THE NIGHT ALIVE 30 November January 2014 Press Night: December

Transcription

1 PRESS RELEASE Atlantic Theater Company presents the Donmar Warehouse Production of Conor McPherson s THE NIGHT ALIVE 30 November January 2014 Press Night: December Director: Conor McPherson Designer: Soutra Gilmour Lighting Designer: Neil Austin Sound Designer: Gregory Clarke Full cast: Caoilfhionn Dunne, Brian Gleeson, Ciarán Hinds, Michael McElhatton and Jim Norton Atlantic Theater Company announce American premiere of acclaimed Donmar Warehouse production The Night Alive by Conor McPherson The full original cast of the Donmar production will reprise their roles in the New York transfer Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) is proud to announce that the final production of its season will be the American premiere of the critically acclaimed Donmar Warehouse production of The Night Alive, written and directed by Olivier Award winner and Tony Award nominee Conor McPherson. This limited nine week engagement follows a sold-out run at the Donmar Warehouse earlier this year. The Night Alive will feature the celebrated ensemble cast direct from The Donmar Warehouse production - Caoilfhionn Dunne, Brian Gleeson, Ciarán Hinds, Michael McElhatton and Tony Award winner Jim Norton. The production is designed by Soutra Gilmour, with lighting design by Neil Austin and sound design by Gregory Clarke. The Night Alive will begin previews on Saturday 30 November, with opening night on Thursday 12 December. It will then play a limited engagement until Sunday 26 January 2014, Off Broadway at Atlantic Theater Company at the Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20 th Street). Tommy s not a bad man, he s getting by. Renting a run-down room in his Uncle Maurice s house, just about keeping his ex-wife and kids at arm s length and rolling from one get-rich-quick scheme to the other with his friend Doc. Then one day he comes to the aid of Aimee, who s not had it easy herself, struggling through life the only way she knows how. Their past won t let go easily. But together there s a glimmer of hope they could make something more of their lives. Something extraordinary. Perhaps. With inimitable warmth, style and craft, Conor McPherson s latest play deftly mines the humanity to be found in the most unlikely of situations.

2 The Night Alive marks the return of Olivier Award winning and Tony Award nominated playwright Conor McPherson to Atlantic, where his plays Port Authority and Dublin Carol previously received award winning premiere productions. The acclaimed Broadway production of his play The Seafarer received four Tony Award nominations, including Best Play.He was recently represented Off Broadway with the critically hailed, extended engagement of The Weir at The Irish Repertory Theatre Company. The Night Alive received its world premiere at the Donmar Warehouse this summer. This production will mark the Donmar Warehouse s third production to open in New York this Autumn, following The Machine, a co-production with Manchester International Festival and Park Avenue Armory, New York, where it played in New York earlier this month. The Donmar Warehouse s all female production of Julius Caesar directed by Phyllida Lloyd opens in preview today October 3 at St Ann s Warehouse. For further information on Julius Caesar please contact Blake Zidell on blake@blakezidell.com. NOTES TO EDITORS CONOR MCPHERSON (Playwright / Director) most recently directed his latest play, The Night Alive, at the Donmar Warehouse, the production followed a revival of The Weir at the Donmar Warehouse (Royal Court, Duke of York s West End, Walter Kerr Theatre New York; Laurence Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics Circle, George Devine Awards); Other plays include: Rum & Vodka (Fly by Night Theatre Co. Dublin); The Good Thief (Dublin Theatre Festival; Stewart Parker Award); This Lime Tree Bower (Fly by Night Theatre Co. and Bush Theatre; Meyer-Whitworth Award); St Nicholas (Bush Theatre and Primary Stages New York); Dublin Carol (Royal Court and Atlantic