Bernstine, Gayle Join Cast Of MCC Theater's FAMILY WEEK

MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, Artistic Directors; William Cantler, Associate Artistic Director; Blake West, Executive Director) has announced complete casting for the company's third and final production of their 2009-2010 season, Beth Henley's Family Week, directed by Jonathan Demme. Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Ruined) and Sami Gayle (Gypsy) will join the previously announced Kathleen Chalfant and Rosemarie DeWitt. Performances of the four person play begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on April 7 and continue through May 23, 2010. Opening night is set for Monday, April 26 at 7:00 p.m.

A year after the death of her son, Claire checks into a recovery center in the desert, searching for a way to cope. When her mother, daughter and sister arrive to participate in "family week," long-dormant traumas collide with recent tragedies in surprisingly comical, shocking and deeply moving ways. United in this family struggle, the women rage and reach out in an effort to reconcile their love with the way things are. Making his theatrical debut, Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) collaborates with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart) on a new version of this bitterly funny play.

MCC Theater's production of Alexi Kaye Campbell's The Pride, directed by Joe Mantello (Glengarry GLen Ross, Take Me Out) and staring Hugh Dancy (Adam, Journey's End), Adam James (Last Chance Harvey), Andrea Riseborough (Happy Go Lucky) and Ben Whishaw (Bright Star, Brideshead Revisited) is now in rehearsals. Previews begin on January 27 and the show officially opens on February 16.

MCC Theater is one of New York City's leading Off Broadway theater companies, committed to presenting New York and world premieres each season. When MCC Theater was founded in 1986, its mission was simple: to bring new theatrical voices to theater-going audiences. MCC Theater continues to accomplish this yearly through presentation of its mainstage works; its Literary Program, which actively seeks and develops new and emerging writers and its Education & Outreach Program, allowing more than 1,200 students yearly to experience theater, increase literacy and discover their own voices in the arts. Notable MCC Theater highlights include: the 2008 Tony Award-nominated reasons to be pretty by Neil LaBute, last season's Fifty Words, the 2004 Tony-winning production of Bryony Lavery's Frozen; Neil LaBute's Fat Pig; Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living; Marsha Norman's Trudy Blue; Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit; Tim Blake Nelson's The Grey Zone and Alan Bowne's Beirut. Over the years, the dedication to the work of new and emerging artists has earned MCC Theater a variety of awards.

Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Rickey). New York Theater: In the Next Room or the vibrator play (LCT at the Lyceum); Ruined (MTC - Obie, Clarence Derwent, Audelco Awards); The Misanthrope (New York Theatre Workshop); Chicken (Studio Dante); A Small, Melodramatic Story (The Public Theater/LAByrinth); ‘nami (Partial Comfort Productions); (I am) Nobody's Lunch, The Ladies, Paris Commune, Gone Missing (all with The Civilians); Matt & Ben (P.S. 122 and National Tour); The Trail of Her Inner Thigh (LAByrinth); The Train Play (Clubbed Thumb), among others. Regional Theater: Goodman, Woolly Mammoth, The O'Neill, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Sundance Theatre Institute, Cape Cod Theater Project, Berkeley Rep, The Alliance, Long Wharf, La Jolla Playhouse, Chautauqua Theater Company, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Baltimore Center Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Virginia Stage Company, and others. Television/Film: Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme, dir.), HBO Voyeur Project; "Chappelle's Show;" "Law & Order: SVU;" "Law & Order: Criminal Intent;" "All My Children;" numerous voiceovers for television, radio, and audio books. Training: Brown University (BA), UC San Diego (MFA). Member: The Civilians, LAByrinth Theater Company and a NYTW Usual Suspect.

Kathleen Chalfant (Lena). Broadway: Angels in America (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Racing Demon, Dance With Me. Off Broadway: Wit ( Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League Award, Connecticut Critics Circle Award, as well as her second Obie Award), Dead Man's Cell Phone, Bloomer Girl (City Center Encores!), Nine Armenians (Drama Desk nomination), Twelve Dreams (directed by James Lapine), Henry V (directed by Doug Hughes, Callaway Award). Other New York Credits: The Vagina Monologues (West Side Arts Theatre), True History and Real Adventures (Vineyard), Phaedra in Delirium (CSC), Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Endgame (directed by David Esbjornson), The Party (from three stories by Virginia Woolf), Three Poets (by Romulus Linney), Sister Mary Ignatius..., Just Say No (by Larry Kramer), The Investigation of the Murder in El Salvador (NYTW). London & Los Angeles: Wit (LA Ovation Award). Regional Theatre: Guthrie Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage Company, Mark Taper Forum, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Sundance Playwrights Lab, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, American Masterpiece Theatre and others. FILM: Duplicity, Perfect Stranger, Dark Water, Kinsey, The Laramie Project, Random Hearts (a Sydney Pollock film starring Harrison Ford), Murder and Murder (directed by Yvonne Rainer), Bob Roberts, Five Corners, Jumpin' at the Boneyard, Dream Work (with Eric Bogosian), A Price Below Rubies (directed by Boaz Yakin), The Last Days of Disco, The Pornographer, and Side Streets. Television: Recurring on "Rescue Me" and "The Guardian"; also "Mercy" "Voices from the White House" (PBS), "A Death in the Family" (American Masterpiece Theatre/PBS), "Storm of the Century" (Stephen King miniseries for ABC); "Law & Order", "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" ,"Prince Street," "Spin City," "LA Law," "One Life to Live." Awards: 1996 OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance.

Rosemarie DeWitt's (Claire) film career includes playing the role of "Rachel" in Rachel Getting Married (dir. Jonathan Demme), as well as roles in How I Got Lost, Cinderella Man (dir. Ron Howard), The Great New Wonderful, Blackbird, and the upcoming Kenneth Lonergan film Margaret. Her television credits include "The United States of Tara", "Mad Men", "Standoff", "Love Monkey", and "Rescue Me". Recent Off-Broadway credits include John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at Second Stage and Craig Lucas' Small Tragedy at Playwrights Horizons.

Sami Gayle (Kay) is thrilled to be working under the direction of Jonathan Demme at MCC. Broadway credits include Gypsy starring Patti LuPone (Baby June) and Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical (Annie Who). Off Broadway credits include the Atlantic Theater Company's production of Oohrah! (Lacey), the City Center Encores production of Gypsy starring Patti LuPone (Baby June) and a reading of Cuzi Cram's Dusty and the Big Bad World. Sami has also appeared on the CBS soap opera, "As the World Turns." Sami is featured as Baby June on the cast recording of Gypsy which was nominated for a 2009 Grammy. She would like to thank her family, friends and the amazing production staff at MCC.

For a complete production history, visit www.mcctheater.org.

Special 2-Play season subscriptions are still available for a limited time beginning at $79 by visiting www.mcctheater.org or by contacting Ticket Central directly at www.ticketcentral.com or calling 212-279-4200. These will go off sale this Sunday, 1/17.

Photo credit: Ben Strothmann