MCC Season to Include Theater Debut of Oscar Winner Jonathan Demme
MCC Theater has announced its 2009-2010 season, which will include the theatrical directing debut of Oscar winner Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs, Rachel Getting Married). Demme has signed on to helm a revised version of Pulitzer Prize winner Beth Henley’s Family Week, the third and final production in a season that has also attracted directors Joe Mantello (Wicked, 9 to 5, Take Me Out, Blackbird) and Will Frears (Omnium Gatherum, the forthcoming movie Coach). No casting has been set.
The lineup of plays, all of which will be produced off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, is as follows:
Still Life by Alexander Dinelaris, directed by Will Frears
September 16–November 1, 2009
This world premiere centers on rising photographer Carrie Ann, who inexplicably shuts down at the pinnacle of her career. Her sudden descent is interrupted by a whirlwind romance with Jeff, a trend analyst who becomes determined to help her move on, even while facing his own dark future.
The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell, directed by Joe Mantello
January 27-March 14, 2010
In the American premiere of a play that was a hit at London’s Royal Court Theatre, Oliver, Philip and Sylvia are caught in a kind of erotic time warp. Their complex love triangle, replete with conflicting loyalties and passions, jumps from 1958 to the present and back in a maelstrom of fantasy, repression and rebellion.
Family Week by Beth Henley, directed by Jonathan Demme
April 7-May 23, 2010
In this revised version of Henley’s 2000 play (produced off-Broadway the Century Theatre in a production that starred Carol Kane), Claire checks into a recovery center in the desert a year after the death of her son, searching for a way to cope. When her mother, daughter and sister arrive to participate in “family week,” long-dormant traumas collide with recent tragedies in surprisingly comical, shocking and moving ways. (Fun fact: Henley played a character called "Bible Pusher" in Demme's 1984 film Swing Shift.)
MCC is currently presenting the new musical Coraline, the final production in a season that also saw the Broadway transfer of its mounting of Neil LaBute's Reasons to be Pretty.