Works By Blank, Jensen, Gilman, Cowan, Aarons Set For NYTW 2009-10 Season

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo have announced plans for NYTW's 2009-10 season. One of New York's leading non-profit theatre companies, NYTW will present a 27th season that includes work by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, Rebecca Gilman, and Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons. A fourth production, scheduled for spring 2010, will be announced in the coming weeks.

The 2009-2010 Season (listed by date of first performance):

AFTERMATH
Written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen
Directed by Jessica Blank
September - October 2009

March 20, 2003. A date that the ordinary people of Iraq will never forget. A day that changed their lives forever. The day the Americans arrived in their country.

New York Theatre Workshop sent Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, the award-winning creators of The Exonerated, to Jordan in June 2008 to find out firsthand what happened to the Iraqi civilians as a result of the events that began on that fateful day. They interviewed some 35 people-a cross-section of lives interrupted-who fled the chaos and violence that befell Iraqi society for the relative safety of Jordan. Following the visit to Amman, Jessica and Erik edited their conversations with the Iraqis and have turned them into an unforgettable theatrical event.

THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER
Based on the novel by Carson McCullers
Adapted by Rebecca Gilman
Directed by Doug Hughes
A co-production with The Acting Company
November - December 2009

Carson McCullers' classic novel is adapted for the stage by acclaimed playwright Rebecca Gilman (Spinning Into Butter) and directed by Doug Hughes (The Beard of Avon at NYTW, Doubt). A beautiful and timeless tale about the universal need for human connection. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter follows the story of deaf John Singer as he navigates the world without his dearest friend who has been committed to an insane asylum. When Singer moves to a small Southern town, the locals flock to him as a newfound confidant, seeking compassion and understanding from the one person who needs it the most. Singer's isolation in the world is mirrored in a few of the townspeople he meets along the way-a café owner, a rebellious teenager, a black physician, and an idealistic labor organizer-whose dreams have been shattered. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter intertwines the lives of these characters in a surprising way that results in a deeply moving story of outcasts in the South during the Great Depression.

TOP SECRET: THE BATTLE FOR THE PENTAGON PAPERS
Written by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons
Directed by John Rubinstein
A co-production with L.A. Theatre Works and Affinity Collaborative Theater
Spring 2010

Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, based on interviews and documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act, is an inside look at The Washington Post's decision to publish the classified study documenting U.S. involvement in Vietnam. The epic legal battle went to the nation's highest court and asked the question "In a democratic society, when, if ever, should a government be allowed to protect secrets in the name of national security?" Featuring a cast of 11, representing the real life characters at the center of this historic event (from Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee to Post publisher Katherine Graham to Richard Nixon himself), this real life story about one of the great "stand up and cheer" moments in American journalism rivals The Front Page for drama, wit, and the sheer exuberance of watching the good guys triumph.

Of the 2009/2010 season, Artistic Director James C. Nicola says, "During these trying economic times, New York Theatre Workshop has had to make some difficult choices, including reducing the number of productions in the 2008/09 Season to three. I am pleased to announce that, between the increase of support from our intrepid supporters and the ingenuity and flexibility of NYTW's Board and staff, we will be able to add a fourth production to the 2009/2010 season.

While we may all be feeling the need for caution and moderation in our lives right now, it strikes me that the artists whose work will appear in our next season feel no such constraint in the creativity and imagination they bring to bear on their work. In fact, to me it seems a particularly bountiful year-beginning with Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's Aftermath, an unblinking look at the consequences of the American intervention in Iraq, to Rebecca Gilman's and Doug Hughes's view of Carson McCullers' cathartic novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, to the political drama of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers. In addition to these wide-ranging productions, we are currently considering a number of delicious possibilities for our fourth production, to be chosen and announced as soon as we can."

Founded by Stephen Graham New York Theatre Workshop is a leading voice in the theatre community throughout New York, across the country, and around the world. NYTW provokes, produces, and cultivates the work of artists whose visions inspire and challenge. Over the course of its history, NYTW has emerged as a premiere incubator of important new theatre and an innovative adapter of classic repertory, honoring its mission to explore perspectives on our collective history and respond to the events and institutions that shape our lives. Highlights include Jonathan Larson's Rent, Tony Kushner's Slavs! and Homebody/Kabul, Doug Wright's Quills, Claudia Shear's Blown Sideways Through Life and Dirty Blonde, John Guare's Lydie Breeze, David Rabe's A Question of Mercy, Caryl Churchill's Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Owners/Traps, Mad Forest, Far Away, and A Number, Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told and Valhalla, and Will Power's The Seven. NYTW's productions have received a Pulitzer Prize, four Tony Awards, and assorted OBIE, Drama Desk, and Lucille Lortel Awards. In 1991, NYTW received an OBIE Award for Sustained Achievement, and in 2000, it was chosen to be part of the Leading National Theaters Program of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

NYTW is currently offering a sampler membership for $142, which includes a ticket to Things of Dry Hours (the final show of the 08/09 Season), Aftermath, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and memberships for the 2009/10 Season for $190, which includes a ticket to all four productions next season. Memberships are available by calling the NYTW Box Office at 212-460-5475, Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00am to 5:00pm, or online at www.nytw.org. For more information on membership, please visit www.nytw.org.

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