Marlo Thomas returns to the Bat Theatre Company's production of The Guys by Anne Nelson, Sept. 17-Oct. 11. Her male co-star will be announced shortly for the production at downtown New York City's Flea Theatre.
With the one-year anniversary of the events which occurred last Sept. 11 nearing, stages across the country will commemorate the day with a production of Nelson's 9/11 drama.
Actress Sigourney Weaver will reprise the role she originated in a special Lincoln Center Theatre free performance of The Guys opposite Stephen Lang at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. Terrence Mann and Charlotte d'Amboise will star in a production of The Guys for the Carolina Arts Festival in Raleigh, NC. Chicago's Goodman Theatre and Northlight Theatre Company will co-present another staging ofThe Guys with B.J. Jones and Mary Beth Fisher.
The film version of The Guys featuring Weaver and fellow former cast member Anthony LaPaglia under the direction of Bat artistic director (and Weaver's husband) Jim Simpson will also premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Sept. 11.
The Guys, based on Nelson's real experiences, is a dialogue between a fire captain — who has lost most of his men in the Sept. 11 attack — and an editor who helps him write the eulogies as she struggles herself to come to terms with the event. Both find out, as quoted from the text, "We have no idea what wonders lie hidden in the people around us." New York City's Bat Theatre Company was a little-known Off-Off Broadway troupe headed up by artistic director Jim Simpson. But in December 2001, when the theatre was still struggling in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, the company — just blocks from Ground Zero — workshopped The Guys penned by first-time playwright Anne Nelson. The play — which became a full production — revitalized the little company with its big name casts.
The New York casts of The Guys has included Bill Murray, Weaver, Bill Irwin, LaPaglia, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Swoosie Kurtz, Tom Wopat, Amy Irving, Carol Kane, Marlo Thomas and Stephen Lang. The Los Angeles production has featured Robbins, Helen Hunt, Sarandon, Philip Baker Hall, Jeanne Tripplehorn, David Hyde Pierce and Glenne Headley. Robbins and Sarandon also performed the work at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
— by Ernio Hernandez
