Christopher Fitzgerald, Michael Cristofer and More Sign On for MCC’s 2012-2013 Season

MCC Theater has announced casting for Don’t Go Gentle and Small Engine Repair, two of the three plays in the company's upcoming 2012-13 mainstage season. Casting for the third show, Really Really, will be announced in the coming weeks. The 27th season will kick off at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on September 27 with the world premiere of Stephen Belber’s Don’t Go Gentle.

Directed by Lucie Tiberghian, Don’t Go Gentle will star Michael Cristofer (Smash, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide…), David Wilson Barnes (The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Becky Shaw), Angela Lewis (Rapture, Blister, Burn), Jennifer Mudge (The Philanthropist) and newcomer Maxx Brawer.

The play follows Judge Lawrence Driver, a conservative powerhouse on the bench, but a failure at home. Now retired, widowed, and seeking redemption, Lawrence volunteers to do pro bono legal work with Tanya, a vulnerable ex-con with a troubled teenage son, while working to repair the increasingly complicated relationships with his own adult children. When his newfound generosity is perceived as condescension, Lawrence runs the risk of losing everything. Don’t Go Gentle will run through November 4.

Two-time Tony nominee Christopher Fitzgerald (Finian’s Rainbow; Young Frankenstein) will join previously announced stars Jon Bernthal and John Pollono in the New York premiere of Pollono’s Small Engine Repair. Frank, Swaino and Packie, buddies since high school, now past their prime, meet off-hours in Frank’s out-of-the-way repair shop under cloudy circumstances that only Frank has a handle on. Enter Chad, a plugged-in preppy college jock, whose arrival ignites an explosion of long-simmering resentment and rage in this taut, twisty, comic thriller. Small Engine Repair will play the Lucille Lortel Theatre from May 16 through June 23, 2013, directed by Jo Bonney.