Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director), Barry Grove (Executive Producer), and Mandy Greenfield (Artistic Producer) are pleased to announce full casting for Manhattan Theatre Club’s upcoming production of GOLDEN AGE, the new play by four-time Tony Award winner Terrence McNally, directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie.

The cast will star Tony Award winner Richard Easton (The Invention of Love), Dierdre Friel (Dogfight), Coco Monroe (New York debut), two-time Emmy and two-time Tony Award winner Bebe Neuwirth (Chicago,), Emmy Award nominee Lee Pace ( “Pushing Daisies”), Ethan Phillips (November), Lorenzo Pisoni (Humor Abuse), Will Rogers (Unnatural Acts), and Eddie Kaye Thomas (The Submission).

The limited engagement of GOLDEN AGE will begin previews Tuesday, November 13 and open Tuesday, December 4 at MTC at New York City Center – Stage I (131 West 55^th Street).

Its opening night of Vincenzo Bellini’s (Emmy Award nominee Lee Pace) new opera I Puritani in Paris, and the Italian composer is determined to win the adulation of not only his audience, but his colleagues and rivals as well. When the curtain falls, will a thunderous ovation cement his prominence? Or has Bellini unwittingly composed his own swan song?

Blending 21^st century language with the timeless beauty of 19th century bel canto opera, Terrence McNally’s new play, portrays the final act of an artist whose desire for greatness has eclipsed all else.

The creative team for GOLDEN AGE will include Santo Loquasto (scenic design), Jane Greenwood (costume design), Peter Kaczorowski (lighting design), Ryan Rumery (sound design), and Tom Watson (hair & wig design).

Lead support for GOLDEN AGE is provided by MTC’s Producing Fund Partner, Andrew Martin-Weber.

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. Over the past three decades, MTC productions have earned a total of 18 Tony Awards and six Pulitzer Prizes, an accomplishment unparalleled by a New York theatrical institution. MTC has a Broadway home at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47^th Street) and two Off-Broadway theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55^th Street). Renowned MTC productions include Venus in Fur; Master Class; Good People; The Whipping Man; Time Stands Still; The Royal Family; Ruined; The American Plan; Come Back, Little Sheba; Blackbird; Translations; Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Proof; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife; Love! Valour! Compassion!; A Small Family Business; Sylvia; Putting It Together; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain’t Misbehavin.’

For more information on MTC, please visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

TICKETING INFORMATION FOR GOLDEN AGE:

• Tickets for GOLDEN AGE are available via the New York City Center Box Office (131 West 55^th Street), CityTix^® (212-581-1212) and www.nycitycenter.org.
• Tickets for GOLDEN AGE are $85.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

- TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 – SUNDAY, NOVEMBER, 18: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday at 7 PM; Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 PM. Matinee on Sunday at 2 PM. Please note there are only seven performances this week.

- MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19 – SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25 (THANKSGIVING WEEK): Monday, Tuesday, and Sunday at 7 PM; Friday and Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM. Please note there are only seven performances with no performances Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

- MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26 – SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2: Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.

- MONDAY, DECEMBER 3 – SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9 (OPENING WEEK): Wednesday and Sunday at 7 PM, Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM. There are only seven performances on sale to the general public this week.

- MONDAY, DECEMBER 10 – SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 PM, Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM. There are only seven performances on sale to the general public this week.

- MONDAY, DECEMBER 17 – SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 PM, Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.

- MONDAY, DECEMBER 24 – SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30 (CHRISTMAS WEEK): Wednesday and Sunday at 7 PM, Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM. Please note there are no performances Monday or Tuesday of this week.

- MONDAY, DECEMBER 31 – SUNDAY, JANUARY 6 (NEW YEAR’S WEEK): Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 PM, Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.

BIOGRAPHIES

TERRENCE McNALLY (Playwright) is a recipient of the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. He has won four Tony Awards for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! (as well as the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play and the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Best Play) and Master Class and his musical books for Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime. The Kennedy Center recently produced three of his plays under the title Terrence McNally’s Nights at the Opera: Master Class, The Lisbon Traviata, and the world premiere of Golden Age. In 1996 he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. Recent credits include Deuce, Some Men, Unusual Acts of Devotion, and Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams. His other plays include A Perfect Ganesh; Corpus Christi; The Stendhal Syndrome; Lips Together, Teeth Apart (Drama Desk Award Best New Play); It’s Only a Play and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.  Earlier stage works include The Ritz, Bad Habits (Obie Award Best Play), Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?, …And Things That Go Bump in the Night, and Next. He also wrote the books for the musicals The Full Monty, The Rink, and A Man of No Importance.  He wrote the libretto for the opera Dead Man Walking with music by Jake Heggie. McNally has written a number of television scripts, including “Andre’s Mother” for which he won an Emmy Award. He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, two Lucille Lortel Awards, two Obies and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Dramatists Guild since 1970 and is a three-time recipient of the Dramatist Guild’s Hull-Warriner Award for Best Play. He lives in Manhattan with his husband, Tom Kirdahy.

WALTER BOBBIE (Director) directed David Ives’ Venus in Fur (Broadway, MTC, CSC). He won the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards as Best Director of Chicago which has become the longest-running revival in Broadway history. Other Broadway includes White Christmas, High Fidelity, Sweet Charity, Twentieth Century, Footloose, and A Grand Night For Singing. Recently, Paul Rudnick’s Cabin Pressure (59 E 59), Ives’s New Jerusalem and School For Lies (CSC), Jeff Talbott’s The Submission (MCC), McNally’s Golden Age (Kennedy Center), Evan Smith’s The Savannah Disputation (PH), Ives’ The Other Woman (EST), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Roundabout). As an actor, Bobbie New York appearances include plays and musicals as varied as the original cast of Grease, Shaw’s Getting Married, Assassins, I Love My Wife, A History of the American Film, Driving Miss Daisy, Café Crown, Lincoln Center’s Anything Goes, the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls, and Polish Joke at MTC. Bobbie was Artistic Director of City Center’s acclaimed Encores!, and he serves on the Executive Board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

RICHARD EASTON (Rossini). Broadway: Elling; The Coast of Utopia; The Rivals; Henry IV; Noises Off; The Invention of Love (Tony Best Actor 2001, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Awards); Back to Methusela; The Country Wife; School for Scandal. APA Phoenix at the Lyceum: Alceste (The Misanthrope), Berenger (Exit the King), Trofimov (The Cherry Orchard), and Claudius (Hamlet). Off-Broadway: New Jerusalem; Entertaining Mr. Sloane; Bach at Leipzig; Echoes of the War; Observe the Sons of Ulster….; Hotel Universe; Waste; Give Me Your Answer, Do!; Salad Days; Measure for Measure; Taming of the Shrew; Duchess of Malfi. BAM: The Bridge Project’s The Cherry Orchard and A Winter’s Tale and subsequent world tour: Singapore, New Zealand, Madrid, Recklinghausen, The Old Vic in London and Epidauros in Greece. Philadelphia Orchestra: Every Good Boy Deserves Favour by Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn. London: Claudio and Edgar (King Lear), Much Ado… (John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft), The Death of Bessie Smith; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Uta Hagen, Arthur Hill); School for Scandal (Gielgud, Richardson), Jack (The Importance of Being Earnest at the Old Vic); Higgins (Pygmalion at the Young Vic). Kenneth Branagh’s Renaissance Theatre Company: Claudius, Jaques, and Leonato. Stratford-on-Avon,  RSC:  Ghost (Hamlet); Constable (Henry V); Don Armado; Camillo (Winter’s Tale); Northumberland (Richard II); Theseus; Country Dancing; Rochfort (Red Noses); Envoy (The Balcony). Stratford, Connecticut: Romeo; Puck; Claudio (Much Ado); Launcelot Gobbo; Osric; Roderigo; Pistol; Florizel. Stratford, Ontario: Richard III; All’s Well That Ends Well; Henry V; Merry Wives of Windsor. Old Globe Theatre, San Diego:  Associate Artist and Mentor of MFA Program: Estragon (Waiting for Godot), the Duke (Measure for Measure), Prospero, Claudius, and Ghost (in Hamlet with Campbell Scott), Benedick, Touchstone, Jaques, Iago, Uncle Vanya, Pastor Manders, Henry IV, Gloucester (King Lear), and others.  Other musicals: U.S.: The Affairs of Anatol,Camelot . UK: Oliver! (Fagin), The Pajama Game, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Cole. U.K. television: six years of BBC series “The Brothers” and many other assorted shows. U.S. television: “A Month in the Country,” “The Admirable Crighton,” “An Enemy of the People,” “L.A. Law,” “Frasier,” “Encore! Encore!,” “Jury,” “Law & Order: SVU,” Ben Franklin in the Emmy winning mini-series about his life for PBS, “Boardwalk Empire,” “Mildred Pierce.” Films:  Henry V and Dead Again (Kenneth Branagh);Finding Forrester; Revolutionary Road (Sam Mendes). Easton is a 2008 inductee into the Theater Hall of Fame.

