Tim and Tyne Daly to Star in Theresa Rebeck's Downstairs Off-Broadway

Primary Stages has announced complete casting for the first two productions of its 2018-19 season: A.R. Gurney's Final Follies (September 12-October 21) and Theresa Rebeck's Downstairs (November 7-December 22). All performances will take place at the Cherry Lane Theatre.

Directed by David Saint, the cast of Final Follies will feature Betsy Aidem (All the Way), Colin Hanlon (In Transit), Mark Junek (The Hairy Ape), Piter Marek (Cyrano de Bergerac), Greg Mullavey (Clever Little Lies), Rachel Nicks (War), and Deborah Rush (Orange Is the New Black). The creative team will include scenic design by James Youmans, costume design by David Murin, lighting design by Cory Pattak, sound design by Scott Killian, and casting by Stephanie Klapper Casting.

Final Follies is a uniquely curated selection of three one-act plays by Gurney, who passed away in June 2017. The plays specifically chosen for this special engagement include: The Love Course, an observation of the culminating meeting of an undergraduate romantic literature course, co-taught by two of academia's most eccentric professors; The Rape of Bunny Stuntz, an enigmatic story of an overburdened woman anxiously trying to keep her personal life from the throes of chaos while leading a rowdy community meeting; and the titular Final Follies, the last chapter in Gurney's oeuvre of short plays examining WASP life in America, about a forlorn Manhattanite searching for the key to adulthood in the most truly, and literally, adult place imaginable.

Downstairs, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, will feature a cast that includes Tony and Emmy Award winner Tyne Daly (Gypsy) as Irene, Emmy nominee Tim Daly (Wings) as Teddy, and John Procaccino (Our Lady of 121st Street) as Gerry. The creative team will include scenic design by Narelle Sissons, costume design by Sarah Laux, lighting design by Michael Giannitti, and sound design by M.L. Dogg.

In Downstairs, Teddy is a bit lost and has found himself staying in his older sister Irene's unfinished basement, which has infuriated her husband Gerry. As Irene and Teddy (real-life siblings Tyne and Tim Daly) struggle with this less-than-ideal living arrangement, they quickly find themselves grappling with the burden of their family's troublesome history. While trying to mend the past, the pair unearths a foreboding danger threatening to break the perilously thin bonds holding them together.

The Primary Stages 2018-19 season will continue with God Said This, written by Leah Nanako Winkler; and Little Women, written by Kate Hamill and based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott.