Mamet, McDonagh and More Announced for Mark Taper Forum 2010 Season

Director Neil Pepe’s revival of David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow, which opened on Broadway in October 2008, will hit the West Coast as part of the Center Theater Group’s Mark Taper Forum 2010 season. Also on the schedule are works by Tennesse Williams, Academy Award winner Martin McDonagh and Ravjiv Joseph as well as the world premiere of a new musical featuring the work of “one of the greatest living singer-songwriters.” Casting for the productions, as well as details on the new musical, will be announced at a later date.

Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow kicks off the season, beginning performances February 10, 2010, and running through March 21. Pepe’s Speed-the-Plow became infamous during Broadway’s 2008-2009 season when original star Jeremy Piven unexpectedly exited the production, which also starred Raul Esparza and Elisabeth Moss, due to health problems.

Joseph’s play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo will follow, directed by Moises Kaufman. The play, about homesick soldiers in tormented Iraq, begins performances April 14 and runs through May 30.

Playwright McDonagh, Broadway-bound with the upcoming A Behanding in Spokane, will see his black comedy The Lietenant of Inishmore take the stage June 30 through August 8. The violent satire about the murder of a cat belonging to an Irish Liberation Army officer will be directed by Wilson Milam.

Two-time Tony Award winner Judith Ivey will star in the Taper’s revival of Williams’ famed The Glass Menagerie in a production directed by Gordon Edelstein, which is also slated to play the Roundabout Theatre Company’s off-Broadway season in Spring of 2010. The classic show about the decline of southern belle Amanda Wingfield and her family begins September 1, 2010, and runs through October 17.

The Taper finishes its season with “An Epic American Musical Adventure” to play November 10 through December 19, 2010. An as-yet-to-be-named “Tony Award winning director” will helm the musical featuring tunes by an American songwriting legend.

Additional details about all productions will be announced shortly.