Melbourne Theatre Company is applauding the news that playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s 2006 commission for the Company, The Female of the Species, will be produced on Broadway next April starring three-time Academy Award-nominee Annette Bening (Being Julia, American Beauty).
New York producers David Richenthal and Mary-Beth O’Connor have announced that the production will be directed by this week’s 2007 Tony Award-winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, A View from the Bridge, Angels in America), with performances beginning 11 April 2008, ahead of a 28 April opening night at a Broadway theatre to be announced.
The Broadway production of The Female of the Species will be produced in association with Los Angeles’ Geffen Playhouse, where the play will have its American premiere from 5 February to 16 March 2008 in a pre-Broadway engagement.
It marks the second time an MTC commission by Joanna Murray-Smith has enjoyed success on the global stage. In 2004 and 2005, her play Bombshells, starring Caroline O’Connor and directed by MTC Artistic Director Simon Phillips, celebrated acclaimed seasons in Edinburgh, London’s West End and Toronto.
Welcoming today’s announcement, Simon Phillips said, “We’re thrilled for Joanna that her writing has yet again been internationally acknowledged, and proud that MTC’s specific encouragement of her gift for high comedy has paid off in such a spectacular way. We’re looking forward to her next five successes.”
The Female of the Species received its world premiere at Melbourne’s Arts Centre Playhouse on 30 August 2006 in an MTC production directed by Patrick Nolan and starring Sue Ingleton as Margot Mason. Something of a storm trooper in feminism’s first wave, Margot has always been deadlier (and cleverer) than any male she has ever encountered. So when gun-toting malcontent Molly Rivers holds her hostage in her comfortable home, Margot’s indignity knows no bounds: How could this confused and angry young woman be her nemesis?
Joanna Murray-Smith’s other plays include Honour, Rapture, (both of which won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Best Play), Nightfall, Redemption, Love Child and Flame. Joanna’s novels include Truce, Judgement Rock and Sunnyside. In 2003, London’s National Theatre produced Honour with Dame Eileen Atkins in an Olivier Award-winning performance. According to the Australia Council, Joanna Murray-Smith and Daniel Keene account for half of all foreign productions of Australian plays. In recent years, Joanna has had productions in New York, San Francisco, Finland, Holland, Germany, South Africa, Israel and the West End, amongst others.
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Female Of The Species to Star Annette Bening On Broadway
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