PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY Rehearsals Underway, Opens 11/14
By: Reynard Loki Oct. 22, 2008
Rehearsals are now underway for the Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) New York premiere of PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY, a new play by two-time Tony Award nominee, Pulitzer Prize finalist and two-time Obie Award winner Craig Lucas (Small Tragedy at Playwrights Horizons, The Light in the Piazza, Prelude to a Kiss, Reckless, The Dying Gaul).
Online: log on to www.playwrightshorizons.org
Phone: call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily) via Relay Service (800) 421-1220
TTY: call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 (noon-8pm daily) via Relay Service (800) 662-1220
By fax: a printable order form may be found online at www.playwrightshorizons.org/tickets.htmlIn addition, special Post-Performance Discussions with members of the cast and creative team will take place immediately after the following three performances: Wednesday, November 19 at 8PM, Sunday, November 23 at 2:30 PM and Monday, December 1 at 8:00 PM.For subscription and ticket information to all Playwrights Horizons productions,call TICKET CENTRAL at (212) 279-4200, Noon to 8 pm daily, or purchase online at the Playwrights Horizons website at www.playwrightshorizons.org.BIOGRAPHIESCraig Lucas (Playwright) has been represented at Playwrights Horizons in 1987 with the book of the musical Three Postcards (with a score by Craig Carnelia) and in 2004 with the play Small Tragedy (Obie Award for Best New American Play). He's been nominated for two Tony Awards (Best Play for Prelude to a Kiss in 1990 and Best Book of a Musical for The Light in the Piazza in 2006) and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (Prelude to a Kiss). His other plays include The Dying Gaul, This Thing of Darkness, Stranger, God's Heart, Blue Window, Reckless and Missing Persons, and a translation of Strindberg's Miss Julie. As a director, his credits include the play Saved or Destroyed (Obie Award) and the films The Dying Gaul (based on his own play) and the recent Birds of America. Screenplays include The Secret Lives of Dentists (New York Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay), Longtime Companion, Prelude to a Kiss, Reckless and Blue Window. He co-wrote the opera libretti to Orpheus in Love and created the bookless musical Marry Me a Little. He is Associate Artistic Director at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle, where he premiered his most recent plays The Singing Forest and Prayer for My Enemy. The Singing Forest will have its New York premiere this spring at The Public. Bartlett Sher (Director) directed the play The Butterfly Collection at Playwrights Horizons in 2000. He's represented on Broadway by the current hit Lincoln Center revival of South Pacific, for which he's earned 2008 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards. He also received Tony Award nominations for Awake and Sing! in 2005 and The Light in the Piazza in 2006. Since 2000, he's been Artistic Director at Intiman Theatre Company, where he's directed Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth and Our Town; Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters, both in new adaptations by Craig Lucas; the world premieres of Prayer for My Enemy and The Singing Forest by Craig Lucas (both also for Long Wharf Theatre); as well as Lucas's The Dying Gaul. He directed a new production of Cymbeline in 2002, produced by Theatre for a New Audience, which premiered in England as the first American Shakespeare ever performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company and he received the Callaway Award for the production's award-winning Off-Broadway run. He made his opera directing debut in 2006 at the Metropolitan Opera with The Barber of Seville and he'll direct Roméo et Juliette this year for the Salzburg Festival. He'll also direct the world premiere of the new musical Bruce Lee: Journey to the West, slated for Broadway in 2010. He has just been appointed Resident Director of Lincoln Center Theater. Cassie Beck (Marianne) appeared last season at Playwrights Horizons in Adam Bock's The Drunken City, for which she won a 2008 Theatre World Award. She previously worked with Mr. Bock in the world premiere of Thursday. Her credits with TheatreWorks include All My Sons, Living Out and Be Aggressive. Regional work includes the world premiere of Haunting of Winchester (San Jose Rep), On the Verge (Napa Valley Rep), Marriage of Figaro (Centre Rep Theatre), Communicating Doors (Marin Theatre Company) and Richard III (Napa Valley Shakespeare).Zachary Booth (Tad) appears in the current hit film Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. His New York stage credits include Spine and Penetcost (The Barrow Group), Victoria Martin: Math Team Queen (The Women's Project) and Trojan Horse (First Look Theatre). His other Film and Television credits include Ang Lee's upcoming Taking Woodstock, "New Amsterdam," "Damages," "What Goes On" and "Law & Order: SVU." Victoria Clark (Dolores) received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards, as well as a Drama League Honor, for her performance as Margaret