Abraham, Cake, Linn-Baker & More Set for Ethan Coen's Almost An Evening

Casting is set for the world-premiere production of Almost An Evening, three short plays by Oscar-winning filmmaker Ethan Coen, which begins performances on January 9, 2008, at Atlantic Theater Company's Stage 2. The plays, to be directed by Atlantic artistic director Neil Pepe, will open on January 22 and run through February 10.

The cast for Almost an Evening will include F. Murray Abraham, Jonathan Cake, J.R. Horne, Jordan Lage, Mark Linn-Baker, Elizabeth Marvel, Mary McCann, Del Pentecost and Joey Slotnick.

The trio of plays in Almost An Evening are described as "unsuccessfully" tackling important questions. In Waiting, someone waits somewhere for quite some time. In Four Benches, a voyage to self-discovery takes a British intelligence agent to steam baths in New York and Texas, and to park benches in the U.S. and U.K. In Debate, cosmic questions are taken up but not much is learned.

Coen and his brother, Joel, won an Oscar for their screenplay of Fargo and collaborated in producing, writing and directing the current big-screen release No Country for Old Men. The Coens' other films include O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, Blood Simple and The Big Lebowski Ethan Coen is also the author of a collection of stories, Gates of Eden, and a collection of poems, The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way.

Abraham, an Oscar winner for Amadeus, recently ended a run in the Broadway production of Mauritius and starred in productions of The Merchant of Venice and The Jew of Malta last season, performed in repertory. Cake is currently appearing in Lincoln Center Theater's production of Cymbeline and starred in Medea on Broadway and in London's West End. Horne has appeared on Broadway in The Crucible and Inherit the Wind and recently completed filming the Coen brothers' upcoming Burn after Reading. Atlantic founding member Lage most recently appeared in the company's Sea of Tranquility and on Broadway in Inherit the Wind.

Linn-Baker appeared on Broadway last season in Losing Louie and in the recent off-Broadway musical Romantic Poetry. Marvel co-starred in the Broadway revival of Seascape and won an Obie for the title role in Hedda Gabler. Atlantic founding member McCann appeared in the world premiere of Spring Awakening and in the company's productions of The Cherry Orchard and The Night Heron. Pentecost appeared on FX's Starved and in the Coen brothers' O Brother Where Art Thou? and Coyote Ugly. Slotnick, a member of Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Co., has appeared off-Broadway in The Altruists.

Almost An Evening will feature scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez, costume design by Ilona Somogyi, lighting design by Don Holder and sound design by Eric Shim and fight choreography by J. David Brimmer. This world premiere marks the first of two new plays to be produced this season at Atlantic's smaller Stage 2 house.