Manhattan Theatre Club 2008/09 season announces two additional shows and casting news.

Manhattan Theatre Club has announced two further productions and casting news for its 2008-2009 season. Tony & Emmy Award Winner David Hyde Pierce will star in Accent On Youth, by Samson Raphaelson, playing at the Biltmore Theatre (to be renamed Samuel J. Friedman Theatre), beginning previews in Apr 2008.

MTC will present Off-Broadway, Back, Back, Back, by Itamar Moses, directed by Daniel Aukin, playing in the Fall 2008 at New York City Center � Stage II.

A second production at New York City Center � Stage II, will be announced in the coming weeks. That Stage II production will complete MTC�s 2008-2009 season of three Broadway and four Off-Broadway productions.

Manhattan Theatre Clubs 2008 / 09 Season.

Broadway's Biltmore Theatre:

• To Be Or Not To Be
  (World Premiere)
  by Nick Whitby, directed by Casey Nicholaw.

  Synopsis: At the Polski Theatre in 1939 Warsaw, Joseph and Maria Tura are about to open yet another smash with their theatrical troupe. As the German invasion gets underway, the theatre is closed by the censors, forcing the troupe to face desperate times. But when a handsome young bomber pilot enlists their help to catch a spy, what is a group of actors to do?

• The American Plan
  (Broadway premiere)
  by Richard Greenberg, directed by David Grindley.

  Synopsis: It is the Catskill Mountains in the early 1960s, and Lily Adler and her mother Eva are spending the summer across the lake from a bustling hotel where comics entertain and buffets overflow. When a handsome young stranger enters their world, the emotionally fragile Lily finds herself falling in love. But once her imperious mother learns of their relationship, lies are exposed, alliances are forged and Lily's one chance to escape her mother's control may be lost forever.

• Accent On Youth
  by Samson Raphaelson, starring David Hyde Pierce, and directed by Daniel Sullivan.

  Synopsis: Successful playwright Stephen Gaye (David Hyde Pierce) is about to abandon his latest script, when his young secretary offers him new inspiration. With her as his muse, he stages the show on Broadway, only to learn, to his dismay, that the show�s young leading man is being inspired by her too.

Off-Broadway's New York City Center:

• Romantic Poetry
  (World Premiere)
  Book and lyrics by John Patrick Shanley, music by Henry Krieger and directed by John Patrick Shanley.

  Synopsis: Connie of Woodmere has just married Fred of Newark, but her exes are back in the picture and not sure they approve of the union. Judy of Westchester is being wooed by Arthur, a dishwasher poet of no particular address, while her husband is out of town. And Lily of Soho is climbing Wally of Little Italy's fire escape with amorous erotic intent.

• Back, Back, Back
  (New York Premiere)
  by Itamar Moses, directed by Daniel Aukin.

  Synopsis: Does greatness always come with a price? Can only someone with nothing to lose tell the whole truth? The play follows the turbulent careers of three very different teammates in baseball's steroid era whose clubhouse secrets bring them under federal scrutiny.

• Ruined
  (World Premiere)
  by Lynn Nottage, directed by Kate Whoriskey. Presented in association with The Goodman Theatre.

  Synopsis: Set in a small mining town in Democratic Republic of Congo, the play follows Mama Nadi, a shrewd businesswoman in a land torn apart by civil war. But is she protecting or profiting by the women she shelters? How far will she go to survive? Can a price be placed on a human life?