MTC Announces EQUIVOCATION Cast

Lynne Meadow and Barry Grove have announced full casting for the New York premiere of EQUIVOCATION by Bill Cain (former artistic director of Boston Shakespeare Company), directed by Tony Award winner Garry Hynes (Translations, Beauty Queen of Leenane).

The cast will feature Remy Auberjonois (The Country Girl, Frost/Nixon), Michael Countryman (Mary Stuart, MTC's House and Garden), David Furr (MTC's Accent on Youth, Cymbeline), John Pankow (Twelve Angry Men, "Mad About You"), Charlotte Parry (Coram Boy, The Real Thing), and David Pittu (What's That Smell?, Tony nominee for MTC's LoveMusik).

Click here to see playwright Bill Cain and director Garry Hynes talk about EQUIVOCATION.

The limited engagement of EQUIVOCATION will begin previews Tuesday, February 9 and open Thursday, March 2 at MTC at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street).

Bill Cain's new play set in 1605 England begins when King James' right hand man (David Pittu) commissions William Shakespeare (John Pankow) to write a new play about the Gunpowder Plot, a
recent failed attempt to blow up Parliament and the Monarchy. EQUIVOCATION is a bold new look at the greatest playwright ever in a drama whose contemporary parallels are unmistakable and whose laughter is abundant - a work of startling revelations and vibrant theatricality.

The production will feature scenic & costume design by Francis O'Connor, lighting design by David Weiner, sound design David Van Tieghem & Brandon Wolcott, and fight direction by David Brimmer.

Special thanks to the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting new American plays at Manhattan Theatre Club.

Manhattan Theatre Club's current Broadway season includes the New York premiere of Donald Margulies' TIME STANDS STILL, currently in previews, and the Broadway premiere of Margulies'
COLLECTED STORIES. In addition to EQUIVOCATION, the Off-Broadway season includes Polly Stenham's THAT FACE. MTC recently concluded an extended engagement of the critically lauded production of George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's THE ROYAL FAMILY and Lynn Redgrave's NIGHTINGALE.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, MTC has become one of the country's most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. MTC
productions have earned a total of 16 Tony Awards and six Pulitzer Prizes, an accomplishment unparalleled by a New York theatrical institution. MTC has their Broadway home at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) and an Off-Broadway theatre at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street). Renowned MTC productions include Ruined; The American Plan; Top Girls; Come Back, Little Sheba; Blackbird; Translations; Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Proof;
The Tale of the Allergist's Wife; Love! Valour! Compassion!; A Small Family Business; Sylvia; Putting It Together; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain't Misbehavin'.

For more information on MTC, please visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

Tickets for EQUIVOCATION are available via New York City Center Box Office (131 West 55th
Street), CityTix® (212-581-1212) and www.nycitycenter.org. Tickets for EQUIVOCATION are $75.

EQUIVOCATION performs:

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9 - SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21: Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday through; Saturday at 8 PM, Sunday at 7 PM. Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22 - SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28: Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday through
Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.

MONDAY, MARCH 1 - SUNDAY, MARCH 7: Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday through Saturday at 8 PM,
Sunday at 7 PM. Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM.

MONDAY, MARCH 8 - SUNDAY, MARCH 14: Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday through Saturday at 8 PM.
Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM. Note, only seven performances are on sale to the general public this week.

 MONDAY, MARCH 15 - SUNDAY, MARCH 28: Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday through Saturday
at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.

