Justin Bartha & Elizabeth Reaser to Lead Cast of Mcc’s “Permission” by Robert Askins
Contact:
Rick Miramontez / Scott Braun / Michael Jorgensen
rick@oandmco.com / scott@oandmco.com / mike@oandmco.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
JUSTIN BARTHA
& ELIZABETH REASER
TO HEADLINE
WORLD PREMIERE OF
ROBERT ASKINS’
“PERMISSION”
AT MCC THEATER
FULL CAST ANNOUNCED
AS REHEARSALS BEGIN TODAY
SINGLE TICKETS NOW ON SALE
New York, NY – MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce the cast for the world premiere of Robert Askins’ Permission: stage and screen star Justin Bartha, of Broadway’s Lend Me A Tenor, Off-Broadway’s All New People and the blockbuster film The Hangover; Twilight and “Grey’s Anatomy” Emmy®-nominated star Elizabeth Reaser, returning to MCC following her critically acclaimed performance in this fall’s The Money Shot; and theater regulars Nicole Lowrance, Talene Monahon, and Lucas Near-Verbrugghe. Permission is set for April 29 – June 7, 2015 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, with an official opening night on Tuesday, May 19th. For more information, please visit www.mcctheater.org.
As previously announced, 2-time Tony® Award nominee Alex Timbers directs Permission, the new play from Robert Askins, who was last seen at MCC with the smash hit production of Hand to God—which is now premiering on Broadway at The Booth Theatre with an opening night set for Tuesday, April 7th.
In Permission, Eric and Cyndy are looking for some direction. They’ve decided to follow the lead of their friends Zach and Shelley and make the real life practice of Christian Domestic Discipline the foundation of their marriage. But restructuring their lives and their union according to role play and a new moral code upends everything they knew–and took for granted–about one another, their friends, and more importantly, who really holds the power.
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 Punk Rock; Hand to God; 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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BIOGRAPHIES
JUSTIN BARTHA has emerged as a versatile talent whose abilities span comedy and drama in film, television and theater. He received rave reviews for his Broadway debut in the Tony®-nominated revival of Lend Me A Tenor directed by Stanley Tucci and also starring Tony Shalhoub and Anthony LaPaglia. He went on to star in the Second Stage production of All New People, Jesse Eisenberg's Asunction at the Cherry Lane and Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys, with Danny DeVito and Judd Hirsch, at The Ahmanson Theater.
Bartha is best known for co-starring in Todd Phillips' The Hangover trilogy, as well as the wildly popular National Treasure franchise, alongside Nicolas Cage. Bartha can also be seen opposite Jesse Eisenberg in the indie drama Holy Rollers; in the romantic comedy, The Rebound opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones; Todd Solondz’s Dark Horse and opposite Matthew McConaughey and Bradley Cooper in Failure to Launch. He recently wrapped production on Killer Films' White Girl and Mark Polish's Headlock with Andy Garcia and Dianna Agron.
On television, Bartha starred in Ryan Murphy's groundbreaking “The New Normal”, which won both the GLAAD and People’s Choice Awards for Best Comedy.
NICOLE LOWRANCE Broadway: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (u/s), Dividing the Estate. International: The Merchant of Venice, RSC. Off-Broadway: Middle of the Night, Keen Company; Peter and the Starcatcher, New World Stages; The Merchant of Venice, All’s Well That Ends Well, Engaged, Don Juan, Theatre for a New Audience; Columbinus, NYTW. Regional: O.P.C., A.R.T.; Oleanna/Speed the Plow (in rep), Actors Theatre Company; Beyond Therapy, Westport Playhouse; Curse of the Starving Class, ACT; The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue, Hartford Stage; Romeo and Juliet, Folger Theatre; Hamlet, The Little Foxes, Shakespeare Theatre Company. TV: “Law & Order”; “Whoopi”; “Guiding Light”; “American Masters.” She is a graduate of The Juilliard School.
TALENE MONAHON recently appeared in the New York premieres of Here's Hoover! (Les Freres Corbusier) and The Chocolate Show! (47th St. Theater). Regional credits include The Seagull (Peterborough Players), Our Town (New London Barn Playhouse), The Importance of Being Earnest (Northern Stage). Talene's solo show, All in Good Fun, was a best-seller at the United Solo Festival and has been produced across New England. B.A. Dartmouth College.
LUCAS NEAR-VERBRUGGHE Theater credits: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson on Broadway, Love Labour’s Lost and Macbeth at Shakespeare in the Park, Boom at Ars Nova directed by Alex Timbers, Oohrah! at the Atlantic Theater directed by Evan Cabnet, The Common Pursuit and The Ritz at the Roundabout Theater Company, and Assistance at Playwrights Horizons directed by Trip Cullman. Lucas made his Ahmanson debut in Seminar, opposite Jeff Goldblum directed by Sam Gold. Film credits: Our Idiot Brother, A Birder’s Guide to Everything directed by Rob Meyer, The Bad Guys directed by Carlos Rincones, and The Tiger Hunter set to come out later this year with Danny Pudi and Jon Heder. Television: Recurring on the NBC hit “Grimm”.
ELIZABETH REASER earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress for her role in the drama Sweet Land and received an Emmy® nomination for her guest spot as “Ava” on “Grey's Anatomy.” Reaser shared a Screen Actors Guild's Award nomination with the “Grey's Anatomy” cast for Best Ensemble.
In television, Reaser was most recently seen in the HBO series “True Detective” with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as well as in the History/A&E/Lifetime miniseries event “Bonnie & Clyde.” In addition to her arc on “Grey's Anatomy,” Reaser played “Tammy Linnata” on the CBS show, “The Good Wife,”. She also played the leading role of “Bella Bloom” in the CBS one-hour romantic drama series, “The Ex List.” Additional television credits include the drama series “Saved” and appearances on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “The Sopranos.”
In theater, Reaser most recently starred in the New York Premiere of The Money Shot by Neil LaBute at MCC and in the Second Stage Theatre's revival of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize winning play How I Learned to Drive opposite Norbert Leo Butz.
In film, Reaser recently completed shooting on the independent films Hello, My Name is Doris directed by Michael Showalter as well as One & Two directed by Andrew Droz Palermo.
Additional film credits include Jason Reitman's Young Adult; Gavin Wiesen's The Art of Getting By, which was selected in competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011; Josh Radnor's Liberal Arts; Maria Maggenti's Puccini for Beginners, which was also selected in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opened the 2006 Outfest Film Festival; Thomas Bezucha's The Family Stone; Marc Forster's Stay; The Believer, Mind the Gap, and all five installments of The Twilight Saga.
Reaser graduated from The Julliard School of Arts.