Atlantic Theater Company Artistic Director Neil Pepe and Managing Director Andrew D. Hamingson announced the company's upcoming season Aug. 1. The season will kick off with The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, which marks the New York debut of celebrated young playwright Rolin Jones. Jackson Gay will direct Jenny Chow, which concerns a young girl who longs to find her birth mother in China. Though she is afraid to leave her home, Jenny devises a new form of human contact using her technological genius.
A Harold Pinter double-bill — featuring his first play (The Room) and his most recent (Celebration) — will follow. The Room is set in a shabby one-room flat in London, while The Celebration takes place in a trendy restaurant where one of three couples is celebrating a wedding anniversary. Both plays, according to a production statement, "resonate with the human desperation to find safe haven in a threatening world." Neil Pepe directs.
Martin McDonagh, the Tony-nominated playwright currently represented on Broadway with The Pillowman, will also be part of the upcoming Atlantic season with his Olivier Award-winning play The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Wilson Milam will direct the work by the playwright of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lonesome West and The Cripple of Inishmaan. Set in 1933 in Inishmore, the play tells the tale of Padraic, "a terrorist with no feeling for those he kills, yet [he] has an obsessive attachment to Thomas, his beloved cat. But someone has murdered poor wee Thomas."
The Atlantic season will conclude with Spring Awakening, a new musical by Duncan Sheik (music) and Steven Sater (book and lyrics). Michael Mayer will direct the world-premiere production of the musical, which was adapted from Frank Wedekind's work about "the bold depiction of teenagers' sexual awakenings and their consequences in a Puritanical society."
The Atlantic Theater Company was founded in 1985 by David Mamet and William H. Macy with the vision of "producing great plays simply and truthfully while utilizing a resident artistic ensemble." Since its inception the company has presented more than 100 productions. Visit www.atlantictheater.org for more information. The Atlantic Theater Company is located in Manhattan at 336 West 20th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. For membership information call (212) 645-1242; for tickets, call (212) 239-6200.
