Austin Pendleton-Helmed LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL Begins 3/13 at Abingdon Theater Arts Complex

Mother of Invention, under the Artistic Direction of Gina Stahlnecker has announced that Austin Pendleton will direct it's production of LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL, Ketti Frings' acclaimed 1957 play based on Thomas Wolfe's first and largely autobiographical novel, March 13 - 24 at Abingdon Theatre Company's Strelsin Theatre (312 West 36th St.). The official opening will be on March 16th at 8PM.

LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL tells the emotional story of Eugene Gant, whose overbearing mother forces her alcoholic husband and three children into helping her run "Dixieland" a seedy North Carolina boardinghouse, nearly crushing his dream to go to college and become a writer.

LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL opened on November 28, 1957 at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. It ran for 564 performances, winning the 1957 Pulitzer Prize, the Drama Critic's Circle Award for Best Play, and was also Tony nominated for Best Play, Best Actor in a Drama (Hugh Griffith and Tony Perkins), Best Actress in a Drama (Jo Van Fleet) as well as Best Set Design (Jo Melziner) and Best Director (George Roy Hill).

Thomas Wolfe, along with Earnest Hemingway and F. Scot Fitzgerald were considered the three most important American novelists of the early 20th century - all of whom were edited by the famous Maxwell Perkins at Scribner's, who helped shape the works of all three writers.

The cast of LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL features Keegan McDonald, Adam Dodway, Mindy Luce, Gina Stahlnecker, Andrew Mayer, Ginger Grace, Pat Dwyer, Joe Ulam, Kathleen Peirce, Maggie DeVora, Joseph Stillman, Kristin Patton, Mike Wikes, Debra Lass, Michael Enberg.

Sound design is by Jason Jung, Lighting design is by Alicia Manglesdorf
and costume design is by Michael Piatkowski. Jason Jung is the Stage Manager and Austin Pendleton directs.

THOMAS CLAYTON WOLFE (1900 - 1938) was a major American novelist of the early 20th century. Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing. His books written and published from the 1920s to the 1940s, vividly reflect on American culture and mores of the period, albeit filtered through Wolfe's sensitive, sophisticated and hyper-analytical perspective. He became very famous during his own lifetime. After Wolfe's death, his chief contemporary William Faulkner said that Wolfe might have had the best talent of their generation. His influence extends to the writings of famous Beat writer Jack Kerouac, authors Ray Bradbury and Philip Roth among others. He remains one of the most important writers in modern American literature, as he was one of the first masters of autobiographical fiction. Wolfe is considered North Carolina's most famous writer.

Austin Pendleton (Director) has most recently been represented as a director by The Birthday Party (playing now at Steppenwolf, in Chcago), Ivanov (CSC, in New York, with Ethan Hawke), A Loss of Roses (Arkansas Rep), Detroit (by Lisa D'Amour, first at Steppenwolf then at The National Theatre of Great Britain), The Price (HB Studio), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly Last Summer (both with Mississippi Mud, in NY), Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya (both at CSC, with Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gylenhall), Small Craft Warnings (Mother of Invention), Time Stands Still (Steppenwolf), and Order (by Chris Boal, at Oberon, in New York). He is also an actor and has appeared on, off, and off-off Broadway, as well as in many regional theatres and as a member of the ensemble at Steppenwolf, and in about 150 movies, and in recurring roles in Oz and Homicide, on television. He has written three plays and the book for one musical; all these have been produced in New York and around the country (and the world), and all have been published. He teaches acting at HB Studio, in New York.

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