Bill Cain (Playwright). Mr. Cain's widely-produced play Stand-Up Tragedy earned six LA Critics Awards (including best production and distinguished writing) in its premiere at the Mark Taper Forum. Stand Up later garnered four Helen Hayes Awards (including outstanding production) at Arena Stage in Washington, DC before its 1990 Broadway engagement where it received the Joe A. Callaway Playwriting Award. More recently, The Laying on of Hands was developed at the Ojai
Playwrights Conference and NYU's HotInk Series. 9 Circles was developed at Ojai and South Coast Rep's Pacific Playwrights Festival. He will return to Ojai this summer with his new play How To Write a New Book For The Bible: A Play For An Older Actress. Bill was the co-creator/writer/producer of "Nothing Sacred," a dramatic television series which premiered in the fall of 1997 on ABC and was awarded a George Foster Peabody Award for Outstanding Achievement in Television. He
received a WGA Award for Episodic Drama for the pilot episode "Proofs for the Existence of God." His adaptation of "Clover" for Hallmark Entertainment and HBO earned him the Christopher Award for Artistic Excellence. Mr. Cain wrote the critically acclaimed screen adaptation of Nightjohn for Hallmark/Touchstone which was named Best American Film of the Year by The New Yorker and given a special citation for excellence by the National Society of Film Critics. He adapted his own award-winning stage play, Stand-Up Tragedy, as a cable film entitled "Thicker Than Blood" for TNT
(Writers' Guild nomination), wrote and executive produced Everything That Rises (starring Mandy Patinkin) for Touchstone Television, as well as writing the screen adaptation of the book Papa's Angels for Marian Rees Associates, which starred Scott Bakula, Cynthia Nixon and Eva Marie Saint.
Bill was the writer/executive producer of ABC's Sounder, which was nominated for two NAACP Image awards including best picture. He is the founder of the Boston Shakespeare Company, where he was Artistic Director for seven seasons, directing most of the Shakespeare canon.

Garry Hynes (Director) is artistic director of Druid Theatre, Galway, for which she has directed many productions, including Long Day's Journey Into Night, My Brilliant Divorce and DruidSynge,
The Complete Plays of J.M. Synge (also in Dublin, Edinburgh and New York). On Broadway, she directed Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane for which she received a Tony Award, the first ever given to a woman director. She has directed at many other theaters including The Abbey and Gate theaters in Dublin, The Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court, London, and Second Stage, Signature, and Manhattan Theatre Club in New York. She is the recipient of honorary doctorate degrees from the National University of Ireland and Trinity College, Dublin, for her services to Irish theater. Her other productions include Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock
(with Michael Gambon) and The Plough and the Stars (with Brendan Gleeson). More recently in New York she directed the highly acclaimed production of McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan at the Atlantic Theatre, Juno for Encores! at City Center and Brian Friel's Translations for Manhattan Theatre Club.

Remy Auberjonois (Armin) has been seen on Broadway in The Country Girl, Frost/Nixon, and most recently, Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Other New York credits include Anon and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow for the Atlantic Theater, Doug Hughes' production of Othello at the Public, and Primary Stages' New York premiere of A.R. Gurney's Strictly Academic. Extensive regional work includes stints at the Williamstown Festival, Yale Rep, The Old Globe, McCarter, Dallas Theater Center, and the Mark Taper Forum. On television he has appeared in "30 Rock," "Mad Men," "Weeds," all three of the "Law & Order" franchises, "Sex and the City," "E.R.," and "The Sopranos," among others. He has performed in several films, most notably Michael Clayton, The International, and the upcoming Fair Game, alongside Sean Penn and Naomi Watts. He holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

MICHAEL COUNTRYMAN (Richard) has appeared on Broadway in Night Must Fall, Holiday, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, A Few Good Men and Face Value. Numerous Off-Broadway credits include Shipwrecked!, Trumpery, The Butcher Of Baraboo, Mary Rose, Dedication, The Bald Soprano, The Stendhal Syndrome, House and Garden, The Clearing, Nine Armenians, All in the Timing, a Drama
Desk nomination for both The Common Pursuit and Out. Regional credits include world and American premieres at Hartford Stage, McCarter, the Guthrie and Long Wharf Theatre. Mr. Countryman has appeared in the films Burn After Reading, PS I Love You, Guerilla, The Namesake, Black Knight, You Can Count on Me, Ransom, Deceived and Once Again, and on television in John Adams, "The Sopranos," "NYPD Blue," "Law & Order," "Third Watch," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," Notes for My
Daughter and Kate and Allie among others.

