Off-Broadway's ZERO HOUR Adds Sunday Talk Backs

ZERO HOUR, Jim Brochu's acclaimed play about the life of theatre legend Zero Mostel, has returned to its original home, the Theatre at Saint Clement's (423 West 46th Street, between Ninth & Tenth Avenues) for a limited engagement through July 9th only.

Opening Night is set for Wednesday, June 14th (7pm). The performance runs 90 minutes with no intermission.

Beginning Sunday June 11th, ZERO HOUR will follow the Sunday Matinee with a special talk back.

Scheduled to participate will be:

Sunday June 11th: "Red Diaper Babies" - Meet the Children of the Blacklist, featuring Joe Gilford (son of Jack Gilford and MAdeline Lee) and Kate Lardner, daughter of Ring Lardner, Jr. Jim Brochu will moderate.

Sunday June 18th: "Meet The Artist Who Plays The Artist" - meet Jim Brochu, who created ZERO HOUR and stars in it. Find out the inspirations for this acclaimed play. Moderated by Robert W. Schneider ("Behind the Curtain" podcast).

Sunday June 25th: "Memories of Fiddler" with Fiddler on the Roof original cast member Austin Pendleton. Moderator - Jim Brochu.

Sunday July 2nd: NO TALKBACK

Sunday July 9th: "Memories of Zero, Forum and Fiddler" with 21-time Tony Award winner Harold Prince who produced Fiddler on the Roof and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Moderated by Kurt Peterson.

For his performance in ZERO HOUR, Jim Brochu was honored with 2010 Drama Desk Award as well as Helen Hayes (Washington DC), Carbonell (Florida) and Ovation (LA) Awards.

Three-time Academy Award nominee Piper Laurie directs ZERO HOUR, which is set at Zero Mostel's West 28th Street painting studio where a naive reporter attempts to interview the famously volatile actor, prompting an explosion of memory, humor, outrage, and juicy backstage lore. It is July 1977 and the actor is giving his final interview before leaving for the pre-Broadway tryout of The Merchant in Philadelphia. Mostel only played one performance as Shylock before his sudden death at the age of 62.

ZERO HOUR traces Mostel's early days growing up on the Lower East Side as the son of Orthodox Jewish immigrant parents, through his rise as a stand-up comedian, from the Borscht Belt to Manhattan's most exclusive supper clubs, and from the devastation of the blacklist to his greatest Broadway triumphs, most notably as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof and working through his love-hate relationship with Jerome Robbins.

Brochu has said, "Zero had a great influence on my life and I was fortunate to get to know him when I was first starting out. His life was filled with great laughter, great drama and great life lessons for all of us. Few people in show business had more obstacles to overcome than Zero Mostel. He was disowned by his own parents, by his profession and even by his own country."

With his partner, composer Steve Schalchlin, Jim Brochu penned the award-winning Off-Broadway musicals The Last Session and The Big Voice: God or Merman? In addition to his theatrical work, Brochu's acting credits also include appearances on "All My Children," "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," "Cheers," "Wings," and "Bram and Alice."

Piper Laurie has appeared on stage in Mornings at Seven (Lincoln Center Theatre), as Laura in The Glass Menagerie with Maureen Stapleton; Larry Kramer's The Destiny of Me; Molly Kazan's Rosemary and the Alligators; William Luce's one-person play, The Last Flapper about as Zelda Fitzgerald; Twelfth Night, Macbeth and The Cherry Orchard, among many others. She received Oscar nominations for The Hustler opposite Paul Newman as well as the fanatical mother in Carrie, and Mrs. Norman in Children of a Lesser God. She was nominated for an Emmy for the original live TV broadcast of Days of Wine & Roses, directed by John Frankenheimer and won the Emmy for "Promise" and the Golden Globe for her work on "Twin Peaks." She has starred in over 60 films, including Tim opposite Mel Gibson and Truman Capote's The Grass Harp. Piper wrote and directed her first film, Property and recently filmed Hesher with Natalie Portman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Zero Mostel won Tony Awards for his performances in Fiddler on the Roof, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Rhinoceros and was nominated for a Tony for his work in Ulysses in Nighttown. His numerous film credits include The Front, Rhinoceros, The Hot Rock, The Great Bank Robbery, The Producers, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

ZERO HOUR is presented by The Peccadillo Theater Company in association with Kurt Peterson and Edmund Gaynes.

Founded in 1994, The Peccadillo Theater Company is dedicated to the rediscovery of classic American theater, particularly those works which, despite their obvious literary and theatrical value, are not regularly revived. Peccadillo concentrates on the era of the so-called well-made play, a period of sparkling wit and sophistication in comedy as well as deepening realism in the drama. In recent years, Peccadillo has broadened its mission to include original plays and musicals that touch upon the history of the American theater, such as Jeffrey Hatcher's Ten Chimneys, a delightful comedy about the highly theatrical marriage of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, and The Talk of the Town, the Algonquin Roundtable musical.

Performances of ZERO HOUR will be Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 7:30PM, with matinees Sunday at 3PM, at Theatre at Saint Clement's, 423 West 46th Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues) Tickets are $49 and are available through thepeccadillo.com or by phone toll free at 866/811-4111. To purchase tickets in person, the Box Office will be open one hour before performances only.

Photo Credit: Andrew Kato