STOCKARD CHANNING, RACHEL GRIFFITHS, STACY KEACH,
JUDITH LIGHT, THOMAS SADOSKI

TO STAR IN
LINCOLN CENTER THEATER’S PRODUCTION OF

OTHER DESERT CITIES

A NEW PLAY BY JON ROBIN BAITZ

DIRECTED BY JOE MANTELLO

PREVIEWS BEGIN WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 12

OPENING NIGHT IS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3

ON BROADWAY AT THE BOOTH THEATRE

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            Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) has announced that Stockard Channing, Rachel Griffiths, Stacy Keach, Judith Light and Thomas Sadoski will star in its Broadway production of Jon Robin Baitz’s critically acclaimed new play OTHER DESERT CITIES this fall.  The production, to be directed by Joe Mantello, begins performances Wednesday evening, October 12 and opens on Thursday, November 3 at the Booth Theater (222 West 45 Street).

            OTHER DESERT CITIES had its premiere at Lincoln Center Theater last winter where it was an immediate sell out during its limited engagement run at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.  Winner of the 2011 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, it was also nominated for multiple Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards, including Best Play.

In Other Desert Cities, Brooke Wyeth (to be played by Rachel Griffiths who is making her Broadway debut), a once promising novelist, returns home after a six year absence to celebrate Christmas in Palm Springs with her parents, former members of the Reagan inner-circle (Stockard Channing and Stacy Keach), her brother (Thomas Sadoski) and her aunt (to be played by Judith Light).  When Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir focusing on an explosive chapter in the family’s history, the holiday reunion is thrown into turmoil and the Wyeths are both bound together and torn apart as they struggle to come to terms with their past.   LCT gratefully acknowledges that Ms. Griffiths will appear in Other Desert Cities with the permission of Actors Equity Association. 

The Broadway production of OTHER DESERT CITIES will reunite Lincoln Center Theater’s original design team: John Lee Beatty (sets), David Zinn (costumes), Kenneth Posner (lighting), Jill BC DuBoff (sound) and Justin Ellington (original music). 

            With OTHER DESERT CITIESplaywright Jon Robin Baitz returned to Lincoln Center Theater where his plays A Fair Country and Ten Unknowns premiered and where his play The Substance of Fire enjoyed an extended run after its original run at Playwrights Horizons.  He is also the author of the plays Mizlansky/Zilinsky, The Film Society, The End of the Day, The Paris Letter, and, a new adaptation of Hedda Gabler.  He wrote the screenplay for the film People I Know andthe film version of The Substance of Fire.  His television credits include The West Wing, Alias and Brothers & Sisters, which he created.

                        Joe Mantello directed the LCT productions of God’s Heart and A Man of No Importance.   Winner of two Tony Awards for his direction ofAssassins and Take Me Out, his credits include Wicked, Pal Joey, November, The Receptionist, Three Days of Rain and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.  He most recently returned to acting with an award winning performance in the critically acclaimed Broadway production of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart.

This fall, in addition to OTHER DESERT CITIES and the open-ended run of its Tony Award winning production of War Horse at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center Theater will be producing the American premiere of Blood and Gifts, a new play by J.T. Rogers, directed by Bartlett Sher, beginning Thursday, October 27 in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.  In addition,  LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater’s programming initiative devoted to the work of new artists, will present the world premiere of All-American, a new play by Julia Brownell, directed by Evan Cabnet, beginning performances Monday, October 24 at the Duke on 42nd Street (229 West 42 Street).  In Spring 2011 LCT3 will move to its new home, the 131-seat Claire Tow Theater, currently under construction on the roof of the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

            OTHER DESERT CITIES will be performed Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8pm, with matinees Wednesday and Saturdays at 2pm and Sundays at 3pm.  Beginning November 8, all Tuesday evening performances will begin at 7pm. 