DAVID FURR (Sharpe). Broadway: Accent on Youth (MTC), Cymbeline, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Rivals, King Lear (w/ Christopher Plummer). National Tour: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Other New York: Golden Prospects, Tim and Scrooge. David has also appeared extensively at leading regional theatres around the country including Lincoln Center, The McCarter, The Old Globe, The Long Wharf, Denver Theatre Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival and many others. He received Ovation and Henry award nominations for his performance in Arthur Miller's All My Sons. Film & TV: "The Washingtonienne" (HBO Pilot), "Nurses" (FOX Pilot), "CSI: Miami," the New York soaps, "45 Words," and the role of Ralph Haverford in Focus Features' Evening.

John Pankow (Shag). A veteran stage actor, John has appeared in numerous New York Shakespeare Festival productions, including The Tempest, Measure for Measure, Henry V, and Two
Gentlemen of Verona. John recently appeared in David Mamet's double bill, School and Keep Your Pantheon at the Atlantic Theater, as well as Christopher Durang's Why Torture is Wrong, and the People who Love Them at the Public Theater. John has appeared on Broadway in Cymbeline,
Amadeus, Serious Money, Twelve Angry Men, and The Iceman Cometh. Other Off-Broadway credits include the New York premiers of Brian Friel's Aristocrats and John Patrick Shanley's Italian American Reconciliation (both with Manhattan Theater Club), Peter Hedges' Baby Anger, Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine, Israel Horowitz' North Shore Fish, and John Byrne's The Slab Boys. John has created memorable characters in many noted films, including To Live and Die in L.A., Mortal Thoughts, Life as a House, Talk Radio, The Secret of My Success, and most recently The Extra Man and Morning Glory. He was a regular on the hit series "Mad About You" and recurred
on two critically acclaimed series, "Ally McBeal" and "The Life and Times of Molly Dodd." John has been featured on the programs "Law & Order," "Without a Trace," "Law & Order: CI," and "Miami Vice."

Charlotte Parry (Judith) was a part of the inaugural year of Sam Mendes' International "Bridge Project," performing in The Cherry Orchard and The Winter's Tale at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music, followed by a world tour and a sell-out run at The Old Vic in London. She has appeared on Broadway in the Tony Award winning The Real Thing (also West End, London) and Coram Boy. Prior to this Charlotte spent two seasons with The Sir Peter Hall Company in As You Like It and The Importance of Being Earnest at BAM, Center Theater Group in LA, and in London. She created the role of Maureen last year in the World Premiere of Edward Albee's latest play, Me, Myself and I at the McCarter Theatre, and has appeared Off-Broadway in Howard Katz (Roundabout), Rainbow Kiss (Play Co.) and The Master Builder (Irish rep). Other regional work in the USA includes The Birthday Party (McCarter), The Turn of the Screw (Westport), Cymbeline and Private Lives (Shakespeare Theatre of NJ). In the UK, regional work includes Amadeus, The Blue Room, Charley's Aunt, Titus Andronicus, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Northanger Abbey, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Follies, Godspell and The Three Sisters. Charlotte's TV and Film roles include "The Safe House," "Extreme Ghost Stories" and "The Park Bench."

David Pittu (Nate) received the 2009 St Clair Bayfield Award for his performance as Feste in Twelfth Night at the Delacorte this summer. Last season, he wrote and starred in What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling which received two Outer Critics nominations for Best Off-Broadway Musical and Best Actor in a Musical, and was listed in both Entertainment Weekly and NY Times' Best of Theater 2008 (He will reprise a version of the show at Joe's Pub this coming January 17 and 18). He received Tony nominations for LoveMusik and Is He Dead? and has also been recognized for his work in The Coast of Utopia, Stuff Happens, Pinter's Celebration and The Room, Never Gonna Dance and the national tour of Parade, directed by Harold Prince, in which he played Leo Frank, and received the National Broadway Award for his performance.

 

 

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