Works by Coen, McDonagh, Willimon & Pittu on Tap at Atlantic in 2008-09
No casting has been announced for any of the main stage productions, but here are the dates and details thus far:
Farragut North by Beau Willimon, directed by Doug Hughes
This world premiere will run from October 22 to November 29, with opening night on November 12. Named for a Washington DC subway stop, Farragut North centers on Stephen, a wunderkind press secretary who has built a career that men twice his age would envy. During a tight presidential primary race, however, Stephen's meteoric rise falls prey to the backroom politics of more seasoned operatives, and his one-night stand with a teenage staffer proves to be more complicated than casual.
Farragut North had been eyeing a Broadway production this summer, according to Variety, directed by Tony winner Hughes Doubt. Screen star Jake Gyllenhaal participated in a reading of the play, and Warner Brothers is reportedly developing a feature film version to star Leonardo DiCaprio. Playwright Willimon Lower Ninth worked on Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign.
The Cripple of Inishmaan had a brief run at the Public Theater in 1998 in a production directed by Jerry Zaks. Atlantic teamed with the Druid Theatre the same year to present McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane, which transferred to Broadway and earned Hynes the first Tony Award ever awarded to a woman director.
Offices by Ethan Coen, directed by Neil Pepe
In addition to his fledgling career as a playwright, Ethan Coen won three Academy Awards with his brother, Joel for writing, directing and producing this year's Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men. Before tackling Offices, Atlantic artistic director Pepe will direct a Broadway revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, which begins previews on October 3, starring Jeremy Piven.
What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling by David Pittu, with music by Randy Redd
A second new play to be presented in Spring 2009 at Stage 2 is still to be announced.
This co-production with Galway's Druid Theatre will run from December 9 through March 1, 2009, with opening night on December 18. Set in 1934 on an island off the west coast of Ireland, the play tells the story of Hollywood filmmaker Robert Flaherty, who arrives on the neighboring island of Inishmore to film his movie The Man of Aran. For orphaned Billy Craven, who has been relentlessly scorned by the island's inhabitants, the film represents an escape from the poverty of his existence. He vies for a part in the film, and to everyone's surprise, it is the cripple who gets his chance.
This world premiere of three short plays, due in Spring 2009, will reteam the author and director of last season's Almost an Evening. As with the previous work, the description offered of Offices is cryptic: Hiring and firing are antisocial acts. Workplace pressures make for nasty competition. And the work itself can be meaningless and alienating. Accordingly, the three short plays that make up Offices are comedies.
Tony nominee Pittu Is He Dead?, LoveMusik will perform his own script in a Stage 2 production running from September 3 to September 28, with opening night on September 10. Described as an absurd musical satire that charts the career of eternally up-and-coming and fictitious musical theater composer Jacob Sterling, What's That Smell is an up-close-and-personal visit with an artist of questionable gifts who performs from his songbook and shares his struggle to keep musical theater alive and well in the 21st century. No director has been announced.