The production will reunite the playwright and actress, as well as director Jim Simpson, who all collaborated on Gurney's Mrs. Farnsworth at The Flea in 2004.
Weaver is remembered for Hurlyburly on Broadway; Gemini at Playwrights Horizons; Mrs. Farnsworth, The Mercy Seat and The Guys Off-Broadway; the "Alien" films and the motions pictures "Gorillas in the Mist" and "Working Girl." Gurney is the author of The Dining Room, The Perfect Party, Later Life, The Old Boy (all seen at Playwrights Horizons and Love Letters, Sylvia and Mrs. Farnsworth.
The resident Manhattan theatre company also announced directors for two of next season's productions: Leigh Silverman (Well) will direct the New York premiere of Blue Door, a new play by Tanya Barfield (Dent, The Quick); and Joe Calarco (Shakespeare's R&J, D.C.'s Urinetown) will direct the New York premiere of Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky, a new musical with book and lyrics by David Cale and music by acclaimed jazz guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and Cale.
The rest of the previously-announced season will feature:
The world premiere of Essential Self-Defense, a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award winner Adam Rapp (Red Light Winter) and directed by Carolyn Cantor (Orange Flower Water, Stone Cold Dead Serious) in a co-production with Edge Theater. Additional casting information for all six productions will be announced in the coming months.
Playwrights Horizon is under the leadership of artistic director Tim Sanford and managing director Leslie Marcus. It bills itself a "writer's theatre dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers and lyricists, and to the production of their new work."
For more information, visit www.playwrightshorizons.org.
