TEN CHIMNEYS Begins Off-Broadway Tonight, 9/21

The award-winning Peccadillo Theater Company will present the New York City premiere of TEN CHIMNEYS, a new comedy by Jeffrey Hatcher, starring Byron Jennings as Alfred Lunt, Carolyn McCormick as Lynn Fontanne, Mariette Hartley as Lunt's mother Hattie and Michael McCarty as Sydney Greenstreet. Performances are set to begin tonight, September 21st with the Opening on Sunday, September 30th at Theatre at St. Clement's, 423 West 46th Street (between Ninth & Tenth Aves.) The cast of TEN CHIMNEYS also features Charlotte Booker, Julia Bray and John Wernke, under the direction of OBIE Award winner Dan Wackerman.

TEN CHIMNEYS peers into the backstage lives of the two most revered stars of the Broadway stage, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Set on the couple's legendary Wisconsin estate in 1938, love triangles and family dysfunction reveal themselves when the rehearsal process for an upcoming production of Chekhov's The Seagull becomes a true-to-life plot involving a young actress named Uta Hagen. Hilarious and heartwarming, TEN CHIMNEYS uncovers the depths of truth, loyalty and love in the private lives of these giants of the American Theatre.

Byron Jennings starred on Broadway in Noises Off, Twelve Angry Men, Arcadia, The Invention of Love, Is He Dead?, Inherit the Wind, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Heartbreak House, The Merchant of Venice and Accent on Youth, and his film and TV credits include "White Collar," "Kings," "Damages," Quiz Show, The Ice Storm, A Time to Kill, "Gossip Girl," Julie & Julia and Spielberg's soon-to-be-released Lincoln.

Carolyn McCormick is best known as Dr. Elizabeth Olivette on "Law & Order" and she also appeared on TV's "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Cold Case" and "Body of Proof," and in the films Whatever Works and Enemy Mine. Carolyn has had starring roles on Broadway in Neil Simon's The Dinner Party and Equus, in which she played the mother of Alan Strang (Daniel Radcliffe).

Emmy winner Mariette Hartley's New York stage credits include Cabaret, Ancestral Voices, Sylvia and King John, and she starred in the national tours of Deathtrap, The Sisters Rosensweig and Copenhagen. She has appeared in countless films and hit TV shows including "Twilight Zone," "M*A*S*H," "Star Trek," "Columbo," "NCIS," "Peyton Place," Ride the High Country, "Grey's Anatomy" and Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie.

Michael McCarty's numerous Broadway credits include MARY POPPINS, 42nd Street, Amadeus, Big River, Oklahoma! and Sweeney Todd, and his TV and film appearances include "Great Performances: Show Boat," "Quantum Leap," "3rd Rock from the Sun," Dead Man, "ER," "Orpheus Descending" and The Legend of Bagger Vance.

Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher is the author of Tuesdays with Morrie, Never Gonna Dance, Three Viewings, A Picasso, The Turn of the Screw and Scotland Road. Mr. Hatcher wrote the screenplays for Stage Beauty, The Duchess and Casanova, as well as episodes of TV's "Columbo."

Scenic and lighting design for TEN CHIMNEYS is by Harry Feiner, with costume design by Sam Fleming. Executive producer is Sarahbeth Grossman (Stick Fly, The Irish Curse).

More Articles by This Author...