            Tickets to OTHER DESERT CITIES, priced from $56.50 to $126.50 will be available beginning Sunday, August 14 at telecharge.com or by visiting www.lct.org.  A limited number of tickets priced at $31.50 will be available at every performance through LincTix, LCT’s new program for 21 to 35 year olds.  For information and to enroll, visit LincTix.org.

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STOCKARD CHANNING LCT:  Other Desert Cities (Drama Desk Award nomination), Six Degrees of Separation (Tony nom.), Four Baboons Adoring The Sun (Tony nom.), The House of Blue Leaves (Tony nom.), The Little Foxes, Hapgood. Other NY theater: Pal Joey (Tony nom.), Joe Egg (Tony Award), The Lion in Winter (Tony nom.), Woman in Mind, The Rink, The Golden Age.  Film: Six Degrees of Separation (Oscar, Golden Globe nom.), The Business of Strangers, Where The Heart Is, Practical Magic, First Wives’ Club, Smoke, Grease, The Fortune (Golden Globe nom.).TV includes Out of Practice (one Golden Globe nom., 12 Emmy noms.), The Truth About Jane, Baby Dance, Unexpected Family, Road to Avonlea, Perfect Witness, Echoes in the Darkness, The West Wing (Emmy Award), The Matthew Shepard Story (Emmy Award), Jack, On Tidy Endings. 

RACHEL GRIFFITHS  LCT: debut.  Film:  Muriel’s Wedding, Cosi, Jude, Children of the Revolution, My Son the Fanatic,  My Best Friend’s Wedding, Among Giants, Hilary and Jackie (Academy Award nomination), Amy, Divorcing Jack, Tulip (writer and director), Roundabout (writer and director), Me, Myself and I, Blow, Beautiful Kate.  TV:  Six Feet Under (Golden Globe Award, SAG Award and 2 Emmy nominations), Brothers & Sisters (2 Emmy and 3 Golden Globe Award nominations).Australian Theater: Sylvia, The Doll House, Proof (Green Room Award).

STACY KEACH LCT: Other Desert Cities (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination). Broadway:  Danton’s Death, The Country Wife, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, King Lear, Indians (Tony nom.), Deathtrap, Solitary Confinement, The Kentucky Cycle.Shakespeare in the Park: Marcellus/Player King in Hamlet,Flagstaff in Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, title roles in Peer Gynt and Hamlet.  Other NYC: MacBird!, Camelot.  National Tours:  Frost/Nixon, Barnum, The King and I.  Film include The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The New Centurions, Doc, Fat City, Luther, The Longriders, The Ninth Configuration, Up in Smoke, Nice Dreams,Brewster McCloud, Judge Roy Bean, American History X, W, Imbused (also composed score). TV:  Hemingway (Golden Globe Award, Emmy nom.), Mistral’s Daughter, The Blue and the Gray, Incident at Vichy (also directed), The Repeater (also wrote/directed), Mike Hammer (Golden Globe nom.), Titus, Prison Break,Two and a Half Men, Lights Out. 

JUDITH LIGHT LCT:  debut.  Broadway:  Lombardi (Tony Award nomination), A Doll’s House.  Off-Broadway:  Wit, Colder Than Here, Sorrows and Rejoicings.  Regional:  productions at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Shakespeare Theatre, Mark Taper Forum.  Film:  The Shoemaker, Ira & Abby, Save Me.  TV:  Ugly Betty (Emmy nomination), Law & Order: SVU, Who’s The Boss, One Life To Live (Two Emmy Awards).  

THOMAS SADOSKI  LCT: Other Desert Cities (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards).  Broadway: The House of Blue Leaves, Neal LaBute’s reasons to be pretty(Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards nominations), Reckless.  Selected Off-Broadway: Bridge Project II - As You Like It and The Tempest(BAM/The Old Vic); This Is Our Youth, Gemini, All This Intimacy (Second Stage); Stay, Where We’re Born, The Joke, The Mistakes Madeline Made.  Film/TV:30 Beats, The New Twenty, Loser, Happy Hour, As The World Turns, Law & Order, L&O: SVU, L&O: Criminal Intent and Ugly Betty.

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