Every day is opening night.

TACT Announces Cast & Creative Team for Neil Simon’s “Lost In Yonkers”—Begin 3/13 the Beckett

Contact:
Rick Miramontez / Richard Hillman
rick@oandmco.com / richard@oandmco.com


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE


COMPLETE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM ANNOUNCED
FOR TACT/THE ACTORS COMPANY THEATRE’S
“L O S T  I N  Y O N K E R S”
BY NEIL SIMON
DIRECTED BY JENN THOMPSON

PERFORMANCES BEGIN MARCH 13
OPENING NIGHT SET FOR MARCH 22

IN RESIDENCE AT THE BECKETT THEATRE AT THEATRE ROW

New York, NY (1/24/12) – TACT/The Actors Company Theatre (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris and Jenn Thompson, Co-Artistic Directors), the critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway company “dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit,” announces complete casting for Lost in Yonkers by Neil Simon, the final production of the company’s 2011/12 season. Directed by TACT Co-Artistic Director Jenn Thompson, performances begin at Theatre Row’s Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street – between 9th & 10th Avenues) on Tuesday, March 13th, 2012.   Opening night is Thursday, March 22nd at 7:30pm. Performances will continue through Saturday, April 14th. 

TACT takes an intimate look at preeminent American playwright Neil Simon's masterwork Lost in Yonkers in its first New York City revival in two decades. After the death of their mother, two young boys suddenly find themselves living with a stern grandmother they hardly know in the strange new world of Yonkers. This Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner for Best Play won over critics and audiences alike when it debuted on Broadway in 1991, and marked Simon's entry into the elite ranks of serious dramatists.

The cast will include TACT Co-Artistic Director and Company Member Cynthia Harris (Bedroom Farce, The Cocktail Party), as well as Guest Artists Alec Beard (Broadway: Tartuffe), Dominic Comperatore (Broadway: A View From The Bridge), Stephanie Cozart (Portland Stage: The Syringa Tree), Matthew Gumley (Broadway: Elf, The Addams Family, Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast), Russell Posner (NY stage debut) and Finnerty Steeves (Broadway: Brighton Beach Memoirs, Off B’way: Almost Maine).

The creative team is comprised of John McDermott (sets), David Toser (costumes), Martin E. Vreeland (lights), Toby Algya (sound), and Lauren Madden (properties).  Jack Gianino is Production Stage Manager.

Lost in Yonkers opened on Broadway on February 21, 1991 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and closed on January 3, 1993 after playing 780 performances. Directed by Gene Saks, the original cast included Irene Worth, Mercedes Ruehl and Kevin Spacey (all of whom won Tony Awards for their performances) and was awarded a Drama Desk and Tony Award for Best Play of 1991.  Simon adapted the play for the screen in a 1993 film directed by Martha Coolidge, starring Richard Dreyfus with Worth and Ruehl reprising their roles.  TACT is thrilled to present this great American play which hasn’t been seen in New York in 20 years.

Lost in Yonkers will have the following performance schedule: Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday at 7:30pm; Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2pm & 8pm; Sunday at 2pm. Tickets are $20 – $56.25 and will be available through TeleCharge – www.telecharge.com/(212) 239-6200. They will also be available at the Theatre Row box office (410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues) between 12pm and 6pm daily.

TACT/The Actors Company Theatre (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris & Jenn Thompson, Co-Artistic Directors) is dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit, with a focus on creating theatre from its essence: the text and the actor's ability to bring it to life.

TACT’s celebrated company of actors was drawn together in 1992 by a love of the literature of the theatre.  Since that time, they have grown to become a true ensemble: a group that has developed a common vocabulary and a technique based on their specific artistic vision and collective body of work.  TACT company members, whose cumulative experience includes scores of significant roles on and off Broadway, in the country’s finest regional theatres and in many films and television shows, have received Emmy, Obie, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards, in addition to several Tony nominations.

After presenting thirteen seasons of “in-concert” performances, the company took a leap with its 2006-07 season by presenting fully staged productions of David Storey’s Home and The Sea by Edward Bond at The Beckett Theatre on Theatre Row. TACT became a resident company on Theatre Row with its 2007-08 season when they presented critically-acclaimed productions of The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt and The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, by Tennessee Williams, which The New York Times included in its “Top 10 Theatre Picks for 2008.”   The company’s productions of Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce, Arthur Miller’s Incident at Vichy, The Late Christopher Bean by Sidney Howard, The Cocktail Party by T.S. Eliot, and this season’s opening production of A.R. Gurney’s Children became instant hits and enjoyed extended runs.

Bios                                                                                                                                                   

Neil Simon (Playwright) Internationally recognized as one of America’s preeminent and most prolific playwrights, the name Neil Simon has come to be synonymous with a bitingly satirical though poignantly nostalgic humor. Born in 1927 in the Bronx, Simon grew up in New York City.  He briefly attended NYU and the University of Denver prior to joining the army. After being discharged, Simon found a job at Warner Brothers and got his first taste of writing for show business.  Despite being Emmy-nominated for his writing on both Sid Caesar’s “The Show of Shows” and “The Phil Silvers Show,” Simon soon switched to writing for the stage. His first Broadway show, Come Blow Your Horn, opened in February 1961 and played for 677 performances.  This was to set the precedent of what was to follow.  With such hits as Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple and Sweet Charity, Simon’s stellar theatrical career includes thirty-four Broadway premieres, ten revivals, and numerous award nominations and wins, and is unrivaled in modern theatre.

Jenn Thompson (Director) currently serves as a Co-Artistic Director of TACT/The Actors Company Theatre, where she has directed the Off-Broadway productions of Vaclav Havel’s The Memorandum, Sidney Howard’s The Late Christopher Bean, Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce, Tennessee Williams’ The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (New York Times “Top Ten for Theatre Picks for 2008”), as well as Ladies in Retirement, My 3 Angels, Rain and Kind Lady.  Other NYC directing credits include the world-premiere musical Seeing Stars, (NYMF), Badge by Matthew Schneck (Rattlestick), Term Limit (AGT), The Brilliance Of Bernstein (American Musicals Project) and Big Doolie (FringeNYC). She has developed new work at Hartford Stage, Primary Stages, The York, Abingdon Theatre Company, The Bridge Theatre and Rattlestick, among others. Regional credits include The Syringa Tree (Portland Stage Company), Noises Off (Dorset Theatre Festival), as well as 19 seasons with the River Rep at the Ivoryton Playhouse where she served as Producing Director and worked on over 50 productions including Damn Yankees, The Heiress, Dinner with Friends and The Foreigner. As an actress her credits include extensive theatre, TV and film appearances including the Tony Award-winning Broadway productions of Ah, Wilderness!, The Heiress, and Annie


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