For Immediate Release, Please
Contact: Polk and Co.
Matt Polk/Tom D’Ambrosio/Frances White/Sasha Pensanti
SECOND STAGE THEATRE Announces the U.S. Premiere of the New Musical AMERICAN PSYCHO; Book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Music and Lyrics by Duncan Sheik, Directed by Rupert Goold, Based on Bret Easton Ellis’ Novel
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This production is presented in association with Act 4 Entertainment by special arrangement with Edward R. Pressman
Originally produced in London as an Almeida Theatre and Headlong co-production
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Previews begin February 2015
Opening March 2015
Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) is proud to announce the U.S. premiere of the new musical, AMERICAN PSYCHO, featuring a book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (2ST’s Good Boys and True, “Glee,” Broadway’s Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark),music and lyrics by Grammy and Tony-Award Winner Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening), directed by Rupert Goold (Broadway’s Macbeth with Patrick Stewart, ENRON). AMERICAN PSYCHO is based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis.
AMERICAN PSYCHO will begin previews in February 2015 and officially open in March 2015 at Second Stage Theatre (305 West 43rd street). Casting will be announced at a later date. For subscription inquiries, please visit www.2ST.com or call the box office at 212-246-4422.
26-year-old Patrick Bateman is sophisticated, rich and devastatingly handsome. He’s got a sculpted body, a model-gorgeous girlfriend, a to-die-for apartment, and a Wall Street job in 1980s New York City. In short, his life’s killer. There’s just one snag in this dark vision of the American Dream…Patrick can’t get the blood out of his $5000 suits.
AMERICAN PSYCHO had its world premiere in December 2013 at the Almeida Theatre, Rupert Goold, Artistic Director. The world premiere was a production with Headlong in association with David Johnson and Jesse Singer for Act 4 Entertainment by special arrangement with Edward R. Pressman.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM
ROBERTO AGUIRRE-SACASA (Book) returns to Second Stage Theatre, where he was Playwright in Residence during the 2004-05 season, and where his plays, Good Boys and True and The Mystery Plays, have been produced. He is an award-winning playwright, comic book, television, and screenwriter. He is the co-book writer of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. His plays, including Based on a Totally True Story, have been produced Off-Broadway and regionally (Steppenwolf, South Coast Rep, among others). He is the Chief Creative Officer for Archie Comics, for which he writes the horror hit Afterlife with Archie and the upcoming Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Additionally, he has written for the HBO series “Big Love,” the Fox hit “Glee,” and currently HBO’s “Looking.” His film work includes Carrie and this October’s The Town that Dreaded Sundown, both for MGM. Roberto is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. He was the recipient of the 2009 Horizon Award from the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts.
DUNCAN SHEIK (Music/Lyrics)received the2007 Tony Awards for Best Orchestrations and Best Original Score, as well as the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album for Spring Awakening. Current works in development include Because of Winn Dixie at the Arkansas Repertory Theater in December 2013, Hans Christian Andersen classic The Nightingale at La Jolla Playhouse, Alice by Heart, inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland at The National Theater in London 2012. Previous productions include Spring Awakening (8 Tony Awards), Whisper House at The Old Globe, Nero, Another Golden Rome at Powerhouse Theater. In the mid-1990s Sheik’s self-titled Atlantic Records debut spent 52 weeks on the Billboard 200 and earned him a Grammy nomination for “Best Male Vocal,” RIAA Certified Gold. Albums include Duncan Sheik (1996), Humming (1998), Phantom Moon (2001), Daylight (2002), White Limousine (2006), Brighter/Later (2007), Whisper House (2009), Covers 80 (2011). Sheik is currently working on his next solo album due out fall 2014.
RUPERT GOOLD (Director)is Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre. Previously he was Artistic Director of Headlong, Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Artistic Director of Northampton Theatres. Theatrical credits include: Made In Dagenham (West End); King Charles III (Almeida Theatre); The Effect (Headlong / National Theatre); The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Three Sixty / Kensington Gardens); Earthquakes in London, Time and the Conways, (National Theatre); The Merchant of Venice, Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, Speaking Like Magpies (RSC); ENRON (Headlong / Chichester Festival Theatre / Royal Court / West End / Broadway); Oliver!, The Glass Menagerie, Art, Speed-the-Plow (West End); King Lear (Liverpool Everyman / Young Vic); No Man’s Land (Gate Theatre, Dublin / West End); Six Characters in Search of an Author (Chichester Festival Theatre / Bristol Old Vic / West End); Macbeth (BAM / Broadway / Chichester Festival Theatre / West End); The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Headlong / Almeida Theatre); Decade (Headlong / St. Katharine Docks); Faustus, Hamlet, Summer Lightning,Insignificance,Paradise Lost, Waiting for Godot, The Weir, Betrayal, Arcadia (Northampton Theatre Royal);Othello (Northampton Theatre Royal / Royal Theatre / Greenwich Theatre); Restoration, Paradise Lost, Rough Crossings (Headlong); Scaramouche Jones (Salisbury Playhouse / Australia, New Zealand, Canada Tour); The Wind in the Willows (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); On Thee We Feed, Turandot (English National Opera); Privates on Parade (New Vic Theatre); Gone to LA (Hampstead Theatre); Broken Glass (Watford Palace Theatre); Habeas Corpus, Summer Lighting, Dancing at Lughnasa (Salisbury Playhouse); The Colonel Bird (The Gate Theatre); Brand (NT Studio); Romeo and Juliet (Greenwich Theatre); The End of the Affair (Bridewell); Travels with my Aunt (No 1 Tour). This year Rupert writes and directs his first feature film, True Story, starring James Franco and Jonah Hill for Plan B and Fox Searchlight in New York.
