World Premiere of Terrence McNally's AND AWAY WE GO Set for The Pearl, 11/12-12/15

The Pearl Theatre Company continues its 30th anniversary season-the second season in its new home on West 42nd Street-with the world premiere of And Away We Go by four-time Tony Award-winner Terrence McNally. In his first play written for an ensemble of actors, McNally celebrates the classics, acting companies and The Pearl itself.

Performances of And Away We Go will take place November 12-December 15 (see schedule above) at The Pearl Theatre. Critics are welcome as of Thursday, November 21 for an official opening of Sunday, November 24 at 7pm. The Pearl Theatre is located at 555 West 42nd Street in New York City. Tickets are $65 ($50 previews, $35 seniors, $20 student rush, $20 Thursday rush) and can be purchased by visiting pearltheatre.org or calling 212.563.9261.

Times change, but life in the theatre remains the same: chaotic, sometimes brutal but often euphoric, too. And Away We Go jumps through time from backstage in ancient Athens to a rehearsal at The Globe, from Versailles's Royal Theater to the first reading of a new play by Chekhov - with an unlikely stop in Coral Gables and the American premiere of Waiting for Godot along the way.

The cast of And Away We Go features over 30 different characters played by seven actors including Pearl Resident Acting Company (RAC) Rachel Botchan, Pearl RAC member Dominic Cuskern, Obie Award-winner and Pearl RAC member Sean McNall, and Pearl RAC member Carol Schultz, along with Micah Stock and Donna Lynne Champlin.

The creative team includes Sandra Goldmark (Sets), Kathyrn Rohe (Costumes), R. Lee Kennedy (Lighting), Michael Rasbury (Sound), Kate Farrington (Dramaturg) and Lloyd Davis, Jr. (Production Stage Manager).

Terrence McNally (playwright) is a recipient of the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. He has won four Tony Awards for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! (as well as the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play and the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Best Play) and Master Class and his musical books for Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime. The Kennedy Center recently produced three of his plays under the title Terrence McNally's Nights at the Opera: Master Class, The Lisbon Traviata, and the world premiere of Golden Age. His new play And Away We Go will premiere at The Pearl Theatre Company in November. In 1996 he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.

Jack Cummings III (director) is the co-founder and Artistic Director of off-Broadway's Transport Group Theatre Company. He is a four-time Drama Desk Award nominee for Outstanding Director (The Audience, The Boys in the Band, See Rock City & Other Destinations, and Hello Again). Other favorite Transport Group credits include the first New York revivals of Michael John LaChiusa's First Lady Suite (starring Tony nominee Mary Beth Peil), Tad Mosel's Pulitzer Prize-winning All The Way Home, William Inge's classic The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (starring Tony winner Michele Pawk) as well as the world premiere musicals Queen of the Mist (starring Tony nominee Mary Testa), Normal (starring Tony nominee Barbara Walsh), and Marcy in the Galaxy, as well as a deconstruction of the 1928 play The Patsy (starring OBIE winner David Greenspan). Other credits include the world premiere musical A Thousand Words Come To Mind by Michele Lowe and Scott Richards for New York's Premieres, Inc., A Streetcar Named Desire for Pennsylvania's Gretna Theatre, Tony Kushner's adaptation of The Illusion for Nevada Theatre Company, and Violet (Best Director and Best Musical, Virginia's Style Magazine) and The Young Man From Atlanta for Richmond's Barksdale Theatre. For PBS, he directed a musical version of A Tale of Two Cities (filmed in Brighton England), starring Michael York. He is currently developing the new musical The Blonde Streak, by Dan Lipton and David Rossmer for Broadway Across America. Jack received his MFA from The University of Virginia and his BA from The College of William and Mary. He is married to actress Barbara Walsh.

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