LET ME DOWN EASY & More Set For Second Stage Theater's 31st Season

Following a critically acclaimed season which included the Pulitzer Prize finalist Becky Shaw and the Broadway transfer of its musical hit Next to Normal, Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director) has announced three of the four plays scheduled for its upcoming 31st Season. For subscription or ticket information, please call the Second Stage Box Office at 212-246-4422 or visit the company's website, www.2ST.com. All productions are staged at Second Stage Theatre, 307 West 43rd Street (just west of Eighth Avenue).

Second Stage Theatre's upcoming season will continue the company's mission of producing bold new plays and musicals by American Playwrights as well as second stagings of the best of contemporary theatre. The season will kick off in the fall with the New York premiere of Anna Deavere Smith's latest work, LET ME DOWN EASY, directed by Leonard Foglia. The season will also include two world premiere plays from returning playwrights: MR. & MRS. FITCH, by Douglas Carter Beane, whose Tony-nominated hit The Little Dog Laughed had its world premiere at Second Stage Theatre in 2005, and TRUST, by Paul Weitz, whose plays Privilege and Show People premiered at Second Stage in 2005 and 2006, respectively. MR. & MRS. FITCH had been announced as part of the current season, but was postponed due to a scheduling conflict.

More detailed information on Second Stage Theatre's upcoming season follows:

LET ME DOWN EASY
Conceived, written, and performed by Anna Deavere Smith
Directed by Leonard Foglia
Previews begin September 15; opening in early October

Channeling a dramatic range of interview subjects, from artists and athletes to doctors and those they treat, LET ME DOWN EASY is a virtuosic and moving exploration of the power of the body and the resilience of the human spirit, featuring first person accounts from a wide variety of sources, including Lance Armstrong and former Texas Governor Ann Richards. With her trademark journalistic precision, Anna Deavere Smith, one of the most acclaimed and provocative theater artists of our time, explores the world of healthcare from both the patient and practitioner perspective in this timely and absorbing new play.

Anna Deavere Smith's work in the theater explores American character and our multifaceted national identity. She has won numerous awards, among them two Obies, two Tony nominations and a MacArthur fellowship. She was runner up for the Pulitzer Prize for her play Fires In the Mirror. She is said to have created a new form of theater. Her work combines the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance. The New York Times called her "the ultimate impressionist, she does people's souls." She has appeared on the television shows The West Wing, Presidio Med, The Practice, and the new Showtime television series, Nurse Jackie. Films include Rachel Getting Married, The American President, Philadelphia, The Human Stain, Life Support, and Dave. Her plays include Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Fires in the Mirror; and House Arrest. Her books include Talk To Me and Letters to A Young Artist. A professor at New York University, she is also the founding director of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, a center for artistic excellence addressing social change. She is the recipient of several honorary degrees.

Leonard Foglia most recently directed Laurence Fishburne in Thurgood. Other Broadway credits include Master Class with Zoe Caldwell (also national tour and West End), On Golden Pond with Leslie Uggams and James Earl Jones, and Wait Until Dark with Quentin Tarantino and Marisa Tomei. Off-Broadway: Encores! One Touch of Venus (City Center), The Stendahl Syndrome by Terrence McNally (Primary Stages), By the Sea (MTC, Bay Street Theatre Festival), Lonely Planet (Circle Repertory Company), If Memory Serves (Promenade, Pasadena Playhouse). Regional: Paper Doll (Pittsburgh Public Theater, Long Wharf); The Last True Believer (Seattle Rep.); Seascape, The Woman in Black and A Coffin in Egypt by Horton Foote (Bay Street Theatre Festival); Dinner With Friends and God's Man in Texas (Old Globe Theatre); Art, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Heidi Chronicles, Reckless, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Trinity Repertory Company). Opera: Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie, Terrence McNally (New York City Opera, Opera Pacific, Cincinnati Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Pittsburgh Opera); The End of the Affair by Heggie, Heather McDonald (Houston Grand Opera). He is co-author of the mystery novels 1 Ragged Ridge Road and Face Down in the Park, both published by Pocket Books.

