The Off-Broadway staging, directed by Tina Landau for a run Aug. 7-Sept. 20, kicks off Signature's season of works by playwright-in-residence Mee.
Told by a cast of 12, "Iphigenia 2.0 is about a great imperial power that decides to go to war, taking an action so wrong that it sets the empire on the road to complete self-destruction," according to Signature. "Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek army, must prove to his uncertain troops that the dangerous battle they are about to undertake is righteous and worthy by making the ultimate sacrifice himself. A radical reinvention of the classic play by Euripides that examines the costs of war and loss of innocence."
The cast for Iphigenia 2.0 will also feature Jimonn Cole (Soldier), Will Fowler (Soldier), J.D. Goldblatt (Soldier), Chasten Harmon (Bridesmaid), Jesse Hooker (Soldier), Emily Kinney (Bridesmaid), Louisa Krause (Iphigenia), Tom Nelis (Agamemnon), Angelo Niakas (Old Greek Man), Seth Numrich (Achilles) and Rocco Sisto (Menelaus).
The design team will feature sets by Blythe R.D. Quinlan, costumes by Anita Yavich, lights by Scott Zielinski and sound by Jill BC DuBoff.
All seats will be $20 as part of the Signature Ticket Initiative made possible by the lead sponsorship of Time Warner, Inc. and with support by Margot Adams, in memory of Mason Adams. Signature Theatre Company presents at Peter Norton Space (555 W. 42nd St.). Single tickets go on sale July 16 at 1 PM.
Charles Mee, Signature's 2007-08 Playwright-in-Residence, has written Big Love, True Love, First Love, bobrauschenbergamerica, Hotel Cassiopeia, Orestes 2.0, Trojan Women 2.0, Summertime and Wintertime among other plays — all of them available on the internet at www.charlesmee.org.
Landau is a writer and director whose original work includes Theatrical Essays for Steppenwolf Theatre Company; the new music-theatre project Beauty, which received its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse; the play Space, which premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre Company; the music-theatre piece Dream True (with composer Ricky Ian Gordon), which was produced by the Vineyard Theatre; and the musical Floyd Collins (with composer Adam Guettel), which ran at Playwright's Horizons, receiving the 1996 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical, an Obie and seven Drama Desk nominations. Directing credits include her Broadway debut with the revival of Bells Are Ringing (Tony Award nomination as Best Musical Revival). She also directed numerous productions at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where she is an ensemble member, including Saroyan's The Time of Your Life (Joseph Jefferson Award nom.) and premieres of Charles L. Mee's Berlin Cycle and Time to Burn. She also directed Miracle Brothers at the Vineyard Theatre; Mee's Trojan Women: A Love Story and Orestes both with En Garde Arts; Adam Guettel's Saturn Returns at the Public Theater; and Cloud Tectonics at Playwrights Horizons. She's currently directing Mary Rose at the Vineyard, and is also developing a musical adaptation of her play Beauty for Elephant Eye Productions with composer Jeanine Tesori.
Signature's Mee season also includes the world premiere of Queens Boulevard, the musical; and the world premiere of Paradise Park.
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