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Swoosie Kurtz Opens in Lavery Drama Frozen Off-Broadway, March 18
By Ernio Hernandez
and Robert Simonson
18 Mar 2004
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Swoosie Kurtz in Frozen
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| photo by Dixie Sheridan | Bryony Lavery's chilling drama about a missing child, Frozen, starring Swoosie Kurtz, Brian O'Byrne and Laila Robins, opens Off-Broadway March 18 under the auspices of the MCC Theatre.
The work, which makes its American premiere, started performances Feb. 25 for a run slated through April 10 at the East 13th Street Theatre.
Frozen connects the lives of three strangers involved in a child's disappearance: the mother of the child (Kurtz), the kidnapper (O'Byrne) and an American academic studying serial killers (Robins). Doug Hughes — who directed last season's MCC staging of Scattergood — directs the play that debuted at London's Royal National Theater.
Frozen was Lavery's first work to get a production at the prestigious National and is the British playwright's most significant stage success to date. Hughes directs the trio of actors on a nearly bare stage. Each character frequently speaks directly to the audience, in a series of aria-like scenes. Later on in the drama, the characters interact.
Kurtz made a cameo appearance (via film) in MCC's staging of Kate Robin's Intrigue With Faye last season. Her last stint on Broadway was in the Nora Ephron play with music Imaginary Friends in which she played literary diva Lillian Hellman. She was also set to star as another famous author, Jacqueline Susann, in the long-Broadway-bound production of Paper Doll which was postponed. She has won Tony Awards for her turns in Fifth of July and The House of Blue Leaves. Kurtz is also known for her film roles in "The World According to Garp," "Against All Odds," "Dangerous Liaisons" and on television's "Sisters."
O'Byrne starred in the original productions of Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Skull in Connemara and The Lonesome West, as well as the Broadway stagings of the first and latter, which earned him his Tony nods. Other stage credits include The Sisters Rosensweig, Hapgood, Seconds Out and Smelling a Rat.
Robins has been a regular at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey for each of the last seven seasons, in such works as Three Sisters, Arms and the Man and Twelfth Night. On Broadway, she was seen in The Herbal Bed and The Real Thing and Off-Broadway in Tiny Alice and Mrs. Klein.
The design team for Frozen includes Hugh Landwehr (set), Catherine Zuber (costume), Clifton Taylor (lighting), Angelina Avallone (make-up and tattoo) and David Van Tieghem (sound) — who also provides original music. Rick Sordelet handles fight direction and Stephen Gabis serves as dialect coach.
For tickets to Frozen at the East 13th Street Theatre, 136 East 13 St. (between Third and Fourth Ave.), call (212) 279-4200. For more information on MCC, visit www.mcctheater.com.
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Laila Robins and Brian F. O'Byrne in Frozen
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| photo by Dixie Sheridan |
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