Eakeley, Lysy and Pressley Join Cast of MTC's THE AMERICAN PLAN

Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) announced full casting for the upcoming Broadway premiere of Richard Greenberg's THE AMERICAN PLAN which will be directed by Tonyâ nominee David Grindley (Journey's End).

The previously announced Lily Rabe and Mercedes Ruehl will be joined by Benjamin Eakeley (Sweeney Todd), Austin Lysy (A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Delacorte), and Brenda Pressley (The First Breeze of Summer).

The limited engagement of THE AMERICAN PLAN will begin previews on Friday, January 2, 2009 and open on Thursday, January 22, 2009 at MTC's Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).

It is the Catskill Mountains in the early 1960s, and Lili Adler (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominee Lily Rabe) and her mother Eva (Tonyâ and Academy Awardâ winner Mercedes Ruehl) are spending the summer across the lake from a bustling hotel where comics entertain and buffets overflow. When a handsome young stranger (Benjamin Eakeley) enters their world, the emotionally fragile Lili finds herself falling in love. But once her imperious mother learns of their relationship, lies are exposed, alliances are forged and Lili's one chance to escape her mother's control may be lost forever.

The Broadway production of THE AMERICAN PLAN will mark MTC's eighth collaboration with Richard Greenberg; a relationship that includes the original New York production of THE AMERICAN PLAN which premiered in 1990 at MTC at New York City Center - Stage II and then transferred to Stage I. Other MTC productions of Greenberg plays include: Eastern Standard, The Extra Man, Jenny Keeps Talking, Night and Her Stars, the Pulitzer Prize nominated Three Days of Rain, and The Violet Hour. 

The creative team for THE AMERICAN PLAN includes Jonathan Fensom (scenic and costume design), Mark McCullough (lighting design), Darron L West & Bray Poor (sound design), and Tom Watson (wig design).

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, MTC has become one of the country's most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. MTC productions have earned a total of 16 Tony Awards and five Pulitzer Prizes, an accomplishment unparalleled by a New York theatrical institution. Renowned MTC productions include Top Girls; From Up Here; Come Back, Little Sheba; The Receptionist; LoveMusik; Blackbird; Translations; Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Proof; The Tale of the Allergist's Wife; Kimberly Akimbo; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Sylvia; Four Dogs and a Bone; Putting It Together; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain't Misbehavin'.

This season, MTC’s Broadway stage was renamed the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). The landmarked theatre has been the institution’s home on Broadway since 2003 and was rehabilitated by MTC following a two-year, $35 million capital campaign. In addition, MTC operates two theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street), its Off-Broadway home since 1984.

You can subscribe to MTC by calling (212) 399-3030, Monday – Friday, noon – 8 PM, with a major credit card. Subscriptions are available online at www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

TICKET INFORMATION:

    * Via Telecharge.com: Single tickets to THE AMERICAN PLAN are available via Telecharge.com by telephone at (212) 239-6200, (800) 432-7250 outside the NY metro area and online at Telecharge.com. For group ticket information, call (800) 432-7780.
    * Via the Samuel J. Friedman Box Office: Tickets are available at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre box office (261 West 47th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue). Tickets range in price from $56.50-$96.50. Student rush tickets are available the day of the performance at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre box office for $26.50.
    * MTC Subscriptions: You can subscribe to MTC by calling (212) 399-3030, Monday – Friday, noon – 8 PM, with a major credit card. Subscriptions are available online at www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

 
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

    * FRIDAY, JANUARY 2 – SUNDAY, JANUARY 4: Friday at 8PM, Saturday at 8 PM, Sunday at 2PM and 7 PM. There is no Saturday matinee during this time period.
    * TUESDAY, JANUARY 6 – SUNDAY, JANUARY 18: Tuesday at 7PM, Wednesday-Saturday at 8PM, Sunday at 7PM.  Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2PM.
    * TUESDAY, JANUARY 20 – SUNDAY, MARCH 1: Tuesday at 7PM, Wednesday-Saturday at 8PM.  Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2PM.
    * TUESDAY, MARCH 3 – SUNDAY, MARCH 8: Tuesday at 7PM, Wednesday-Saturday at 8PM.  Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2PM. Please note, only seven performances will be on sale to the general public this week.
    * TUESDAY, MARCH 10 – SUNDAY, MARCH 15: Tuesday at 7PM, Wednesday-Saturday at 8PM.  Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2PM.

