Apples & Oranges: MTC commission Alfred Uhry to adapt Marie Brenner's book for stage

Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) has announced that they have commissioned Tony, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winner Alfred Uhry to adapt the best-selling book, Apples & Oranges by Marie Brenner for the stage.

�I read Marie Brenner's memoir �Apples and Oranges� a year ago when I was on sabbatical and loved it,� said MTC's Artistic Director Lynne Meadow. �I wasn't alone. The book had a fantastic critical reception. I thought the characters and story would be terrific to see on stage. I asked Marie if she would consider letting me have a play created based on her book to be produced by Manhattan Theatre Club. She said yes and I was thrilled. Alfred Uhry was, I thought, the perfect voice to make a theatre piece from the book. So I was delighted when he responded so positively. It's heaven when things come together so smoothly and seemingly inevitably. Marie and Alfred are both great artists and I am looking forward to directing Alfred's play.�

�Who understands more about families and their quirky mysteries than Alfred Uhry? He is a master of empathy with a pitch perfect gauge of the heart,� says Marie Brenner.

Alfred Uhry wrote the book for the Manhattan Theatre Club�s production of 'LoveMusik,' for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. He is the only American author to have received all three of the most prestigious American awards for dramatic writing: the Academy Award (Driving Miss Daisy), the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (Driving Miss Daisy), and the Tony Award (Driving Miss Daisy, The Last Night of Ballyhoo).

'Driving Miss Daisy' is the first in what is known as his 'Atlanta Trilogy' of plays. It earned him the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He adapted it into the screenplay, which was awarded the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. The second of the trilogy, 'The Last Night of Ballyhoo,' received the Tony Award for Best Play. The third was 'Parade,' which earned him a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. He also wrote the screenplays for several films, including 'Mystic Pizza' and 'Rich in Love.'

�I was delighted when Lynne Meadow approached me about adapting Marie Brenner's fascinating book for the MTC stage,� says Alfred Uhry. �The subject of brother/sister relationships is rich and complex territory, and Ms. Brenner tells her very personal story with honesty and humor and compassion. It has the makings of wonderful theatre. I only hope I can do it justice.�

�Apple & Oranges� is Marie Brenner�s acclaimed memoir about her strained, heartwarming and funny relationship with her brother. A medical crisis brought Marie, a classic New York liberal who was making her living as an investigative journalist for "Vanity Fair,� and Carl, a conservative apple grower living in Washington State, together after many years apart. While Marie abandoned her life to help her dying brother, Carl fought her every step of the way. This touching memoir tells the story of their attempts to heal and understand one another.

No time table has been announced for the venture.