Collins, Arison and Kunken Set for MCC's 'Procedure'

Lynn Collins will star in MCC Theater's New York premiere production of A Very Common Procedure by playwright Courtney Baron, to be directed by Obie Award-winner Michael Greif (Rent, Grey Gardens). 

A Very Common Procedure, the second play of MCC's 2006-07 season, will begin performances on January 31, 2007 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) and continue as a limited engagement through March 10, 2007.  The opening night is set for Wednesday, February 14 at 7:00 p.m.

Amir Arison (Off-Broadway's Beast on the Moon, Modern Orthodox) and Stephen Kunken (Proof on Broadway, Fabulation at Playwrights Horizon) will also be featured in the production.

"A Very Common Procedure is a hard-hitting, yet humorous story of self-discovery as a husband, his wife and her doctor take a crash course in the workings of the human heart.  Carolyn Goldenhersch begins an extra-marital affair with Dr. Anil Patel that takes them from Indian restaurants in Queens to Jewish delis on the Lower East Side.  Not an unusual New York story - until you find out how they met.  In facing the horrific moment that has brought them together, these three New Yorkers must come to a final confrontation in which faith, love and the truth are put to the test," press materials state.

A Very Common Procedure was originally presented in March, 2006 under the title Morbidity and Mortality at the Magic Theatre (San Francisco) in conjunction with The Women's Project, NYC.

Collins, who played Portia in the film version of The Merchant of Venice opposite Al Pacino, has been seen on Broadway in The Women, as well as Off-Broadway in As You Like It and Hamlet (Public Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Ahmanson Theatre) and Eve Ensler's Necessary Targets (NY Stage & Film).  Other film credits include 13 Going On 30, 50 First Dates, The Lake House, Down with Love and Never Get Outta the Boat.  She is a Julliard graduate.

Baron's other plays, which have been performed in New York and in regional theatre across the country, include Consumption, Not Our Last Hurrah and These Three Here. She is currently under her second commission with the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis and is developing a new television show with fox21, the alternative television production studio, in Los Angeles.  She is a member of the Primary Stages New American Writers Group.

Tickets for A Very Common Procedure are $60.00 and are available for purchase through TicketCentral.com or by calling 212-279-4200. Performances are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:00 p.m., Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. 

Visit www.mcctheater.org for more on MCC Theater.