THE TRICKY PART Returns to New York for Run at The Barrow Group

The Barrow Group presents Martin Moran's Obie Award-winning solo play, The Tricky Part, directed by Seth Barrish (Mike Birbiglia's The New One). Upon its premiere in 2004, Ben Brantley in The New York Times called this "translucent memoir of a play" a "quiet victory." Originally developed at The Barrow Group, The Tricky Part garnered two Drama Desk nominations and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle and GLADD award. This limited engagement, which runs November 29 through December 16 with an opening on December 2, marks the first time the autobiographical play is being produced in New York since its landmark debut.

Between the ages of twelve and fifteen, Moran had a sexual relationship with an older man, a counselor he'd met at a Catholic boys' camp. Almost thirty years later, at the age of forty-two, Moran set out to find and face his abuser. The Tricky Part tells the story of this relationship and its complex effect on the man Moran became. Told with startling candor and disarming humor, The Tricky Part carries audiences to the heart of a paradox-that what we think of as damage may be the very thing that gives rise to transformation, even grace.

Following its successful stage debut, Moran expanded his play into a memoir, which Tony Kushner called, "a beautiful book... fully human, unsettling, and wise." Kathryn Harrison (The Kiss) remarked "a story of sexual abuse and its seemingly endless half-life-remarkable then, that this isn't a book about blame, but forgiveness," while Michael Cunningham (The Hours) said it "elevates the confessional to the level of art." The Tricky Part memoir won the 2005 Lambda Non-Fiction Prize and the Barnes and Noble Discover Award.

"The Tricky Part is a dance of paradoxes. Though it takes on a subject that can--like so much these days--be utterly polarizing; it is a play devoted to complexity. Healing becomes possible, I think, when we glimpse the gray area, when we live the bottomless questions together. An evening of theater can do that."

The Tricky Part has been produced and performed throughout the United States, Canada, South Africa and India. This limited engagement gives New York audiences a rare opportunity to experience this extraordinary, often funny, and always surprising journey throughout the complexities of Catholicism, desire and human trespass.

A series of talkbacks will follow select performances of The Tricky Part. On November 30, actor and director Anthony Edwards (ER) joins New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care cofounders Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison and Sensei Robert Chodo Campbell. Edwards returns on December 3 and is joined by his fellow 1in6 board member and former NFL linebacker Reggie Walker. On December 7, Martin Moran and director Seth Barrish discuss their artistic process. Moran and Barrish return on December 10 and are joined by New York Times best-selling author Kathryn Harrison. The final talkback on December 13 features licensed psychotherapist and certified Peak Performance Coach Alex Diaz in conversation with Martin Moran.

The creative team for The Tricky Part includes Elizabeth Mak (lighting) and Stephanie Clark (production stage manager).

Performances of The Tricky Part will take place November 29-December 16 (Thursday-Monday at 7:30pm with 3pm matinees on December 8 and 16) at The Barrow Group, 312 West 36th Street in Manhattan. Critics are welcome as of November 29 for an opening on December 2. Tickets, priced at $45- $65 ($25 students), can be purchased by visiting barrowgroup.org or by calling 866-811-4111.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus