Martin McDonagh's A Behanding in Spokane to Premiere on Broadway

The world premiere of Martin McDonagh’s A Behanding in Spokane is set for a Broadway run. The play, directed by John Crowley, will open on the Great White Way on March 4, 2010. The date of the first preview and the theater are still to be announced.

McDonagh's first American-set play (and the first to originate on Broadway) concerns a man searching for his missing hand, two con artists out to make a few hundred bucks and an overly curious hotel clerk.

McDonagh’s Broadway plays are The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lonesome West, The Pillowman (directed by Crowley) and The Lieutenant of Inishmore, all of which received Tony nominations for Best Play. His play The Cripple of Inishmaan has been produced off-Broadway. The scribe received the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 2006 for his film Six Shooter and his most recent film, In Bruges, received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Crowley received a Tony nomination for his direction of The Pillowman, which he also directed at the National Theatre in London. His other London credits include Love Song, On an Average Day and Macbeth (West End), Tales From Hollywood, Juno and the Paycock, The Maids, How I Learned to Drive and Into the Woods (Donmar Warehouse). His films include Is Anybody There?, Boy A and the television film of Harold Pinter’s Celebration. He is currently directing Broadway's A Steady Rain, starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig.

A Behanding in Spokane is being produced by Robert Fox. An all-star cast of four is expected to be announced shortly.