Girls co-stars Zosia Mamet and Allison Williams and Tony nominee Marin Ireland (Reasons to be Pretty, TV’s Homeland) have signed on to play sisters in a one-night-only reading of Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy Crimes of the Heart. A benefit for The New Group, the reading will be held on October 28 at the Acorn Theatre on Theatre Row, directed by the company’s artistic director, Scott Elliott.
First produced by Manhattan Theatre Club in 1980, Crimes of the Heart centers on the MaGrath sisters of Hazleburst, Mississippi, who go into crisis mode after the youngest, Babe (Mamet), shoots her abusive husband. Williams will play outspoken middle sister Meg, and Ireland will play eldest sibling Lenny.
The benefit cast will also include stage and screen favorite Natasha Lyonne (Orange Is the New Black) as Chick, Broadway vet Sebastian Stan (Picnic) as Doc and Raviv Ullman (New Group’s Russian Transport) as Barnette. The New Group is producing Henley’s latest play, The Jacksonian, which will begin previews on October 25 starring Ed Harris, Bill Pullman, Amy Madigan, Glenne Headly and Juliet Brett, directed by Robert Falls.