DIERDRE FRIEL (Giulia Grisi). Broadway: Leap of Faith. Film/Television: “The Sopranos,” My Father’s Will, Pretty Bird (Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee). New York/Regional: Dogfight (Second Stage); Doubt, Masquerade (Triad Stage Co.); Lighter (NYMF); Over the Tavern (Portland Stage Co.); Cinderella (Arkansas Repertory Theater); Zorba! (Berkshire Theater Festival); The Comedy of Errors (Mile Square Theater); King Lear, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, London). Friel is also a teaching artist with Walt Disney Theatrical as well as her fledgling company, Great Expectations Theatrical. Proud member of AEA & SAG-AFTRA. For updates, visit her website:  www.dierdrefriel.com

COCO MONROE (Young Page).Theatre: Twist at Pasadena Playhouse, How the Grinch Stole Christmas at Carnegie Hall, The Fairy Queen at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Dance: Don Quixote at the Royal Opera House Muscat, The Dream with American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House, The Nutcracker, Carnival of the Animals, Alice in Wonderland with New York Theatre Ballet at Florence Gould Hall. National print and video.

BEBE NEUWIRTH (Maria Malibran). Broadway: A Chorus Line, Sheila; Little Me, Monique; Dancin’, Principal; Sweet Charity, Nickie (Tony Award); Damn Yankees, Lola; Addams Family, Morticia; Chicago, Velma (Tony Award, Astaire Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League Distinguished Performance of the Year) and Roxie; Fosse, Principal. Off-Broadway: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Classic Stage Company), Everett Beekin (Lincoln Center), Here Lies Jenny (Zipper Theater), Ashley Montana… (Flea Theater), Writer’s Block (Atlantic Theater). Regional: A Chorus Line, Cassie; West Side Story, Anita; The Taming of the Shrew, Katherine. London’s West End: Kiss of the Spider Woman, Aurora/Spider Woman. Television: “Cheers,” Lilith (two Emmy Awards); “Wild Palms,” Tabba Schwartzkopf; “Dash and Lily,” Dorothy Parker (Emmy nomination); “Law & Order: Trial by Jury,” DA Kibre; “Bored to Death,” Caroline. Cartoon voices: All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (and series), Another Goofy Movie, “Aladdin” (series), various PBS children’s shows. Film: Green Card, Summer of Sam, Celebrity, Liberty Heights, Bugsy, Jumanji, The Faculty, Adopt a Sailor, The Paint Job, Fame, etc. Concerts: Bebe Sings Weill and Kander & Ebb; Stories With Piano. Revue: Upstairs at O’Neals’; Cabaret: Verboten. Recipient of the 2006 Rolex Dance Award, 2007 Dance Magazine Award. Honorary Ziegfeld Girl.

