Belber's GEOMETRY of FIRE Begins Previews 11/15

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (David Van Asselt, Artistic Director and Sandra Coudert, Managing Director) has announced a change in casting for the World Premiere production of Geometry of Fire, by Stephen Belber. Tony-nominated actor Jeffrey DeMunn will replace the previously announced Reed Birney, who has had to withdraw from the production due the extension of Blasted at Soho Rep in which he stars.   Performances begin Saturday, November 15th, 2008.  Opening night is Monday, November 24th at 7pm.  The show will run through Sunday, December 14, 2008.

Mr. DeMunn last appeared on the New York stage as Donald Rumsfeld in STUFF HAPPENS at the Public Theatre in 2006. He has also appeared in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at the Public Theatre. His other credits include the Broadway revival of Our Town (starring Paul Newman), Comedians, Hedda Gabler, Spoils of War, The Price and K2, for which he received a 1983 Tony nomination as Best Actor in a Play. His film credits include The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption, The Majestic and The Mist.

In Geometry of Fire, Belber’s newest work, we find an investment banker-turned-Marine-sniper recently returned from Iraq and a Saudi-American who just wants to get laid.  In any other world, these two guys would be best friends.  But when their lives collide in this one, each is forced to survive on the fly.  Based on a true story.  Geometry of Fire had a developmental production at New York Stage & Film in July 2007.

Joining Mr. DeMunn will be the previously announced Donnie Keshawarz (Tarzan, Taboo), Jennifer Mudge (Fault Lines, The Pavilion) and Kevin O’Donnell (Off- Broadway debut).

The creative team is comprised of Robin Vest (sets), Anne Kennedy (costumes), Peter West (lights), Eric Shim (sound), Mary Robinette Kowal (props), Rick Sordelet (fight choreography) and Brian Smallwood (technical director). Katrina Renee Herrmann is Production Stage Manager, Alyssa Ritch is Assistant Stage Manager, and Alice Reagan will serve as Assistant Director.

Geometry of Fire will have the following performance schedule: Wednesday – Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $40.00 and are available through SmartTix (212-868-4444) or www.smarttix.com. Rattlestick Playwrights Theater is located at 224 Waverly Place (off Seventh Avenue South – between West 11th & Perry Streets).

Bios

Stephen Belber (Playwright).  Plays include Fault Lines (Naked Angels/Cherry Lane), A Small, Melodramatic Story (LAByrinth Theater Company), McReele (Roundabout), Match (Broadway, Tony nomination for Frank Langella), Tape (Naked Angels--NYC/LA/London), Carol Mulroney (Huntington Theater), One Million Butterflies (Primary Stages), Drifting Elegant (Magic Theater), The Transparency of Val (Theater Outrageous, NYC), The Wake (Via Theater, NYC), Through Fred (Soho Rep) and The Death of Frank (Araca Group, NYC).   As a screenwriter, he wrote Tape, directed by Richard Linklater, starring Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke (Sundance; Berlin);  The Laramie Project (co-writer) for HBO Films, (Sundance, Emmy nomination for screenwriting); and Drifting Elegant, directed by Amy Glazer.  He also wrote and directed his first feature, Management, starring Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson, which premiered at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival and is due out early next year.  He is currently developing a screenplay based on McReele, for Will Smith’s Overbrook production company.  TV credits include Rescue Me and Law & Order SVU, (staff writer).  He has received commissions from from Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Huntington Theater, Arena Stage and Philadelphia Theater Company.

Lucie Tiberghein (Director).  Recent credits include the world premieres of Great Falls by Lee Blessing (2008 Humana Festival), A Small Melodramatic Story by Stephen Belber (LAByrinth), Augusta by Richard Dresser (Contemporary American Theater Festival) and Hoodoo Love (Katori Hall, The Cherry Lane). Other credits: Geometry of Fire (Sundance),  Air Conditioning (Tommy Smith, Juilliard) and The Misanthrope (Moliere, Juilliard).  Lucie directed Rattlestick’s production of Craig Wright’s The Pavilion, which received a 2005 Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Play of 2005.  She also penned a screenplay combining Wright’s The Pavilion and Orange Flower Water.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater is a multi-award-winning company which has produced over thirty-nine world premieres in the past thirteen seasons and was the recipient of the 2007 Ross Wetzsteon Memorial OBIE Award for its work developing new and innovative work.  Rattlestick’s Advisory Board participates in The Emerging Playwrights Project, which matches a new playwright with an established artist for an experienced eye and creative support.  Playwright and artist mentors have included Edward Albee, Jon Robin Baitz, Zoe Caldwell, Arthur Kopit, Craig Lucas, Joe Mantello, Terrence McNally and Marsha Norman.  Previous plays include Two Boys in a Bed, Message to Michael, Carpool, Volunteer Man, A Trip to the Beach, Ascendancy, Stuck, Vick’s Boy, The Messenger, Saved or Destroyed, Neil’s Garden, My Special Friend, Faster, Bliss, St. Crispin’s Day, Where We’re Born, Five Flights, Boise, Finer Noble Gases, God Hates The Irish: The Ballad of Armless Johnny, Miss Julie, Acts of Mercy: passion-play, Cagelove, It Goes Without Saying, Dark Matters, Stay, American Sligo, Rag and Bone, War,  Lady, the Off-Broadway GLAAD Award-nominated hit The Last Sunday in June and Craig Wright’s The Pavilion, which received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Play of 2005.

www.rattlestick.org