MR. & MRS. FITCH
World Premiere comedy
Written by Douglas Carter Beane
Directed by Scott Ellis
Previews begin winter 2010

Meet gossip columnists MR. & MRS. FITCH. When the social circuit no longer provides any scandalous news, they find that great celebrity can appear out of thin air. Tony Award nominee Douglas Carter Beane's (The Little Dog Laughed, Xanadu) wicked new comedy is a scathing look at who is in, who is out and who may not even exist at all.

Douglas Carter Beane returns to Second Stage Theatre, which produced the world premiere of his Tony-nominated Best Play The Little Dog Laughed. His other works include the book for the musical Xanadu, As Bees in Honey Drown (Outer Critics Circle, Gassner Award), Music From a Sparkling Planet, The Country Club, Advice From A Caterpillar, The Cartells. Musicals: The Big Time and the upcoming Lysistrata Jones and The Bandwagon. Revues: Mondo Drama and White Lies. Screenplays: Advice From A Caterpillar (Aspen Comedy Festival Best Feature); To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. As Artistic Director of the Drama Dept., he produced more than 40 productions including revivals of As Thousands Cheer, June Moon and The Torchbearers and world premieres by Paul Rudnick, David Sedaris and Wendy Wasserstein.

Scott Ellis returns to Second Stage Theatre where he recently directed Douglas Carter Beane's The Little Dog Laughed. Other Second Stage credits include Good Boys and True, The Waverly Gallery with Eileen Heckert, and That Championship Season. Broadway credits include Curtains, Twelve Angry Men (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), Arthur Miller's The Man Who Had All the Luck with Chris O'Donnell, The Boys From Syracuse, The Rainmaker with Woody Harrelson and Jayne Atkinson, 1776 (Drama Desk, Tony nomination), Picnic (Outer Critics Circle nomination), Company, A Month in the Country with Helen Mirren, Steel Pier (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle awards, Tony nomination), She Loves Me (Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations, Outer Critics Circle Award and Olivier Award for Best Director and Best Revival, London production). Off-Broadway: Entertaining Mr. Sloane with Alec Baldwin; Dark Rapture; And the World Goes' Round: The Songs of Kander & Ebb (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle awards); among others. NYC Opera: 110 in the Shade, A Little Night Music. TV: director/co-conceiver of "Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall" and Great Performances' "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies," "30 Rock," Frasier," "Hope and Faith," "Stacked," and "Out of Practice." MR. Ellis is the associate artistic director for the Roundabout Theatre Company. MR. Ellis was recently named Supervising Producer/Director of the Showtime series "Weeds."

TRUST
World Premiere
Written and directed by Paul Weitz
Previews begin summer 2010

Harry is rich. Harry is married. But when Harry doesn't trust any of it is enough, he looks to find something real in the most unlikely of places. Paul Weitz's dark comedy TRUST explores the corrosive effect of power on relationships and the hope we need to make them better.

PAUL WEITZ is the author of the acclaimed plays Show People and Privilege, which both premiered at Second Stage Theatre. His play Mango Tea was produced Off-Broadway with Marisa Tomei and Rob Morrow by New York's Ensemble Studio Theatre, which also produced his next works, Captive, All for One, and the acclaimed ensemble comedy Roulette. He also wrote and directed the comedy American Dreamz, starring Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, and Mandy Moore, as well as the critically acclaimed film In Good Company, starring Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansen. With his brother and frequent collaborator Chris Weitz, he co-directed and adapted the screenplay from Nick Hornby's novel for the award winning hit, About a Boy. The screenplay received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as similar nominations from BAFTA, Writers Guild, Chicago Film Critics, and Humanitas. Prior to their screenwriting work on About a Boy, the brothers collaborated on several screenplays, including Antz. He made his feature directorial debut teaming with his brother on American Pie, the phenomenally successful first installment of the Pie franchise.

Currently celebrating its 30th Anniversary Season, Second Stage Theatre recently concluded an extended critically-acclaimed production of Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw, directed by Peter Dubois. The season kicked off last fall with the 20th Anniversary staging of Howard Korder's 1988 breakthrough play BOYS' LIFE, directed by Michael Greif and starring Jason Biggs, Rhys Coiro, and Peter Scanavino. The Company's current production, Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott's EVERYDAY RAPTURE, directed by Michael Mayer, which officially opened on May 3. The season continues this summer with the New York Premiere of the new musical VANITIES, written by Jack Heifner, with music and lyrics by David Kirschenbaum, and directed by Judith Ivey.

