LCT to Present A.R. Gurney's The Grand Manner

Lincoln Center Theater will present the world premiere of A. R. Gurney’s new play The Grand Manner in the spring of 2010 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Performances will begin on May 27, with opening night set for June 24, directed by Mark Lamos.

In 1948, Gurney, then a young boarding school student, traveled to New York where he attended a performance of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, going backstage afterwards to meet the production’s star, Katharine Cornell, who was dubbed “the First Lady of the American Stage” by critic Alexander Woollcott. A mix of remembrance and imagination, The Grand Manner is described as a love letter to this fabled actress and a heartfelt look back at the glorious heyday of Broadway theater.

Casting and designers for the play will be announced at a later date.

Gurney’s many plays include Far East, Ancestral Voices and Big Bill, all produced by Lincoln Center Theater, as well as Love Letters, The Cocktail Hour, The Dining Room, Indian Blood, Buffalo Gal, The Middle Ages and Mrs. Farnsworth.