By Ernio Hernandez
30 Nov 2004

Anna Paquin

Terry Kinney will direct Anna Paquin, Kieran Culkin and Tim Hopper in the upcoming Vineyard Theatre's Off-Broadway staging of Gina Gionfriddo's Humana Festival hit, After Ashley.

The New York premiere the black comedy begins previews at the downtown venue Feb. 9 toward a late Feb. opening date to be set.

In After Ashley, a 17-year-old boy deals with his relationships with his mother and father. Originally commissioned by Philadelphia Theatre Company, the work then developed further at the 2003 O'Neill Playwrights Conference of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center before becoming a breakout at the 2004 Humana Festival of New American Plays.

Paquin appeared in Paul Weitz's Roulette and MCC Theater's staging of Neil LaBute's The Distance From Here Off-Broadway last season. She also starred for MCC in Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living — which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. The actress, known for her turns in the "X-Men" films, "The 25th Hour" and her Academy Award-winning performance in "The Piano," appeared on the London stage in Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth.

Culkin, known for his film turns in "Igby Goes Down" and "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys," appeared on stage in the MCC Theatre one-night benefit performance of Neil LaBute's Autobahn and James Lapine's The Moment When for Playwrights Horizons. He also appeared in the West End This Is Our Youth.

Hopper was last seen at the Vineyard in The Dying Gaul in 1998. He has appeared on Broadway in the 1996 revival of Present Laughter. Other Off Broadway credits include Endpapers, Carson McCullers (Historically Inaccurate) the title role in Picasso at the Lapine Agile as well as his Obie Award winning turn in More Stately Mansions. He has worked with Kinney in the film "The Last of the Mohicans" and on television's "Oz." Other film work includes "The School of Rock," "To Die For" and "Frankie and Johnny."

Director Kinney directed the world premiere of Nicky Silver's Beautiful Child at the Vineyard last season. He also staged the recent revival of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on Broadway and the Chicago premiere of Richard Greenberg's The Violet Hour. As an actor, he has performed on stage in The Grapes of Wrath and Buried Child as well as on screen in "Oz" and "The Laramie Project."

Gionfriddo was the recipient of the 2001-2002 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the 2002 Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, a Lucille Lortel Fellowship and a Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship. Her other plays include Safe, U.S. Drag, Guinevere and Briar Rose.

Tickets to After Ashley at the Vineyard Theatre, 108 East 15th Street, can be reserved by calling (212) 353-0303. For more information, visit www.vineyardtheatre.org