LEE PACE (Vincenzo Bellini) is a film, stage, and television actor who began making a name for himself on the stages of New York. After graduating from Juilliard School’s drama division, Pace starred in several Off-Broadway plays including Craig Lucas’s Small Tragedy for which he was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award as Outstanding Actor and received an Obie Award with the ensemble. He was again nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award in 2006 for his starring role in the two-character play Guardians. Pace’s Broadway debut came in 2011 where he played Bruce Niles in Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart. The play received the 2011 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Pace first gained recognition for his role in the 2003 non-fiction film Soldier’s Girl in which he played a transgender woman dating an Army soldier. For this role, Pace won a Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor and was nominated for a Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award. Pace co-starred opposite Matt Damon in Robert De Niro’s 2006 CIA drama The Good Shepherd. Also premiering in 2006 at the Toronto Film Festival was The Fall where Pace stars as stuntman Roy Walker/The Black Bandit. He also played Dick Hickcock in Infamous, Doug McGrath’s take on Truman Capote’s chronicle of the Clutter family murders that featured Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock, and Daniel Craig. Following this role, in 2008 Pace starred alongside Amy Adams and Frances McDormand in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Pace also starred in Joel Bergvall’s Possession opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar. In 2012, Lee will be seen as Garrett in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Fernando Wood in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln opposite Daniel Day-Lewis, as well as the Elven King Thranduil in Peter Jackson’s three-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. In addition to Lee Pace’s stage and film acting, he has also shown success on television. In 2004, he played Aaron Tyler in the series “Wonderfalls” which was co-created by Bryan Fuller and Todd Holland. Later, Fuller specifically wrote the lead role of Ned for Lee in the ABC series “Pushing Daisies,” for which Lee was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2008.

ETHAN PHILLIPS (Luigi LaBlache) most recently appeared in The Imaginary Invalid with Peter Dinklage for Bard’s SummerScape (director Erica Schmidt). New York: David Mamet’s November with Nathan Lane at the Barrymore (director Joe Mantello); My Favorite Year (Lincoln Center); Measure for Measure (NYSF); Lips Together, Teeth Apart (Manhattan Theatre Club); Modiglianni (Astor Place); and roles for EST, Hudson Guild, Playwrights Horizons, and others. Regional: major roles at Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, Pasadena Playhouse, Old Globe Theatre, Seattle Rep., Mark Taper Forum, Baltimore Center Stage, Westport Country Playhouse, Boston Shakespeare Co., Geffen Playhouse and McCarter Theatre. Films include the upcoming Inside Llewyn Davis (directors Coen brothers) and The Island, Bad Santa, The Shadow, Man Without a Face, Green Card, Lean on Me, Glory and others. Phillips has appeared on many television shows. He plays tenor sax with The Allan Wasserman Jazz band.

LORENZO PISONI (Antonio Tamburini) began performing at age 2 in the Pickle Family Circus. He finished his circus career as the ringmaster in Cirque Du Soleil’s Mystere. He last appeared at MTC in his one-man show Humor Abuse, for which he won Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Obie Awards. Additional productions followed at the Philadelphia Theatre Company, ACT, and Seattle Rep. Other theater credits include Equus, The Devil’s Disciple, Election Day, The Great Gatsby, Henry IV, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, Troilus and Cressida, The Gamester (Bay Area Critics Circle Award), Last Dance, The Illusion, Arms and the Man, Clown, Clown, Clown… and Tuesdays with Morrie. Television and film credits include The Adjustment Bureau; Big Momma’s: Like Father, Like Son; “Law & Order: Criminal Intent;” Company Retreat; Journey of Man; See Spot Run; and South of Pico. As a physical comedy consultant he’s worked on Harlequin Studies, Taller Than a Dwarf, and See Spot Run.

