Albee's 'Occupant' Begins With Ruehl and Bryggman

Previews begin tomorrow, Tuesday May 6th, for Signature Theatre Company's (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) world premiere production of Edward Albee'S OCCUPANT starring Tony® and Academy Award®-winning actress Mercedes Ruehl and two-time Emmy® winner and Tony® nominee Larry Bryggman.  Directed by Pam MacKinnon, the limited engagement has been extended by popular demand one week from Sunday, June 29th to Sunday, July 6th.

 
Mercedes Ruehl was last seen on the New York stage in the Broadway production of Albee's The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, opposite Bill Pullman in a role that earned her a Tony award nomination.  Larry Bryggman recently starred opposite Kevin Kline in The Public Theater's production of King Lear.  He recently starred on Broadway in the acclaimed production of Twelve Angry Men and he received a Tony award nomination for his role in Proof, which also starred Mary-Louise Parker.  Pam MacKinnon is also represented Off-Broadway with The Four of Us, which is currently playing at Manhattan Theatre Club.  Earlier this season, she directed the acclaimed production of Albee's Peter and Jerry starring Bill Pullman, Dallas Roberts and JohAnna Day.

 
Edward Albee'S OCCUPANT officially opens on Thursday, June 5th at The Peter Norton Space located at 555 West 42nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues).

 
Tickets are available on Signature's website at www.signaturetheatre.org, by phone at (212) 244-PLAY (7529) and in person at the Box Office at 555 West 42nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues).

 
Signature Theatre Company caps off its 2007-2008 season with a Legacy Production as part of its Premiere Series, which presents new work by former Playwrights-in-Residence.  Edward Albee'S OCCUPANT is a portrait of acclaimed sculptor Louise Nevelson and a quest to capture a charismatic and complex artist and persona.  What is the relationship between creator and creation?  Who was Louise Nevelson?  Only she knew.

 
Sets are designed by Christine Jones with Costumes by Jane Greenwood and Lights by David Lander.

 
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKETS

Performance Schedule:
May 6 – June 29, 2008
Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday - Saturday at 8pm,
Matinees Saturday & Sunday at 2pm
No Performance May 27th or June 6th

Additional Performance on Monday, June 2nd at 8pm

 
July 1 – July 6, 2008

Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday at 2pm and 8pm, Thursday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, Sunday at 2pm.
No Performance July 4th

 

Ticketing:

Internet: www.signaturetheatre.org

By Phone: (212) 244-PLAY (7529)
In Person: Box Office - 555 West 42nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues)



Edward Albee (Playwright). Edward Albee was born on March 12, 1928 and began writing plays 30 years later. His plays include The Zoo Story (1958); The Death of Bessie Smith (1959); The Sandbox (1959); The American Dream (1960); Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1961–62, Tony Award); Tiny Alice (1964); A Delicate Balance (1966, Pulitzer Prize; 1996, Tony Award); All Over (1971); Seascape (1974, Pulitzer Prize); Listening (1975); Counting the Ways (1975); The Lady from Dubuque (1977–78); The Man Who Had Three Arms (1981); Finding the Sun (1982); Marriage Play (1986–7); Three Tall Women (1991, Pulitzer Prize); Fragments (1993); The Play About the Baby (1997); The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (2000, 2002 Tony Award); Occupant (2001); Peter and Jerry (Act I, Homelife. Act II, The Zoo Story.) (2004); and Me, Myself and I (2007). He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and President of The Edward F. Albee Foundation. Mr. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980. In 1996 he received the Kennedy Center Honor and the National Medal of Arts. In 2005, he was awarded a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.

 
Mercedes Ruehl (Louise Nevelson) came to prominence in Jonathan Demme's Married to the Mob. She earned an Academy Award, Golden Globe, L.A. and Chicago Film Critics Society awards for her role in The Fisher King. Other films include Warriors, Big, Heartburn, Slaves of New York, Another You, Last Action Hero, Lost in Yonkers, What's Cooking, The Amati Girls, For Rosanna and The Minus Man. Her career was launched in regional repertories in the works of Shakespeare, Moliere, Shaw, Chekhov and Euripides, and she went on to receive Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Helen Hayes awards for her role in Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers, later reprising her role in the film. Other Broadway credits include The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (Outer Critics Circle Award, Tony nomination); The Rose Tattoo; Shadowbox (Tony nomination); and I'm Not Rappaport. Off- Broadway includes Woman Before a Glass (Obie Award), Other People's Money (Clarence Derwent Award), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Obie Award), Coming of Age in Soho, The Vagina Monologues and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Guthrie Theatre. She recently completed an acclaimed run of Viva La Vida! at the Bay Street Theatre. Among her television credits are the Emmy Award-winning "Indictment: The McMartin Trial," HBO's "Gia," Hallmark's "The Lost Child," Court TV's "Guilt by Association" and Showtime's "North Shore Fish." Television guest appearances include "Entourage," "Frasier," "Law & Order" and "The Cosby Show." For Lifetime TV she starred in last year's "Mom at Sixteen" and this year's "A Girl Like Me."

 
Larry Bryggman (The Man). Broadway: Festen, Twelve Angry Men, Proof (Tony nom.), Picnic (Tony nom.), Prelude to a Kiss, Richard III, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. Off-Broadway includes Romance (Obie), Hothouse, Once in a Lifetime (all Atlantic); Proof, New England (MTC); Prelude and Liebestod (MCC); A Bad Friend, Bodies Rest and Motion (LCT); Henry VIII, The Tempest, As You Like It, Henry IV Parts I and II, Rum and Coke, The Ballad of Soapy Smith, Museum, Marco Polo Sings a Solo, Mod Donna (all The Public). Film: Spy Game, Die Hard with a Vengeance, And Justice for All, Looking for Richard, My Side of the Story, Side by Each. An Obie for Sustained Excellence, two Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Actor. Mr. Bryggman is a member of the Atlantic Theater Company.

 
Pam MacKinnon (Director). As a frequent collaborator with Edward Albee, Pam has directed Peter and Jerry (Second Stage and Hartford Stage); The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (Alley and Vienna); and The Play About the Baby (Philadelphia and Goodman). Other recent productions include The Four of Us (MTC and The Old Globe) and Bach at Leipzig (NYTW and Milwaukee Rep) both by Itamar Moses; Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's Good Boys and True (Steppenwolf); Bruce Norris' The Unmentionables (Woolly Mammoth); John Fugelsang's All the Wrong Reasons (NYTW); and David Mamet's Romance (Goodman). Next season she will direct the world premiere of Jason Grote's Maria/Stuart (Woolly Mammoth); Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance (Arena Stage); and Adrian Hall's adaptation of William Penn Warren's All the King's Men (Intiman). She is an Affiliated Artist with the downtown company Clubbed Thumb.

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