Photo Flash: The Pain and the Itch at Playwrights Horizons

Playwrights Horizons will open its 2006/2007 season with the New York premiere of The Pain and the Itch, the controversial comedy by Bruce Norris that was a a hit in Chicago during its 2005 world premiere production at Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

The play, which was awarded the 2005 Jefferson Award for Best New Work, will be directed by Anna D. Shapiro. Previews began Friday, September 1 with an official opening on Tuesday, September 26. Performances for the limited engagement will continue through Sunday, October 8 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).

"With a young daughter in serious need of attention and a ravenous creature possibly prowling the upstairs bedrooms, what begins as an average Thanksgiving for one privileged family unravels into an exposé of disastrous choices and less-than-altruistic motives. The Pain and the Itch is a scathing satire of the politics of class and race, a controversial, painfully human examination of denial and its consequences," state press notes.

The cast will feature Mia Barron, Aya Cash, Peter Jay Fernandez, Tony-nominee Jayne Houdyshell, Reg Rogers, Obie-winner Christopher Evan Welch, with child actors Ada-Marie L. Gutierrez and Vivien Kells rotating in the role of Kayla. 

Visit www.playwrightshorizons.org for tickets and more information.

Photos by Joan Marcus

 
Christopher Evan Welch, Jayne Houdyshell, Ada-Marie L. Gutierrez (child in foreground), Mia Barron and Aya Cash (foreground)

Vivien Kells and Christopher Evan Welch

Reg Rogers, Christopher Evan Welch and Peter Jay Fernandez