WILL ROGERS (Francesco Florimo) was nominated for a 2012 Drama Desk Award for his work in Unnatural Acts at Classic Stage Company. Other Off-Broadway: As You Like It (Public Theatre), The Submission (MCC Theatre), When the Rain Stops Falling (Lincoln Center), Chair (Theatre for a New Audience), From Up Here (Manhattan Theatre Club), 100 Saints You Should Know (Playwrights Horizons), Creature (Ohio Theater), Columbinus (New York Theatre Workshop), Green Girl (Summer Play Festival), Nicky Goes Goth (NY Fringe Festival), [sic] (78th St. Theatre Lab). Regional: Our Town, Not Waving (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Vertical Hour (Pioneer Theatre Co.), Dark Play or Stories For Boys (Humana Festival), Mary’s Wedding (Actors Theatre of Louisville), This Is Our Youth (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis). TV: “Blue Bloods,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Gossip Girl”. Upcoming Film: Happy New Year, Nancy Please, Certainty, The Bay (dir. Barry Levinson). Will received his B.F.A. from North Carolina School of the Arts.

EDDIE KAYE THOMAS (Giovanni Battista Rubini) is emerging as one of today’s most sought after actors. To date Thomas has appeared in Broadway shows, hit films, and celebrated television series. He is most well known for creating the acclaimed role of Finch in the American Pie trilogy. Thomas’ diverse body of work is proof he is a force to be reckoned with. Thomas will next be seen in The Weinstein Company feature, Code Name: Geronimo (fall 2012) opposite Kathleen Robertson, Anson Mount, Cam Gigandet, Freddy Rodriguez, and William Fichtner. The film tells the story of the take-down of Osama Bin Laden from the point-of-view of the Navy SEALs. Most recently, Thomas appeared in the fourth installment of Universal’s American Pie series titled American Reunion. The movie brings together the original cast for a “family reunion” in true American Pie fashion. Thomas was also recently seen on the big screen reprising his role as Rosenberg in A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas. This was the third installment of the cult film and was released by Warner Bros. Pictures. Thomas took to the stage last fall to star in the Off-Broadway play The Submission at the MCC Theater. Directed by Walter Bobbie and written by Jeff Talbott. Thomas starred alongside Jonathan Groff, Will Rogers, and Rutina Wesley in the role of Pete, the long-suffering boyfriend of loose-cannon Danny, played by Groff. Thomas has appeared in over 20 films to date, he will soon be seen in the independent feature Petunia opposite Thora Birch and Brittany Snow. His other film credits include Black and White, opposite Brooke Shields and Robert Downey Jr.; Project Greenlight’s Stolen Summer with Aidan Quinn; Tom Green’s Freddy Got Fingered; Harold and Kumar…1-2; Kettle of Fish; Farewell Bender; Venus and Vegas; Fifty Pills; Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist; and On the Road with Judas which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007. Thomas most recently appeared on the small screen in the highly regarded HBO series “How to Make It in America.” The series centered around two twentysomethings as they hustled their way through New York City attempting to achieve their version of the American Dream. Thomas portrayed the role of David “Kappo” Kaplan, a successful hedge fund manager. He can be heard on the small screen in the animated series “American Dad.” Since 2005 he has voiced the role of Barry on the show, created by Seth MacFarlane. Some of his other television credits include “Til’ Death,” “CSI,” “Off Centre,” and “Law & Order.” Thomas began his acting career at the age of seven as a stage actor in New York City. He has appeared on Broadway in John Guare’s Four Baboons Adoring the Sun and opposite Natalie Portman in The Diary of Anne Frank. Additionally he has done off and off-off Broadway with LaMama, the Brooklyn Shakespeare Company, the Wings Theater Company, Signature Theatre, and others. Some of his other theater credits include Second Stage’s The Bachelorette, New Group’s Smelling a Rat, Dog Sees God, and Jack’s Precious Moments. Thomas currently resides in both Los Angeles and New York.