Richard Jay-Alexander will direct the work for the Off-Broadway troupe for a limited run March 21-April 30, 2006 at 59E59 Theaters. The work will be produced in association with Waxman/Williams Entertainment and Mahega Productions.
Based on the life of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Elizabeth Bishop, A Safe Harbor set itself on the shores of Rio, Seattle, New York, and Boston, as it retells the stories of "love, loss, politics, and sexual intrigue" as production notes state.
Irving has appeared on Broadway in Amadeus, Heartbreak House, Broken Glass and Three Sisters. The actress is perhaps best known for her Academy Award-nominated turn in "Yentl," and other screen roles in "Crossing Delancey," "A Show of Force," "I'm Not Rappaport," "Deconstructing Harry" and "Traffic."
The Michigan-born playwright Góes grew up in Petrópolis, near where Elizabeth Bishop lived in Brazil. She came to know Bishop through her poetry came while she worked as a journalist in São Paulo. She has written for a television series called "Malu Mulher" (Malu, a woman) and other plays, The Girl Who Said That, Just One More Moment and Tourists and Refugees.
Director Jay-Alexander appeared as an actor in the original casts of Broadway's Zoot Suit and Amadeus. He has served as associate director and executive producer on a number of productions including Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon and Five Guys Named Moe. Primary Stages' upcoming season will launch with the New York premiere of Terrence McNally's Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams, (July 26-Sept. 18). Michael Morris directs the work starring Marian Seldes. The season then continue with the east coast premiere of Charles Grodin's The Right Kind of People (Jan. 24-March 5, 2006) directed by Chris Smith — artistic director of San Francisco's Magic Theatre, where the work debuted Nov. 2004.
Tickets and subscriptions to Primary Stages' shows at the 59E59 Theaters, at 59 East 59th Street, can be purchased by calling (212-279-4200) or at the box office. For more information, visit www.primarystages.com.
