Playwrights Horizons will determine over the coming weekend whether business warrants a week-to-week continuation of the critically embraced Goodnight Children Everywhere, Richard Nelson's family drama that announced it would cut short its extension, which had been scheduled to July 11.
A spokesman for the show said added weeks may materialize. A June 20 closing was mulled, but, as of June 18, that's not a sure thing.
The serious-minded drama, produced by special arrangement with Gregory Mosher and Arielle Tepper, concerns an emotionally-fraught reunion of British siblings separated by World War II.The Off-Broadway production began previews May 7 and opened May 26. It was originally scheduled to run to June 13.
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The 1997 work, seen in 1998-99 in a separate staging at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Barbican Centre space, is about fragile siblings reconstructing the idea of family after war. After the death of their parents, a 17-year-old brother and three sisters separated by World War II are reunited in 1945 London. Nelson directs his own work, which mainly focuses on a needy sister and her maturing younger brother as they cross a physical and emotional line. All of the siblings suffer from conflicted feelings revolving around loss, parent figures, family roles and intimacy.
The young brother is played by Chris Stafford, a rising young actor who is seen in the coming-of-age, coming-out film, "Edge of Seventeen."
The company includes Jon DeVries, Heather Goldenhersh, Kali Rocha, John Rothman, Chris Stafford, Robin Weigert and Amy Whitehouse.
Designers are Thomas Lynch (set), Susan Hilferty (costumes), James F. Ingalls (lighting) and Raymond Schilke (sound).
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American playwright Nelson has often seen his work produced in England first. Anglo-American relations is a favorite subject of his plays. Past plots have features a group of American academics touring England (Some Americans Aboard); expatriate Brits living -- miserably -- in America (New England); and the famous rivalry between English tragedian William Macready and American actor Edwin Forrest, which resulted in the bloody Astor Place Riot of 1849 (Two Shakespearean Actors). He also wrote the libretto for the musical, Chess, among other works and adaptations.
Performances are the Playwrights' Anne G. Wilder Theatre, 416 W. 42nd St. For ticket information, call (212) 279-4200.
-- By Kenneth Jones
