The Off-Broadway company announced plans for its 23rd season May 1. The troupe will once again take residence at the downtown Lucille Lortel Theatre.
The 2008-2009 lineup (subject to change) follows:
Directed by Austin Pendleton
"Something's gone very wrong behind the idyllic façade of Jan and Adam's Brooklyn brownstone," reads a show description. "At 9:10 PM, they're reveling in the freedom of having waved off their young son, Greg, to a neighborhood sleepover. By 9:15 PM, they're both in tears. By 9:25 PM, things are way past tears." This "expansive look at modern marriage, as seen through the looking glass of one couple's long night's journey into day" debuts at MCC. Weller is known for his plays Loose Ends, Moonchildren, What the Night is For as well as for the book for the musical Zhivago. Actor-director Pendleton (Orson's Shadow, "My Cousin Vinny") will stage the work. (Fifty Words was previously reported as being Broadway-bound with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Elizabeth Marvel attached.)
Playwright-in-residence LaBute pens this latest tale, his seventh collaboration with MCC. "Joe Smith's just had an epiphany. In a blinding flash, he's been gloriously transformed from avowed disbeliever to fervent believer. But he quickly finds himself at the center of his own rapidly crumbling life, as those nearest to him kick back against his newfound faith. Suddenly a stranger to those he values most, Joe must find a modern response to the age-old question: at what cost, salvation?" MCC has previously produced LaBute's The Mercy Seat, The Distance From Here, Fat Pig, Some Girl(s) and In a Dark Dark House. LaBute's reasons to be pretty, starring Piper Perabo and Alison Pill, starts performances May 14.
Music and Lyrics by Stephin Merritt, book by David Greenspan
Directed by Leigh Silverman
Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, this new musical features a score by Merritt (singer-songwriter of the band The Magnetic Fields) with a book by Greenspan (actor seen recently in Some Men and Beebo Brinker Chronicles), who will also appear in the cast. "Poor bored Coraline. She's left to rattle round her perpetually distracted parents' house all by her lonesome. Then one day, her dreams of a better reality are answered as she steps through an old oak doorway and passes into a perfected replica of her own world. Greeted there by a vastly loving Other Mother (Greenspan) and kindly Other Father, she's thrilled! But, as the saying goes: Be careful what you wish for…"
Subscriptions are now available by calling (212) 279-4200. For more information, visit mcctheater.com.
