nick Jones, directed by Sam Gold and WHEN I COME TO DIE, a new play by Nathan Louis Jackson, directed by Thomas Kail. Both productions will be presented at The Duke on 42nd Street, a New 42nd Street® project (229 West 42 Street). A third LCT3 production will be announced at a later date.

THE COWARD, which begins performances Monday, November 8, running through Saturday, December 4, with an opening night scheduled for Monday, November 22, is a period comedy set in 18th century England. A cowardly young gentleman named Lucidis initiates a pistol duel then finds that he can't go through with it. So he hires a common criminal to fight in his place, only to have the scoundrel make a bloody mess of things. As duel follows duel with many shots fired, this coward finds his reputation growing beyond his wildest expectations.

Playwright Nick Jones is a playwright, director, puppet designer and performer. His show Jollyship the Whiz-Bang originally produced at Ars Nova was recently revived for the Under the Radar Festival at the Public. He has performed music or theater at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Arts TBA Festival, the Dublin Fringe Festival, The Kitchen, P.S. 122, The Public and the Edinburgh Fringe. Sam Gold directed the critically acclaimed productions of Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons) and The Aliens (Rattlestick Theater). His work has also been seen at the New York Theatre Workshop, Studio Dante, the Cherry Lane and the Ohio Theater. He has developed plays at many theatres nationally including ACT, MCC, MTC, Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages, The Public, Williamstown Theatre Festival and the Yale Repertory Theater.

WHEN I COME TO DIE, which was commissioned by LCT3, begins performances Monday, January 31, running through Saturday, February 26, with an opening scheduled for Monday, February 14. A drama set in a Texas prison, WHEN I COME TO DIE tells the story of Damon Robinson, a death-row inmate, who struggles to understand why his life has been spared after his scheduled execution which goes awry.

Nathan Louis Jackson returns to LCT where he made his New York playwriting debut this past fall with his play Broke-ology, also directed by Thomas Kail. A writer for the television series Southland and the upcoming Shameless, he has participated in The Kennedy Center Summer Playwriting Intensive, William Inge 24 Hour Play Festival and Ebony Theater's "The Word" (monthly poetry slam). In addition to the LCT production of Broke-ology, Thomas Kail directed the play's world premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. He received a Tony nomination for his direction of the musical In The Heights and directed the City Center Encores! production of The Wiz. This fall he will direct the Broadway production of Lombardi, a new play by Eric Simonson.

Citing the need to develop strong relationships with new artists and to build new audiences, Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) created LCT3 to offer these artists fully staged productions. LCT has just begun construction of a new theater, rehearsal and office space complex on the roof of the Vivian Beaumont Theater. The 131 seat theater, to be named the Claire Tow Theater, is scheduled to open in 2012 and will be the home of LCT3. Paige Evans is the Director of LCT3.

Lincoln Center Theater concludes the celebration of its 25th year - a season of all new work - with the back-to back openings on consecutive nights of two world premieres. On Sunday, June 27 A.R. Gurney's The Grand Manner, directed by Mark Lamos, opens at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. The following night, Monday, June 28 is the opening night for the current LCT3 production, On the Levee, a new play with music, conceived and directed by Lear deBessonnet, with play by Marcus Gardley and music and lyrics by Todd Almond, at The Duke on 42nd Street. In addition to these two productions, LCT's Tony Award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific continues at the Vivian Beaumont Theater where it will conclude is record-breaking run on Sunday, August 22.

About the organization: The New 42nd Street, Inc.
Founded in 1990, The New 42nd Street, Inc. is an independent, nonprofit organization charged with long-term responsibility for seven historic theaters on 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. In addition to running The New Victory, The New 42nd Street, Inc. built and operates the New 42nd Street® Studios - a ten-story building of rehearsal studios, offices and a 200-seat theater named The Duke on 42nd Street - for national and international performing arts companies. Since its opening on June 21, 2000, the New 42nd Street®Studios has been fully occupied by both nonprofit and commercial theater, dance and opera companies. With these institutions and the other properties under its guardianship, The New 42nd Street, Inc. plays a pivotal role in fostering the continued revival of this famous street at the Crossroads of the World.

About the theater: The Duke on 42nd Street
The Duke on 42nd Street is an intimate 200-seat black box theater built and operated by The New 42nd Street, Inc. Since opening in 2000, the theater has been available to international and domestic nonprofit organizations to present their work. Companies that have presented at The Duke on 42nd StreetSM theater include: Harkness Dance Project; The NYC Tap Festival; Rosie's Broadway Kids; Playwrights Horizons; London's National Theatre; Theatre for a New Audience, which continues to present work on a regular basis; Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3, which is entering into its third season, and The New 42nd Street's "New Victory at The Duke" series. Companies presented by The New 42nd Street have included: Karole Armitage; Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Naked Angels, The Classical Theatre of Harlem, and Steppenwolf Theater Company.

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