MCC's New Season Offers Works by Wade, Berger & LaBute

MCC Theater has announced its 2005-2006 season at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. It will begin with Laura Wade's Colder Than Here, followed by Glen Berger's The Wooden Breeks and the world premiere of Neil LaBute's Swallowing Bicycles.

Colder Than Here centers on of Myra, a dying woman who sets out to plan the perfect funeral for herself. As she researches burial spots and biodegradable coffins, her family is finally forced to communicate with her, and each other, as they face up to an unpredictable future. This mounting of Colder Than Here, which is scheduled to run from September 7 through October 15, will be directed by Abigail Morris, who helmed a production of the play at the Soho Theatre in London in February.

The Wooden Breeks is scheduled to run from February 2 through March 11. Set in the faraway mythical, fantastical, miserable village of Brood, this play contains a cast of dreamers, schemers and various sets of would-be lovers. It unfolds as a hearthside story told by a cynical tinker to a much-abused orphan boy, who both find themselves audience and participants in the tale's telling.

Swallowing Bicycles reunites MCC with LaBute and director Jo Bonney, who successfully collaborated this season on the popular Fat Pig. It centers on Joe Smith, who lives a seemingly perfect life. But, as in all LaBute plays, anything that seems perfect is way too good to be true. Swallowing Bicycles, which will run from May 17 through June 24, looks at the things we cling to in life--family, security, love--and examines how far we'll go to hang on to what we've got.

MCC recently completed its 2004-2005 season with What of the Night, starring Jane Alexander.