The producers of the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production of' Thornton Wilder's Our Town, have announced that Obie Award-winner Jason Butler Harner will assume the central role of 'Stage Manager' in David Cromer's staging of Wilder's timeless play. Beginning Tuesday, August 25th, Mr. Harner will succeed Mr. Cromer who departs the company to begin rehearsals for his Broadway directorial debut this fall with Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound.
Jason Butler Harner has been heralded for his stage roles including Ivan Turgenev in the multi-Tony award-winning Tom Stoppard play, The Coast of Utopia (Lincoln Center Theatre) and Tesman in Hedda Gabler, opposite Elizabeth Marvel (New York Theatre Workshop), He also appeared in The Gingerbread House by Mark Schultz (the stageFarm), opposite Bobby Cannavale and Sarah Paulson; as A.E. Housman in the American premiere of The Invention of Love at ACT (opposite James Cromwell); as Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard, opposite Annette Bening and Alfred Molina (Mark Taper Forum); as Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, opposite Sally Field (The Kennedy Center); and as Barnett in Beth Henley's Pulitzer Prize-winning Crimes of the Heart, opposite Amy Ryan (Second Stage Theatre). He was recently seen in the Oscar nominated Clint Eastwood film Changeling opposite Angeline Jolie, as well as in this summer's blockbuster The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3, and in the HBO mini-series "John Adams."
Also joining the cast of Our Town are Susan Bennett as Mrs. Soames, Nathan Dame as Sam Craig, and Armand Schultz as Doc Gibbs. Jeremy Beiler will assume the role of Simon Stimson.
The complete cast includes (in alphabetical order) Rob Beitzel as Howie Newsome, Kati Brazda as Mrs. Webb, George Demas as Constable Warren, Jennifer Grace as Emily, Wilbur Edwin Henry as Professor Willard, Adam Hinkle as Joe Crowell, Ronete Levenson as Rebecca Gibbs, James McMenamin as George, Ken Marks as Editor Webb, Seamus Mulcahy as Wally Webb, Lori Myers as Mrs. Gibbs, Jay Russell as Joe Stoddard, Armand Schultz as Doc Gibbs, and Jason Yachanin as Si Crowell.
David Cromer's critically acclaimed staging of Thornton Wilder's Our Town began performances February 17th and opened to rave reviews on February 26th at the downtown venue whose space has been completely redesigned for this production. Tickets are now on sale through January 31, 2010.
Our Town is produced by Scott Morfee, Jean Doumanian, Tom Wirtshafter, Ted Snowdon, Eagle Productions, Dena Hammerstein/Pam Pariseau, The Weinstein Company, and Burnt Umber Productions.
