Houdyshell Opens Award-Winning LANGUAGE ARCHIVE Tonight, 9/24

Roundabout Theatre Company's latest commission, Julia Cho's THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE, will begin tonight, Friday, September 24.  The play was the winner of the prestigious 2009 Susan Smith-Blackburn prize for outstanding new English language play by a woman.  The play runs through December 19.

Among the stars the Roundabout production is Broadway veteran and Tony nominee, Jayne Houdyshell, who has appeared in Lisa Kron's WELL and WICKED.  Charles Isherwood said of Houdyshell as Ann Kron in WELL, "Ann Kron is observed and presented with an honesty, a rigor and an understated compassion that recall the work of the great documentary photographers who capture unexpected moments of beauty on the fly."  Houdyshell was nominated for a Tony for the role.

The play also features John Horton whose credits include Broadway's KISS ME, KATE and NOISES OFF, and Heidi Schreck who recently won the Theatre World Award for Annie Baker's CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION.  

Drama Desk award-winner Mark Brokaw, CRY-BABY, RECKLESS and AFTER MISS JULIE, will direct. Playwright Cho, who also has written for TV's BIG LOVE and FRINGE, has also presented THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE at South Coast Rep in 2009. Her other plays include DURANGO (Public Theater), FIRST TREE IN ANTARCTICA (EST) and THE ARCHITECTURE OF LOSS (NY Theatre Workshop).

According to Roundabout's website, "Roundabout's newest commission, Julia Cho's THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE, is a brilliant comedy about a man devoted to the study of language who struggles to find the right words to save his career... and his marriage."

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.