GROUNDSWELL Makes US Premiere At The New Group 5/4-6/27

The New Group proudly presents the US premiere of Ian Bruce's thrilling drama Groundswell as the third production in its 2008-2009 season. Directed by Scott Elliott, this production plays a limited Off-Broadway run May 4 - June 27 at The New Group @ Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street), with Official Opening Night on Monday, May 18 at 8:00 PM.

On the barren diamond-diving coast of South Africa, Johan and Thami, an ex-cop and a gardener from starkly contrasting backgrounds, maintain a beachfront guest lodge during the off-season while looking for a way to escape their dead-end lives. When Smith, a retired businessman, shows up one foggy night, the two men think they've found an ideal investor for their scheme to buy into a government-run diamond mining concession. Soon, these rootless men find themselves in a power struggle fueled by greed, desperation and entitlement. Groundswell is a psychological thriller about hunger and hope, and the glittering promises of a transforming society.

Hailed as "absolutely essential theater" by The Cape Times, Groundswell premiered in Ian Bruce's native South Africa in 2005 at the Intimate Theatre in Cape Town. It then appeared at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival before moving to the Baxter Theatre, where it earned the Fleur du Cap award for Best New Indigenous Play. It has subsequently enjoyed successful runs at the Theatre On The Square in Johannesburg, and the Royal Swedish Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm.

Ian Bruce was trained as an actor by Ruth Oppenheim and appeared in the early ‘70s on the Johannesburg stage and in SABC TV productions. During a long, politically motivated exile in Holland he co-founded the Tekhwini Theatre Foundation with Anthony Akerman and Joseph Mosikili. It was there he began writing. In 1978, his first play, Falls The Shadow, won the Dutch Arts Council Best New Play Award. His only work to evade South Africa's censorship net, My Father's House, was produced by PACT in 1989, directed by the late Francois Swart. After his return to South Africa in the early ‘90s, Mr. Bruce won a Radio SA award for his play, Kept In Mind. In 1998, he began working with the New Africa Theatre Association for which he and his wife Ina have created a host of productions, educational plays, and Industrial Theatre works. For Mr. Bruce, writing Groundswell marked a very special return, after many years, to the kind of probing drama he most values. He is the current Executive Director of the New Africa Theatre Association.

Directed by Scott Elliott, this production features Larry Bryggman (B'way: Twelve Angry Men, Proof; Film: Die Hard With a Vengeance; TV: "As The World Turns"), David Lansbury (B'way: Hedda Gabbler, The Heidi Chronicles; TV: "Fringe," HBO's "Oz") and Souleymane Sy Savane (Film: Goodbye Solo). Set Design is by Derek McLane (B'way: Grease, I Am My Own Wife; Off-B'way at The New Group: Rafta, Rafta..., Aunt Dan and Lemon, numerous others), Costume Design is by Eric Becker (The New Group: The Fever, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Abigail's Party), Lighting Design is by Jason Lyons (B'way: Rock of Ages, The Threepenny Opera, Nine; Off-B'way: numerous productions at The New Group including Rafta, Rafta..., Two Thousand Years) and Sound Design is by Shane Rettig (Off-B'way at The New Group: Rafta, Rafta..., Rich Boyfriend).

Scott Elliott's directing credits at The New Group, where he is Artistic Director include: the acclaimed U.S. premiere of Ayub Khan-Din's Rafta, Rafta..., Mike Leigh's Two Thousand Years, and the revivals of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Wallace Shawn's The Fever, Leigh's Abigail's Party, Shawn's Aunt Dan and Lemon and David Rabe's Hurlyburly and most recently, Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra. His Broadway credits include The Threepenny Opera, Barefoot in the Park, The Women, Three Sisters and Present Laughter.

The New Group (Scott Elliott, Artistic Director; Geoff Rich, Executive Director): The current 2008-2009 season began with the U.S. premiere of Kevin Elyot's Mouth to Mouth followed by Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra. The company's 2007-2008 season featured the premiere of Jonathan Marc Sherman's Things We Want directed by Ethan Hawke, Mike Leigh's Two Thousand Years and Ayub Khan-Din's Rafta, Rafta.... The 2006-07 season featured Jay Presson Allen's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Wallace Shawn's The Fever and Bernard Weinraub's The Accomplices. Other past productions include David Rabe's Hurlyburly, Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party, Smelling a Rat, Goose-Pimples and Ecstasy, Wallace Shawn's Aunt Dan and Lemon, Kenneth Lonnergan's This is Our Youth, Kevin Elyot's My Night With Reg, and many more. The New Group is a recipient of the 2004 Tony® Award for Best Musical (Avenue Q).

Groundswell is produced in association with Orin Wolf, President of Off Broadway Booking and the recipient of the T-Fellowship for Creative Producing. The production of this play marks the culmination of Wolf's fellowship work. Inspired by the work of legendary producer T. Edward Hambleton, the T Fellowship was created in an effort to encourage, support and develop a new generation of creative theatrical producers. The program is run by Columbia University's School of the Arts in collaboration with the T Fellowship Committee including Harold Prince, Ed Wilson, Margo Lion, Jack O'Brien, Victoria Bailey, Gregory Mosher, Steven Chaikelson and Annette Niemtzow.

Groundswell plays at The New Group @ Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre / 410 West 42nd Street, between 9th & 10th Avenues) as follows: Monday @ 8:00 PM, Tuesday @ 7:00 PM, Wednesday - Friday @ 8:00 PM, Saturday @ 2:00 PM (matinee) & 8:00 PM. Tickets may be arranged through Ticket Central at www.ticketcentral.com or (212) 279-4200, or at the Theatre Row Box Office (12:00-8:00 PM daily). Tickets are $49.00. For more information, visit www.thenewgroup.org.