Marlo Thomas Joins George Street Playhouse's CLEVER LITTLE LIES

George Street Playhouse Artistic Director David Saint announced today that the theatre has postponed their scheduled production of Clever Little Lies, penned by Tony Award-winning playwright Joe DiPietro, which was to star award-winning actress Marlo Thomas. Mark St. Germain's critically-acclaimed play The Best of Enemies, originally produced by Barrington Stage Company, will take its place in the New Brunswick theatre's season, running November 29 – December 23.

"George Street Playhouse's good friend Marlo Thomas has been offered a recurring role in the television series, 'The New Normal,' said Artistic Director David Saint, who was to helm the postponed production. "Unfortunately the result of this wonderful opportunity is that she will not be able to appear on our stage this fall in Joe DiPietro's Clever Little Lies. We have decided to postpone the production until such time as when Marlo is available and wish her well on this exciting project."

Saint continued, "It is my pleasure to welcome my friend and colleague Julianne Boyd, Artistic Director of the nationally-renowned Barrington Stage Company, who will re-mount her critically-acclaimed production of The Best of Enemies on the George Street Playhouse stage. I am exceptionally proud to bring this powerful, moving and uplifting play about redemption and hope to George Street Playhouse."

Tickets issued for Clever Little Lies will be honored for The Best of Enemies. Ticketholders are encouraged to contact the George Street Playhouse Patron Services Department at 732-246-7717 with any questions or concerns. George Street Playhouse is located at 9 Livingston Avenue, in the heart of New Brunswick's dining and entertainment district.

Inspired by the best-selling book by Osha Gray Davidson, The Best of Enemies is a true story about the relationship between C.P. Ellis (a Grand Cyclops of the KKK) and Ann Atwater (an African-American civil rights activist) during the desegregation of the Durham, NC, schools in 1971. The Best of Enemies exposes the poison of prejudice in the hearts of Atwater and Ellis who, by facing each other, are forced to face the worst, and best, in themselves.

The Best of Enemies is recommended for mature audiences due to strong language.

Mark St. Germain has seen the world premieres of The Best of Enemies, Freud's Last Session, The God Committee (directed by David Saint), Ears on a Beatle, and Ciao! as well as the 2006 production of The Collyer Brothers at Home and Period Piece produced at Barrington Stage Company. He has also written the plays Camping with Henry and Tom and Forgiving Typhoid Mary (produced at George Street Playhouse) . His comedy, The Fabulous Lipitones, written with John Markus, will premiere at Atlanta's Theatrical Outlet. With Randy Courts he wrote the musicals The Gifts of the Magi, Johnny Pye and Jack's Holiday. His musical Stand by Your Man was written for Nashville's Ryman Theater. Mark has written for "The Cosby Show" and co-wrote the screenplay for Carroll Ballard's film Duma. He directed and produced the documentary My Dog featuring Richard Gere, Lynn Redgrave, Billy Collins and wrote the award winning children's book, Three Cups. Mark is proud to be a Board Member and Associate Artist at BSC and honored to have his name on the Stage 2 theatre.

Julianne Boyd co-founded the Barrington Stage Company in January 1995. She has directed many productions at BSC, including last season's critically acclaimed world premiere of The Best of Enemies by Mark St. Germain; The Crucible and Sweeney Todd (both in 2010), Streetcar Named Desire (2009), West Side Story (2007), Follies (2005), the world premiere musical The Game (2003), based on Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Cyrano de Bergerac (2004) and The Importance of Being Earnest (2005). Also at Barrington Stage she directed A…My Name Will Always Be Alice, a combination of her award-winning Off-Broadway musical revues A…My Name Is Alice and A… My Name Is Still Alice. In 1997 she directed BSC's smash hit production of Cabaret, which won six Boston Theatre Critics Awards and transferred to the Hasty Pudding Theatre in Cambridge for an extended run.

Ms. Boyd conceived and directed the Broadway musical Eubie!, a show based on the music of Eubie Blake which starred Gregory Hines and garnered three Tony nominations. She has also worked extensively in New York and in regional theatres where her directorial credits include As You Like It and Tea at the Old Globe Theatre, Sweet and Hot: The Songs Of Harold Arlen at the McCarter Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse and the Coconut Grove Playhouse and The Country Wife at Syracuse Stage. Her production of Tea at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles won three Dramalogue Awards, including a special award for ensemble acting.

In 2001 Ms. Boyd created the Playwright Mentoring Project, BSC's program for at-risk youth that won the prestigious Coming Up Taller Award in 2007. This award, given by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, is the nation's highest honor for after school and out of school programming.
Ms. Boyd holds a doctorate in Theatre History from C.U.N.Y. Graduate Center, where her major area of concentration was Classical Japanese Theatre. From 1992 to 1998 Ms. Boyd served as President of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, the national union representing professional directors and choreographers in the U.S.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint, George Street Playhouse has become a nationally recognized theatre, presenting an acclaimed mainstage season while providing an artistic home for established and emerging theatre artists. In August 2011, The Playhouse appointed noted arts administrator Norma Kaplan Managing Director. Founded in 1974, The Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway – recent productions include the Outer Critics' Circle Best Musical Award-winner The Toxic Avenger, the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League nominated production of The Spitfire Grill and the Broadway hit and Tony® and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn, which was developed at GSP during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays. George Street Playhouse programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and by its lead season sponsor Johnson & Johnson. The Star Ledger is 2012-13 print media sponsor for George Street Playhouse.