MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB
ANNOUNCES
KENNETH LONERGAN’S
THE STARRY MESSENGER
STARRING TWO-TIME TONY AWARD WINNER
MATTHEW BRODERICK
WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION
TO PLAY NEW YORK CITY CENTER
DURING 2007-2008 SEASON
Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer; Daniel Sullivan, Acting Artistic Director 2007-2008) is pleased to announce the world premiere production of Kenneth Lonergan’s THE STARRY MESSENGER will be a part of their New York City Center 2007-2008 Season. The production will star two-time Tony Award winner Matthew Broderick and will be directed by Lonergan.
Mark (Broderick) works at the Hayden Planetarium, teaching Upper West Siders about the mysteries of the galaxy. But when this forty-something married man meets a pretty young single mother, his own solar system begins spinning out of control, forcing him to come to terms with the inertia that is his life. Is it too late to try and re-connect with his wife and son? And how did his middling career get so badly off track? THE STARRY MESSENGER is a wise and stirring New York story from one of America’s most insightful playwrights. Told with wit and compassion, this world premiere comes from Kenneth Lonergan, the Academy Award®-nominated author of You Can Count on Me, as well as the celebrated plays Lobby Hero, The Waverly Gallery and This Is Our Youth.
THE STARRY MESSENGER will mark longtime friends Lonergan and Broderick’s first professional theatrical collaboration. Broderick previously appeared in Lonergan’s Academy Award-nominated film You Can Count on Me and will appear in Lonergan’s upcoming movie Margaret. THE STARRY MESSENGER marks Lonergan’s first new play since the 2001 hit Lobby Hero.
Additional information regarding THE STARRY MESSENGER will be announced in the coming weeks.
BIOGRAPHIES
KENNETH LONERGAN (Playwright, Director) has been represented in New York by Lobby Hero (Playwrights Horizons, John Houseman Theatre, Drama Desk Best Play nominee, Outer Critics Circle Best Play and John Gassner Playwrighting nominee, included in the 2000-2001 Best Plays annual), The Waverly Gallery (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Promenade; 2001 Pulitzer Prize runner-up), and This Is Our Youth (Drama Desk Best Play nominee). Lobby Hero (Olivier Award Nominee for Best Play) and This Is Our Youth have also received productions on London’s West End. He co-wrote the film Gangs of New York which garnered a WGA and Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. His film You Can Count On Me, which he wrote and directed, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, won the Sundance 2000 Grand Jury Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, the NY Film Critics Circle, LA Film Critics Circle, Writers Guild of America and National Board of Review awards for Best Screenplay of 2001, the AFI awards for Best Film and Best New Writer, as well as The Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival. He is currently in post-production on his film Margaret, which he wrote and directed. He is a member of Naked Angels. He is married to actress J. Smith-Cameron.
MATTHEW BRODERICK (Mark) made his stage debut at 17 in Horton Foote’s On Valentine’s Day opposite his father, James Broderick. Off-Broadway: Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy (Outer Critics Circle Award, Villager Award) and Horton Foote’s The Widow Claire. Broadway: Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs (Tony,
Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World awards) and Biloxi Blues, both directed by Gene Saks; the revival of Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows’ How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards), directed by Des McAnuff. Other Broadway appearances include the National Actors Theater production of Night Must Fall directed by John Tillinger, Elaine May’s Taller Than a Dwarf directed by Alan Arkin, Mel Brook’s The Producers (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations) directed by Susan Stroman and the Roundabout’s The Foreigner written by Larry Shue. Films include: Max Dugan Returns, WarGames, 1918, On Valentine’s Day, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Project X, Ladyhawke,Biloxi Blues, Glory, Family Business, TheFreshman, The Night We Never Met, The Lion King (voice of Simba), Mrs. Parker and
the Vicious Circle, Infinity (directed by Mr. Broderick and written by his mother Patricia Broderick), The Cable Guy, Addicted to Love, Godzilla, Inspector Gadget, Election, You Can Count on Me, The Good Boy (the voice of Hubble), The Last Shot and The Stepford Wives. Mr. Broderick starred in the telefilm “The Music Man” on ABC and “Master Harold and the Boys” with Zakes Mokae and John Kani for Showtime. Other films include Marie & Bruce opposite Julianne Moore, Amy Sedaris’ Strangers With Candy and the film adaptation of Mel Brooks’ The Producers opposite Nathan Lane and Uma Thurman.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, MTC has become one of the country’s most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. Renowned MTC productions include Blackbird; Translations; Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Proof; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife; Kimberly Akimbo; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Sylvia; Four Dogs and a Bone; Putting It Together; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain’t Misbehavin’. In 2003, MTC reopened Broadway’s landmark long neglected Biltmore Theatre, following a two-year, $35 million capital campaign.
When Meadow begins her previously announced sabbatical during the 2007-2008 season, Daniel Sullivan, a close associate of MTC and director of several Manhattan Theatre Club productions (Rabbit Hole, Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, Proof, Psychopathia Sexualis), will serve as Acting Artistic Director. Sullivan will continue consulting with Meadow and MTC’s artistic staff on the planning of the 2007-2008 season. Meadow will return to MTC for the 2008-2009 season and will consult on the planning of that season.
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