Tony Winner Laurie Metcalf Will Be Honored at MCC's 2018 MISCAST Gala

MCC Theater has announced that this year's Miscast gala, an annual showstopper of the theater season, will honor Tony-winning, three-time Emmy-winning star of stage and screen and MCC alum Laurie Metcalf.

Metcalf most recently won a Tony Award for her unforgettable performance in last season's A Doll's House, Part 2, and received three Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Jackie Harris in the hit television series "Roseanne." At MCC Theater, she received Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards for her performance in Sharr White's The Other Place, a role she reprised for Broadway and for which she also received a Tony Award nomination. Metcalf will next be seen on Broadway in Three Tall Women.

Miscast 2018 is set for Monday, March 26, 2018 at The Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center (311 West 34th Street). For additional information, visit www.mcctheater.org/galamiscast.html.

"Laurie Metcalf is a rock star. She's basically the definition of fearless. She's astonishingly inventive and brings every character she plays fully alive. It was a gift working with her at MCC when she premiered The Other Place with us. But really it's a gift every time she's on stage, which fortunately for all of us, she returns to again and again. We're so excited about honoring her at the next Miscast," said Bernie Telsey, Co-Artistic Director of MCC Theater.

In addition to Laurie Metcalf, MCC Theater will honor performer Amy León with the 2018 MCC Theater Youth Company Alumni Award. León was a member of the MCC Theater Youth Company from 2008-2011.

"Amy has been a force since she was in high school. She's a self-described "woman of color hollerin' about politics" and watching her perform has the same thrill I associate with a young Nina Simone. She's a breathtaking combination of profound craft in service of raw emotion, and her music and poetry reflect the urgency of the moment that MCC is seeking in our own work. We are grateful that we once had the chance to teach her, and humbled that we now have the chance to learn from her," said Will Cantler, Co-Artistic Director of MCC Theater.

MCC Theater's annual Miscast gala is one of the most exciting and unique theater events in town. Broadway's hottest stars perform songs from roles in which they would never be cast. An all-star lineup of performers will be announced at a later date.

All 2017/18 MCC subscribers will have early access to Miscast 2018 show-only tickets, 2 tickets per subscription. Show-only mezzanine level tickets will be on sale to the general public in early 2018. To purchase gala tickets, contact Nick Vermane at (212) 727-7722, ext. 232 or via email at nvername@mcctheater.org.

Proceeds from Miscast 2018 will support MCC Theater's mission to develop and produce exciting work Off-Broadway, as well as its Youth Company and partnerships with New York City public high schools, and MCC's literary development work with emerging playwrights.

Last year, Miscast 2017 celebrated the 30th Anniversary of MCC Theater. Performers from past years include: Uzo Aduba, Beth Behrs, Megan Hilty, Cynthia Erivo, Raúl Esparza, Steven Pasquale, Jeremy Jordan, Laura Benanti, Jesse L. Martin, Zosia Mamet, Aaron Tveit, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jane Krakowski and many others. Special guests have included, Andy Cohen, Charles Busch, Helen Mirren, Lewis Black, Chris Noth, Edward Albee, Kathleen Turner, Jerry Stiller, Mo Rocca, Isaac Mizrahi, and many more.

Laurie Metcalf is an original member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. She was nominated for Tony Awards for Misery, The Other Place, November, and she received the 2017 Tony Award for Best Actress for A Doll's House, Part 2. Metcalf received three Emmy Awards for her work on the television series "Roseanne," and Emmy nominations for "3rd Rock From the Sun," "Monk," "Desperate Housewives," "The Big Bang Theory," "Getting On," and Louis C.K.'s "Horace and Pete." Films include Desperately Seeking Susan, Leaving Las Vegas, Uncle Buck, JFK, Internal Affairs, and the Toy Story series.

Amy León is a musician, poet, activist and educator. She performs frequently all over New York and has toured numerous times throughout Europe performing in collaboration with the BBC, Roundhouse, The Battersea Arts Center, Amnesty International and more. An alumna of the Nuyorican Slam Team, she fuses music and poetry through powerfully transparent performances focusing on social inequalities while celebrating love, blackness, and what it means to be woman. She is the author of two collections of poetry: the water under the bridge and Mouth Full of Concrete and just released her debut album, Something Melancholy. She is currently working on a new play and her next EP, while anxiously awaiting the release of her first children's book via Walker Books in 2018.

MCC Theater is one of New York's leading nonprofit Off-Broadway companies, driven by a mission to provoke conversations that have never happened and otherwise never would. Founded in 1986 as a collective of artists leading peer-based classes to support their own development as actors, writers and directors, the tenets of collaboration, education, and community are at the core of MCC Theater's programming. One of the only theaters in the country led continuously by its founders, Artistic Directors Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, and William Cantler, MCC fulfills its mission through the production of world, American, and New York premiere plays and musicals that challenge artists and audiences to confront contemporary personal and social issues, and robust playwright development and education initiatives that foster the next generation of theater artists and students.

MCC Theater's celebrated productions include Penelope Skinner's The Village Bike; Robert Askins' Hand to God (Broadway transfer; five 2015 Tony Award nominations including Best Play); John Pollono's Small Engine Repair; Paul Downs Colaizzo's Really Really; Sharr White's The Other Place (Broadway transfer); a fully reimagined version of the legendary musical Carrie; Jeff Talbott's The Submission (Laurents/Hatcher Award); Michael Weller's Fifty Words; Alexi Kaye Campbell's The Pride; Bryony Lavery's Frozen (Broadway transfer; four 2004 Tony Award nominations including Best Play, Tony Award for Best Featured Actor); Tim Blake Nelson's The Grey Zone; Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living (2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist); Margaret Edson's Wit (1999 Pulitzer Prize); and ten plays by Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute, including Reasons to Be Happy, reasons to be pretty (Broadway transfer, three 2009 Tony Award nominations, including Best Play), Some Girl(s), Fat Pig, The Mercy Seat, and most recently All The Ways To Say I Love You. Many plays developed and produced by MCC have gone on to productions throughout the country and around the world.

Blake West joined the company in 2006 as Executive Director. MCC will open its first permanent home in 2018 in Manhattan's Clinton neighborhood, unifying the company's activities under one roof for the first time and expanding its producing, artist development, and education programming.