MCC announce details of 2013/2014 season

MCC theater has announced further details of their upcomoing 2013/14 season.

Penelope Skinner's play The Village Bike and Robert Askins' Hand to God, will join the previously announced Sharr White's The Snow Geese and John Pollono's Small Engine Repair.

Full casting and creative teams for each production will be forthcoming.

The plays will be presented in the following season order:

World Premiere
A co-production between Manhattan Theatre Club and MCC
The Snow Geese
by Sharr White
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Cast: Mary-Louise Parker (Elizabeth Gaesling), further cast to be announced.
Venue: Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Preview: 01 Oct 2013
Opening: 24 Oct 2013
Closing: 15 Dec 2013
Synopsis: With World War I raging abroad, newly widowed Elizabeth Gaesling gathers her family for their annual shooting party to mark the opening of hunting season in rural, upstate New York. But Elizabeth is forced to confront a new reality as her carefree eldest son comes to terms with his impending deployment overseas and her younger son discovers that the father they all revered left them deeply in debt. Together, the family must let go of the life they've always known. The Snow Geese marks the second collaboration between MTC, MCC, and playwright Sharr White. This winter, MTC produced the Broadway premiere of White's play 'The Other Place,' which had its world premiere at MCC Theater in 2011.

Sharr White's plays include 'The Other Place,' which premiered on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre from 11 Dec 2013 - 03 Mar 2013. Directed by Joe Mantello, the production earned Laurie Metcalf a Tony nomination for her role as Juliana. His other plays include 'Annapurna,' 'The Escape Velocity Of Savages,' 'Sunlight,' 'Six Years' and 'Achilles in Sparta.' White has also been honored with a Dr. Henry and Lillian Nesburn Award as part of the Julie Harris Award in Playwriting (The Escape Velocity of Savages); a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship (Six Years); and the 2009 Skye Cooper New American Play Prize (Sunlight).

Daniel Sullivan (Director) won the 2001 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for his helming of David Auburn's 'Proof.' He has been nominated for Tony's for 'The Merchant of Venice,' 'Rabbit Hole,' 'Morning's at Seven,' 'The Sisters Rosensweig,' 'Conversations With My Father' and 'The Heidi Chronicles.'

Mary-Louise Parker (Elizabeth Gaesling) returns to the Friedman stage where she previously starred in Craig Lucas' 'Reckless' for which she received a 2004 Tony Award nomination. The Snow Geese also reunites Parker with Daniel Sullivan, who directed her in David Auburn's 'Proof,' for which both Parker and Sullivan received Tony Awards for their work.

New York Premiere
Small Engine Repair
By John Pollono
Director: Jo Bonney
Cast: John Pollono, Jon Bernthal, further cast to be announced Venue: Lucille Lortel Theatre
Preview: 30 Oct 2013
Opening: 18 Nov 2013
Closing: 08 Dec 2013
Synopsis: Frank, Swaino and Packie - buddies since high school, now past their prime - meet off-hours in Frank's out-of-the-way repair shop under cloudy circumstances that only Frank has a handle on. Enter Chad, a plugged-in preppy college jock, whose arrival ignites an explosion of long-simmering resentment and rage.

Small Engine Repair won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Playwriting when it had its world premiere in 2011 at L.A.'s Rogue Machine Theatre. laywright John Pollono will reprise his performance from the play's world premiere production.

John Pollono's Small Engine Repair
won Best Writing (Los Angeles Drama Critic Circle, LA Weekly, Garland) for ots world premiere in Los Angeles. He also wrote the play 'Lost and Found.' As an actor he has appeared in the films, 'Fort McCoy' and 'Pieces of Eight.'

Jon Bernthal currently stars as "Shane Walsh" in the TV series "The Walking Dead."

Off-Broadway Premiere
Hand To God
By Robert Askins
Director: Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Cast: Steven Boyer, further cast to be announced Venue: Lucille Lortel Theatre
Preview: 20 Feb 2014
Opening: 11 Mar 2014
Closing: 30 Mar 2014
Synopsis: The good children of Cypress, Texas are taught to obey the Bible in order to evade Satan's hand. But when students at the Christian Puppet Ministry put those teachings into practice, one devout young man's puppet takes on a shocking personality that no one could have expected.

Sold out at Ensemble Studio Theatre in 2011/2012, Hand To God makes its Off-Broadway debut at MCC Theater.

