Theater News

David Hyde Pierce to Star in MTC’s Accent on Youth, Additional Details Announced for MTC 2008-2009 Season

David Hyde Pierce
(© Joseph Marzullo/WENN)
David Hyde Pierce
(© Joseph Marzullo/WENN)

Manhattan Theatre Club has announced two additional shows for its 2008-2009 season.

Tony and Emmy Award winner David Hyde Pierce will star in Samson Raphaelson’s Accent on Youth, to be directed by Daniel Sullivan. In the play, successful playwright Stephen Gaye (Pierce) is about to abandon his latest script, when his young secretary offers him new inspiration. With her as his muse, he stages the show on Broadway, only to learn, to his dismay, that the show’s young leading man is being inspired by her too. The show, which will bow in April, will play MTC’s Broadway Theater, currently called the Biltmore, but soon to be renamed the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

Off-Broadway, On MTC’s New York City Center – Stage II, will be the New York premiere of Itamar Moses’ Back Back Back, to be directed by Daniel Aukin in the fall. The play follows the turbulent careers of three very different teammates in baseball’s steroid era whose clubhouse secrets bring them under federal scrutiny.

As previously announced, Casey Nicholaw will direct the world premiere of To Be Or Not to Be, written by Nick Whitby, based on the film of the same name, to play the Friedman, beginning September 11, The black comedy is set in 1939 Warsaw, and involves a theatrical troupe facing desperate times who are recruited to help catch a spy. Nicholaw directed and choregraphed The Drowsy Chaperone and did the choreography for Monty Python’s Spamalot.

Also playing the Friedman will be Richard Greenberg’s The American Plan, to be directed by David Grindley with performances beginning January 2, and an opening set for January 22. First presented by MTC in 1990, the play is set in the Catskill Mountains in the early 1960s and follows a mother and daughter whose summer idyll is interrupted by a handsome young stranger. Grindley directed the recent Broadway productions of Journey’s End and Pygmalion.

On MTC’s New York City Center – Stage I, will be the world premiere musical Romantic Poetry, featuring music by Tony-nominated composer Henry Krieger and book, lyrics, and direction by Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley, beginning on October 1. This musical romance features a range of characters including a newlywed whose exes don’t approve of her marriage, a dishwasher poet after a married woman, and a woman scaling a fire escape with amorous erotic intent.

The world premiere of Obie winner Lynn Nottage’s Ruined, to be directed by Kate Whoriskey, will begin on January 21, with an opening on February 10. This co-production with Chicago’s Goodman Theatre is set in a small mining town in Democratic Republic of Congo, and follows a shrewd businesswoman in a land torn apart by civil war.

In addition, MTC’s season will also feature a second production at New York City Center – Stage II, to be announced at a later date.

For more information, visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.