Stephen Rea, Sean McGinley, Moira Buffini Will Find a Home at NYC's Atlantic in 2010 | Playbill

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News Stephen Rea, Sean McGinley, Moira Buffini Will Find a Home at NYC's Atlantic in 2010 Tony Award nominee Stephen Rea and Sean McGinley will reprise their starring roles in the American premiere of The Abbey Theatre's production of Sam Shepard's Ages of the Moon for Off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company.
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Stephen Rea and Sean McGinley Photo by Robert Doyle and Ros Kavanagh

The not-for-profit company also announced on Aug. 12 that the American premiere of Moira Buffini's Gabriel will be the final main stage show of the 2009-10 season. Previews for Buffini's World War II-set drama will begin in April toward a May 2010 opening. Dates and casting will be announced.

Ages of the Moon will begin Jan. 12, 2010, and will open Jan. 27, 2010. The run lasts to March 7, 2010, at Atlantic's main stage, The Linda Gross Theater, 336 West 20th Street.

Rea is known for the film "The Crying Game" (for which he earned an Academy Award nomination) and Broadway's Someone Who'll Watch Over Me (for which he was nominated for a Tony as Best Actor in a Play). McGinley starred in the film "On a Clear Day," and has a rich resume in film, TV and theatre.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Shepard will make his Atlantic debut with Ages of the Moon following the acclaimed world-premiere engagement in Ireland directed by Jimmy Fay. The work is billed as "a gruffly poignant and darkly funny play. Byron (McGinley) and Ames (Rea) are old friends re-united by mutual desperation. Over bourbon on ice, they sit, reflect and bicker until 50 years of love, friendship and rivalry are put to the test at the barrel of a gun."

Rea earned international fame and Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for his performance in Neil Jordan's film "The Crying Game." He also appeared in "Angel," "Company of Wolves," "Interview with a Vampire," "Life Is Sweet," "Pret a Porter," "Michael Collins," "The Butcher Boy," "In Dreams," "End of the Affair," among others. He returns to New York after starring in Sam Shepard's Kicking a Dead Horse at the Public Theater. He will star in Sebastian Barry's play Tales of Ballycumber at The Abbey this fall. Irish actor McGinley was a member of the Druid Theatre Company from 1977-1989. He has won awards for stage appearance ins Whistle in the Dark (Abbey and Royal Court Theatres), Much Ado About Nothing (Druid), The Shaurgraun (Abbey Theatre) and The Hackney Office (Druid). Other film work includes "Braveheart," "Michael Collins," "The Butcher Boy," "The General," "Simon Magus," "Angela's Ashes," "The Closer You Get, "The Claim," "Gangs of New York" and more.

Sam Shepard was first produced in New York in 1963 at Theatre Genesis and many times at La MaMa and Café Cino. Eleven of his plays have won Obie Awards including The Tooth of Crime (1972) and Curse of the Starving Class (1976). He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his play Buried Child (1979). The critically acclaimed production of True West starring Jon Malkovich and Gary Sinise opened Off-Broadway in 1982. Fool For Love (1982), starring Ed Harris, received Obie Awards for Best Play and Direction. A Lie of the Mind (1985) won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Play. Simpatico opened at The Royal Court Theatre after its New York premiere at The Public Theater in 1994 and was made into a feature film by Matthew Warchus starring Nick Nolte and Sharon Stone. A revised Buried Child under the direction of Gary Sinise opened on Broadway in 1996 and was nominated for a Tony Award. His other plays include The Late Henry Moss and The God of Hell, among others.

The 1997 world-premiere production of Gabriel was awarded the U.K.'s LWT (London Weekend Television) Plays on Stage Award and the Meyer Whitworth Award.

According to ATC, "Gabriel is set around a largely forgotten moment in British history — the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II. A naked young man washes up on a Guernsey beach. Unnervingly handsome, he's fluent in both German and English but has no recollection of who he is. Patriot or Nazi…innocent or madman…or does it depend entirely on your point of view? Gabriel explores the heart of memory, identity and imagination, as well as the lies people tell themselves and each other to make the darkness light again."

Buffini's Dinner (2002), which was commissioned by the National Theatre, was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. It was produced at the Bay Street Theatre recently in a production starring Mercedes Ruehl.

Her other theatre credits include Loveplay (2001) for the Royal Shakespeare Company; Silence (1999), Birmingham Rep and Plymouth Theatre Royal, winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize; and Blavatsky's Tower (Fringe). She recently wrote Dying For It, a free adaptation of The Suicide by Nickolai Erdman, which premiered at the Almeida Theatre in Spring 2007.

Tickets for main stage productions are $65 and are available by calling Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 (ticketcentral.com).

 
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