Manhattan Theatre Club has extended the limited engagement of its world premiere production of John Patrick Shanley's Defiance for a third time. The show, directed by Doug Hughes, will now run at City Center Stage I through June 4.
Defiance is set on a United States Marine Corps base in North Carolina in 1971. Two officers, one black Chris Chalk and one white Stephen Lang, are on a collision course over race, women and the high cost of doing the right thing. In addition to Chalk and Lang, the cast includes Chris Bauer, Trevor Long, Margaret Colin and Jeremy Strong. It is the second play in a planned trilogy for Shanley, which started with Broadway's Doubt.
Defiance officially opened on February 28 to mixed reviews. In his Broadway.com Review of the play, William Stevenson wrote: "Defiance, which shares Doubt's gifted director, Doug Hughes, is also tightly written and beautifully acted. While not quite as compelling as Doubt, Shanley's latest commands attention from start to finish."