Previews began June 1, leading up to a June 12 opening. Marin Ireland, Pablo Schreiber and Jeffrey Carlson are in the cast. Roth is producing the work. The Union Square-based Roth Theatre was until recently the home of the long-running De La Guarda. Manuscript was previously slated to enter the DR2 theatre, a smaller place in the same building. But DR2 current resident, Thom Pain, proved a surprise hit, leaving Manuscript homeless.
Balaban has directed such Off-Broadway works as The Exonerated and Addicted. He recently ended a run in David Mamet's Romance at the Atlantic Theater Company. His film and TV credits include "Seinfeld," "Waiting for Guffman" and "Catch 22."
Roth previously told Playbill.com she had recommended the script to Andrew Polk, the artistic director of the Cape Cod Theatre Project, the 10-year-old Falmouth, MA, summer theatre festival which offers three polished readings of new works each July. The piece, a three-character work described as a "story of art, sex, youth and revenge," was presented July 10-12, 2003.