David Auburn to Helm Michael Weller’s Side Effects at MCC Theatre

Pulitzer and Tony-winning playwright David Auburn will direct the world premiere of Michael Weller’s Side Effects for MCC Theatre, the third and final production of the company’s 25th anniversary season. Performances will begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on May 12, 2011, with an official opening on May 31. Casting for the show has yet to be announced.

Auburn penned the Broadway smash Proof, for which he won a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Other works include An Upset, Amateurs and The Journals of Mihail Sebastian. As previously announced, his adaptation of Langdon Mitchell’s The New York Idea will begin performances at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on January 6, 2011, produced by Atlantic Theater Company. His recent directing credits include A Delicate Balance and Zayd Dohrn's Sick at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, as well as work at the Juilliard School and Lincoln Center Director's Lab.

A follow-up to Weller’s 2008 MCC hit Fifty Words, Side Effects is the story of what happened on the other end of the line during a dramatic phone call at the culmination of the earlier play. Hugh and Lindy's marriage seems picture-perfect, a beacon in their microcosmic Midwestern world of dinner parties and fundraisers. Behind closed doors they’re falling apart. Lindy’s grappling with bipolar swings, their teenage sons are acting out, and Hugh’s rising political star is suddenly imperiled.