As previously reported by Playbill On-Line, writer-performers Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers — currently reprising their alter egos in the Los Angeles run — will tour with their stageshow. Chicago will see the show in August. London will welcome it soon after, in the fall. Productions in Boston and Seattle are also in the works.
"When Matt & Ben opened Off-Broadway, we were only slated to run six weeks," stated Kaling and Withers in a released statement. "Now 10 months later, the show will have played out the season with a second West Coast production running simultaneously and productions set to open throughout the country and beyond. We never dreamed we would get such a wild ride out of dressing up in boys clothes and eating junk food!"
Matt & Ben is a satire on the pre-paparazzi, pre-fame friendship between Oscar-winning screenwriters and actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. When the screenplay for "Good Will Hunting" mysteriously drops into their laps, the duo believe they are being tested by a higher power.
The show played a sold-out run at the 2002 New York International Fringe Festival where it garnered Best Overall Production. After an appearance at the 2003 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, the show returned to New York for an Off-Broadway open run at P.S. 122. The New York staging recast its leads when the originators booked a stint at Los Angeles' Acme Comedy Theatre where they are slated to play to May 16.
In Matt & Ben, the two authors star as the famous Hollywood duo — Kaling plays Affleck and Withers portrays Damon. Both also take on other well-known personae in the show. David Warren (Barbra's Wedding, The Dazzle) directed the New York and Los Angeles run. Victoria Lang and Pier Paolo Piccoli, Stephen Pevner and Jason Hsiao in association with Stephanie Steele and Lisa Ullman present the West Coast premiere of the comedy.
For tickets to Matt & Ben at P.S. 122, 150 First Ave (at East Ninth Street), call (212) 352-3101. For the Los Angeles run at the Acme Comedy Theatre, 135 North La Brea Avenue in Hollywood, CA, call (866) 811-4111. For more information visit www.MattandBen.com.
