Translations Replaces The Country Girl in MTC’s Season

A new production of Brian Friel’s Translations has been added to Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2006-2007 Broadway season at the Biltmore Theatre. The show will begin performances on January 4 and is slated to open officially on January 25; it replaces the previously announced revival of Clifford Odets’ The Country Girl, which MTC has now announced it will present during the 2007-2008 season.

Translations is a co-production with the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, where it will run October 8-29. The show will be directed by Garry Hynes, who won a Tony Award for her work on The Beauty Queen of Leenane and most recently directed the Lincoln Center Festival production of DruidSynge. It will feature set and costume design by Francis O’Connor, lighting design by Davy Cunningham, sound design by John Leonard, and music by Sam Jackson. No casting has yet been announced.

MTC presented the American premiere of Translations in 1981, with an ensemble cast including Barnard Hughes, Jarlath Conroy, Valarie Mahaffey, and Daniel Gerroll. The play concerns the clash of cultures and the tragedies of miscommunication in the fictional Irish county of Ballybeg. Friel’s other works for the stage include Dancing at Lughnasa, Aristocrats, Molly Sweeney, and Faith Healer.