Los Angeles' Geffen Playhouse will present a number of premieres as part of its 11th season.
The theatre will stage the West Coast premiere of
David Lindsay-Abaire's
Rabbit Hole, the world premiere of
Carrie Fisher's one-woman show
Wishful Drinking, Jeffrey Hatcher's
A Picasso, and the West Coast premiere of Neil LaBute's
Fat Pig, which will be directed by the playwright.
In addition, the cast--led by
Amy Ryan (Tony-nominee for
A Streetcar Named Desire and
Uncle Vanya),
Tate Donovan (
Amy's View, Picnic) and
Joyce Van Patten (
Brighton Beach Memoirs, Rumors)--for
Rabbit Hole has been announced by the theatre.
"The Geffen is in the second year of our exciting ten-year initiative to explore the American Experience. Who we were? Who we are? And who we want to be? Last year we journeyed with
Heather Raffo, Tennessee Williams,
Arthur Miller, David Mamet and
Sam Shepard," says Producing Director Gilbert Cates. "This year we continue with artists that inform our perspective of ourselves with
David Lindsay-Abaire,
Carrie Fisher, George Gershwin, David Mamet, Neil LaBute, Jeffrey Hatcher and Tom Stoppard. We may not find the answers to our questions but hopefully we will come a bit closer to understanding what it means to be an American."
The Geffen Playhouse's 2006/2007 season will begin with the West Coast premiere of
David Lindsay-Abaire's Broadway hit
Rabbit Hole. Starring
Tate Donovan as Howie, Trever O'Brien (his professional theatre debut) as Jason,
Amy Ryan as Becca,
Joyce Van Patten as Nat and Missy Yager as Izzy, "Rabbit Hole takes the audience into the contemporary suburban household of Becca and Howie, a couple who has experienced an unthinkable loss, forcing them to live a life they never anticipated. Becca's family—which includes her sister Izzy and her mother Nat—desperately search for ways to cope with grief, while Becca carefully tries to navigate putting back together the pieces of a shattered life," according to Geffen notes.
Nominated for five Tony Awards, the production runs from September 5 to October 22, 2006. Originally commissioned by South Coast Repertory, the play had its world premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club's Biltmore Theatre. Carolyn Cantor directs the Geffen's production of
Rabbit Hole.
Originally scheduled for the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse, the world premiere of
Carrie Fisher's
Wishful Drinking has been moved to the main stage. "Her one-woman show chronicles Fisher's unusual childhood as the daughter of
Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, the rise to movie icon status as
Star Wars' Princess Leia, her marriage to
Paul Simon, the release of her hit movie
Postcards From the Edge starring
Meryl Streep, to drug addiction, motherhood, having a child with a man who forgot to tell her he was gay, waking up next to a man who died not only in his sleep, "…but in mine," and her ultimate triumph over adversity." Directed by
Joshua Ravetch,
Wishful Drinking will play the new run dates of November 7 through December 24, 2006.
Producing director Gil Cates will take the helm of
A Picasso from December 5 to January 14, 2006, now scheduled for production in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater. In the play "Audiences meet A Picasso in an underground 'vault' where the cubist artist encounters a beautiful young art critic-turned Gestapo interrogator. In this psychological drama by Jeffrey Hatcher, Picasso draws Ms. Fischer into an intense negotiation in 1941 German-occupied Paris where the audience becomes witness to an intriguing game of cat-and-mouse, meeting the Picasso they never knew."
Neil LaBute's
Fat Big will run from March 9 to May 20, 2007; the playwright will stage the play. "Neil LaBute inaugurates the West Coast premiere of
Fat Pig, marking the first time he's directed his own play since 2001's London premiere of The Shape of Things.
Fat Pig explores the dilemma when love and affection go against the grain of conventional society. Looking for Ms. Right, Tom meets Helen and is bowled over by her wit, her intellect and her interests, with one problem: Helen is fat. Overcoming his own bias for her love, Tom doesn't account for the reaction of friends and co-workers, and must choose between how it feels and how it looks, delving into the underbelly of humankind."
For more information, visit
www.geffenplayhouse.com.
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