Cannavale and Pill to Star on Broadway in Theresa Rebeck's Mauritius

Prolific playwright Theresa Rebeck will get her Broadway debut in the fall: Manhattan Theatre Club has announced that its first production of the 2007-2008 season will be Rebeck's Mauritius, starring Bobby Cannavale and Alison Pill. The play will begin previews at the Biltmore Theatre on September 13 and open on October 4, directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes Doubt, Inherit The Wind.

Mauritius is described as a tightly woven, sinister comedy. Jackie Alison Pill and Mary are half-sisters whose mother's death leaves them in possession of a rare stamp collection. But which sister actually owns the stamps? Which of three dealers can be trusted with their sale? And where do we choose to live: the present or the past?

Rebeck is the author of The Scene, which was produced in January 2007 by Second Stage in a production starring Tony Shalhoub and Patricia Heaton and The Water's Edge, produced in the summer of 2006 by the same off-Broadway company in a production starring Kate Burton and Tony Goldwyn. Her other plays include Bad Dates and Omnium Gatherum, for which Rebeck and co-author Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Cannavale will be making his Broadway debut in Mauritius. His off-Broadway credits include the New Group's revival of Hurlyburly and Suzan Lori Parks' Fucking A at the Public Theater. Cannavale received a 2005 Emmy Award for his recurring role as Vince D'Angelo, Will Truman's boyfriend on Will & Grace. His many film credits include 10 Items or Less, Snakes On a Plane, Fast Food Nation, The Night Listener, Happy Endings, Shall We Dance, The Station Agent, Washington Heights, The Bone Collector, The Postman and the film version of I'm Not Rappaport. His upcoming film projects include Brief Interviews with Hideous Men for director John Krasinski, Diminshed Capacity for director Terry Kinney, and the thriller 100 Feet opposite Famke Janssen.

Pill is currently starring in MTC's acclaimed off-Broadway production of David Harrower's Blackbird opposite Jeff Daniels, for which she received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination. She received a 2006 Tony Award nomination for her performance in Martin McDonough's The Lieutenant of Inishmore and a Lucille Lortel Award for her role in Christopher Shinn's On the Mountain at Playwrights' Horizons. In 2004, Pill was part of the Drama Desk-winning ensemble cast of Neil LaBute's The Distance From Here at MCC and starred in the off-Broadway production of None of the Above. Her films include Pieces of April, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and the upcoming Dan in Real Life with Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche and Dear Wendy opposite Jamie Bell.

Mauritius is a co-production with the Huntington Theatre Company, which recently received the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Production for the world premiere production of the play. The Broadway creative team will include John Lee Beatty Scenic Design, Catherine Zuber Costume Design, and David Van Tieghem Original Music and Sound Design. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.