Primary Stages 2009 - 2010 season directors announced

Primary Stages have announce the addition of two directors to the 25th Anniversary Season celebrating the works of female playwrights: Pam MacKinnon will helm the world premiere production of A Lifetime Burning by Cusi Cram and Tony Award-winner Daniel Sullivan will stage the New York premiere of Charlayne Woodard�s solo performance piece, Night Watcher.

They join previously announced Liz Diamond who is set to direct Happy Now? by Lucinda Coxon later in the season.

Primary Stages 2009 - 2010 season of three productions, at 59E59 Theaters, include one world premiere and two New York premieres. The 25th anniversary season offers 3 new works celebrating female playwrights: A Lifetime Burning by Cusi Cram; Night Watcher by Charlayne Woodard; Happy Now? by Lucinda Coxon.

Primary Stages 2009 - 2010 season:

A Lifetime Burning by Cusi Cram. (World premiere)
Director: Pam MacKinnon
Cast: TBA
Synopsis: Trust fund darling Emma imagines what her life would have been like had she come from a less privileged background. Trouble is, she chronicles her alternate life in a new tell-all 'memoir' that was sold for a hefty advance. When Emma is exposed, will her sister, Tess, stand by her? Or will Emma�s deceit destroy their already fractured relationship? This dark comedy brings up questions of legacy, loyalty and what it means to belong.

Previews: 28 Jul 2009
Opens: 11 Aug 2009
Closes: 5 Sep 2009

Cusi Cram�s work has been produced across the country at theaters such as Barrington Stage, The Public Theater and South Coast Rep. Her plays have been produced by LAByrinth Theater Company (All the Bad Things), The Denver Theater Center (Dusty and the Big Bad World), The Williamstown Theater Festival (Lucy and the Conquest), and Barrington Stage (Fuente). Cram has also received three Emmy award nominations for her writing on the animated children�s program �Arthur�.

�Primary Stages has had the honor of presenting the earlier works of many gifted playwrights including Donald Margulies, Conor McPherson and John Patrick Shanley,� said Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director. �We are thrilled to present this world premiere production.�

Director Pam MacKinnon's Off-Broadway credits include 'Edward Albee's Occupant' (Signature Theatre Company), 'The Four of Us' (MTC), 'Peter and Jerry' (Secod Stage Theatre), 'All the Wrong Reasons' (NYTW) and 'Bach at Leipzig.' (NYTW).

The Night Watcher by Charlayne Woodard (New York premiere)
Director: Daniel Sullivan
Cast: Charlayne Woodard.
Synopsis: Simultaneously a best friend, advisor, confidant and sage to the many young people who call her 'Auntie,' Charlayne Woodard is childless only by biological standards. Told with penetrating grace and candor, Woodard beautifully weaves together stories of the ordinary and extraordinary ways she�s mentored the children in her life.

Previews: 22 Sep 2009
Opens: 6 Oct 2009
Closes: 31 Oct 2009

Woodard�s first solo play, 'Pretty Fire,' was produced at Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC). 'Pretty Fire' received LA Drama Critics and NAACP awards for best play and best playwright. Her second solo play, 'Neat,' was developed at Seattle Repertory Theatre. At MTC, 'Neat' received the Blanche and Irving Laurie Theatre Vision Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination. Her third solo play, 'In Real Life,' was commissioned by Center Theatre Group and Seattle Repertory Theatre, and was developed at the Sundance Theatre Lab. At MTC, Woodard was nominated for Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for best solo performance.

Director Daniel Sullivan is currently represented on Broadway with his helmship of 'Accent on Youth,' and Off-Broadway with the Public's Shakespeare in the Park production of 'Twelfth Night.' Sullivan won the 2001 Tony Award for best direction for his helmship of 'Proof' (2001), and has also been nominated on four occasions: 'The Heid' Cronicles' (1989), 'Conversations With My Father' (1992), 'The Sisters Rosensweig' (1993), 'Rabbit Hole' (2006).

Happy Now? by Lucinda Coxon (New York Premiere)
Director: Liz Diamond
Cast: TBA
Synopsis: A chance encounter at a hotel plays upon Kitty�s mind in the dark comedy Happy Now? by Lucinda Coxon, as she struggles to balance personal freedom with family life, fidelity and a demanding job. Her husband is more interested in misplaced apostrophes than in their marriage, her parents are looking down the barrel of oblivion, and although she toys with the idea of joining a gym, Kitty�s running out of time for big changes.

Previews: 26 Jan 2010
Opens: 9 Feb 2010
Closes: 6 Mar 2010

Lucinda Coxon (Playwright) has worked at The Bush Theatre, Soho Theatre, The Royal Court Theatre, and the National Theatre in London; and in the US at South Coast Repertory, Magic Theatre, and Ohio Theatre in New York. Her plays include 'Waiting at the Water�s Edge,' 'Wishbones,' 'Three Glances,' 'The Ice Palace,' 'Nostalgia', 'Vesuvius,' 'I Am Angela Brazil by Angela Brazil,' 'The Shoemaker�s Incredible Wife,' and 'Happy Now? Her screenplays include 'Spaghetti Slow,' 'The Heart of Me,' 'Lilacs,' and 'Wild Target' which is currently shooting in the UK in September starring Bill Nighy. She has just finished work on 'The Danish Girl,' a screen adaptation of David Ebershoff's novel, and is currently writing a new play, Persistent Illusions, for the National Theatre.

Director Liz Diamond's previous Off-Broadway credits include 'crooked' (Women's Project), 'The America Play' (Public), 'Dream of a Common Language' (Women's Project) & 'Breaking the Prairie Wolf Code' (Women's Project).

Primary Stages, the resident company at 59E59 Theaters, was founded in 1984 as a New York State nonprofit theatre company with the mission of producing new plays and nurturing the development of playwrights. Primary Stages has contributed to the non-profit theatre community by producing 24 seasons and over 100 productions. By fostering an environment where writers are encouraged to explore the scope of their creative vision, Primary Stages has been instrumental in developing the skills of hundreds of young artists as well as helping to create a library of new works for the American theatre.