BRET EASTON ELLIS (Novelist) Bret’s original novel American Psycho was published in 1991. He has written seven novels including Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, Glamorama, and Lunar Park. His works have been translated into twenty-seven languages. American Psycho, Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, and The Informers, a collection of short stories, have all been made into films. This is the first time any of his novels have been adapted for the stage.
ACT 4 ENTERTAINMENT is a development and production company. Through feature films, documentaries, television shows, stage productions and online media, it focuses on creating content that is socially conscious and politically relevant. Act 4 Entertainment’s projects share the fundamental value that enhanced understanding through well-crafted stories leads to inspiration for action. For further information please visit: www.act4entertainment.com
THE ALMEIDA THEATREis a small room with an international reputation and was founded by Pierre Audi in 1980; his successors were Jonathan Kent and Ian McDiarmid in 1990, and Michael Attenborough in 2002. Productions including Hamlet, with Ralph Fiennes in 2005, Rufus Norris’ Festen, Ruined by Lynn Nottage and Chimerica by Lucy Kirkwood have given the theatre international renown. In summer 2013, Rupert Goold joined the Almeida as Artistic Director; his first two productions as Artistic Director – American Psycho: A New Musical Thriller and Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III both sold out with King Charles III transferring to the Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End. Other West End transfers include Chimerica, Ibsen’s Ghosts directed by Richard Eyre and 1984 directed by Robert Icke. In 2014 the Almeida Theatre won eight of the 11 Olivier Awards for which they were nominated – five for Chimerica and three for Ghosts. For more information, please visit www.almeida.co.uk
HEADLONG is the UK’s leading not for profit touring company. From an office in Soho, London, we create exhilarating contemporary theatre that tours the UK and the world. We originate an average of 5 new projects per year, a mixture of new plays, contemporary classics and revivals, and work with partners including the National Theatre, the Royal Court, the Almeida, Sheffield Theatres and many other regional organisations to achieve significant UK-wide reach for our work. Projects have included 1984 (UK tour/Almeida/West End), Chimerica (Almeida and West End), American Psycho (Almeida), The Effect and Earthquakes in London (National Theatre), and Enron (Chichester/Royal Court/West End/UK tour and Broadway). Artistic Director Jeremy Herrin/Executive Producer Henny Finch – www.headlong.co.uk
Additional information on Second Stage Theatre’s upcoming season follows:
LIPS TOGETHER, TEETH APART
By Terrence McNally
Directed by Peter DuBois
With MICHAEL CHERNUS, TRACEE CHIMO, AMERICA FERRERA, AUSTIN LYSY
Previews begin October 7; opening November 5
It’s the 4th of July on Fire Island where a brother and sister and their spouses are spending the quintessential American summer weekend in an unfamiliar setting. As their season in the sun unfolds, the two couples do their best to enjoy themselves despite their prejudices and insecurities. The grill is fired up, the drinks are cold and the pool is open but no one is going in. Terrence McNally’s trenchant comedy receives its first New York revival in 23 years under the direction of Peter DuBois.
THE WAY WE GET BY
World Premiere
By Neil LaBute
Director TBD
Previews begin May 2015; opening June 2015
Meet Beth and Doug: two people who have no problems getting dates with their partners of choice. What they do have, however, is a very awkward encounter after spending one hot night together following a drunken wedding reception they attend. They wake up to a blurry morning where the rules of attraction, sex and society are waiting for them before their first cup of coffee, which leads them to ponder how much they really know about each other and how much they really care about what other people think. The Way We Get By is a play about love and lust and the whole damn thing.
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Founded in 1979 under the leadership of Artistic Director Carole Rothman, SECOND STAGE THEATRE produces a diverse range of premieres and new interpretations of America’s best contemporary theatre, including Tiny Alice and Peter and Jerry by Edward Albee; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Little Murders by Jules Feiffer; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo’s Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Painting Churches and Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants and On the Stem by Ricky Jay; Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; Living Out by Lisa Loomer; This Is Our Youth and The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan; Some Men by Terrence McNally; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage; eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; Everyday Rapture by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Let Me Down Easy by Anna Deavere Smith; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Crowns by Regina Taylor; Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein; Spoils of War by Michael Weller; Before It Hits Home, Jar the Floor and Birdie Blue by Cheryl L. West; Jitney by August Wilson; Lemon Sky, Serenading Louie and Sympathetic Magic by Lanford Wilson; and Metamorphoses and The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci by Mary Zimmerman.
The company’s more than 130 citations include the 2010 Pulitzer prize for Next to Normal, the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Score, Best Orchestrations, and Best Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley) for Next to Normal, the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed), 2005 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, …Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, …Spelling Bee), 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses), the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 27 Obie Awards, six Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Clarence Derwent Awards, 12 Drama Desk Awards, nine Theatre World Awards, 14 Lucille Lortel Awards, the NY Drama Critics Circle Award and 15 AUDELCO Awards.
In 1999, Second Stage Theatre opened The Tony Kiser Theatre, its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theatre, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched “Second Stage Theatre Uptown” series to showcase the work of up and coming artists at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre. The Theatre supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs.
SECOND STAGE THEATRE AT THE HELEN HAYES
Second Stage Theatre has acquiredthe right to purchase the historic Helen Hayes Theatre, located at 240 W. 44th Street. With this new home, Second Stage will be the only theatre company on Broadway dedicated exclusively to the development and presentation of contemporary American theatrical productions. Second Stage will also become one of only four non-profit theatre companies that own and operate theatres on Broadway. The company will continue to lease and operate their original theatres on the city’s Upper West Side and in Midtown Manhattan.
For more information, please visit www.2ST.com
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