Tony Award-winner Gerald Gutierrez (The Heiress, A Delicate Balance) directs Malcolm Gets, Nadia Dajani, Carrie Preston and Robert Sella in the world-premiere Playwright Horizons production of Boys and Girls, by Tom Donaghy, beginning May 3.
The Off-Broadway staging is at The Duke on 42nd Street, a house not-for-profit Playwrights Horizons is borrowing while its new home is being built on the same street. Official opening for the play is May 28. Performances continue to June 9. The May 3 date is a Pay-What-You-Can performance, when a limited number of seats are available for cash-only walkup purchase.
The new work by the author of From Above and Northeast Local is billed as being "about non-traditional families trying to play by traditional rules," telling "the story of a lesbian couple (Dajani and Preston), who ask their gay friend (Sella) to move in as a male role model for their pre-school son. When he reunites with an ex-boyfriend (Gets) of whom they disapprove, conflicts arise that force each of them to face their own growing up."
The industry buzz on the show is that it dares to show gay people as dysfunctional messes rather than the usually heroic role models seen in TV movies.
Nadia Dajani appeared in Sophistry at Playwrights Horizons, La Ronde and Hysterical Blindness with Naked Angels, "Sidewalks of New York," "A.I.," and "The West Wing." Obie Award-winner Malcolm Gets was seen in A New Brain, Hello Again, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Merrily We Roll Along and TV's "Caroline in the City." Carrie Preston's credits include The Tempest, Chaucer in Rome, Indiscretions, Vanessa Redgrave's Antony & Cleopatra and Freedomland at Playwrights Horizons. Robert Sella appeared Broadway's Side Man and Cabaret, the national tour of Angels in America and The Water Children at Playwrights Horizons. Designers are Douglas Stein (scenic), Catherine Zuber (costume), David Weiner (lighting) and Aural Fixation (sound). Production stage manager is Marjorie Horne.
Tickets are $45. Student rush tickets will be available for $15 (cash only, day of performance).
The Duke is at 229 West 42nd Street. For tickets to Boys and Girls call (212) 239-6200 or visit the box office at The New Victory Theater (209 West 42nd Street).
For more information, visit www.playwrightshorizons.org.
— By Kenneth Jones