Theater New York); Port Authority (Ambassadors Theatre West End, Gate Theatre Dublin and Atlantic Theater New York), Shining City (Royal Court, Gate Theatre Dublin & Manhattan Theatre Club New York; Tony Award nomination Best Play); The Seafarer (National Theatre, Abbey Theatre Dublin, Booth Theatre New York; Laurence Olivier, Evening Standard, Tony Award nominations Best Play), and The Veil (National Theatre). Theatre adaptations include Daphne du Maurier s The Birds (Gate Theatre Dublin and Guthrie Theatre Minneapolis) and August Strindberg s The Dance of Death (Donmar at Trafalgar Studios). Work for the cinema includes I Went Down, Saltwater, Samuel Beckett s Endgame, The Actors and The Eclipse. He also adapted John Banville s Elegy for April for BBC TV. Awards for his screenwriting include three Best Screenplay Awards from the Irish Film and Television Academy; The Spanish Cinema Writers Circle Best Screenplay Award; The CICAE Award for Best Film Berlin Film festival; Jury Prize San Sebastian Film Festival; and The Melies D Argent Award for Best European Film. CAOILFHIONN DUNNE (Aimee). Donmar Warehouse: The Night Alive. Other theatre credits include: King Lear, Christ Deliver Us!, The Last Days Of a Reluctant Tyrant and La Dispute (Abbey Theatre),The Veil (National Theatre, London), Pineapple and 10 Dates With Mad Mary (Calipo Theatre), Plasticine (Corcadorca), The Playboy of The Western World (Druid Theatre Company), The Sanctuary Lamp (b*spoke Theatre Company), Bent (Smock Alley Theatre), Macbeth (Siren Productions), Caligula, Dublin Fringe Festival Award nomination for Best Actress (Rough Magic Theatre Company) and The Stuff of Myth (Project Arts Centre). Radio: The Vision Service, Far Off Things, The Doping Games, No

3 Room of Angels, The Quiet Willoughbys and In Praise of Darkness (RTÉ). Television: Love/Hate III & IV (RTÉ), Vexed II (Greenlit Rights) and Little White Lie (Element Pictures). Film: Wrath of the Titans (Warner Bros. Pictures) and Corduroy (EMU Productions). BRIAN GLEESON (Kenneth). Donmar Warehouse: The Night Alive. Other theatre productions include: Romeo and Juliet at the Abbey Theatre, Stuck at Project Arts Theatre and the Druid Theatre Company s production of The Silver Tassie directed by Garry Hynes. His first movie role was in John Boorman s The Tiger s Tail in He has since gone on to appear in various film and television productions including Trouble in Paradise (2007) Single Handed (2007), The Wake Wood (2008), the popular ITV series Primeval and RTÉ s acclaimed series Love/Hate, starring Aidan Gillen and Robert Sheehan. Other film work includes The Eagle of the Ninth directed by Kevin MacDonald, and the short film Noreen, directed by his brother Domhnall and also starring his father Brendan Gleeson, which won the Best Short Film Award in the Galway Film Fleadh. Recently he appeared as the dwarf Gus in Rupert Sanders Snow White and the Huntsman. Summer 2012 saw Brian film Wiebke Von Carolsfeld s Stay, starring Aidan Quinn, as well as Ronan and Rob Burke s Standby, co-starring Jessica Paré, in which he played the lead role of Alan has seen Brian cast in the television adaptation of the Benjamin Black Quirke series, in which he plays the role of Sinclair, and How To be Happy a feature directed by Mark Gaster, Michael Rob Costine and Brian O Neill, in which he plays the role of Cormac. Brian will also appear in the upcoming feature film Darkness on the Edge Town, directed by Patrick Ryan. He lives in Dublin. CIARÁN HINDS (Tommy). Donmar Warehouse: Sam Mendes Assassins and Conor McPherson s The Night Alive. Broadway theatre credits include the recent revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Patrick Marber s Closer and Conor McPherson s The Seafarer. Other theatre includes Juno & the Paycock, Burnt by the Sun, The Yalta Game, Closer (Royal National Theatre), Simpatico, Machinale, Richard III and Troilus & Cressida, directed by Sam Mendes, Edward II and Two Shakespearean Actors. For the Glasgow Citizen s Theatre he appeared in The Orphan, The Seagull, Way of the World, White Devil, Richard