Primary Stages Announces Directors MacKinnon And Sullivan To Join 25th Season

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Founder & Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director) is pleased to announce the addition of two directors to the 25th Anniversary Season celebrating the works of female playwrights: Pam Mackinnon will helm the world premiere production of A Lifetime Burning by Cusi Cram and Tony Award-winner Daniel Sullivan will stage the New York premiere of Charlayne Woodard's solo performance piece, The Night Watcher. They join previously announced Liz Diamond is set to direct Happy Now? by Lucinda Coxon later in the season.

Opening the 25th Anniversary Season is A Lifetime Burning by Cusi Cram under the direction of Pam Mackinnon. In this world premiere production, trust fund darling Emma imagines what her life would have been like had she come from a less privileged background. Trouble is, she chronicles her alternate life in a new tell-all "memoir" that was sold for a hefty advance. When Emma is exposed, will her sister, Tess, stand by her? Or will Emma's deceit destroy their already fractured relationship? This dark comedy brings up questions of legacy, loyalty and what it means to belong. Performances begin Tuesday, July 28, 2009 for a limited run through Saturday, September 5, 2009 at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Opening night is set for Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.

Primary Stages continues its 25th anniversary season with the New York premiere of The Night Watcher written and performed by Charlayne Woodard, an inspiring one-woman show under the direction of Tony Award-winner Daniel Sullivan. Simultaneously a best friend, advisor, confidant and sage to the many young people who call her "Auntie," Charlayne Woodard is childless only by biological standards. Told with penetrating grace and candor, Woodard beautifully weaves together stories of the ordinary and extraordinary ways she's mentored the children in her life. Declared "thoughtful, vivid, entertaining and poignant" in its Seattle Repertory run last October, The Night Watcher is an intimate look at the various definitions of parenthood. Performances begin September 22, 2009 for a limited engagement through October 31, 2009. Opening night is set for Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.

Happy Now? concludes the 25th Anniversary Season just after the new year. A chance encounter at a hotel plays upon Kitty's mind in the dark comedy Happy Now? by Lucinda Coxon, as she struggles to balance personal freedom with family life, fidelity and a demanding job. Her husband is more interested in misplaced apostrophes than in their marriage, her parents are looking down the barrel of oblivion, and although she toys with the idea of joining a gym, Kitty's running out of time for big changes. Happy Now? dares to ask just that, in this painfully truthful, darkly comic take on contemporary life and how to survive it. Directed by Liz Diamond, performances begin January 26, 2010 for a limited run through March 6, 2010. Opening is set for Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at
7:00 p.m.

3-play subscription packages are available by calling TicketCentral at (212) 279-4200 or online at www.TicketCentral.com. For additional information about Primary Stages, please visit the website at www.primarystages.org.