MTC PRESENTS LILLIAN HERMAN'S 'THE LITTLE FOXES'

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ON BROADWAY

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Cynthia Nixon

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) are pleased to announce full casting for Manhattan Theatre Club’s new Broadway production of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes, which begins rehearsals today under the direction of Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan.

As previously announced, Laura Linney (Time Stands Still, Sight Unseen) and Cynthia Nixon (Rabbit Hole, Wit), will alternate playing the roles of Regina and Birdie, appearing opposite each other at every performance.

Linney and Nixon are joined by Darren Goldstein (The Madrid at MTC, “The Affair"), Michael McKean (All The Way, “Better Call Saul”), Richard Thomas (An Enemy of the People at MTC, “The Americans”), David Alford (Broadway debut, “Nashville”), Michael Benz (The Importance of Being Earnest in the West End, “Downton Abbey”), Caroline Stefanie Clay (Doubt, The Royal Family at MTC), Lyla Porter-Follows (Broadway debut, Netflix’s “Frontier”), and Charles Turner (The Trip to Bountiful, Orphans Home Cycle).

The limited engagement of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes will begin previews on Wednesday, March 29 and open Wednesday, April 19 at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).

Laura Linney

Two extraordinary actresses return to Manhattan Theatre Club in a vibrant new production of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes. In a thrilling coup, MTC will present three-time Tony Award nominee Laura Linney (Time Stands Still, Sight Unseen) and Tony winner Cynthia Nixon (Rabbit Hole, Wit), who will alternate playing the roles of Regina and Birdie, appearing opposite each other at each performance. Lillian Hellman’s legendary play about greed and ambition is set in Alabama in 1900, and follows Regina Giddens and her ruthless clan, including her sister-in-law Birdie, as they clash in often brutal ways in an effort to strike the deal of their lives. Far from a sentimental look at a bygone era, the play has a surprisingly timely resonance with important issues facing our country today. Tony winner Daniel Sullivan (Proof, Rabbit Hole) will direct.

Sullivan, a frequent MTC collaborator, has directed Linney to Tony nominations in both MTC’s Broadway premiere of Sight Unseen and MTC’s New York premiere of Time Stands Still. Sullivan directed Nixon to a Tony Award in MTC’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole.

The creative team for Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes includes: Scott Pask (scenic design), Jane Greenwood (costume design), Justin Townsend (lighting design), Fitz Patton (sound design), Tom Watson (hair and wig design), Tommy Kurzman (make-up design), Thomas Schall (fight director), Deborah Hecht (dialect coach).

The schedule for Linney and Nixon alternating in the two roles will be announced shortly.

TICKETING INFORMATION 

Tickets are available to purchase by calling 212-239-6200 or visiting www.Telecharge.com, or by visiting the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre Box Office (261 West 47th Street). Ticket prices are $70-$150.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Note: The schedule for Linney and Nixon alternating in the two roles of Regina Hubbard Giddens and Birdie Hubbard will be announced at a later date.

· WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29 – SUNDAY, APRIL 2 (6 PERFORMANCES): Wednesday and Sunday at 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinee on Sunday at 2 PM. There will be no Saturday matinee this week.

· MONDAY, APRIL 3 – SUNDAY, APRIL 9 (7 PERFORMANCES): Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday at 7 PM; Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 PM. Matinee on Sunday at 2 PM. There will be no Saturday matinee this week.

· MONDAY, APRIL 10 – SUNDAY, APRIL 16: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.

· MONDAY, APRIL 17 – SUNDAY, APRIL 23 (WEEK OF OPENING): Tuesday and Sunday at 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM. The Wednesday, April 19 opening night curtain time will be announced at a later date.

· MONDAY, APRIL 24 – SUNDAY, APRIL 30: Tuesday at 7 PM; Wednesday 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, MAY 1 – SUNDAY, JUNE 18: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.

BIOGRAPHIES:

LILLIAN HELLMAN (Playwright) was born in New Orleans, grew up in New Orleans and New York City, and attended New York University and Columbia. Her career as a playwright began in 1934 with The Children’s Hour, the first of several plays that would bring her international attention and praise; among them The Little Foxes, Watch On The Rhine, Another Part Of The Forest, The Autumn Garden, and Toys In The Attic. Hellman was twice the recipient of the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for the Best Play (for Watch On The Rhine and Toys In The Attic). She was also awarded the Gold Medal for Drama from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1972, a definitive edition of all her work for the theatre was published as The Collected Plays. Hellman received the National Book Award for An Unfinished Woman in 1969. She subsequently wrote two additional volumes of autobiography, Pentimento, and Scoundrel Time. In the decades before her death in 1984, Hellman divided her time between New York and Martha’s Vineyard.

