Complete Casting Announced for MCC’s “The Nether” – Tickets on Sale Now
Contact:
Rick Miramontez / Scott Braun / Michael Jorgensen
rick@oandmco.com / scott@oandmco.com / mike@oandmco.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
MCC THEATER’S
“T H E N E T H E R ”
COMPLETES CASTING
“BOARDWALK EMPIRE” ALUM
B E N R O S E N F I E L D
AND
RISING TALENT
S O P H I A A N N E C A R U S O
JOIN PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED
EMMY® WINNER MERRITT WEVER,
TONY® WINNER FRANK WOOD &
THEATER VET PETER FRIEDMAN
**SINGLE TICKETS ON SALE STARTING TODAY**
New York, NY – MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) has announced complete casting for the New York premiere of Jennifer Haley’s The Nether directed by Anne Kaufman. Ben Rosenfield, memorably of the final two seasons of “Boardwalk Empire,” and rising talent Sophia Anne Caruso will take on the roles of Woodnut and Iris, respectively. As previously announced, The Nether will also star “Nurse Jackie” Emmy® Award winner Merritt Wever, New York theater veteran Peter Friedman and Tony® Award winner Frank Wood.
The Nether is scheduled for February 4 – March 15, 2015 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street), with opening night set for February 24th. Single tickets are on sale now. For info, please visit www.mcctheater.org.
The Nether, winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, is a haunting thriller that will make you question when the fantastic becomes too real. There is a new immersive realm for the senses online, a virtual playground where those who plug in are coaxed into acting out their darkest fantasies – with no consequences in the “real” world. Or so it seems…until a young female detective begins an investigation to determine if there is a point at which thought or intention may actually constitute a crime within — and outside of — this new frontier.
Ben Rosenfield (Woodnut) was prominently featured in the final two seasons of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” Ben also recently filmed Woody Allen’s next picture opposite Emma Stone and Joaquin Phoenix. He currently appears in JC Chandor’s A Most Violent Year, and will next be seen in the lead role opposite Taissa Farmiga in the next feature from producer Mark Duplass. At this year’s Sundance, Ben appeared with Anne Hathaway in the musical feature Song One, and this spring, he will be featured in three hot indie releases: Affluenza; Louder Than Words; and Jamesy Boy. Ben portrayed Tim Buckley in Dan Algrant’s film Greetings from Tim Buckley which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and was shown at Tribeca as well. He launched his career in the leading role opposite Carey Mulligan in the off-Broadway play, Through A Glass Darkly.
Sophia Anne Caruso (Iris) has appeared Off Broadway in Ruthless, the Musical. Regionally, she has been seen in Little Dancer (Kennedy Center, featured role of Charlotte), Secondhand Lions (World premiere, role of Jane), Tina Denmark, Annie the Musical (role of Annie), The Miracle Worker (dir. Patty Duke, role of Helen Keller), Jane Eyre (Young Jane). On film: Jack of the Red Hearts opposite AnnaSophia Robb. On television, she appeared in NBC's “The Sound of Music Live!” as Brigitta Von Trapp opposite Carrie Underwood; as well as NBC's “Smash” (Young Norma Jean) and “Celebrity Ghost Stories.” Sophia Anne is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA.
Recently at MCC Theater: film and TV star Douglas Smith, Pico Alexander, Lilly Englert, Lortel Award winner Annie Funke, Five-time Obie winner David Greenspan, Colby Minifie, Will Pullen, Noah Robbins, and Sophie Shapiro starred in the critically acclaimed New York premiere of Punk Rock, a new play by Simon Stephens and directed by Trip Cullman. Punk Rock was extended by popular demand, closing on December 14, 2014.
Following The Nether, MCC Theater will present the world premiere of Robert Askins’ Permission, set for April 29 – June 7, 2015 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. As previously announced, Alex Timbers will direct. Timbers is a two-time Tony-nominated writer and director and the recipient of Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards, as well as two OBIE Awards. On Broadway, he co-directed Peter and the Starcatcher and directed and wrote the book for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, among others. Off-Broadway, he has memorably directed Here Lies Love and Love’s Labours Lost—both at The Public. Permission marks the return of playwright Robert Askins to MCC Theater, where last season he debuted his critically-acclaimed Hand to God—a play which will open on Broadway in Spring 2015 with its MCC Theater cast and creative team reprising their work.
MCC Theater – founded in 1986 as Manhattan Class Company – is driven by a mission to provoke conversations that have never happened and otherwise never would. Led by Artistic Directors Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, and Executive Director Blake West, MCC fulfills its mission by producing new work that challenges artists and rewards audiences, and by nurturing the development of playwrights and students through a variety of literary and education programs that enable nearly 1,200 New York City high school students to find – and use – their own unique voice each year through the creation and performance of original theater pieces. MCC currently produces its annual season at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street) and will open its own two-theater complex on West 52nd Street and 10th Avenue in 2017. Notable productions include the recent hits Hand to God and Small Engine Repair; The Village Bike; The Other Place; Really Really; The Submission, winner of the inaugural Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award for new American plays; The Pride; Fifty Words; Nixon's Nixon; The Grey Zone; the Tony Award-winning Frozen; the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit; the re-imagined production of the musical Carrie; and eight plays by Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute, including Fat Pig, Reasons to Be Pretty and Reasons to Be Happy.
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ADDITIONAL ACTOR BIOS
Merritt Wever (Detective Morris) is best known for her Emmy® Award winning performance as Nurse Zoey Barkow on the hit Showtime series “Nurse Jackie” for which she also received a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. She currently appears in the critically-acclaimed motion picture Birdman and has also made memorable appearances on film in Michael Clayton and Into the Wild and on television in “The Good Wife,” “The Wire,” “New Girl” and Aaron Sorkin’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” among others. On stage, she appeared in Signature Theatre Company’s Off-Broadway production of Tony Kushner’s The Illusion and SoHo Rep’s Uncle Vanya, among many others.
Peter Friedman (Doyle) recently appeared in The Debate Society’s Jacuzzi; Playwrights Horizons’ Fly By Night; and Will Eno’s The Open House. He has appeared in the New York productions of End Days, Annie Baker’s Body Awareness and Circle Mirror Transformation, Amy Herzog’s After the Revolution and The Great God Pan, the musical Ragtime (Tony® Award Nomination), and The Heidi Chronicles, among many others. His film work includes The Savages, Safe, Breaking Upwards, Harvest, Single White Female, Love and Other Drugs, and Side Effects. He has puppeteered on TV’s “The Muppet Show,” and was a series regular on “Brooklyn Bridge.”
Frank Wood (Sims/Papa) won the Tony® Award and the Drama League Award for Sideman. He played “Roy Cohn” in the Signature Theatre Company’s revival of Angels in America. On Broadway, he has appeared in Clybourne Park; August: Osage County; Born Yesterday; Hollywood Arms. His film credits include St. Vincent; Changeling; Taking of Pelham 1 2 3; Pollock; In America; Down to You; Royal Tennenbaums; The Missing Person. Television: “Newsroom”; “The Good Wife”; “Modern Family”; “Elementary”; “Flight of the Conchords”; “Grey’s Anatomy”; “Sopranos”; “Law & Order: SVU”, among others. Regional: Mark Taper Forum; Goodman Theatre; ACT; Long Wharf Theatre; Hartford Stage; Williamstown Theatre Fest.; Cincinnati Playhouse; Arena Stage.