III, Lady from the Sea, The Plough & the Stars, Blithe Spirit, Mary Stuart, Juno & the Paycock, Webster, Don Juan and The Battlefield. Film credits include The Woman in Black, The Rite, Salvation Boulevard, John Carter of Mars, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Debt, Life During Wartime, The Eclipse, Race to Witch Mountain, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, There Will be Blood, Stop Loss, Steven Spielberg s Munich, Miami Vice, Calendar Girls, Veronica Guerin, Road to Perdition, Sum of All Fears, Weight of Water, The Lost Lover, A Time to Love, The Lost Son, Titanic Town, Oscar and Lucinda, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Circle of Friends, December Bride and Closed Circuit. Television credits include Game of Thrones, Political Animals, Linda La Plante s Above Suspicion, Rome, Broken Morning, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thursday 12 th, The Sleeper, Jayne Eyre, Ivanhoe, Tales from the Crypt, The Affair, Cold Lazarus, Persuasion, Rules of Engagement, Soldier Soldier, Prime Suspect. MICHAEL MCELHATTON (Doc). Donmar Warehouse: The Night Alive. Other theatre credits include: The Seafarer (National Theatre) Shining City (Royal Court), Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Christ Deliver Us (Abbey Theatre), An Ideal Husband (Gate Theatre), The Wexford Trilogy (Tricycle), An Enemy of the People (Young Vic), Little Malcolm and his Struggle against the Eunuchs(BAC), The Way of the World (Rough Magic). TV includes: Game of Thrones, New Worlds, The Fall, Ripper Street, Zen, Titanic: Blood and Steel, Father and Son, My Boy Jack, Single Handed, Hide and Seek, Aristocrats, Paths to Freedom, Fergus' Wedding, The Ambassador, Ice Cream Girls, Whistelblower, Rebel Heart.

4 Film: Shadow Dancer, Albert Nobbs, Death of a Superhero, Perrier's Bounty, Intermission, The Actors, Saltwater, A Tigers Tail, Blow Dry, Spin the Bottle, Crushproof, I Went Down, November Afternoon. JIM NORTON (Maurice). Donmar Warehouse: The Night Alive. Jim most recently appeared on Broadway in the musical revivals The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Finian's Rainbow. He was awarded a 2007 Olivier Award and a 2008 Tony Award for his role in Conor McPherson s The Seafarer. Other theatre includes Conor McPherson s The Weir (Olivier nomination); Juno and the Paycock, Conor McPherson s plays Dublin Carol (Obie Award) and Port Authority at the Atlantic. National Theatre credits include The Veil, The Pillowman, Hamlet, Bedroom Farce, Comedians, St. Joan, Way Upstream, Tamberlaine, Playboy of the Western World and Chorus of Disapproval. Royal Court: The Contractor and The Changing Room. Film: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Water For Elephants, Straw Dogs, Hidden Agenda, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Driving Lessons, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Oyster Farmer and The Eclipse. Television includes Frasier, Poirot, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Father playing characters as varied as Stan Laurel, Pirandello and Field Marshall Montgomery. He has recorded many audio books and the complete works of James Joyce for Naxos Audio Book (Sony Award).He is currently filming the motion picture Jimmy's Hall, directed by Ken Loach. ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) is the award winning Off-Broadway theatre that produces great plays simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble. Atlantic believes that the story of a play and the intent of its playwright are at the core of the creative process. The plays in the Atlantic repertory, from both new and established playwrights, are boldly interpreted by today s finest theatre artists and resonate with contemporary audiences. Since its inception over 28 years ago, Atlantic has produced more than 150 plays including Tony Award-winning productions of Spring Awakening and The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Martin McDonagh); world premieres of Women or Nothing, Almost an Evening, Offices and Happy Hour (Ethan