The Village Bike, Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Hand to God Added to MCC Theater’s 2013-2014 Season

Oscar nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart, The Dark Knight) is joining MCC Theater’s previously announced 2013-2014 season. Gyllenhaal will lead Sam Gold’s production of Penelope Skinner’s award-winning play The Village Bike in the spring. Rounding out the four-show season at MCC is the off-Broadway premiere of Robert Askins’ Hand to God, starring Steven Boyer (Modern Terrorism, The Wolf of Wall Street).

In The Village Bike, Becky (Gyllenhaal) is pregnant – and friskier than ever. But she can’t seem to get the attention of her husband, who is preoccupied with preparing for the baby’s months-away arrival. So Becky takes matters into her own hands and sets out on an adventure that starts with the purchase of a used bike from a man in town and takes her further than she ever expected she’d go. The North American premiere will run at the Lucille Lortel beginning May 21 and opening June 9.

In Hand to God, the good children of Cypress, Texas are taught to obey the Bible in order to evade Satan’s hand. But when students at the Christian Puppet Ministry put those teachings into practice, one devout young man's foul-mouthed sock puppet named Tyrone takes on a shocking personality that no one could have expected; and soon Tyrone teaches those around him that the urges that can drive a person to give in to their darkest desires fit like a glove. Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Hand to God runs at the Lortel beginning February 20, with an official opening on March 11.

Gyllenhaal received an Oscar nomination for her work in Crazy Heart. Her additional film credits include Secretary, Away We Go, Happy Endings, Donnie Darko, Adaptation, Stranger Than Fiction, Mona Lisa Smile and White House Down. Her stage credits include Three Sisters, Closer, Anthony and Cleopatra, Homebody/Kabul and Uncle Vanya.

Boyer appeared on Broadway in I’m Not Rappaport and Off-Broadway in The Explorers Club, Modern Terrorism, Hand to God (OBIE Award), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Ugly One, School for Lies, The Coward and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at The Public. His screen credits include The Wolf of Wall Street, Louie, Person of Interest, Did You Hear About The Morgans? and The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best.

The Village Bike premiered in 2011 to sold-out crowds at the Royal Court Theatre in London and won Skinner the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright and the 2011 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright. Hand to God originally debuted to critical acclaim at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in December 2011, and extended into 2012.