The world premiere of Richard Nelson's Franny's Way, from Playwrights Horizons, will feature Kathleen Widdoes, the respected actress who has split her time between the stage and TV's "As the World Turns."
Performances begin March 6 at The Atlantic Theatre, on West 20th Street in Manhattan, which Playwrights is borrowing while its new home is under construction. Tony Award-winner Nelson (James Joyce's The Dead) will direct his own work. Opening is set for March 26, with performances continuing to April 14.
The new play is set "in a Greenwich Village walk-up in the summer of 1957 [and] tells the story of two teenage sisters from upstate who, accompanied by their grandmother, come to visit their married cousin in the city. Soon, the young women have embarked on private missions involving love, a forgotten child and a lost mother — and what begins as a carefree idyll becomes a life-changing experience of desire, longing and the bittersweet collision of youth and adulthood."
The cast of Franny's Way features Tony Award nominee Kathleen Widdoes (nominated for Much Ado About Nothing), the Emmy Award nominee widely known for playing Emma Snyder on "As the World Turns"; Elisabeth Moss (Zoe on "The West Wing"); Domenica Cameron-Scorsese (Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding, and the films of her father, Martin Scorsese, "The Age of Innocence" and "Cape Fear"), and Jesse Pennington (ACT's Goodnight Children Everywhere, Public Theater's A Winter's Tale) and Yvonne Woods (Madame Melville, ACT's Goodnight Children Everywhere).
Designers are Thomas Lynch (scenic), Susan Hilferty and Linda Ross (costume), Jennifer Tipton (lighting) and Scott Lehrer (sound). Tickets are $45 (ask about student rates). The Atlantic Theater is at 336 W. 20th Street. For tickets, call (212) 239-6200 or (for Playwrights Horizons Horizons information) (212) 279 4200. Visit playwrightshorizons.org.
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Nelson has a long history with Playwrights Horizons, including the world premieres of James Joyce's The Dead (Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical), The Vienna Notes (Obie Award) and Jungle Coup and the American premiere of Goodnight Children Everywhere (Olivier Award for Best Play). His other plays include Madame Melville(Vaudeville Theatre, London & Promenade Theatre, New York), The General From America (RSC, Milwaukee Repertory), New England (RSC, Manhattan Theater Club), Misha's Party (co-written with Alexander Gelman for the RSC and The Moscow Art Theatre), Columbus and the Discovery of Japan (RSC), Two Shakespearean Actors (RSC, Lincoln Center Theater, Tony nomination for Best Play), Some Americans Abroad (RSC, LCT, Olivier Award nomination for Best Comedy), Sensibility and Sense (American Playhouse and Second Stage), Principia Scriptoriae (RSC, MTC, London Time Out Award).
— By Kenneth Jones
