By Andrew Gans
and Kenneth Jones
13 Feb 2008

T. Ryder Smith

T. Ryder Smith will replace Bill Camp in the cast of Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, which is currently in previews at Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons.

Smith will assume the role of Gordon (the dead man of the show's title) beginning Feb. 19. Camp, who is currently playing Gordon, is departing the production because the filming schedule for his movie role in "Public Enemies" has been shifted to an earlier date, according to a press notice.

Opening night for the New York premiere of Dead Man's Cell Phone — directed by Anne Bogart — remains March 4. The production began previews Feb. 9, one day later than originally announced.

The cast also features Tony, Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner Mary Louise Parker (Proof, "Weeds"), Drama Desk and Obie Award winner and Tony nominee Kathleen Chalfant (Wit, Angels in America), David Aaron Baker (Broadway's A Raisin in the Sun, The Rainmaker, Abe Lincoln in Illinois), Carla Harting (Off-Broadway's Eurydice, Orson's Shadow) and Kelly Maurer (Broadway's The Old Neighborhood).

T. Ryder Smith last appeared at Playwrights Horizons in She Stoops to Comedy. He previously worked with playwright Ruhl in The Goodman Theatre production of Passion Play. Smith has also been seen onstage in Lebensraum (Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble), Underneath the Lintel (Drama Desk nomination), Thom Pain: Based on Nothing, King Cowboy Rufus Rules the Universe and The Gods Are Pounding My Head.

According to Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons, "Gordon (Camp, Smith) is dead, but his cell phone lives on. When Jean (Mary-Louise Parker), an empathetic museum worker, answers his ringing phone beside her in a café, she is soon playing unwitting comforter and confessor to the man's grieving friends and family. Before she knows it, Jean is ensnarled in the underbelly of the dead man's bizarre life. A wildly imaginative new comedy, Dead Man's Cell Phone is the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her assumptions about morality, redemption and the need to connect in a technology-obsessed world."

The production features scenic and costume designs by G.W. Mercier, lighting design by Brian H. Scott and soundscape by Darron L. West. Production stage manager is Elizabeth Moreau.

The performance schedule is Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 2:30 & 8 PM and Sundays at 2:30 & 7:30 PM.

For more information visit www.playwrightshorizons.org or call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200.