'Saved' To Begin Rehearsals 4/8, Tickets On Sale 4/11

Rehearsals will begin on Tuesday, April 8 for the Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) World Premiere production of the new musical SAVED. Single tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, April 11.  The musical is the sixth and final production of the theater company's 2007/2008 Season.

SAVED features music & lyrics by Obie Award winner Michael Friedman (The Civilians' Gone Missing and upcoming Paris Commune) and book & lyrics by 2-time Olivier Award nominee John Dempsey (The Witches of Eastwick) & Obie Award winner Rinne Groff (The Ruby Sunrise, writer on Showtime's "Weeds"), based on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture written by Brian Dannelly & Michael Urban.   

Directed by Gary Griffin (The Color Purple) and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys), the production will begin previews on Friday, May 9 with an official opening on Tuesday, June 3.  The limited engagement will continue through Sunday, June 22 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).   

The complete cast of SAVED features Tony Award nominee Celia Keenan-Bolger (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Les Misérables), Tony Award nominee John Dossett (Gypsy, Mamma Mia!), Drama Desk Award nominee Julia Murney (The Wild Party, Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway and national tour), Mary Faber (Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky at Playwrights Horizons, Avenue Q), Josh Breckenridge (The Ritz), Juliana Ashley Hansen (national tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie), Curtis Holbrook (Xanadu), Van Hughes (Hairspray), Jason Michael Snow (Fredric in Pirates of Penzance at Goodspeed), Caitlin Summer (in her Off-Broadway debut), Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal), Emily Walton (national tour of A Christmas Carol) and Daniel Zaitchik (Kimberly Akimbo, 365/365).

The SAVED design team boasts three Tony Award winners: scenic designer Scott Pask (The Coast of Utopia, The Pillowman), costume designer Jess Goldstein (The Rivals) and lighting designer Donald Holder (The Lion King), as well as sound design by three-time Drama Desk Award nominee Brian Ronan (Grey Gardens, Spring Awakening).  Orchestrations are by Curtis Moore (The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin), Musical Director is Jesse Vargas and Music Coordinator is John Miller.  Production Stage Manager is Judith Schoenfeld and Stage Manager is Michael McGoff.

SAVED is being produced by special arrangement with Elephant Eye Theatrical.

With SAVED, Playwrights Horizons continues its commitment to developing unique and ground-breaking new musicals such as Grey Gardens, James Joyce's The Dead, Floyd Collins, Assassins and Sunday in the Park with George.

In SAVED, good girl Mary (Celia Keenan-Bolger) and her domineering best friend Hilary Faye (Mary Faber) are starting their senior year at the top of the social food chain at American Eagle Christian High School – that is, until Mary's boyfriend (Aaron Tveit) tells her he thinks he's gay.  When Jesus appears in a vision, and Mary heeds his message "to do everything she can to help him," her good deeds are met with dire consequences, and Mary is forced to question everything she's ever believed.  Through it all, she finds faith in unexpected places and learns what it truly means to be saved.

SAVED is based on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Saved!, written by Brian Dannelly and Michael Urban and directed by Mr. Dannelly.  The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004.  After appearing at several additional film festivals, it opened across the country in a limited release in May 2004, and would go on to play in over 30 countries around the world.  Notables in the movie cast include Jena Malone (Mary), Mary-Louise Parker (Lillian), MAndy Moore (Hilary Faye), Macaulay Culkin (Roland) and Martin Donovan (Pastor Skip).
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 37 years, Playwrights Horizons has presented the work of more than 375 writers and has received numerous awards and honors. 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 Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie's Grey Gardens (three 2007 Tony Awards), Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, 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.   

Playwrights Horizons is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate.  In addition, Playwrights Horizons receives major support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Charina Endowment Fund, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, and Time Warner Inc.

The performance schedule for SAVED will be Tuesdays through Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2:30 & 8PM and Sundays at 2:30 & 7:30 PM.  Tickets to SAVED are currently available to Playwrights Horizons subscribers only.  Single tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, April 11.  Tickets are $70.

  A new ticketing initiative created this season, LIVEforFIVE makes available $5 tickets for the first preview performance of each Playwrights Horizons production through a lottery via the company's website.  The LIVEforFIVE lottery for SAVED will be for the first preview on Friday, May 9 at 8 PM.  Entries for the lottery will be accepted beginning Wednesday, April 30 at 10 AM, with theatergoers filling out an entry form at www.playwrightshorizons.org.  Entries will be accepted until Monday, May 6 at 12 Noon.  Winners of the lottery will be notified via email by Tuesday, May 7 at 12 Noon with instructions on how to book their $5 tickets.  One or two tickets may be purchased for $5 each.  At least 50 tickets will be available for Mainstage shows via the lottery.

 Reflecting Playwrights Horizons' ongoing commitment to making its productions more affordable to younger audiences, the theater company will offer HOTtix, $20 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before showtime to patrons aged 30 and under. Proof of age required. One ticket per person, per purchase. STUDENT RUSH, $15 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before curtain to full-time graduate and undergraduate students. One ticket per person, per purchase. Valid student ID required.  

LIVEforFIVE, HOTtix and STUDENT RUSH are some of Playwrights Horizons' popular Arts Access initiatives, which allow the theater company to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket.  Playwrights Horizons is grateful to Goldman, Sachs & Co., lead sponsor of Arts Access at Playwrights Horizons.  This program is also supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Elroy and Terry Krumholz Foundation.

For more information please visit www.playwrightshorizons.com

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