Founded in 1979 under the leadership of Artistic Director Carole Rothman, Second Stage Theatre produces a diverse range of premieres and new interpretations of America's best contemporary theatre, including Tiny Alice and Peter and Jerry by Edward Albee; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Little Murders by Jules Feiffer; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; A Soldier's Play by Charles Fuller; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo's Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; Painting Churches and Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants and On the Stem by Ricky Jay; Living Out by Lisa Loomer; This Is Our Youth and The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan; Some Men by Terrence McNally; eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Crowns by ReGina Taylor; Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein; Spoils of War by Michael Weller; Before It Hits Home, Jar the Floor and Birdie Blue by Cheryl L. West; Jitney by August Wilson; Lemon Sky, Serenading Louie and Sympathetic Magic by Lanford Wilson; and Metamorphoses and The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci by Mary Zimmerman. The company's more than 125 citations include the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed), 2005 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, ...Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, ...Spelling Bee), 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses), the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 23 Obie Awards, four Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Clarence Derwent Awards, nine Drama Desk Awards, five Theatre World Awards, 11 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 15 AUDELCO Awards.

In 1999, Second Stage Theatre opened its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theatre, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched "Second Stage Theatre Uptown" series to showcase the work of up and coming artists at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre. The Theatre supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs.

Second Stage Theatre AT THE Helen Hayes

Second Stage Theatre recently announced that it has acquired the right to purchase the historic Helen Hayes Theatre, located at 240 W. 44th Street. With this new home, Second Stage will be the only theater company on Broadway dedicated exclusively to the development and presentation of contemporary American theatrical productions. Second Stage will also become one of only four non-profit theater companies that own and operate theaters on Broadway. The company will continue to lease and operate their original theaters on the city's Upper West Side and in Midtown Manhattan.

Created as a program to help develop and provide exposure for the voices of a new generation of theatre artists, the Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series seeks to develop the skills of emerging playwrights, to provide early-career artists with the support of a major artistic institution, and to create new plays for the American Theatre. Each show has a limited rehearsal period, as well as a streamlined budget. The series has helped launch and advance the careers of several up-and-coming playwrights, including Rajiv Joseph (Lortel-nominated Animals Out of Paper), Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (whose play, Good Boys and True, was recently part of Second Stage's mainstage season); Adam Bock (The Receptionist, The Drunken City), and Brooke Berman (Hunting and Gathering).

The series premiered in 2002 with three new American plays: ...in the absence of spring..., written and directed by Joe Calarco; The Notebook, written by Wendy Kesselman and directed by Evan Yionoulis; and Hunt Holman's Spanish Girl, directed by Erica Schmidt. Second Stage Theatre Uptown was on hiatus in 2003 due to theatre repairs. The 2004 season saw the New York premiere of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's The Mystery Plays, as well as Brooke Berman's The Triple Happiness, starring Ally Sheedy. In 2005, the series presented the New York premiere of the critically acclaimed comedy Swimming in the Shallows, written by Adam Bock and starring Logan Marshall-Green, as well as the world premiere of Dan O'Brien's The Dear Boy. The 2006 series featured two world premiere comedies: Getting Home, written by Anton Dudley and directed by David Schweizer, and Rajiv Joseph's All This Intimacy, directed by Giovanna Sardelli. The 2007 series featured Marisa Wegrzyn's The Butcher of Baraboo, directed by Judith Ivey, and Joshua Tobiessen's Election Day, directed by Jeremy Dobrish. Last season's Uptown Series featured two world premiere plays: Carly Mensch's Len, Asleep in Vinyl, directed by Jackson Gay, and Rajiv Joseph's Animals Out of Paper, which was recently nominated for a Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, directed by Giovanna Sardelli.

Second Stage Theatre Uptown continues this summer with two new plays: Zakiyyah Alexander's 10 Things To Do Before I Die and Lila Rose Kaplan's Wildflower.

For more information, please visit www.2ST.com.

 

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