MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB
ANNOUNCES TWO ADDITIONAL SHOWS
AND CASTING NEWS FOR 2008-2009 SEASON
 
 
BROADWAY SEASON TO INCLUDE
 
ACCENT ON YOUTH
BY SAMSON RAPHAELSON
DIRECTED BY DANIEL SULLIVAN
NEW PRODUCTION OF COMEDIC GEM
WITH TONY® & EMMY® WINNER DAVID HYDE PIERCE
 

OFF-BROADWAY SEASON TO INCLUDE
 
BACK BACK BACK
BY ITAMAR MOSES
DIRECTED BY DANIEL AUKIN
NEW YORK PREMIERE OF STIRRING NEW DRAMA

MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer; Daniel Sullivan, Acting Artistic Director 2007-2008 Season) is pleased to announce upcoming productions and casting for its 2008-2009 season.
 
A second production at New York City Center – Stage II, will be announced in the coming weeks. That Stage II production will complete MTC’s 2008-2009 season of three Broadway and four Off-Broadway productions.

MTC’S BILTMORE THEATRE
Accent On Youth                                 
Written by SAMSON RAPHAELSON
Directed by DANIEL SULLIVAN
With Tonyâ & Emmyâ Award Winner DAVID HYDE PIERCE
 
Previews begin April 2009 (Specific dates to be announced)
 
David Hyde Pierce heads the cast in this rollicking salute to love’s possibilities, both on stage and off. Successful playwright Stephen Gaye (Pierce) is about to abandon his latest script, when his young secretary offers him new inspiration. With her as his muse, he stages the show on Broadway, only to learn, to his dismay, that the show’s young leading man is being inspired by her too. In this fresh look at Samson Raphaelson’s brilliantly clever comedy, the Tony Awardâ-winning actor of Curtains and Monty Python’s Spamalot returns to MTC under the direction of Tony Awardâ winner Daniel Sullivan (MTC’s Proof and Rabbit Hole). Additional casting will be announced in the coming weeks.

MTC AT NEW YORK CITY CENTER – STAGE II
Back Back Back                                       
NEW YORK PREMIERE
Written By ITAMAR MOSES
Directed by DANIEL AUKIN
A Timely New Play
 
Previews begin Fall 2008 (Specific dates to be announced)
 
Does greatness always come with a price? Can only someone with nothing to lose tell the whole truth? From the acclaimed writer of last season's MTC Stage II hit The Four Of Us and Bach at Leipzig comes a stirring new drama about America's favorite pastime. BACK BACK BACK follows the turbulent careers of three very different teammates in baseball's steroid era whose clubhouse secrets bring them under federal scrutiny.
 
Directed by Daniel Aukin, formerly the Artistic Director of Soho Rep, this New York premiere reveals a riveting portrait of pressure, paranoia and payback in professional sports. Casting for BACK BACK BACK will be announced in the coming weeks.

THE ABOVE PRODUCTIONS JOIN THESE
PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED PRODUCTIONS
FOR MTC’S 2008-2009 SEASON

MTC’S BILTMORE THEATRE                                                  
WORLD PREMIERE
To Be Or Not To Be                                      
Written by NICK WHITBY
Based on the motion picture To Be Or Not To Be
Directed by CASEY NICHOLAW
 
Previews begin: Thursday, September 11, 2008
Opening Night: Thursday, October 2, 2008
 
At the Polski Theatre in 1939 Warsaw, Joseph and Maria Tura are about to open yet another smash with their theatrical troupe. As the German invasion gets underway, the theatre is closed by the censors, forcing the troupe to face desperate times. But when a handsome young bomber pilot enlists their help to catch a spy, what is a group of actors to do? This hilarious black comedy is an ingenious commentary on the World War II era and an inspired tribute to the timeless joys of the theatre. 
 
TO BE OR NOT TO BE by Nick Whitby is based on the 1942 motion picture To Be Or Not To Be. This will mark Whitby’s New York playwrighting debut. The world premiere production will be helmed by three time Tony Awardâ nominee Casey Nicholaw (The Drowsy Chaperone, Monty Python’s Spamalot). Casting for TO BE OR NOT TO BE will be announced in the coming weeks.

