Legendary Director Garry Marshall Will Helm Mike Bencivenga's Billy & Ray Off-Broadway

Renowned director/writer/producer Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman, Beaches) will direct the New York debut of Mike Bencivenga's Billy & Ray off-Broadway. Kicking off the 32nd season of the Vineyard Theatre, performances will begin on October 2 with opening night scheduled for October 20 at The Vineyard. Casting and further creative team will be announced later.

The comedy charts the birth of the film noir genre and follows literary odd couple writer-director Billy Wilder and novelist Raymond Chandler as they contentiously collaborate to adapt Double Indemnity for the silver screen. Set in 1940's Hollywood, Billy & Ray is the true story of how two brilliant and thorny artists battled the Hollywood censors and each other to create a groundbreaking movie classic.

Marshall directed the play’s acclaimed world premiere in the spring of 2013 at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, California. Bencivenga is a writer and director of theater and film. His full length plays include Single Bullet Theory, Couplets, Summer on Fire and Bad Hearts.

As previously announced, in the winter of 2015, Vineyard Theatre will produce the world-premiere musical Brooklynite helmed by Tony-winning director Michael Mayer and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Gloria.