Claudia Shear's Restoration Headed for New York Theatre Workshop

Tony Award nominee Claudia Shear will bring her latest play, Restoration, to New York Theatre Workshop in the spring of 2010. Restoration recently received a well-reviewed world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse, directed by Christopher Ashley.

Based on a true story, Restoration centers on Giulia (Shear), once a rising star in the exclusive world of art restoration, who now works alone in her Brooklyn garage. When her mentor pays a visit with an extraordinary opportunity—the chance to restore Michelangelo’s David for its 500th birthday celebration in Florence—she has a shot to reinvigorate her career. But this once-in-a-lifetime assignment truly becomes a second chance at life when Giulia begins to connect with fellow museum staff and lets go of the protective patina she has spent a lifetime building.

Casting and design team for the off-Broadway production of Restoration will be announced shortly. The La Jolla cast included Kate Shindle, Alan Mandell, Natalija Nogulich and Daniel Serafini-Sauli.

Shear received Best Play and Best Actress Tony nominations for Dirty Blonde, in which she played Mae West. She was directed by Ashley in her Obie-winning play Blown Sideways Through Life, which began at NYTW, transferred for a hit commercial off-Broadway run and was filmed for PBS’s American Playhouse. Shear appeared on Broadway in The Smell of the Kill and in the West End production of Chicago.

NYTW also announced a four performance run of I Got Sick Then I Got Better, written by and starring Jenny Allen on consecutive Mondays beginning September 14 and ending on October 5. Directed by James Lapine and Darren Katz, the solo show is described as a comic riff on Allen’s battle with ovarian cancer. In addition to her career as a writer and performer, Allen is married to playwright/cartoonist Jules Feiffer and the mother of actress Halley Feiffer.