Cast Announced for Howe's Birth and After Birth at the Atlantic

Peter Benson, Jeff Binder, Kate Blumberg, Jordan Gelber and Maggie Kiley have been cast in the Atlantic Theater Company's New York premiere of Birth and After Birth by Tina Howe. Christian Parker will direct the production, which begins previews at the company's off-Broadway home on September 13.

Birth and After Birth is a wildly comic tale that explores the joys and terrors of birth and parenthood. Sandy Kiley and Bill Binder have been up all night preparing a birthday party for Nicky Gelber, their rambunctious four year-old son. Desperate to impress, Sandy and Bill frantically ready the house for their party guests, Jeffrey Benson and Mia Blumberg, childless anthropologists who study primitive children in far-flung places. The party spins out of control as each couple tries to convince the other of their social and personal superiority. Birth and After Birth was written in 1972. Over the last 30 years, it has been taught, anthologized and has had numerous secret and illegal productions. The play received its official world premiere production at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia in 1995 and was produced subsequently at Washington's Woolly Mammoth Theatre.

Howe translated Eugene Ionesco's The Bald Soprano and The Lesson for the Atlantic in 2004. Her plays include Museum, The Art of Dining, Painting Churches, Coastal Disturbances and Pride's Crossing.

Benson appeared on Broadway this season in The Pajama Game. Other Broadway credits include Wonderful Town, Cabaret, Little Me, State Fair and An American Daughter.

Binder appeared on Broadway this season in The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Other Broadway credits include The Lion King and Side Man.

Blumberg, an Atlantic company member, has appeared in its productions of Celebration and The Room, A Second Hand Memory, Writer's Block, The Hiding Place; Sexual Perversity in Chicago, The Hothouse, Wolf Lullaby, Once in a Lifetime, Dangerous Corner, Blithe Spirit and The Women.

Gelber's credits include Avenue Q the 2006 EST One-Act Marathon and workshops of Marty the Musical and Dirty Dancing the Musical.

Kiley, an Atlantic company member, has appeared in its productions of The Bald Soprano, The Lesson, The Water Engine and Frame 312.

The Atlantic's production of Birth and After Birth is scheduled to open on October 3 and run through October 29.