Playwright Robert Askins (Playwright). Askins play 'Princes of Waco' was produced by EST/Youngblood in 2009. His one act play 'Matthew and the Pastor's Wife' was a part of Marathon 2010 at EST and 'The Love Song of the Albanian Sous Chef' won a Dallas Outer Circle Critics award in 2011. Most recently Rob's Obie Award-winning play Hand To God enjoyed three sold out runs at EST in 2011-12. Askins is an alumnus of I-73, Youngblood, and a member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre. He has received two E.S.T./Sloan grants, an Arch and Bruce Davis Award and is one of the 2012 recipients of the Helen Merrill Award for emerging playwrights.

Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Hand to God) is the Artistic Director of Studio 42. New York directing credits include Ensemble Studio Theatre, Ars Nova, Rising Phoenix Rep, poortom, Red Fern, FringeNYC, Vital, Drama League, Culture Project, Chashama, HERE, and others. He is a frequent collaborator with the Youngblood writers' collective at EST. He was the associate director for Broadway's Tony-nominated Cry-Baby. He has been a Resident Director at Playwrights Horizons, The Acting Company, and the Huntington Theatre Company.

Actor Steven Boyer has appeared on Broadway in 'I'm Not Rappaport' and Off-Broadway's 'The Explorers Club' (MTC), 'Modern Terrorism' (Second Stage), 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' (Encores), 'Motel Cherry' (Clubbed Thumb), 'The Ugly One' (Soho Rep), 'School for Lies' (Classic Stage Co), 'The Coward' (LCT3), 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson' (The Public). TV/Film: "Louie," "Person of Interest," "Law & Order," "Ed", "Did You Hear About The Morgans?," "The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best." Boyer also stars in the new independent sitcom pilot from Emily Chadick Weiss, "The Share."

American Premiere
The Village Bike
By Penelope Skinner
Director: Sam Gold
Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal (Becky), further cast to be announced Venue: Lucille Lortel Theatre
Preview: 21 May 2014
Opening: 09 Jun 2014
Closing: 28 Jun 2014
Synopsis: Becky is pregnant - and friskier than ever. But she can't seem to get the attention of her husband, who is preoccupied with preparing for the baby's months-away arrival. So Becky takes matters into her own hands and sets out on an adventure that starts with the purchase of a used bike from a man in town and takes her further than she ever expected she'd go.

Playwright Penelope Skinner won the Evening Standard Award Most Promising Playwright for The Village Bike in 2011, which premiered at The Royal Court Theatre in London. Her other plays include 'Fred's Diner' (Chichester Festival Theatre), 'The Sound of Heavy Rain' (Paines Plough), 'Greenland' (National Theatre), 'Eigengrau' (The Bush) and 'Fucked' (Old Red Lion); current commissions include for The Royal Court and The National Theatre. She writes for the television series "Fresh Meat," has co-written the film "How I Live Now," directed by Kevin Macdonald, and has recently come on board to write the film "Mary Stuart" for the director Susanne Bier and Working Title. She is also the recipient of the 2011 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright for The Village Bike.

Maggie Gyllenhaal (Becky) received an Oscar nomination opposite Jeff Bridges in the film "Crazy Heart," and had her breakout at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival with her performance in "Secretary." Her extensive film credits include: "The Dark Knight," "Away We Go," "Sherrybaby," "Happy Endings," "Donnie Darko," "Adaptation," "Stranger Than Fiction," "Mona Lisa Smile," among many others, and the upcoming "White House Down" opposite Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, and Lenny Abrahamson's "Frank" with Michael Fassbender. Gyllenhaal's stage credits include Patrick Marber's award-winning 'Closer' at the Mark Taper Forum; 'Three Sisters' with Peter Sarsgaard, Jessica Hecht, and Josh Hamilton; 'Anthony and Cleopatra' at the Vanborough Theatre in London; Tony Kushner's play 'Homebody/Kabul'; and alongside Peter Sarsgaard and Mamie Gummer in 'Uncle Vanya.'

Director Sam Gold's extensive theater credits include: 'Picnic' (Roundabout at the American Airlines Theatre) and 'Seminar' (Golden Theatre; also Ahmanson, L.A.) on Broadway, as well as 'The Flick' (Playwrights Horizons), 'Fun Home' (The Public Theater), 'Uncle Vanya' (Soho Rep), 'The Realistic Joneses' (Yale Rep), 'The Big Meal' (Playwrights Horizons; Lortel Award), 'Look Back in Anger' (Roundabout, Lortel nomination), 'Circle Mirror Transformation' (Playwrights Horizons; Obie Award) and 'The Aliens' (Rattlestick, Obie Award). Gold is Resident Director at the Roundabout Theatre Company.