DANIEL SULLIVAN is currently directing If I Forget at Roundabout and most recently directed Sylvia on Broadway. His previous productions for Manhattan Theatre Club on Broadway include The Country House, The Snow Geese, The Columnist, Good People, Time Stands Still, Accent on Youth, Rabbit Hole, After the Night and the Music, Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, and Proof. Sullivan’s other Broadway credits include Glengarry Glen Ross, Orphans, The Merchant of Venice, The Homecoming, Prelude to a Kiss, Julius Caesar, I’m Not Rappaport, Morning’s at Seven, the 2000 production of A Moon for the Misbegotten, Ah, Wilderness!, The Sisters Rosensweig, Conversations with my Father, and The Heidi Chronicles. Among his Off-Broadway credits are Lost Lake (MTC), In Real Life (MTC), Third, Ten Unknowns, The Night Watcher, Intimate Apparel, Far East, Spinning into Butter, Dinner with Friends, Stuff Happens, and The Substance of Fire. For NYSF, Sullivan directed Cymbeline, King Lear, Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, All’s Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Stuff Happens and The Merry Wives of Windsor. From 1981 to 1997, he served as artistic director of Seattle Repertory Theatre. Sullivan is the Swanlund Professor of Theatre at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

LAURA LINNEY (alternating in the roles of Regina and Birdie) is an American actress who works in film, television and theatre.

Linney can most recently be seen in The Dinner, directed by Oren Moverman with Richard Gere, Steve Coogan, and Rebecca Hall. The Dinner premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 10 and will premiere in the U.S. on May 5. She will also be seen in “Ozark,” a Netflix original series where she plays Wendy Byrde opposite Jason Bateman and Julia Garner, slated to debut in 2017.

Her recent film work includes Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, where she played Anne Sutton – Amy Adams’ mother. While Linney’s performance lasts only three minutes and 15 seconds, it was deemed “a one-scene wonder” by Entertainment Weekly. Other recent film credits include Sully, Genius, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, You Can Count On Me, Kinsey, The Savages, The Fifth Estate, Hyde Park On Hudson, The Squid And The Whale, Mystic River, Absolute Power, The Truman Show, Primal Fear, The Mothman Prophecies, Love Actually, P.S., The House Of Mirth, The Details, and Congo, among many others.

Linney starred in and produced the Showtime Series “The Big C” for four seasons for which she won a few awards. She also won multiple awards for her portrayal of Abigail Adams in the HBO miniseries “John Adams” directed by Tom Hooper. Early in her career, she starred as Mary Ann Singleton in Armistead Maupin’s “Tales Of The City” series, a job for which she continues to be most grateful and proud. She appeared as Kelsey Grammer’s final girlfriend in the last six episodes of “Frasier,” was directed by Stanley Donen in “Love Letters,” and starred opposite Joanne Woodward in “Blind Spot.”

She has also appeared in many Broadway productions, most notably Time Stands Still and Sight Unseen, both directed by Daniel Sullivan and written by Donald Margulies. Additional credits include Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, directed by Richard Eyre opposite Liam Neeson; Six Degrees of Separation; Honour; Uncle Vanya; Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Holiday; and The Seagull.

Linney has been nominated three times for an Academy Award, three times for a Tony Award, once for a BAFTA Award, and five times for a Golden Globe. She has won a SAG Award, one National Board of Review Award, two Golden Globes, and four Emmy Awards. She holds two honorary doctorates from her alma maters, Brown University and The Julliard School.

CYNTHIA NIXON (alternating in the roles of Regina and Birdie), Emmy, Tony and Grammy Award-winner, made her film debut at 12 in Little Darlings, and her Broadway debut at 14 in The Philadelphia Story, for which she won a Theatre World Award.

She was last seen starring in the film adaptation of Bill O’Reilly’s book Killing Reagan for National Geographic Channel, which premiered in October 2016. Nixon plays First Lady Nancy Reagan opposite Tim Matheson as President Ronald Reagan. Nixon’s performance earned her a Critics’ Choice Award nomination.

In April 2017, she will be seen in Terence Davies’ Emily Dickinson biopic A Quiet Passion, where she stars as the legendary reclusive poet herself. The film had its world debut at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival, for which she garnered critical acclaim for her role. Richard Brody from The New Yorker stated that “while the entire cast moves and speaks with a sense of inner purpose, Nixon’s performance is special,” adding that he would “eat the pixels” if she is not nominated next awards season for this performance. The film had its North American premiere at The Toronto International Film Festival and its UK premiere at The London Film Festival.