Mercedes Ruehl (Eva Adler) came to prominence in Jonathan Demme’s Married to the Mob. She earned an Academy Award, Golden Globe, L.A. and Chicago Film Critics Society awards for her role in The Fisher King. Other films include Warriors, Big, Heartburn, Slaves of New York, Another You, Last Action Hero, Lost in Yonkers, What’s Cooking, The Amati Girls, For Rosanna and The Minus Man. Her career was launched in regional repertories in the works of Shakespeare, Moliere, Shaw, Chekhov and Euripides, and she went on to receive Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Helen Hayes awards for her role in Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers, later reprising her role in the film. Other Broadway credits include The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (Outer Critics Circle Award, Tony nomination); The Rose Tattoo; Shadowbox (Tony nomination); and I’m Not Rappaport. Off-Broadway includes The Occupant, Woman Before a Glass (Obie Award), Other People’s Money (Clarence Derwent Award), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Obie Award), Coming of Age in Soho, The Vagina Monologues and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Guthrie Theatre. She recently completed an acclaimed run of Viva La Vida! at the Bay Street Theatre. Among her television credits are the Emmy Awardâ-winning “Indictment: The McMartin Trial,” HBO’s “Gia,” Hallmark’s “The Lost Child,” Court TV’s “Guilt by Association” and Showtime’s “North Shore Fish.” Television guest appearances include “Entourage,” “Frasier,” “Law & Order” and “The Cosby Show.” For Lifetime TV she starred in last year’s “Mom at Sixteen” and this year’s “A Girl Like Me.”

Lily Rabe (Lily). Broadway: Heartbreak House (Roundabout Theatre Company, Callaway Award, Outer Critics Circle Nomination); Steel Magnolias (Lyceum Theatre, Drama Desk Nomination). Off Broadway: Crimes of the Heart (Roundabout Theatre Company), Colder Than Here (MCC). Regional: Crimes of the Heart (Williamstown), Proof (Gloucester Stage Co.), Crazy Girl (GSC), Speaking Well of the Dead (GSC).  Film: All Good Things (Upcoming), Aftermath (Upcoming), What Just Happened, The Toe Tactic, No Reservations, A Crime, Mona Lisa Smile, Never Again. Television: “Last of the Ninth” (pilot for HBO), “Nip/Tuck,” “Medium,” “Law and Order: CI,” “Law Order: SVU.” Education: Northwestern University. 

Benjamin Eakeley (Nick Lockridge) made his Broadway debut in John Doyle's critically acclaimed revival of Sweeney Todd (standby for Anthony, Tobias, and The Beadle), and played The Beadle in the 2007-08 national tour. Other theatre credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream (Demetrius), Illyria (Sir Andrew Aguecheek), and Love's Labour's Lost (Dumaine) at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and the national tour of Cabaret (Ernst). Film and TV: The Good Shepherd (director Robert De Niro), "As the World Turns," and the upcoming An Englishman in New York, with John Hurt. He is a graduate of Yale University.

Austin Lysy (Gil Harbison). Off-Broadway: Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Public-NYSF), All That I Will Ever Be (NYTW); The Water's Edge (Second Stage); Manic Flight Reaction, Other People (Playwrights Horizons); Hobson's Choice (Atlantic). Broadway: Macbeth. New York: The Fall (Toad Productions/Singularity), Hunter for Hunter Green (Singularity). Regional: The Violet Hour (Barrington Stage); Romeo & Juliet; The Water's Edge; The Chekhov Cycle; Loot; Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Williamstown); Butley (Huntington); Hay Fever (Westport). TV/Film: "Law & Order: SVU," "Law & Order," "Gossip Girl," "Six Degrees," "Hack," Everybody's Fine, Poster Boy, Hitch, Brooklyn Lobster, Perfume. Graduate of Northwestern University.

Brenda Pressley (Olivia Shaw). Broadway: Dreamgirls (original company), Cats, The Moony Shapiro Songbook. Off-Broadway: The First Breeze of Summer, Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles?, Seven Guitars, Fran's Bed, Goodwill, Marvin's Room, And the World Goes Round: The Songs of Kander and Ebb (Outer Critics Circle Award), Blues in the Night. Regional: Sundance Theatre Lab 2002, The Old Settler (Freedom Theatre, 2000 Barrymore Award, Best Actress; McCarter Theatre world premiere; and The Long Wharf Theatre), Blues for an Alabama Sky (Cincinnati Play House, the Old Globe), Jar the Floor (Syracuse Stage), A Raisin in the Sun (Ford's Theatre), To Be Young Gifted and Black (The Kennedy Center). Film: 16 Blocks, Cradle Will Rock (written and directed by Tim Robbins), Twisted, It Could Happen to You.  Television:  "Law & Order," "Deadline," "Law & Order: SVU," "New York Undercover," "Daddy's Girl," "Harambee!," "Educating Matt Waters," HBO's "LifeStories," and "Brewster's Place" (with Oprah Winfrey).