Season brochures have gone out from Manhattan Theatre Club, with subscribers offered new plays by Terrence McNally, August Wilson and Richard Greenberg as incentives to sign on for the 1997-98 season.
Shows at MTC are staged on the theatre's large, proscenium mainstage and its 3-sided Stage II (for more intimate/experimental works). Both stages are located in the company's City Center home on West 55th St.
Here's the line-up so far:
Three Days Of Rain
From the author of Eastern Standard and The American Plan. Richard Greenberg's romantic comedy starts with a brother and sister's search for information about their parents' younger lives. Directed by Evan Yanoulis and starring Dylan Baker, Patricia Clarkson and John Slattery, Rain begins previews Oct. 21 and opens Nov. 11.
Corpus Christi
Terrence McNally's latest, to be directed by Joe Mantello, who staged the Tony-winning Love! Valour! Compassion!. The new play, postponed from the 1996-97 season, is set in Corpus Christi, TX, which is McNally's home town. This will be McNally's ninth work staged at Manhattan Theatre Club.
Jitney
August Wilson's continuation of his cycle of plays tracing African Americans through the decades of this century. Jitney takes place in 1971 at a Pittsburgh gypsy cab station and follows three generations of black men struggling to survive. Wilson's other works include The Piano Lesson and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Jitney, which was written before those more famous plays, was among Wilson's first attempts at playwriting, and will be getting its first fully-staged production in New York.
Captains Courageous
Continuing in the tradition of bringing literary classics to musical theatre (Jekyll & Hyde, Jane Eyre), this new musical is based on Rudyard Kipling's adventure novel of a young boy on the high seas. Frederick Freyer composed the music, and Patrick Cook wrote the book and lyrics for this story of Harvey Cheyne, spoiled son of a wealthy industrialist, who falls overboard and is rescued by working-class Portuguese sailors. The musical was presented previously at Goodspeed Opera House's Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, CT. Mandy Patinkin has said he's interested in starring. In the Stage II space, Anne Galjour's solo look at life in her native Louisiana bayou, Alligator Tales, begins previews Oct. 7 and opens Oct. 28.
No plays have yet been mentioned for MTC's Second Stage season. A subscription consists of all four plays on the mainstage plus one of the Stage II works. The theatre currently boasts over 20,000 subscribers.
For subscriptions ($185-$200) and information on Manhattan Theatre Club's upcoming season call (212) 645-5848 or check out their website at http://www.mtc-nyc.org
--By David Lefkowitz