Nixon recently wrapped production of Stephen Moyer’s film The Parting Glass opposite Anna Paquin, Ed Asner, Rhys Ifans, Melissa Leo and Dennis O’Hare. The dark comedy follows a family reeling with their sister’s death. In embarking on a journey to collect the remnants of her life, the family members delve into past memories to piece together a portrait of the woman they lost.

On television, Nixon recently guest-starred on Showtime’s hit “The Affair” opposite Dominic West and Maura Tierney, as well as in the third season of Comedy Central’s hit show “Broad City,” alongside stars Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, in the season’s most standout episode, as it also featured presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

In November 2015, Nixon co-starred in Josh Mond's James White opposite Christopher Abbott, a film that won The Best of Next Audience Award at Sundance 2015 and earned Nixon an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her portrayal as a mother dying of cancer. In his review for The New York Times, Stephen Holden stated that, “Ms. Nixon gives one of the year’s most heart-rending screen performances.” Other recent film credits include Pamala Romanowsky’s The Adderall Diaries, opposite James Franco, and Richard Loncraine’s 5 Flights Up, opposite Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton.

Nixon also starred in Nikole Beckwith’s Stockholm, Pennsylvania, a drama bought by Lifetime out of Sundance in 2014. For this project, Cynthia received a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie or Limited Series.

Last year, Nixon had a run of simultaneously directing two New York City plays. The first was New Group’s Steve, which made its world premiere in late November, starring Mario Cantone. Steve, follows Steven, a failed Broadway chorus boy turned stay-at-home dad. The other show was MotherStruck!, a one woman play starring Staceyann Chin at The Culture Project. MotherStruck! set forth Chin’s personal journey to motherhood as a single gay woman with limited resources who was herself abandoned at birth by both of her parents. 

In Fall 2014 she appeared on Broadway in Sam Gold's production of The Real Thing playing the mother of the character she created on Broadway thirty years ago. In Winter 2014, Cynthia made her directorial debut at The New Group with Joel Johnson's Rasheeda Speaking at The New Group. Rasheeda Speaking received Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations and cast member Tonya Pinkins won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play and Musical. Rasheeda Speaking was chosen to be broadcast on Channel Thirteen as part of their Theatre Close Up series.

In 1984 she famously juggled two roles on Broadway - in the first act of David Rabe's Hurlyburly and in the second act of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, both directed by Mike Nichols. Also around that time, she appeared as Mozart's terrified maid-turned-informant in the Oscar-winning film Amadeus.

Nixon has appeared in plays and films by such varied and distinguished directors as Sidney Lumet, Alan J Pakula, Milos Forman and Robert Altman. Beginning in 1998, Cynthia starred as Miranda Hobbes in HBO's celebrated series “Sex And The City,” a role that garnered her the first of her two Emmy Awards. She then went on to co-star in the two wildly successful “Sex And The City” films.

Nixon earned her first of her three Tony Award nominations for her work in Indiscretions in 1995. She has appeared in over 40 plays, 10 on Broadway. Roles include Harper in Tony Kushner's Angels in America, Mary Haines in the Roundabout's revival of The Women (directed by Scott Elliott) and Becca in David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole, for which she won a Tony Award. In 2012 she played John Donne scholar Vivian Bearing in Margaret Edson's Wit, for which she was again Tony-nominated. Cynthia was awarded the 2009 Best Spoken Word Grammy for her recording of Al Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Nixon currently resides in New York City, with her wife, Christine Marinoni. They have three children: Sam, Charlie and Max.

DARREN GOLDSTEIN (Oscar). Broadway: Bloody, Bloody, Andrew Jackson. Off-Broadway: The Madrid (Manhattan Theatre Club); Rasheeda Speaking, The Good Mother, Abigail's Party for which he received a Lortel nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, Mouth to Mouth, Terrorism (all at The New Group); Oohrah! (Atlantic Theater); Mary Rose (The Vineyard); Gutenberg! The Musical (Actor's Playhouse); An Upset (EST '08 Marathon); and Creature (New Georges/P73 Prod.); Bad Jazz (Play Company). Regional: The Forgotten Woman (Bay Street. Theater), Beyond Therapy (Williamstown/Bay Street Theatre). Film: The Girl on the Train, Limitless, All is Bright. Television: Oscar Hodges on “The Affair,” “American Odyssey,” “Inside Amy Schumer,” “Nurse Jackie,” "Blue Bloods," "Damages,” “Person of Interest." MFA from NYU's Graduate Acting Program.

