Following a critically acclaimed season which included the Pulitzer Prize finalist Becky Shaw and the Broadway transfer of its musical hit Next to Normal, Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director) has announced three of the four plays scheduled for its upcoming 31st Season. For subscription or ticket information, please call the Second Stage Box Office at 212-246-4422 or visit the company's website, www.2ST.com. All productions are staged at Second Stage Theatre, 307 West 43rd Street (just west of Eighth Avenue).
Second Stage Theatre's upcoming season will continue the company's mission of producing bold new plays and musicals by American Playwrights as well as second stagings of the best of contemporary theatre. The season will kick off in the fall with the New York premiere of Anna Deavere Smith's latest work, LET ME DOWN EASY, directed by Leonard Foglia. The season will also include two world premiere plays from returning playwrights: MR. & MRS. FITCH, by Douglas Carter Beane, whose Tony-nominated hit The Little Dog Laughed had its world premiere at Second Stage Theatre in 2005, and TRUST, by Paul Weitz, whose plays Privilege and Show People premiered at Second Stage in 2005 and 2006, respectively. MR. & MRS. FITCH had been announced as part of the current season, but was postponed due to a scheduling conflict.
More detailed information on Second Stage Theatre's upcoming season follows:
LET ME DOWN EASY
Conceived, written, and performed by Anna Deavere Smith
Directed by Leonard Foglia
Previews begin September 15; opening in early October
Channeling a dramatic range of interview subjects, from artists and athletes to doctors and those they treat, LET ME DOWN EASY is a virtuosic and moving exploration of the power of the body and the resilience of the human spirit, featuring first person accounts from a wide variety of sources, including Lance Armstrong and former Texas Governor Ann Richards. With her trademark journalistic precision, Anna Deavere Smith, one of the most acclaimed and provocative theater artists of our time, explores the world of healthcare from both the patient and practitioner perspective in this timely and absorbing new play.
Anna Deavere Smith's work in the theater explores American character and our multifaceted national identity. She has won numerous awards, among them two Obies, two Tony nominations and a MacArthur fellowship. She was runner up for the Pulitzer Prize for her play Fires In the Mirror. She is said to have created a new form of theater. Her work combines the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance. The New York Times called her "the ultimate impressionist, she does people's souls." She has appeared on the television shows The West Wing, Presidio Med, The Practice, and the new Showtime television series, Nurse Jackie. Films include Rachel Getting Married, The American President, Philadelphia, The Human Stain, Life Support, and Dave. Her plays include Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Fires in the Mirror; and House Arrest. Her books include Talk To Me and Letters to A Young Artist. A professor at New York University, she is also the founding director of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, a center for artistic excellence addressing social change. She is the recipient of several honorary degrees.
Leonard Foglia most recently directed Laurence Fishburne in Thurgood. Other Broadway credits include Master Class with Zoe Caldwell (also national tour and West End), On Golden Pond with Leslie Uggams and James Earl Jones, and Wait Until Dark with Quentin Tarantino and Marisa Tomei. Off-Broadway: Encores! One Touch of Venus (City Center), The Stendahl Syndrome by Terrence McNally (Primary Stages), By the Sea (MTC, Bay Street Theatre Festival), Lonely Planet (Circle Repertory Company), If Memory Serves (Promenade, Pasadena Playhouse). Regional: Paper Doll (Pittsburgh Public Theater, Long Wharf); The Last True Believer (Seattle Rep.); Seascape, The Woman in Black and A Coffin in Egypt by Horton Foote (Bay Street Theatre Festival); Dinner With Friends and God's Man in Texas (Old Globe Theatre); Art, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Heidi Chronicles, Reckless, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Trinity Repertory Company). Opera: Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie, Terrence McNally (New York City Opera, Opera Pacific, Cincinnati Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Pittsburgh Opera); The End of the Affair by Heggie, Heather McDonald (Houston Grand Opera). He is co-author of the mystery novels 1 Ragged Ridge Road and Face Down in the Park, both published by Pocket Books.
