The Gallery Players Presents WHAT THE BUTLER SAW 9/11-26

The Gallery Players announces casting and creative team for the first show of its 44th season, Joe Orton's What The Butler Saw. Directed by Zac Hoogendyk, this macabre, hilarious farce about sex and marriage runs September 11-26, 2010.

The Prentices are not an ordinary couple. Dr. Prentice is a psychiatrist with his own hospital who believes that the best way to interview a girl for a job is to seduce her. Geraldine Barclay does her best to comply, but nothing is going to work smoothly in this nut house that includes Mrs. Prentice, a nymphomaniac who is seduced by a bellhop in a hotel, or maybe it's vice versa. Mrs. Prentice brings home her reluctant bellhop just as the state inspector decides to pay a visit to the hospital. What ensues is a wild melee of disappearances, disguises and discoveries as husband and wife try to hide their prizes from the inspector and from one another. What The Butler Saw premiered in London's West End in 1969, two years after rising star playwright Orton was bludgeoned to death with a hammer by his male lover at the age of 34. The play has never had a Broadway production. What The Butler Saw's Off-Broadway run was hailed as, "Hilarious, outrageous...wonderfully verbal" by The New York Times.

"The goal of this production is nothing short of leaving the audience spasming with laughter," says director Zac Hoogendyk. "The cast has taken up this goal as their own, and it has been very exciting to watch them sink their teeth into one of the funniest plays I have ever read."

The Gallery Players' What The Butler Saw stars: Emily Taplin Boyd, Nat Cassidy*(2009 IT Award Outstanding Full-Length play, The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots), Tom Cleary* (Urinetown, The House of Blue Leaves, The Gallery Players), Nicole Fitzpatrick*, Kane Prestenback*, and David Sedgwick* (The Pearl Theatre Company; New National Theatre, Tokyo) *appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association??Zac Hoogendyk directs What the Butler Saw at The Gallery Players, the producer is Neal J. Freeman for The Gallery Players. The set designer is Starlet Jacobs (14th Annual BB New Play Festival, The Gallery Players), the costume designer is Erica Evans. Austin R. Smith is the lighting designer, properties master is Dustin Cross (City of Angels, The Gallery Players), and the sound designer is Ann Warren. The Associate producer is Alanna Degner and the production stage manager is Katherine Schroeder.

What The Butler Saw opens Saturday, September 11, 2010 and continues Thursdays and Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 2 pm and 8 pm, and Sundays at 3 pm through Sunday, September 26, 2010.

Tickets to What The Butler Saw at The Gallery Players are just $18 for adults, $14 for Seniors & Children 12 and under. Season Subscriptions start at just $110. Individual tickets and subscriptions can be purchased by calling TheaterMania at (212) 352-3101, or online at www.galleryplayers.com. The Gallery Players is located at 199 14th St., between 4th and 5th Aves. in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Take the F Train to 4th Ave. or the R Train to 9th Street. By car: BQE to Hamilton Avenue to 14th Street.

A New York institution since 1967, The Gallery Players has served actors and audiences alike for more than 4 decades by showcasing burgeoning new talent and offering a home base for theater professionals. Its eclectic programming of intimate revivals and ambitious new work in inventive productions has earned it the reputation of "New York's Best Kept Secret." The Gallery Players is the recipient of the Off-Off Broadway Review's 2000 Award for Lifetime Achievement and was the recipient of New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical in 2007, 2008 & 2009 for their productions of Urinetown! the musical, Yank! A New Musical, and Like You Like It. Among its famous alumni are founding member Harvey Fierstein; Broadway regulars Nancy Anderson, Jeffry Denman and Diedre Goodwin; New York theater personality Seth Rudetsky and many others.

The Gallery Players' productions of the new musical Top of the Heap and the first New York City revival of Caroline, or Change each received a 2010 New York Innovative Theatre Award nomination for Outstanding Production of a Musical. This marks the fourth consecutive season The New York Innovative Theatre Awards has recognized The Gallery Players, who have received the honor of Outstanding Production of a Musical for the past three seasons. The awards will be announced at the New York Innovative Theatre Awards Ceremony this September.

The Gallery Players' 44th season continues in October with its first musical of the season, Reefer Madness, running October 23 - November 14, 2010. Dancing at Lughnasa follows, December 4 - 19, 2010. We kick off 2011 with The Drowsy Chaperone, January 29-February 20, 2011, then August Wilson's Jitney, March 19 - April 3, 2011, and Oliver!, April 30 - May 22, 2011 closes out the main stage season. The Gallery Players' summer celebration of new works continues with The 14th Annual Black Box New Play Festival, June 2 - 26th, 2011.

To post a comment, you must register and login.