Full Casting Announced for MTC’s The American Plan
Full casting has been announced for the Manhattan Theatre Club’s upcoming Broadway premiere of Richard Greenberg’s The American Plan. Previously announced stars Lily Rabe and Mercedes Ruehl will be joined by Benjamin Eakeley, Austin Lysy, and Brenda Pressley. The play begin previews on January 2 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and opens for a limited-engagement run January 22, directed by David Grindley Journey’s End.
First produced off-Broadway by MTC in 1990, The American Plan tells the story Lili Adler Rabe and her mother Eva Ruehl, who, in the early 60s, spend a summer in the Catskill Mountains, across the lake from a bustling resort hotel. When a handsome young stranger Eakeley enters their world, the emotionally fragile Lili finds herself falling in love. But once her imperious mother learns of their relationship, lies are exposed, alliances are forged and Lili's one chance to escape Eva’s control may be lost forever.
Eakeley made his Broadway debut as a standby in John Doyle’s revival of Sweeney Todd, then played the Beadle in the 2007-08 national tour. Other theater credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Illyria and Love’s Labour’s Lost at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, as well as the national tour of Cabaret. On film and television, he’s appeared in The Good Shepherd, As the World Turns and the upcoming An Englishman in New York.
Lysy appeared on Broadway in the 2000 production of Macbeth. Off-Broadway he’s appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream Public-NYSF, All That I Will Ever Be NYTW, The Water's Edge Second Stage, Manic Flight Reaction, Other People Playwrights Horizons and Hobson's Choice Atlantic. His other New York credits include The Fall Toad Productions/Singularity, Hunter for Hunter Green Singularity, as well as regional productions of The Violet Hour, Romeo & Juliet, The Water's Edge, The Chekhov Cycle, Loot, Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Butley and Hay Fever. His film and TV credits include Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order, Gossip Girl, Six Degrees, Hack, Everybody's Fine, Poster Boy, Hitch, Brooklyn Lobster, and Perfume.
Pressley recently appeared in the off-Broadway revival of The First Breeze of Summer. She was in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls, Cats and The Moony Shapiro Songbook. Off-Broadway credits include Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles?, Seven Guitars, Fran’s Bed, Goodwill, Marvin’s Room, And the World Goes Round: The Songs of Kander and Ebb and Blues in the Night. Regional credits include The Old Settler, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Jar the Floor, A Raisin in the Sun and To Be Young Gifted and Black. Film and TV credits include 16 Blocks, Cradle Will Rock, Twisted, It Could Happen to You, Law & Order, Deadline, Law & Order: SVU, New York Undercover, and Brewster’s Place with Oprah Winfrey.
The creative team for The American Plan includes Jonathan Fensom scenic and costume design, Mark McCullough lighting design, Darron L West & Bray Poor sound design, and Tom Watson wig design.