MICHAEL McKEAN (Ben) is a multitalented actor, writer, and director associated with some of pop culture’s most iconic films and television shows of the last three decades. He has appeared in hundreds of movies and television shows.

McKean studied acting at Carnegie Mellon University and at NYU (with Olympia Dukakis) before heading out to LA, where he joined Harry Shearer and David L. Lander in the satirical squad the Credibility Gap. In 1976, McKean and Lander became notorious as Lenny and Squiggy of the TV series “Laverne & Shirley.”

McKean’s film credits include Steven Spielberg’s 1941, Used Cars, Young Doctors in Love, and Rob Reiner’s This is Spinal Tap, on which McKean shared starring,​screenwriting, and composing credits. Other films include: Clue, Light of Day, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Coneheads, The Brady Bunch Movie, Jack, True Crime, and about 70 others, including Christopher Guest’s The Big Picture (also co-wrote), Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, Whatever Works, and The Meddler.

McKean has appeared as a series ​regular on “Saturday Night Live,” “Dream On,” “Sessions,” “Family Tree,” “​Tracey Takes On,” Martin Short’s “Primetime Glick,” “Family Tree,” and currently on “Better Call Saul” (AMC).

His many television guest appearances include: “Friends,” “Murphy Brown,” “The Simpsons,” “The X-Files,” “Law & Order,” “Smallville,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Unit,” “Off the Map,” “Homeland,” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and many others.​

In 1999, McKean had the good sense to marry actress Annette O’Toole, with whom he wrote the Oscar-nominated song, “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow” for A Mighty Wind. He also collaborated with Guest and Eugene Levy on the title song (“A Mighty Wind”) of the eponymous film, which won a Grammy Award.

McKean made his Broadway debut in 1990 with Rupert Holmes’ Accomplice, which netted him a Theater World Award. After this, McKean made his Broadway musical debut in Hairspray, followed by Woody Allen’s original stage production A Secondhand Memory, and a Williamstown Theatre Festival production of Tom Stoppard’s On the Razzle. McKean then appeared in the successful Broadway revival of The Pajama Game before starring on London’s West End in a new comedy, Love Song. McKean originated​ the role of Arthur Przybyszewski in Tracy Letts’ Superior Donuts at Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre and he later went on to Broadway. McKean starred in the Barrow Street Theatre production of Our Town; Randy Newman's musical Harps and Angels at LA’s Mark Taper Forum; and Yes, Prime Minister at L.A.’s Geffen Playhouse.

Most recently, McKean starred on Broadway in Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, and appeared in the Tony Award–winning Broadway production of All the Way with Bryan Cranston, and the L.A. production of Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts I, II & III. ​

For the past two seasons, Michael has explored age-old adages, fascinating food mysteries, and myths baked inside everything we eat as the host of Cooking Channel's “Food: Fact or Fiction?” as well as starting work on Season 3 of “Better Call Saul.”

RICHARD THOMAS (Horace) entered the public’s heart starring in “The Waltons,” for which he won an Emmy Award for Best Actor in a dramatic series.

His stage career began in 1958’s Sunrise at Campobello, on Broadway and has continued with such shows as Fifth of July, The Seagull, The Front Page, Tiny Alice, Peer Gynt, Richard II, Richard III, Hamlet, and The Stendhal Syndrome. Recent credits include the Broadway production of David Mamet's Race, the Public Theater’s production of Timon of Athens, Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, the MTC Broadway revival of An Enemy of the People, the Broadway revival of You Can’t Take It with You, and the Signature Theatre’s production of Incident at Vichy, for which he received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.

Most recently, Thomas was seen on the first four seasons of the hit FX series “The Americans.” His other starring performances on series were on "Just Cause," "It's a Miracle," and the British series, "Swiss Family Robinson."

Thomas’s film credits include “The Wonder Boys,” “Battle Beyond the Stars,” “The Todd Killings,” “Last Summer,” “Winning,” "Red Sky at Morning," “Taking Woodstock,” and “Anesthesia.”

DAVID ALFORD (Mr. Marshall) attended Austin Peay State University and the Juilliard School for Drama. For the last four seasons he has appeared in the recurring role of Bucky Dawes in the ABC Television series “Nashville.” Other screen credits include The Second Chance, The Last Castle, “A Death in the Family,” Blue Like Jazz, and Stoker. Recent stage credits include Othello (for Arkansas Shakespeare, which he also directed), God Of Carnage, and the title role in the regional premiere of David Auburn’s The Columnist (both for Tennessee Rep), and A Christmas Memory. Most recently he played Billy in the workshop production of Donald Margulies’ Long Lost, directed by Daniel Sullivan at the Illinois Theatre.

