Theater News

Cherry Jones to Return to the MTC Stage in the World Premiere of When We Were Young and Unafraid

The new play written by House of Cards’ Sarah Treem will enter MTC’s 2013-14 season lineup.

Cherry Jones
Cherry Jones
(© Tristan Fuge)

Two-time Tony Award winner Cherry Jones (Mrs. Warren’s Profession) will join Manhattan Theatre Club in the world premiere of When We Were Young and Unafraid, written by Sarah Treem (House of Cards, HBO’s In Treatment). Jones is a veteran of MTC, having originated the Tony Award-winning role of Sister Aloysius in John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt at MTC — Stage I prior to its Broadway transfer.

Directed by Tony Award nominee Pam MacKinnon (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Clybourne Park), the limited engagement production is scheduled to begin previews on May 22, 2014, with an official opening set for June 17, 2014.

When We Were Young and Unafraid takes place in the early 1970s, before there was legislation that offered young women places to go in times of distress. After turning her bed-and-breakfast into an underground women’s shelter, Agnes (Cherry Jones) takes in a young runaway named Mary Anne, who begins to have a strong influence on her daughter, Penny. Agnes is eventually forced to confront her own judgments about the women to whom she has been offering shelter.

Additional members of the cast and creative team will be released shortly.