Dying City
info froom the website
http://www.lct.org/calendar/event_detail.cfm?ID_event=54624605
by: Christopher Shinn
Directed by: James Macdonald
At the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
Address: 150 West 65th Street
New York, NY 10023
February 15, 2007 to April 29, 2007
Playing Schedule: Tues-Sat 8pm, Wed and Sat 2pm, Sun 3pm
Sets and Costumes : Anthony Ward
Lighting : Pat Collins
Sound : Aural Fixation
Cast : Rebecca Brooksher , Pablo Schreiber
Christopher Shinn’s Dying City is an intimate play, set in a spare downtown-Manhattan apartment, depicting the role of historic events that transform the lives of three closely observed characters. Infusing his play with references to the war in Iraq and to 9/11 and its aftermath, Shinn explores the loss of a loved one who has died while on military duty in Iraq, and the repercussions of this death on his wife, Kelly, and identical twin brother, Peter.
Dying City begins as Peter, agitated and unannounced, barges in on Kelly’s solitary evening at home. Kelly has deliberately avoided Peter since the last time they saw each other a year ago at Craig’s funeral. Though the military has deemed Crag’s death in Iraq accidental, Peter suspects otherwise.
Shinn has structured Dying City as alternating encounters. Scenes shift between Kelly and Peter’s face-off, as the distraught brother forces his sister-in-law to confront the tragic legacy that connects them, and Kelly’s last night with Craig, a farewell marred by bitter accusations and long-simmering resentments.
Dying City had its world premiere in Spring 2006 at London’s Royal Court Theatre. The Times of London review called it ”austere and meticulous... a demanding work but equally rewarding.” And Variety described it as an ”achingly compassionate new play” by a ”gifted” dramatist.
Pablo Schreiber, Tony nominee for LCT’s Awake and Sing!, plays both brothers. Rebecca Brooksher plays Kelly. James Macdonald, who directed in London, will also direct the play’s American premiere here at the Newhouse. This production marks Macdonald’s and Shinn’s Lincoln Center Theater debuts. Anthony Ward (sets and costumes), Pat Collins (lighting), and Aural Fixation (sound) are the production’s designers.
