Artistic director Kurt Beattie first invited Ayckbourn to travel to A.C.T. to helm the production in 2011. It will be one of six mainstage productions produced by the Seattle company for its 2013 season. Sugar Daddies, which will be staged in-the-round, will be produced in the September-October slot.

According to A.C.T., Sugar Daddies, which premiered in 2003, "features a cast of five characters and is a 'serious comedy' concerning a young woman who finds herself in an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous situation."

Ayckbourn stated that is was "a comedy of dark intentions… about a young female student who comes to the rescue of a pedestrian after he narrowly escapes being run over. He is an elderly man who is in his seventies and he's dressed as Father Christmas because he's delivering presents to the children at the hospital. Basically, it's all about how a close, but platonic, relationship develops between them and how, effectively, he becomes her sugar daddy."

The playwright has directed the world premieres of all of his plays since 1967. 

Ayckbourn's plays include Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, Season's Greetings, How the Other Half Loves, Absent Friends, Bedroom Farce, A Chorus of Disapproval and more.

For tickets, visit acttheatre.org. A.C.T. is located at 700 Union Street in Seattle.