The Off-Broadway comedy by the author of This Is Our Youth, Lobby Hero, The Waverly Gallery, The Starry Messenger and the films "You Can Count On Me" and "Margaret" tells of two French mercenary knights who "set out on a quest for relative moral redemption against the classic comic background of late 14th century ecclesiastical politics," according to Signature. "A story of friendship, love, noble feats of arms, indiscriminate brutality, the progressive refinement of medieval table manners and the general decline of the chivalric ideal at the onset of the Great Papal Schism of 1378."
Lonergan will direct the production, to run May 15-June 24. Opening night is June 7 at The Irene Diamond Stage (currently home to The Lady From Dubuque, to April 15) at the Signature's new Frank Gehry-designed home, The Pershing Square Signature Center at 480 W. 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues.
Medieval Play is the second work in Signature's new Residency Five program that premieres new plays by members of a resident ensemble of playwrights (part of a three-pronged mission at Signature). Katori Hall's Hurt Village was the inaugural Residency Five work earlier this year.
The design team for Medieval Play includes Walt Spangler (scenic design), Michael Krass (costume design), Jason Lyons (lighting design), David Van Tiegham (sound design) and J. David Brimmer (fight direction). The production stage manager is David H. Lurie.
Arkin is known for Broadway's I'm Not Rappaport and Off-Broadway's The Waverly Gallery, Burns appeared in Middletown and Lobby Hero Off-Broadway, Donovan starred in Broadway's Good People and Off-Broadway's Lobby Hero, Geer was in Broadway's Side Man and Twelve Angry Men, Hamilton credits include The Coast of Utopia for Lincoln Center Theater and CSC's The Cherry Orchard, and Pittu is a Tony noninee for LoveMusik, and recently appeared in Atlantic Theater Company's CQ/CX. Additional casting for Medieval Play will be announced soon.
Single tickets are now on sale in person, by phone at (212) 244-7529 and at signaturetheatre.org.
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Tickets to the initial runs of all productions of Signature's Inaugural Season at The Pershing Square Signature Center are $25, part of Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access, a program that guarantees affordable and accessible tickets to every Signature production for the next 20 years. Serving as a model for theatres and performing arts organizations across the country, the Initiative was founded in 2005 and is made possible by lead partner The Pershing Square Foundation and founding sponsor Time Warner, Inc., with additional seed support provided by the Ford Foundation, Margot Adams, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
If a run is extended, the ticket price for the extension is higher.
