The comedy-tinged drama that wants to be about moving toward and away from faith (according to playwright's notes) opens in a world-premiere staging Sept. 18 following previews from Aug. 24.
Directed by Ethan McSweeny (Broadway revival of The Best Man), the play focuses on Theresa (played by Janel Moloney, making her New York stage debut), who cleans the rectory of the local parish to support her unruly teenage daughter (Zoe Kazan). When the priest (Jeremy Shamos) leaves the church under uncertain circumstances and returns home to his protective mother (Tony Award nominee Lois Smith), Theresa finds herself compelled to pursue him. The young actor Will Rogers plays a neighborhood teen who comes in contact with all the characters on "one eventful night…forcing a reckoning with the broken memories and shaken faith that divides them — and the discovery of a shared, tenuous common ground," according to Playwrights Horizons notes.
100 Saints plays PH's Mainstage Theater on West 42nd Street through Sept. 30.
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Moloney is a two-time Emmy Award nominee from "The West Wing"; Obie Award winner Shamos appeared in Miss Witherspoon at Playwrights Horizons, and in Gutenberg! The Musical!; Kazan was in Off-Broadway's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie recently and will appear in The Things We Want for New Group; and Rogers appeared in Columbinus at New York Theatre Workshop. Two-time Tony nominee Lois Smith (Buried Child, The Grapes of Wrath) was embraced for her recent and rapturously acclaimed performance in Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful at Signature Theatre, where she received five awards: an Obie Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award and the Kingsley-Evans Award. She will repeat her Foote work in spring 2008 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.
100 Saints features scenic design by Rachel Hauck, costume design by Mimi O'Donnell, lighting design by Jane Cox and sound design by Matt Hubbs. Production stage manager is Michaella K. McCoy.
Fodor penned the play Hannah and Martin. She is a recipient of the Kennedy Center's Roger L. Stevens Award, a Joseph Jefferson Citation, an After Dark Award, and a finalist position for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her play Hannah and Martin was produced Off-Broadway by Epic Theatre Center and had productions in cities around the U.S. and abroad. Other work has been developed at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Hartford Stage and Chautauqua Theater Company.
The performance schedule for 100 Saints will be Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 2:30 & 8 PM and Sundays at 2:30 & 7:30 PM.
Tickets are $65. Tickets may be purchased online via TicketCentral.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (noon-8 PM daily), or in person at the Ticket Central box office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth and Tenth Avenues).
For more information about the resident theatre devoted to playwrights and new work, visit www.playwrightshorizons.org.
