Manhattan Theatre Club Sets New Dates for Lackawanna Blues, How I Learned to Drive, Skeleton Crew & More

Manhattan Theatre Club has given an update for its 2021-2022 season. Full casting for all productions will be announced at a later date.

Tony winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s Lackawanna Blues will have its Broadway debut at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre with performances beginning on September 14 and opening night on September 28. Written, performed and directed by Santiago-Hudson, the previously announced solo show features original music by Bill Sims Jr. performed on stage by Grammy Award-nominated blues guitarist Junior Mack as Santiago-Hudson embodies more than 20 characters. Lackawanna Blues is set in a 1950s boarding house outside Buffalo, as Miss Rachel opens her doors to anyone and everyone in need of kindness, hope, compassion and care.

In the spring of 2022, the Broadway premiere of How I Learned to Drive will bow at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Starring Tony Award winner Mary-Louise Parker, Tony Award nominee David Morse and Johanna Day, the 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning play is written by Paula Vogel and directed by Mark Brokaw. The production was delayed from its original April 2020 opening due to the COVID-19 pandemic. How I Learned to Drive explores the complex relationship between Li'l Bit (Parker) and Uncle Peck (Morse), as a series of driving lessons progresses from innocence to something much darker. In addition to winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the play was honored with the Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Drama Critics' Circle and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Play.

Dominique Morisseau's Skeleton Crew will have its Broadway premiere at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in the winter of 2022. Santiago-Hudson will direct the production that takes place at the start of the Great Recession as one of the last auto stamping plants in Detroit is on shaky ground. The workers have to make choices about how to move forward if their plant goes under.

Off-Broadway, MTC will present the world premiere of Morning Sun at at New York City Center – Stage I beginning October 12 with opening night set for November 3. Written by current Tony nominee Simon Stephens and directed by Lila Neugebauer, Morning Sun will star Tony winner Blair Brown, Emmy winner Edie Falco and Tony nominee Marin Ireland. The new play is set in Greenwich Village a generation or so ago and as 50 years pass, one woman's life is revealed in all its complexity, mystery and possibility in this enthralling world premiere about mothers and daughters, beginnings and endings in New York City.

Joshua Harmon's Prayer For The French Republic will have its world premiere, directed by Tony winner David Cromer, at off-Broadway's New York City Center – Stage I in winter 2022. In spring 2022, the American premiere of Golden Shield, written by Anchuli Felicia King and directed by Obie Award winner Danya Taymor, will play at off-Broadway at New York City Center – Stage I.