Other projects include writing and directing the plays Spirit: The Authentic Story of the Bell Witch of Tennessee, his musical Smoke, and the documentary theatre piece Boycott: Pulaski, Tennessee and the Legacy of the Ku Klux Klan. Screenwriting credits include On Music Row (MTV Networks), and the independent releases Prisoner, Adrenaline, and Deadbox.

David has directed for numerous organizations such as The Arkansas Shakespeare Festival, The Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Tennessee Repertory Theatre, and others. He and his wife Kahle now split their time living and working in Nashville and New York City.

MICHAEL BENZ (Leo) Broadway debut. West End credits include The Importance of Being Earnest with David Suchet, The Tempest with Ralph Fiennes, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. London and regional credits include the title role in Hamlet (Shakespeare’s Globe), Twelfth Night (Sheffield Theatre/ETT), As You Like It, and The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare's Globe), and Romeo and Juliet (Royal Shakespeare Company). Television and film credits include “Downton Abbey” (ITV/PBS), “Time After Time” (ABC), Oliver Stone’s Snowden, and The Wife with Glenn Close. He is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London.

CAROLINE STEFANIE CLAY (Addie). MTC: The Little Foxes; The Royal Family; Doubt; Come Back, Little Sheba; and Drowning Crow. Broadway and Off-Broadway: Doubt (Broadway and the National Tour) Winner of Helen Hayes: Best Supporting Actress 2007, Signature Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Atlantic Theatre Regional: La Jolla, Yale Rep, McCarter, Goodman, Long Wharf Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Folger Theatre. Film and television: “Law & Order” (“SVU” and “Criminal Intent”), “House of Cards,” “The Knick,” Morning Glory, and The Heights.

LYLA PORTER-FOLLOWS (Alexandra) was born into a family of actors, writers, and directors. Her mother is well known actor Megan Follows and her father is cinematographer Christopher Porter. Lyla grew up acting with her family in the film Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story starring her mother and on stage in The Originals written by her aunt, directed by her uncle, and starring her grandparents Dawn Greenhalgh and Ted Follows. This lineage, and these early experiences instilled in her a natural inclination towards performance and creation. After modeling for Elite in L.A. from the age of 14 to 17, Lyla decided to attend Vassar, from which she recently graduated with honors. While at Vassar, Lyla co-founded the Britomartis Devised Theatre Ensemble where she performed in, wrote and directed six original plays. She acted in productions such as: Jean Genet’s The Maids (Solange); Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie (Laura); Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf (Rita) and David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow (Karen). Well traveled and having studied abroad, Lyla speaks conversational French and is fluent in Spanish. She has studied modern dance and enjoys teaching scene work, dance, and improvisation to middle and high school aged kids. Following in the footsteps of her family, and currently based in L.A., Lyla is now working in film and television. Returning to the highly-anticipated adventure drama, “Frontier,” from the Discovery Network and Netflix; Lyla also recurs on The CW’s hit “Reign;” and will be seen in the upcoming controversial series from Global, “Mary Kills People.” Lyla is currently shooting the second season of “Frontier,” on location in St. John’s Newfoundland.

CHARLES TURNER (Cal). A native of Harlem and the Bronx, is appearing in his tenth Broadway show. Most recently, he was understudy to James Earl Jones in The Gin Game and You Can't Take it With You. Others include The Trip to Bountiful; Dividing the Estate (Michael Wilson, Director), On Golden Pond with Leslie Uggams; Twelfth Night (LCT). Off-Broadway: Played The Man opposite Marian Seldes in The Play About the Baby; The epic H. Foote's, Orphans Home Cycle (Signature) - Drama Desk Award). Regional and Abroad: King Lear(Yale Rep); Fences (Long Wharf); The Oedipus Plays (DC Shakespeare and Athens Festival/ Michael Kahn, Director). He has directed at the NYSF, Long Wharf and headed the SUNY -Old Westbury Theatre Dept , taught on faculty at NYU Tisch and has done his one man show on Frederick Douglas and Scott Joplin in Europe. On television: “The Dave Chapelle Show,” “Law & Order” and recently on “Madame Secretary.” He has an MFA from Yale School of Drama, studied at RADA and dedicates work to sisters Deborah and Nancy and Mary Tahmin. Happy to be working with Lynne and Dan again.