The American Plan                       
BROADWAY PREMIERE   
Written by RICHARD GREENBERG
Directed by DAVID GRINDLEY
 
Previews begin: Friday, January 2, 2009
Opening Night: Thursday, January 22, 2009
 
THE AMERICAN PLAN is an exciting new look at an early, acclaimed play by the Tony Awardâ-winning author of Take Me Out. It is the Catskill Mountains in the early 1960s, and Lily Adler and her mother Eva are spending the summer across the lake from a bustling hotel where comics entertain and buffets overflow. When a handsome young stranger enters their world, the emotionally fragile Lily finds herself falling in love. But once her imperious mother learns of their relationship, lies are exposed, alliances are forged and Lily's one chance to escape her mother's control may be lost forever.
 
Playwright Richard Greenberg continues his long association with MTC, where his New York premieres have included The Violet Hour, Three Days of Rain and Eastern Standard. David Grindley who most recently staged Pygmalion and the Tony Awardâ-winning production of Journey’s End will direct the production.  Casting will be announced in the coming weeks.

MTC AT NEW YORK CITY CENTER – STAGE I
Romantic Poetry                     
WORLD PREMIERE MUSICAL     
Book & Lyrics by JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY
Music by HENRY KRIEGER
Directed by JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY
 
Previews begin: Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Opening Night: Tuesday, October 28, 2008
 
From the Tony Awardâ and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Doubt and the two-time Tonyâ-nominated composer of Dreamgirls comes this crackpot musical romance.
 
Connie of Woodmere has just married Fred of Newark, but her exes are back in the picture and not sure they approve of the union. Judy of Westchester is being wooed by Arthur, a dishwasher poet of no particular address, while her husband is out of town. And Lily of Soho is climbing Wally of Little Italy's fire escape with amorous erotic intent.
 
They are all mad and they are all sane and they are all creating ROMANTIC POETRY. Genuine emotion and the excitement of living an ideal crisscross like a night of shooting stars. When you have the Academy Awardâ-winning author of Moonstruck writing the book and lyrics, and the two-time Grammyâ-winning composer of Dreamgirls collaborating, you know something delicious is coming from the kitchen.  Casting for ROMANTIC POETRY will be announced in the coming weeks.

MTC AT NEW YORK CITY CENTER – STAGE I
Ruined                                            
WORLD PREMIERE  
Written by LYNN NOTTAGE
Directed by KATE WHORISKEY
 
Previews begin: Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Opening Night: Tuesday, February 10, 2009
A co-production with the Goodman Theatre
 
From Lynn Nottage, the Obie Award-winning author of such plays as Fabulation and Intimate Apparel, comes this haunting, probing work about the resilience of the human spirit during times of war.  Set in a small mining town in Democratic Republic of Congo, this powerful play follows Mama Nadi, a shrewd businesswoman in a land torn apart by civil war.  But is she protecting or profiting by the women she shelters? How far will she go to survive? Can a price be placed on a human life? Directing is Kate Whoriskey, who staged Ms. Nottage’s Fabulation at Playwrights Horizons. RUINED is a co-production with the Goodman Theatre (Robert Falls, Artistic Director; Roche Schulfer, Executive Director), which will present the play this fall prior to the production coming to MTC. Casting for RUINED will be announced in the coming weeks.

INFORMATION ON MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB
As previously announced, MTC will be renaming its Broadway house, the landmarked Biltmore Theatre, the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in recognition of the pioneering Broadway publicist.  The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) will be dedicated prior to the start of the 2008-2009 season. In addition to its Broadway theatre, MTC operates two theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street), its Off-Broadway home since 1984.
 
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, MTC has become one of the country’s most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. MTC productions have earned a total of 16 Tony Awards and five Pulitzer Prizes, an accomplishment unparalleled by a New York theatrical institution. Renowned MTC productions include Top Girls; From Up Here; Come Back, Little Sheba; The Receptionist; LoveMusik; Blackbird; Translations; Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Proof; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife; Kimberly Akimbo; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Sylvia; Four Dogs and a Bone; Putting It Together; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain’t Misbehavin’. 
 
In 2003, MTC reopened Broadway’s landmark, long-neglected Biltmore Theatre, soon to be renamed the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, following a two-year, $35 million capital campaign. In addition, MTC operates two theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street), its Off-Broadway home since 1984.
 
During Meadow’s sabbatical this season, Daniel Sullivan, a close associate of MTC and director of several Manhattan Theatre Club productions (Rabbit Hole, Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, Proof, Psychopathia Sexualis), has been serving as Acting Artistic Director. Meadow will resume her full duties as artistic director in September and is consulting on the planning of the 2008-2009 season.
 
You can subscribe to MTC by calling (212) 399-3030, Monday - Friday, noon - 8 PM with a major credit card. Subscriptions will also be available online at www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.
 
Single tickets to all productions will be available at a later date. Other listings information will be released in the coming weeks.