David Lindsay-Abaire has found a home in Manhattan Theatre Club. The powerhouse NYC nonprofit — which presented the playwright's Fuddy Meers in 1999 and is currently previewing his Wonder of the World — will produce a third Lindsay-Abaire comedy, Kimberly Akimbo, during the 2002-03 season. The dramatist mentioned the booking in a recent feature interview for Playbill On-Line (see Features section on the home page.)
Lindsay-Abaire won the 2001 Kesselring Prize for Kimberly Akimbo. The play was nominated by California's South Coast Repertory, where it debuted last spring. He will be honored Nov. 18 at the National Arts Club with a reading of that play, the tale of a teenager stricken with a rare disease which prematurely ages her and adds further chaos to her screwed-up family.
No casting has been announced at this early juncture, but MaryLouise Burke starred in the SCR staging and it would seem likely the actress would repeat her role at MTC. Burke, a Lindsay-Abaire favorite, won a Drama Desk Award for Fuddy Meers and is in the cast of Wonder of the World.
Wonder of the World opens on Nov. 1. The production, directed by Christopher Ashley, stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Amy Sedaris, Alan Tudyk, Kevin Chamberlin, Bill Raymond and Kristine Nielsen.
—By Robert Simonson