John J. Burke directs the staging, which features Cranston as a widower author and Cranston's real-life wife, Robin Dearden, as his new love interest. Their actor pals Bill Timoney and Georgette Reilly play their on-stage pals.
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Cranston was Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated for his work on the sitcom "Malcolm in the Middle." He's worked four decades in film, TV and theatre. His credits include "Little Miss Sunshine," "Saving Private Ryan," "Seeing Other People," "From the Earth to the Moon," "Clerks" (the animated series), and as the recurring "Seinfeld" character Dr. Tim Whatley.
According to the troupe, "In the semi-autobiographical Chapter Two, Cranston plays grieving widowed writer George Schneider, who unexpectedly meets his next match in Jennie Malone — a rocky midlife reawakening based largely on the romance and marriage of playwright Simon and actress Marsha Mason."
Performances play Pollak Theatre on the Monmouth University campus, 400 Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch, NJ. Tickets are $35. For information, call (732) 263-6889 or visit www.monmouth.edu/shadowlawnstage. *
Later in the summer, veteran actors David Hedison ("The Fly"; "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea") and Nancy Dussault (TV's "Too Close for Comfort," Broadway's Bajour, Do Re Mi) will bring A. R. Gurney's epistolary tear-jerker, Love Letters, to life on the Pollak stage for three performances, Aug. 3-5.