Playwrights Horizons has announced a 2006-2007 season featuring both established and up-and-coming dramatists. Bruce Norris, Tanya Barfield, David Cale, Richard Nelson, and A.R. Gurney will be represented, with a sixth slot yet to be filled.
First up will be Norris'
The Pain and the Itch, which will receive its New York premiere after success (and a Jefferson Award for Best New Play) at
Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company. "With a young daughter in serious need of attention and a ravenous
creature possibly prowling the upstairs bedrooms, what begins as an
average Thanksgiving for one white urban family unravels into an exposé
of disastrous choices and less-than-altruistic motives," state press notes. It will begin previews at the Mainstage Theatre on September 1st; Anna D. Shapiro will direct.
Barfield's
Blue Door will next be presented in its New York premiere. "When a prominent African-American mathematician in crisis begins to
lose his grip on reality, the ghosts of ancestors past shatter the
serenity of an insomnia-filled night.
Blue Door is a tour-de-force for two actors, a vivid, exuberantly theatrical play about the black American male experience." Previews will begin in October at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre.
Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky, a musical with book and lyrics by David Cale and music by Cale and Jonathan Kreisberg, will be seen at the Mainstage Theatre beginning in November. "Burnt out, living out of his Studebaker, former country-western star
Floyd Duffner's best days seem to be behind him. But when a 20 year-old
feral beauty with an electrifying voice enters the picture, an unlikely
friendship and musical partnership begins to blossom. A freewheeling
musical journey from Montana to Austin (with a side trip to Hollywood),
Floyd and Clea is a tale of sweet heartbreak, a parable about finding the strength, against all odds, to keep on keepin' on."
Robert Falls (
Death of a Salesman, Aida) will direct the New York premiere of Nelson's (
Franny's Way, James Joyce's The Dead) play
Frank's Home, which was previously seen at
Chicago's Goodman Theatre. "It is summer, 1923, and architect Frank Lloyd Wright has recently left
Chicago for California, determined to embrace Hollywood's youthful zest
and mend broken relationships with his adult children. Having recently
completed his latest 'wonder of the world' — Tokyo's Imperial Hotel —
Wright is poised to settle down and embrace his new home. But his
splintered family still holds deep-seated resentments." Produced in association with the Goodman, the show will begin previews in January of 2007 at the Mainstage Theatre.
Next up will be the world premiere of A.R. Gurney's
(The Dining Room, Sylvia) new play
Crazy Mary. "In an attempt to account for the family inheritance, the scion of a
wealthy Buffalo, NY clan and her willful, college-aged son visit their
long lost cousin Mary. The catch: Mary is living in an asylum, and has
barely spoken in years, forcing mother and son to employ radical ends
to get through." Directed by Flea Theatre artistic director Jim Simpson, it will begin performances in May of 2007 at the Mainstage.
No casting has been announced yet for any of the plays.
Call 212-279-4200 or visit
playwrightshorizons.org for more information.
