Rehearsals are now underway for the Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) New York premiere of Edward Albee's ME, MYSELF & I, a new play by the three-time Pulitzer Prize and three-time Tony Award winner (A Delicate Balance; Seascape; Three Tall Women; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?). The production opens the theater company's 40th Anniversary Season, in which Mr. Albee will be making his Playwrights Horizons debut. The play is Mr. Albee's 30th.
Directed by Tony Award nominee, Obie Award winner and McCarter Theatre Center Artistic Director Emily Mann (Miss Witherspoon at Playwrights Horizons, Having Our Say on Broadway, Mr. Albee's All Over), the production will begin previews Tuesday, August 24 at 8PM. With an Opening Night set for Sunday, September 12 at 7PM, the limited engagement is now on sale through Sunday, October 10 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).
"We are proud to be celebrating our 40th Anniversary," said Artistic Director Tim Sanford. "As a writers' theater, it feels unspeakably lucky and fitting to launch this milestone season with this giddily entertaining and challenging play by arguably our pre-eminent living playwright."
The cast of the New York premiere will feature Tony Award winner Elizabeth Ashley (for Take Her, She's Mine; plus Barefoot in the Park, the recent Dividing the Estate), Zachary Booth (Prayer for My Enemy at PH, "Damages," Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist), three-time Tony Award nominee Brian Murray (for The Crucible, The Little Foxes and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; Obie Award for Mr. Albee's The Play About the Baby), Natalia Payne (New Jerusalem at CSC, Jailbait at the Cherry Lane), Stephen Payne (Superior Donuts and August: Osage County on Broadway; Me, Myself & I at the McCarter) and Preston Sadleir (Off-Broadway debut). Mr. Murray will reprise his acclaimed performance from the McCarter production, as will Mr. Payne.
In Edward Albee's ME, MYSELF & I, Mother (Ms. Ashley) can't tell her identical twins apart. But when Otto (Mr. Booth) announces his brother (Mr. Sadleir) doesn't exist, the household descends into chaos.
The production will feature scenic design by Thomas Lynch, costume design by Jennifer Von Mayrhauser, lighting design by Kenneth Posner and sound design by Darron L West. Production Stage Manager is Alison Cote.
Mr. Albee makes his Playwrights Horizons debut with this production. Ms. Mann previously worked with Playwrights Horizons directing Miss Witherspoon (2005). Both Ms. Ashley and Mr. Murray are also returning to the theater company, where she appeared in When She Danced (1990) and he appeared in both The Butterfly Collection (2000) and Mud, River, Stone (1997). Mr. Booth previously appeared at Playwrights Horizons in Prayer for My Enemy (2009).
