By Adam Hetrick
and Kenneth Jones
17 Oct 2009

Marlo Thomas
photo by Aubrey Reuben

Elaine May's new comedy, George is Dead, starring Marlo Thomas and Don Murray, begins performances in Tucson at the Arizona Theatre Company Oct. 17.

Author May also directs the production that runs through Nov. 7 at the Temple of Music and Art, prior to arriving at Phoenix's Herberger Theater Center Nov. 12-Dec. 6.

In addition to Emmy and Golden Globe winner Thomas and Academy Award nominee Murray, the cast also features Julia Brothers (Medea, Nickel and Dimed), Carman Lacivita (Cyrano de Bergerac), Reese Madigan (Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Holiday, Adult Entertainment), Elizabeth Shepherd (The Gin Game, Cabaret, A Little Night Music) and Roberto Guajardo (To Kill a Mockingbird).

According to ATC, "In George is Dead, Marlo Thomas plays Doreen, the socialite wife of a right-wing Republican named George, played by Don Murray. On her way to a fundraiser, driven by a possibly illegal immigrant, she ends up at the home of a former employee and her left-wing husband. How? Why? Do they kill her? Reject her? Adopt her? Is George really dead?"

The creative team includes John Arnone (scenic designer), Sam Fleming (costume designer), Kurt Landisman (lighting designer) and Brian Jerome Peterson (resident sound designer). Bruno Ingram is the stage manager.

May started her career in The Second City, where she began a successful partnership with Mike Nichols. The two appeared in clubs, on TV and Broadway. May earned a Drama Desk Award for her play Adaptation, a one-act which she directed along with Terrence McNally's Next. Other plays that she has penned include Death Defying Acts, Taller than a Dwarf, Adult Entertainment, Power Plays and After the Night and the Music. She wrote, directed and starred in her first film, "A New Leaf," with Walter Matthau. She wrote and directed "Mikey & Nicky," starring Peter Falk and John Cassavetes. She directed "The Heartbreak Kid" and received an Oscar nomination for the screenplay of "Heaven Can Wait." Her acting credits in film include "California Suite," "Enter Laughing," "In the Spirit" and "Small Time Crooks" (National Film Critics Award). She wrote the screenplays for "The Birdcage" and "Primary Colors" (British Academy of Film and Television Award), which reunited her with Mike Nichols, who directed both films.

Murray (George) made his motion picture debut in 1956 in "Bus Stop" with Marilyn Monroe, for which he received Best Supporting Actor nominations for both the U.S. and British Academy Awards. He has appeared on Broadway in The Rose Tattoo; Smith; Same Time, Next Year; The Norman Conquests and The Skin of Our Teeth.

Thomas (Doreen) appeared on Broadway in The Shadow Box, Social Security and Thieves. Off-Broadway, she has been seen in The Vagina Monologues, The Guys and The Exonerated, and she was seen in the national tour of Six Degrees of Separation. Famous as the star of TV's "That Girl," she won an Emmy Award for the TV movie "Nobody's Child." She also created "Free to Be...You and Me" TV specials, books and records, as well as the bestselling books, "The Right Words at the Right Time, Volumes 1 and 2." She is the National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which was founded by her father, Danny Thomas, in 1962. She lives in New York with her husband Phil Donahue.

The production is presented in association with Julian Schlossberg, who has produced a number of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, including Sly Fox, Fortune's Fool, The Unexpected Man, Madame Melville, Taller than a Dwarf, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Power Plays, If Love Were All, Death Defying Acts and Vita & Virginia.

Tucson performances take place at the Temple of Music and Art (330 S. Scott Avenue); call the box office at (520) 622-2823. Phoenix performances take place at the Herberger Theater Center (222 E. Monroe Street); call the box office at (602) 256-6995.

Visit www.arizonatheatre.org for more information.

Marlo Thomas and Julia Brothers
photo by Magic Theatre