Off-Broadway's Atlantic Theatre Company, which will present begin its new season this September, has confirmed three of the four plays scheduled for 2000-01.
Starting the season, with previews from Sept. 27, will be the New York premiere of The Beginning of August, by Tom Donaghy (Minutes from the Blue Route, Northeast Local). Donaghy's play involves a man whose wife suddenly abandons both him and their infant daughter, leaving them to cope with financial pressure, child care issues and a "compound drama of crossed boundaries."
Atlantic's artistic director, Neil Pepe, will helm Donaghy's play. Pepe received a Drama League nomination for directing the American premier of Jez Butterworth's Mojo at the Atlantic in 1997. Pepe also directed Edwin Sanchez' Clean, Quincy Long 's Shaker Heights, David Van Matre's Five Very Live and Patrick Breen's Call of the Wile E. In addition to a variety of non-theatrical roles, Pepe has appeared on stage in Edmond, Trafficking in Broken Hearts, Down the Shore, The Lights, Three Sisters, The Virgin Molly, Boys' Life, Trust, Rosemary for Remembrance and Women and Water.
Next in the Atlantic season lineup is Kia Corthron's Force Continuum. This story involves an African-American family, in which the grandfather, the parents and the son are cops. Force Continuum, which develops around a police brutality case involving the son, a rookie on the force, starts previews Dec. 13 and opens Jan. 4, 2001.
Playwright Kia Corthron's credits include Seeking the Genesis, Splash Hatch on the E Going Down, Life by Asphyxiation, Wake Up Lou Riser, Come Down Burning, Cage Rhythm, Digging Eleven, Catnap Allegiance and the radio play Suckling Chimera. A new work by playwright Jez Butterworth is under consideration for the third slot in Atlantic's season. Once confirmed, the play will start previews on March 7 and is scheduled to open later that month. In the '90s, Butterworth's Mojo earned the then 27-year-old British playwright a George Devine Award, an Evening Standard Award, a Critics Circle Award and an Olivier Award. A well-received run of Mojo was directed by Atlantic's Pepe in 1997.
A fourth play, Siobhan Fallon's one-woman show, Momma, is scheduled to run on Monday nights in early 2001. Fallon's chronicle of life "before the baby arrives" deals with Lamaz classes, medical appointments and all the poignant mishegoss associated with bringing a child into the world today.
The Atlantic Theatre is located at 336 W. 20 Street. For further information visit www.atlantictheater.com.
-- By Murdoch McBride
