MCC Hosts Free Reading Series At The Drama Book Shop, Begins 11/3 With LaBute

MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, Artistic Directors; William Cantler, Associate Artistic Director; Blake West, Executive Director) will present a special reading series at The Drama Book Shop's Arthur Seelen Theatre (250 W. 40th Street) this year in honor of the company's 25th Anniversary Season. All three playwrights who have written the trio of world premieres the company is producing will read selections from their own works. Each event will also include a Q&A and book signing.

First up will be Neil LaBute on Wednesday, November 3 from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. Later in the season, Sharr White will appear in March, 2011 and Michael Weller will appear in May, 2011, with specific dates and times to be announced. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be a live web simulcast to the book shop area in the event of audience overflow. For more information, visit www.dramabookshop.com.

MCC Theater's 25th Anniversary Season

A co-production with the Geffen Playhouse
The Break of Noon
By Neil LaBute
Directed by Jo Bonney
Previews begin October 28, 2010
Opening Night November 22, 2010
Through December 12, 2010

The Break of Noon is Neil LaBute's seventh collaboration with MCC Theater as Playwright-in-Residence, following the 2009 Tony Award-nominated Best Play, reasons to be pretty. Renowned for his darkly-comic morality plays (The Shape of Things, In a Dark Dark House), he teams up again with longtime collaborator, director Jo Bonney (Some Girl(s), Fat Pig), for this exploration of the daunting, sometimes harrowing process of "finding religion." David Duchovny ("Californication," "The X-Files") stars as John Smith, a man who, amidst the chaos and horror of the worst office shooting in American history, sees the face of God. His modern-day revelation creates a maelstrom of disbelief among everyone he knows. A newcomer to faith, John urgently searches for a modern response to the age-old question: at what cost salvation?

The Other Place
By Sharr White
Directed by Joe Mantello
Previews begin March 10, 2011
Opening Night March 28, 2011
Through April 24, 2011

Emmy Award winner Laurie Metcalf (November, "Roseanne") teams with Tony Award winning director Joe Mantello (The Pride, Glengarry Glen Ross) to stage this new emotional thriller by fast-rising playwright Sharr White. Just as Juliana Smithton's research leads to a potential breakthrough in Alzheimer treatment drugs, her life takes a disorienting turn. During a lecture to colleagues at an exclusive beach resort, she glimpses an enigmatic young woman in a yellow bikini amidst the crowd of business suits. One step at a time, a mystery unravels as contradictory evidence, blurred truth and fragmented memories collide in a cottage on the windswept shores of Cape Cod.

Side Effects
By Michael Weller
Previews begin May 12, 2011
Opening Night May 31, 2011
Through June 26, 2011

MCC Theater's acclaimed 2008 hit Fifty Words (which starred Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Marvel) culminated in one desperate phone call. Side Effects is the story of what happened on the other end of the line. This harrowing and unique journey is expertly plotted by playwright Michael Weller, noted for Loose Ends and Moonchildren, a seminal work for the American stage. Hugh and Lindy's marriage seems picture-perfect, a beacon in their microcosmic Midwestern world of dinner parties and fundraisers. Behind closed doors they're falling apart - doors they can barely keep shut. Lindy's grappling with bipolar swings, their teenage sons are acting out, and Hugh's rising political star is suddenly imperiled.

For more information on MCC Theater, visit www.mcctheater.org.

MCC Theater is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary season as one of New York City's leading Off Broadway theater companies, committed to presenting New York and world premieres each season. When MCC Theater was founded in 1986, its mission was simple: to bring new theatrical voices to theater-going audiences. MCC Theater continues to accomplish this yearly through three programmatic areas: its mainstage works; its Playwrights' Coalition, which actively seeks and develops new and emerging writers; and its Education & Outreach Programs, including the Youth Company, which allow more than 1,200 students yearly to experience theater, increase literacy and discover their own voices through the creation of original theater pieces. Notable MCC Theater highlights include: the 2008 Tony Award-nominated reasons to be pretty by Neil LaBute, last season's The Pride, Fifty Words, the 2004 Tony-winning production of Bryony Lavery's Frozen; Neil LaBute's Fat Pig; Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living; Marsha Norman's Trudy Blue; Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit; Tim Blake Nelson's The Grey Zone and Alan Bowne's Beirut. Over the years, the dedication to the work of new and emerging artists has earned MCC Theater a variety of awards. For a complete production history, visit www.mcctheater.org.

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