Roundabout presents Passion Play on Broadway

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) presents the new Broadway production of Peter Nichol's drama Passion Play, directed by Mark Brokaw at the American Airlines Theatre (227 West 42nd Street). Previews begin on April 15th, 2005 and opens officially on May 4th, 2005. This is a limited engagement through July 3rd, 2005.

The cast and design team will be announced shortly.

Passion Play is a comic and provocative look as sex, marriage and the chattering classes. Eleanor and James, once confronted with adultery, discover the limits of their long marriage. Is this an opportunity to take a fresh look at their lives or will it lead to heartbreak and loneliness?

Roundabout Theatre Company has a long association with Peter Nichols having twice staged A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, the 2002-2003 production starring Eddie Izzard and Victoria Hamilton and the 1984-1985 production starring Jim Dale and Stockard Channing. Roundabout also staged a production of Privates on Parade in 1988-1989 starring Jim Dale, Simon Jones, Donna Murphy and John Curry.

In 1981, London's Royal Shakespeare Company originally produced Peter Nichol's Passion Play. The original Broadway production, titled Passion, opened at the Longacre Theatre on May 15th, 1983 starring Frank Langella.

Biographies:

PETER NICHOLS (Playwright). Born Bristol, England, 1927. At Grammar School 1935 - 1944. National Service in R.A.F., mostly India and Far East, 1945-1948. Trained as an actor at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Acted in repertory and television, 1950-55. Teacher's Training College 1955-57. Taught in London state schools 57-59. First TV play transmitted by BBC 1959. From then on, wrote about twenty original plays for BBC and independent companies, including an episode of "Inspector Morse". Wrote screenplays for "Catch Us If You Can", 1965, and "Georgy Girl". TV play "The Hooded Terror" produced on stage by Bristol Old Vic. First real stage play produced at Glasgow, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, later playing in London and New York, where it has since been twice revived. Other stage plays followed: The National Health (at National Theatre), Forget-me-not Lane, Chez Nous, The Freeway, Privates on Parade, Born in the Gardens, Passion Play, Poppy, A Piece of My Mind, Blue Murder, Nicholodeon. Directed six productions of his own plays. Wrote screenplays for the films of Joe Egg, The National Health and Privates on Parade. These have won Four Evening Standard Drama Awards, an Olivier and an Ivor Novello for Best Musical (Poppy). The first Broadway revival of Joe Egg won two Tonys. His memoir Feeling You're Behind came in 1984; a selection from his Diary in 2000. Lives in London.

Mark Brokaw (Director). Broadway: Reckless (MTC). Second Stage credits include Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo's Greatest Hits, Gemini, This Is Our Youth (New Group and Second Stage), The Good Times Are Killing, and The Rimers of Eldritch. MTC credits: Innocents' Crusade. Other New York premieres include The Long Christmas Ride Home, Stranger, The Dying Gaul, and How I Learned To Drive (Vineyard Theatre/ Drama Desk, Obie, Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Director for Drive), Lobby Hero (Playwrights Horizons and the U.K. premiere at London's Donmar Warehouse), Music From A Sparkling Planet, and As Bees In Honey Drown (Drama Dept.), Old Money (Lincoln Center Theatre (Vineyard Theatre), and 2.5 Minute Ride (NYSF/Public Theatre). His regional credits include the Sondheim Celebration at the Kennedy Center (A Little Night Music), Marty starring John C. Reilly at the Huntington Theatre, Arthur Miller's The Price at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, as well as the Guthrie Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Seattle Rep, Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage Company, La Jolla Playhouse, and Berkeley Rep. He serves on the Executive Board of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and is a member of Drama Dept.

Ticket Information:

Tickets will be available in March 2005 by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212) 719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the box office of the American Airlines Theatre (227 West 42nd Street). Passion Play will play Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00PM with a Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinee at 2:00PM.

Roundabout Theatre Company is one of the country's leading not-for-profit theatres. The company contributes invaluably to New York's cultural life by staging the highest quality revivals of classic plays and musicals as well as new plays by established writers. Roundabout consistently partners great artists with great works to bring a fresh and exciting interpretation that makes each production relevant and important to today's audiences.

The 2004-05 season marks an extraordinary time in Roundabout's history. The theatre has finally secured three permanent theatres each of which is designed specifically to enhance the needs of the Roundabout's mission. The off Broadway home, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre's Laura Pels Theatre with its simple sophisticated design is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays while the grandeur of its Broadway home, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout's Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. Together these three distinctive venues serve to enhance the work on each of its stages.

Roundabout Theatre Company productions are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; New York State Council on the Arts; National Endowment for the Arts; and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. The Westin Hotel is the official hotel of the Roundabout Theatre Company.

www.roundabouttheatre.org