Coen); The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Cripple of Inishmaan (Martin McDonagh); Body Awareness (Annie Baker); Romance (David Mamet); Through a Glass Darkly (Bergman, adapted by Jenny Worton); Farragut North (Beau Willimon); Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling (Adam Rapp); Bluebird and Harper Regan (Simon Stephens); What Rhymes With America (Melissa James Gibson); The Lying Lesson (Craig Lucas); 3 Kinds of Exile (John Guare); Storefront Church (John Patrick Shanley); Blue/Orange (Joe Penhall); Port Authority and Dublin Carol (Conor McPherson); Writer s Block (Woody Allen); American Buffalo and Edmond (David Mamet); The Cider House Rules (adapted by Peter Parnell); Good Television (Rod McLachlan); Celebration & The Room, The Collection & A Kind of Alaska and The Hothouse (Harold Pinter); Gabriel (Moira Buffini); Oohrah! (Bekah Brunstetter); Mojo, Parlour Song (Jez Butterworth); Boys Life and The Lights (Howard Korder); Distant Fires (Kevin Heelan); Missing Persons (Craig Lucas). Atlantic has garnered 12 Tony Awards, 12 Lucille Lortel Awards, 15 Obie Awards, seven Drama Desk Awards, five Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Drama League Awards. Atlantic also operates The Atlantic Theater Company Acting School, which has an undergraduate program in conjunction with NYU, as well as a two-year professional acting program and a six-week intensive workshop every summer. Atlantic for Kids and the Educational Outreach Program partners with schools and teachers throughout the greater metropolitan area coordinating in-school visits of teaching artists and posttheatre talkbacks.

5 THE DONMAR WAREHOUSE (Josie Rourke, Artistic Director; Kate Pakenham, Executive Producer) is a 250-seat not-for-profit theatre located in the heart of London s West End. Since 2012, it has been led by Josie Rourke, who follows Sam Mendes and Michael Grandage as Artistic Director. Over the past 22 years it has built a reputation for artistic excellence as one of London s leading producing theatres. The Donmar works with the industry s finest creative artists to present an unparalleled programme of award-winning theatre; it has presented some of London s most memorable theatrical experiences, and has garnered critical acclaim at home and abroad. The theatre s diverse artistic policy encompasses new work, bold re-imaginings of classics and innovative revivals of contemporary British, Irish and American drama. Since 1992 Donmar productions have received 43 Olivier Awards, 26 Critic s Circle Awards, 25 Evening Standard Awards, as well as 20 Tony Awards for ten Broadway productions. The Donmar Warehouse has produced Conor McPherson s work previously, including his adaptation of Strindberg s The Dance of Death which premiered as part of the Donmar Warehouse s Trafalgar Season in December 2012, and Josie Rourke s critically acclaimed production of The Weir, which will transfer to the Wyndham s Theatre in London s West End for 12 weeks from January 16, LISTINGS INFORMATION ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY AT THE LINDA GROSS THEATER is located at 336 West 20 th Street (between 8 th & 9 th Avenues). Tickets are now on sale to Atlantic Members only. The Night Alive will go on sale to the general public on Monday, October 14. See below for ticket and membership information. All tickets are $65.00 and available by calling OvationTix ( ), visiting the Atlantic Stage 2 box office at 330 West 16 th Street, or going online at Atlantic Members pay $35 per ticket for all Mainstage and Stage 2 productions. Members may book by contacting OvationTix, visiting the Atlantic Stage 2 box office, or going online to atlantictheater.org. For information on Atlantic Theater Company membership, group sales or other inquiries, please contact the Membership Department: or membership@atlantictheater.org Press Office Contacts Chris Boneau, Joe Perrotta, Kelly Guiod ( ) jperrotta@bbbway.com, kguiod@bbbway.com UK Press Office Contacts Ben Chamberlain, Rebecca Storey ( ) ben@thecornershoppr.com, rebecca@thecornershoppr.com