Joey Slotnick will lead the American premiere of Dying For It. The Moira Buffini play, adapted from Nikolai Erdman’s The Suicide, will also feature an ensemble cast including Mia Barron, Ben Beckley, Nathan Dame, Patch Darragh, Clea Lewis, Peter Maloney Andrew Mayer, Mary Beth Peil, Jeanine Serralles, Robert Stanton and C.J. Wilson. The Atlantic Theater Company production will begin off-Broadway performances on December 11 at the Linda Gross Theater, where it will run through January 18, 2015. Opening night is set for January 8.
Slotnick appeared on Broadway in The Big Knife; his additional off-Broadway and regional stage credits include Happy Hour, The New York Idea, Offices, Almost an Evening, our Town and Animal Crackers. Barron recently appeared off-Broadway in Domesticated and was previously seen on Broadway in The Coast of Utopia and QED. Beckley’s stage credits include Peter and the Starcatcher and Goldor $ Mythyka. Dame has served as music director and music supervisor for various regional theaters and off-Broadway, including productions at Berkshire Theatre Group, Geva Theatre and Playwrights Horizons. Darragh returns to the Atlantic after starring in the world premiere of The Jammer; he also appeared on Broadway in Our Town. Lewis also returns to the Atlantic, following Writer’s Block; her additional credits include Broadway’s Absurd Person Singular. Mayer recently appeared in The 12 – A New Rock Musical at Signature Theater. Maloney is a member of the Atlantic Theater, having performed in 21 plays with the company. Peil, a Broadway alum, is also an Atlantic Theater Company member; her credits there include The Threepenny Opera and Harper Regan. Serralles has appeared off-Broadway in the Atlantic’s The Jammer, as well as The Muscles in Our Toes and Paris Commune. Robert Stanton’s Broadway credits include A Free Man of Color, Mary Stuart and The Coast of Utopia. Wilson, who appeared on Broadway with Slotnick in The Big Knige, returns to the Atlantic after appeared in Our New Girl, Offices and The Voysey Inheritance.
Directed by Neil Pepe, Dying For It follows Semyon (Slotnick), a man down on his luck, married to a nag (Serralles), and out of options. When he decides to throw in the towel and kill himself, a deluge of sympathetic visitors descends upon him, determined to make him a martyr for their many causes. The play satirizes the hypocrisy and illogic of Soviet life and was banned by Stalin before ever hitting the stage.
Dying For It will feature scenic design by Walt Spangler, costumes by Suttirat Larlarb and Moria Clinton, lighting design by David Weiner, sound design by Ben Truppin-Brown and original music by Josh Schmidt.