The cast of Lobby Hero, Kenneth Lonergan's new play, getting its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons Feb 16-March 25, will include Tate Donovan, Heather Burns, Glenn Fitzgerald and Dion Graham, as reported by PBOL Jan. 19.
The new piece by recent Golden Globe nominee Lonergan is now in rehearsals under the direction of Mark Brokaw toward a first preview Feb. 16. Official opening is March 13 at Horizons' Anne Wilder Theatre on 42nd Street.
Donovan appeared in Broadway's Amy's View and the Roundabout Theatre staging of Picnic. The play is set in the lobby of an urban apartment complex, in the aftermath of a brutal murder. There, four disparate people — two young cops (Donovan and Burns), a restless security guard (Fitzgerald) and his tightly-wound supervisor (Graham) — confront the truth about themselves, their relationships and their city.
According to the most recent announcement, the plot is thus: "When Jeff, a luckless young security guard, is drawn into a local murder investigation, loyalties are strained to the breaking point. As Jeff's tightly-wound supervisor is called to bear witness against his troubled brother, and an attractive rookie cop finds she must stand up to her seasoned partner, truth becomes elusive and justice proves costly."
* Lonergan is the rising theatre and film writer whose original screenplay for "You Can Count On Me" was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. His direction and screenplay for the picture are thought to be likely for Academy Award nominations as well. He also penned the rueful, matter-of fact stage play, The Waverly Gallery and the antsy, urban This is Our Youth (to say nothing of the film, "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle").
Lonergan has been lauded for his spare, unsentimental storytelling.
Burns appeared in The Atlantic Theater Company's All Things Considered, Suburbia, Twelfth Night and The Crucible; Fitzgerald was seen in Playwrights Horizons' Ice in a Hot World and Mizlansky/Zilinsky at Manhattan Theatre Club; Graham was in Broadway's Not About Nightingales, and New York's Elliot Loves, A View of the Dome and A Raisin in the Sun at Williamstown Theatre Festival.
Designers are Allen Moyer (set), Michael Krass (costume), Mark McCullough (lighting) and Janet Kalas (sound).
Tickets are $45. Playwrights Horizons is at 416 W. 42nd Street in Manhattan. For information about Playwrights Horizons, check out the web site at www.playwrightshorizons.org or call (212) 279-4200.
— By Kenneth Jones
