Opening the new season for the Center Theatre Group's Culver City stage, the work by Douglas Steinberg will begin previews Aug. 27 and open Sept. 6 for a run through Sept. 24.
Stefan Novinski directs the new play which has already begun rehearsals with Castellaneta, Dennis Cockrum, Brian T. Finney, Joe Fria, Kelly Karbacz, Colette Kilroy and Morgan Rusler.
Artist Edward Hopper's 1942 painting — a late night glimpse into the windows at a corner diner — comes to life as "Restaurant owner and fading flower Mae, regular customer Sam, and Mae’s husband-waiter Quig ponder the identity of the diner’s new regular – the mysterious man whose back is portrayed in the famous artwork."
Castellaneta recently appeared in Los Angeles Theatre Works staging of Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men (having previously performed with the company in Lost in Yonkers, The Odd Couple and J. Edgar). He appeared last summer in the Old Globe run of Moonlight and Magnolias in San Diego and also played in the Geffen Playhouse staging of Steve Martin's The Underpants. He is known (in voice) to television audiences as the voice of Homer Simpson.
The design team for Nighthawks features Donna Marquet (set), A. Jeffrey Schoenberg (costumes) and Rand Ryan (lighting). Original music used in the production is composed by Michael Roth. Scott Harrison serves as production stage manager. The new (and third) season at the Kirk Douglas will continue its tradition of presenting world premieres with three new works (two of which are musicals) debuting at the company's youngest space. Up next will be Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter's In the Continuum (Nov. 12-Dec. 10), Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters (Jan. 14 Feb. 11, 2007), CTG and Deaf West Theatre's production of Sleeping Beauty Wakes — a new musical by Tony Award winner Rachel Sheinkin (Spelling Bee) and with GrooveLily's Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda (Striking 12) (March 31-May 13, 2007) and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet's first foray into musical theatre, A Waitress in Yellowstone (June 17 –July 15, 2007).
Tickets for Nighthawks at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd. in downtown Culver City, CA, are available by calling (213) 628-2772. For more information, visit www.KirkDouglasTheatre.org.
