Weller's 'Fifty Words' with Marvel and Butz Extends Through 11/8

MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, Artistic Directors; William Cantler, Associate Artistic Director; Blake West, Executive Director) today announced that their World Premiere Production of Michael Weller's Fifty Words, under the direction of Austin Pendleton, has been extended Off Broadway.  Performances of the two-character play began at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on September 10 and the show's stars Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Marvel were showered with rave reviews following its October 1 opening.  The show is now scheduled to run through Saturday, November 8. 

The two character play which includes a fair amount of physical action, co-stars Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Marvel, and is directed by Austin Pendleton.  Fifty Words began performances at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on September 10 and continues through October 25.

In Fifty Words, something’s gone awry behind the idyllic façade of Jan and Adam’s Brooklyn brownstone.  At 9:10 p.m., they’re reveling in the freedom of having waved off their young son, Greg, to a neighborhood sleepover.  By 9:30 p.m., things have gone, well…way past awry.  Alternately funny and frightening, Fifty Words is an expansive look at modern marriage, as seen through the looking glass of one couple’s long night’s journey into day.

Academy Award-nominee Michael Weller shot to stardom with his powerful anti-war drama, Moonchildren.  Weller's unique voice, at once moving and revelatory, has garnered acclaim throughout three decades of productions at distinguished theaters such as Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company and New York's Circle-in-the-Square.  Renowned actor and director Austin Pendleton directs Elizabeth Marvel, a true virtuoso of the Modern Stage, and Tony Award-winner Norbert Leo Butz, in this brutal and insightful new work by one of America's most perceptive playwrights. 

New York theatre favorite Butz returns to the stage following his critically acclaimed performance in last season's Broadway production of the new Mark Twain play Is He Dead?  Butz rocketed to stardom in 2005 with his now legendary portrayal of ‘Freddy Benson' in the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, for which he won virtually every accolade and award in the book including Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Astaire and Drama League Awards as well as unanimous critical raves.  Fans also know him for originating the role of ‘Fiyero' in Wicked, as well as his star turns in Cabaret, Thou Shalt Not (Tony Award-nomination) and Rent.  Off Broadway appearances include Buicks and Jason Robert Brown's chamber musical The Last Five Years at the Minetta Lane Theatre, opposite his Dirty Rotten co-star Sherie Rene Scott.  His latest film appearance was in Dan in Real Life, starring Steve Carell.

Elizabeth Marvel's Broadway credits include Top Girls, Seascape, An American Daughter, Taking Sides and The Seagull.  Off Broadway credits include Almost an Evening (Atlantic Theatre Company), Dark Matters (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), Hedda Gabler (OBIE Award), A Streetcar Named Desire (OBIE Award), Shopping and f-ing  (NYTW), Therese Raquin (OBIE Award, CSC), Misalliance (OBIE Award, Roundabout), Troilus and Cressida, King Lear and Silence, Cunning, Exile (New York Shakespeare Festival).  Regional Theatre appearances include the McCarter, Guthrie, American Repertory, Stratford Theatre Festival and Williamstown Theater Festival.  Film and television appearances include Pretty Bird, Burn After Reading, The Dying Gaul, Ten Hundred Kings, "A Dog Year" (HBO), "The District" (series regular), "Kidnapped," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "Homicide."  Ms. Marvel was trained at Juilliard. 

Individual tickets to Fifty Words are $65 for the final two weeks of performances and are available by visiting www.ticketcentral.com or by calling 212-279-4200.  The performance schedule varies for the final two weeks, consult Ticket Central for details.

MCC Theater is 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 presentation of its mainstage works; its Literary Program, which actively seeks and develops new and emerging writers and its Education & Outreach Program, allowing more than 1,200 students yearly to experience theater, increase literacy and discover their own voices in the arts.  Notable MCC Theater highlights include: their 2008 Broadway-bound production of Neil LaBute's reasons to be pretty (to open at a theatre to be announced in February, 2009), 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, visitwww.mcctheater.org.

Photo Credit Joan Marcus

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