Johnson in The Light in the Piazza. Her other Broadway credits include Titanic, How to Succeed…, Urinetown, Cabaret, Guys & Dolls, A Grand Night for Singing and Sunday in the Park with George, plus national tours of Les Misérables and Cats. For City Center's Encores! she's appeared in Juno, Follies and Bye, Bye Birdie. She recently appeared in the Roundabout production of The Marriage of Bette and Boo and additional Off-Broadway credits include The Agony and the Agony (Vineyard) and Tres Ninas (The Zipper). Film and TV credits includes The Happening, Cradle Will Rock, vocal work for several Disney animated features, "Law & Order" and the PBS broadcast of Sweeney Todd in Concert with the San Francisco Philharmonic. Concert work includes the Stephen Sondheim tribute Opening Doors at Carnegie Hall and the American Songbook series at Jazz at Lincoln Center. As a director, her work includes Serenade in Blue: The Mack Gordon Song Cavalcade (92nd Street Y). Last fall, she released her debut solo album Fifteen Seconds from Grace. Jonathan Groff (Billy) recently completed his lauded run as Melchior Gabor in the Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening, a role which garnered him a 2007 Theatre World Award, in addition to Tony, Drama Desk and Drama League Award nominations. He created the role Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company. This past summer, Jonathan starred as Claude in The Public Theater's acclaimed revival of Hair in Central Park, which is Broadway-bound for spring 2009. Groff also recently completed production on Ang Lee's upcoming feature film, Taking Woodstock, which is slated for release in 2009. Additional Broadway: In My Life. Tours/Regional: The Sound of Music (Rolf), Fame (Nick Piazza), Bat Boy (Bat Boy), Honk! (Ugly). Television: "Pretty/Handsome" (pilot), "One Life to Live." Michele Pawk (Karen) won a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in Hollywood Arms, directed by Harold Prince. Her other Broadway credits include Cabaret (revival, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations), Crazy for You (Drama Desk nomination) Mamma Mia!, Chicago (revival), Seussical, Triumph of Love, Losing Louie and Mail. Off-Broadway: The Paris Letter (Drama Desk nomination), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Reefer Madness, After the Fair, Hello Again, Merrily We Roll Along, john & jen, A Little Night Music (NYC and L.A. Operas). Regional: Natural History. Her Film and television work includes Cradle Will Rock Jeffrey, all three "Law & order" series, "Guiding Light,""All My Children," "The Golden Girls" and "LA Law." Skipp Sudduth (Austin) is currently playing Captain George Brackett in South Pacific. Other Lincoln Center: Twelfth Night. Broadway includes The Iceman Cometh, On the Waterfront and The Grapes of Wrath (also at London's National Theatre). Off-Broadway: 10 Million Miles and Writer's Block (both at Atlantic Theater Company), The Big Funk and Marisol (Public Theater). TV includes Officer John 'Sully' Sullivan in the Emmy Award-winning "Third Watch" (six seasons), "Criminal Minds," "Law & Order," "Law & Order: SVU," "Oz," "Trinity," "Homicide: Life on the Street." Film: Ronin, Flawless, Money Train, Clockers, American Cuisine, Drunkboat (TBR). TV directing: "Third Watch," "ER," "Criminal Minds," "Women's Murder Club."Playwrights Horizons, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, is a writer's theater dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American Playwrights, composers and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. In its 38 years, Playwrights Horizons has presented the work of more than 375 writers and has received numerous awards and honors, most recently being honored with a special 2008 Drama Desk Award for "ongoing support to generations of theater artists and undiminished commitment to producing new work." Notable productions include four Pulitzer Prize winners: Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife (2004 Tony Award, Best Play), Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles (1989 Tony Award, Best Play), Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George, as well as John Dempsey, Michael Friedman and Rinne Groff's Saved, Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie's Grey Gardens (2006 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical), Bruce Norris's The Pain and the Itch, Lynn Nottage's Fabulation (2005 Obie Award for Playwriting), Craig Lucas's Small Tragedy (2004 Obie Award, Best American Play), Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, Kirsten Childs's The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey's James Joyce's The Dead, William Finn's March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, Christopher Durang's Betty's Summer Vacation and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, Richard Nelson's Goodnight Children Everywhere and Franny's Way, Jon Robin Baitz's The Substance of Fire, Scott McPherson's Marvin's Room, A.R. Gurney's Later Life, Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's Floyd Collins and Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley's Violet.
Photo credit: Linda Lenzi
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