Blythe Danner’s Broadway Return & Three World Premieres on Tap at MTC Next Season

Tony winner Blythe Danner and world premiere works from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights Donald Margulies and David Auburn are set for Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2014-2015 season.

Danner, who won a Tony Award for her Broadway debut in Butterflies Are Free in 1970 and most recently appeared on stage in MTC’s The Commons of Pensacola will headline Margulies’ The Country House. Danner stars as Anna Patterson, the matriarch of a brood of famous and longing-to-be-famous creative artists who have gathered at their Berkshires summerhouse during the Williamstown Theatre Festival. This should not be a stretch for Danner, who has her own real-life brood of famous artists (Hi, Gwyneth!) and has spent many summers on stage at Williamstown. Directed by Daniel Sullivan, The Country House begins Broadway performances at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on September 9 and opens on October 2.

Auburn’s new play Lost Lake, also directed by Sullivan, will play New York City Center – Stage I. The piece takes place at a lakeside rental that is a far cry from the idyllic getaway Veronica and her children so desperately need. No casting has been announced for the production, which begins on October 21 and opens on November 11.

MTC’s Stage I will also be home to the world premiere of Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s The World of Extreme Happiness. Directed by Eric Ting, this play follows Sunny, a woman determined to escape her life in rural China and forge a new identity in the city. The play will begin performances on February 3, 2015 and open on February 24.