MTC to Present Lorenzo Pisoni's Humor Abuse; Casting Added for Two Shows

Manhattan Theatre Club will complete its season with the addition of the world premiere of Humor Abuse, a new solo show created by Broadway.com Fresh Face Lorenzo Pisoni Equus and director Erica Schmidt. The company also announced casting details for two other upcoming shows, Samson Raphaelson’s Accent on Youth and Lynn Nottage’s Ruined.

Humor Abuse is described as the unique story of Pisoni’s upbringing as the youngest member of the Pickle Family Circus, the Bay Area’s tiny big top that launched the careers of several legendary performers, including Bill Irwin. Filled with the clowning that Pisoni learned at his father’s knee, and the wonder, heartache and complexity of stepping into and out of his father’s shoes, Humor Abuse shows that running away with the circus isn’t always all fun and games.

A limited engagement of Humor Abuse will begin at MTC’s Stage II at City Center on February 19, 2009, with opening night set for March 10. Pisoni is scheduled to end his run as Nugget, the lead horse in the Broadway revival of Equus, on February 4. He and Schmidt worked together on the Public’s production of As You Like It.

In MTC casting news, Lisa Banes Arcadia, Rumors, Mary Catherine Garrison Top Girls, Rabbit Hole, Assassins and Byron Jennings Is He Dead?, Macbeth, Heartbreak House will join previously announced stars David Hyde Pierce and Charles Kimbrough in the Broadway production of Accent on Youth. Previews begin on April 7, 2009, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, with opening night set for April 29, directed by Daniel Sullivan.

Accent on Youth is described as a rollicking salute to love’s possibilities, both on stage and off. Successful playwright Steven Gaye Pierce is about to abandon his latest script, when his young secretary Garrison offers him new inspiration. With her as his muse, he stages the show on Broadway, only to learn, to his dismay, that the show’s young leading man is being inspired by her too. Additional members of the nine-person cast will be announced in the coming weeks.

Finally, MTC confirmed that the cast of the acclaimed Chicago premiere production of Lynn Nottage’s Ruined will reprise their performances off-Broadway. Ruined, a co-production with the Goodman Theatre, is scheduled to begin previews at City Center Stage I on January 21, 2009, and will open on February 10, directed by Kate Whoriskey. The show is running through December 14 at the Goodman’s Owen Theatre.The cast will include Quincy Tyler Bernstine The Misanthrope, Cherise Boothe King Hedley II, Chris Chalk Defiance, Saidah Arrika Ekulona Well, Fabulation William Jackson Harper Queens Boulevard, Chiké Johnson The Crucible at Steppenwolf, Russell Gebert Jones Our Lady of 121st Street, Kevin Mambo The Guiding Light, Tom Mardirosian Wonderful Town, and Condola Rashad Pearl at the Kennedy Center.

Set in a small mining town in Democratic Republic of Congo, Ruined follows Mama Nadi Ekulona, a shrewd businesswoman in a land torn apart by civil war. But is she protecting or profiting by the women she shelters? How far will she go to survive? Can a price be placed on a human life?