Photo Flash: First Look at The New Group's THE GOOD MOTHER

The New Group presents the first production in its 2012-2013 season, the world premiere of The Good Mother, a new play by Francine Volpe. Directed by Scott Elliott, this production features Mark Blum, Darren Goldstein, Gretchen Mol, Alfredo Narciso and Eric Nelsen. Previews began October 31 in advance of an Official Opening Night tomorrow, November 15 at 7:00pm. The limited Off-Broadway engagement is slated through December 22 at The New Group @ Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre / 410 West 42nd Street / Acorn Theatre). Get a first look at the production in the photos below!

In this taut psychological thriller, Larissa (Gretchen Mol) is a single mother who can barely meet the mortgage on her house in Mount Vernon, NY. When a bizarre incident involving her 4-year-old daughter forces her to face someone from her past, her own questionable actions come back to haunt her.

Directed by Scott Elliott, The Good Mother features Mark Blum (Broadway: Gore Vidal's The Best Man, Twelve Angry Men, A Thousand Clowns, Lost in Yonkers; at The New Group: The Music Teacher), Darren Goldstein (B’way: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; at The New Group: Mouth To Mouth, Abigail’s Party (Lortel nom., Outstanding Featured Actor), Terrorism; TV: “Damages”), Gretchen Mol (B’way: Chicago, Off-B’way: The Shape of Things (also film); Film: 3:10 to Yuma, The Notorious Bettie Page, Celebrity, Rounders, Donnie Brasco; TV: “Boardwalk Empire”), Alfredo Narciso (Off-B’way: The Unusual Love Life of Bed Bugs and Other Creatures, Chimichangas & Zoloft, The Ugly One, Thinner Than Water, Edgewise, Microcrisis) and Eric Nelsen (B’way: 13 the Musical; Off-B’way: Time Being, Ragamuffins, Interaction). ???????

This production includes Set Design by Derek McLane, (B’way: Nice Work If You Can Get It, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, How to Succeed..., Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Anything Goes; at The New Group: Burning, Marie and Bruce, Blood From A Stone, A Lie of the Mind), Costume Design by Cynthia Rowley (CFDA Award for Womenswear, SAIC Legend of Fashion Award, numerous television appearances from Project Runway to David Letterman), Lighting Design by Jason Lyons (B’way: Bring It On The Musical, Rock of Ages, The Threepenny Opera, Barefoot In the Park; at The New Group: Blood From A Stone, Rafta, Rafta..., Abigail’s Party, Hurlyburly, Aunt Dan and Lemon) and Sound Design and Original Music by Bart Fasbender (B’way: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; at The New Group: Burning, Terrorism; Off- B’way: Edgewise, Bad Jazz, A View from 151st Street, Hellhouse).

Playwright Francine Volpe’s credits include The Given (directed by Michael Imperioli at Studio Dante, finalist for The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), Late Fragment (Studio Dante), Sweethearts (The New Company), Giftbox (stageFARM). Her work has been developed at A.C.T., Arena Stage, Naked Angels, Rattlestick Theater, Soho Rep. Graduate of the Juilliard School, teaches screenwriting and playwriting at Sarah Lawrence College, ESPA, Stella Adler Academy in Los Angeles. Member of New Dramatists.

Scott Elliott is the founding Artistic Director of The New Group, where he has produced over 50 plays, 24 of which he directed, including last season’s world premieres of Erika Sheffer’s Russian Transport and Thomas Bradshaw’s Burning and also The Kid (Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off- Broadway Musical). He also directed Ayub Khan Din’s East is East and Rafta, Rafta...at The New Group.

Last season, The New Group (Scott Elliott, Artistic Director; Geoff Rich, Executive Director) presentEd Thomas Bradshaw’s Burning, the extended run of Erika Sheffer’s Russian Transport (both directed by Scott Elliott), and David Rabe’s An Early History of Fire directed by Jo Bonney (all world premiere productions). In 2010-2011, the company presented Tommy Nohilly’s Blood From A Stone featuring Ethan Hawke (Obie winner), the revival of Wallace Shawn’s Marie and Bruce starring Marisa Tomei and Frank Whaley, and One Arm by Tennessee Williams, adapted and directed by Moisés Kaufman. Other productions include A Lie of the Mind, The Kid, Groundswell, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Hurlyburly, Mike Leigh’s Two Thousand Years, Abigail’s Party, Smelling a Rat, Goose-Pimples and Ecstasy, Wallace Shawn’s The Fever and Aunt Dan and Lemon, Kenneth Lonergan’s The Starry Messenger featuring Matthew Broderick and This is Our Youth, and Kevin Elyot’s Mouth to Mouth and My Night With Reg. The New Group is a recipient of the 2004 Tony Award for Best Musical (Avenue Q). The New Group and Artistic Director Scott Elliott were honored with a Special 2010-11 Drama Desk Award “for presenting contemporary new voices, and for uncompromisingly raw and powerful productions.”

The Good Mother plays through December 22, 2012 at The New Group @ Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street). Schedule: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday at 7:00 PM and Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, with matinees Saturday at 2:00 PM. Tickets may be arranged through www.telecharge.com or (212) 239-6200, or at the Theatre Row Box Office (12–8 PM daily). Tickets are $60.00 plus $1.25 restoration fee. For more info, visit www.thenewgroup.org.

Photo Credit: Monique Carboni