Eakeley, Lysy, Pressley to Join Rabe and Ruehl in American Plan

Benjamin Eakeley, Austin Lysy, and Brenda Pressley will join previously announced stars Lily Rabe and Mercedes Ruehl in Manhattan Theatre Club’s Broadway premiere of Richard Greenberg’s The American Plan, to begin performances on January 2 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The production, which will open on January 22, will be directed by David Grindley.

The play is set in an idyllic Catskills retreat in the early 1960s and focuses on an elegant and imperious German-Jewish refugee mother, her eccentric daughter, and the mysterious young man who enters their lives. Greenberg is also represented this season on Broadway by the revised libretto for the Roundabout Theatre’s production of Pal Joey. His many other works include Take Me Out, The Violet Hour, Three Days of Rain, and The Dazzle.

The creative team includes Jonathan Fensom (sets and costumes), Mark McCullough (lighting), and Darron L. West & Bray Poor (sound). Grindley received a Tony Award nomination for Journey’s End and directed the Roundabout’s revival of Pygmalion. He will direct the Roundabout’s upcoming revival of The Philanthropist starring Matthew Broderick in April.

Eakeley previously appeared on Broadway in Sweeney Todd, and additional theater credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Illyria, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Cabaret. Lysy appeared on Broadway in the 2000 revival of Macbeth and his numerous Off-Broadway credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, All That I Will Ever Be, The Water’s Edge, and Manic Flight Reaction. Pressley was part of the original Broadway company of Dreamgirls and her other Main Stem credits include Cats and The Moony Shapiro Songbook. She was most recently seen Off-Broadway in The First Breeze of Summer.

Ruehl won the Tony Award for Lost in Yonkers and received Tony nominations for The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? and The Shadow Box. Her many other credits include The Occupant, The Rose Tattoo, Woman Before a Glass, and Other People’s Money. She won the Academy Award for her role in The Fisher King. Rabe’s New York stage credits include Heartbreak House, Steel Magnolias, Crimes of the Heart, and Colder Than Here.