Playwrights Horizons is giving life to the play at its Off-Broaway Mainstage Theater on West 42nd Street Aug. 24-Oct. 7.

Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Maple and Vine at Playwrights Horizons, The Thugs, Stunning, Naked Angels' This Wide Night) directs the drama, which is billed this way: "Somewhere in the suburbs of a mid-sized city, Ben (Schwimmer) and Mary (Ryan) welcome into their lives the rootless couple who move in next door. But as this foursome bonds over backyard barbecues, the neighborly connection they find threatens to unravel the lives they've built and change them forever. An ecstatic, dangerous new comedy, Detroit exposes the nerves that live just under the surface of American life today."

Additional casting will be announced. A September opening-night date will be announced.

D'Amour was a 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Detroit and a 2011 Steinberg Playwright Award winner for her body of work.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago gave Detroit its world premiere in September 2010; this is a completely new staging of the work. It launches PH's 2012-13 season. Ryan returns to Playwrights Horizons for the first time since appearing in On the Mountain in 2005. She made her Broadway debut in Uncle Vanya (Tony Award nomination) and appeared as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire (Tony Award nomination). She was Academy Award-nominated for her work in the film "Gone Baby Gone."

Schwimmer, widely known for his Emmy-nominated work as Ross on TV's "Friends," makes his Playwrights Horizons. This is his first play in New York since his 2006 Broadway debut in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. He is also the co-founder of the Tony Award-honored Lookingglass Theatre Company of Chicago. In addition to acting at Lookingglass, his stage credits include the premieres of D Girl and Turnaround in Los Angeles, Glimmer Brothers at Williamstown Theatre Festival and Some Girls in London.

The production will feature scenic design by Louisa Thompson, costume design by Kaye Voyce, lighting design by Mark Barton and sound design by Matt Tierney. Production stage manager will be Charles M. Turner III.

For subscription and ticket information to all Playwrights Horizons productions, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, noon to 8 PM daily, or purchase online at the Ticket Central website at TicketCentral.org. Visit PlaywrightsHorizons.org.