Barnes, Shannon, Sparks to Star in Wright’s Lady at Rattlestick

Michael Shannon, Paul Sparks, and David Wilson Barnes will star in the New York premiere of Craig Wright’s Lady, to be presented by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, August 28-September 28, with an opening set for September 8. Dexter Bullard will direct.

The play concerns three childhood friends, now middle aged and divided by their conflicting political attitudes, who reunite for their annual hunting trip.

The creative team will include John McDermott (sets), Tif Bullard (costumes), Nicole Pearce (lights), Eric Shim (sound), and Rick Sordelet (fight choreography).

Barnes appeared on Broadway in The Lieutenant of Inishmore and other credits include Becky Shaw and St. Crispin’s Day. Shannon has previously starred Off-Broadway in The Little Flower of East Orange and Bug. Sparks is a four-time Drama Desk Award nominee for Essential Self-Defense, Orange Flower Water, Blackbird, and Coyote on a Fence.

Wright’s plays include Orange Flower Water, The Pavilion, and Recent Tragic Events. He is well known as a screenwriter, and has written episodes for HBO’s Six Feet Under (Emmy and WGA nominations), Lost, and Brothers and Sisters. He is the creator and Executive Producer of his own series, Dirty Sexy Money. Bullard received the Lucille Lortel Award and a Drama Desk nomination for his direction of Bug.

As previously announced, Rattlestick will also present Stephen Belber’s Geometry of Fire, to be directed by Lucie Tiberghien, November 13-December 21, with an opening on November 24. Based on a true story, the play concerns an investment banker-turned-Marine-sniper recently returned from Iraq and a Saudi-American who just wants to get laid. The season will conclude with the world premiere of Sheila Callaghan’s That Pretty Pretty; or, The Rape Play, to be directed by Kip Fagan, February 11-March 15, with an opening on February 16. The play launches us into the wild subconscious of one individual struggling with his ex-girlfriend, his conscience and everything else on his mind.

For more information, visit www.rattlestick.org.