THE HUMANS announces complete Off-Broadway cast

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY

Announces Full Cast for the Off-Broadway premiere of

THE HUMANS

By Stephen Karam

Directed by Tony Award® winner Joe Mantello

With

CASSIE BECK, REED BIRNEY, JAYNE HOUDYSHELL, GREG KELLER, SARAH STEELE, JOYCE VAN PATTEN

Previews begin September 30, 2015

Official opening October 25, 2015

Limited engagement through December 27, 2015

Off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is pleased to announce the cast of the Off-Broadway premiere production of Pulitzer Prize finalist Stephen Karam’s The Humans, directed by Tony Award winner Joe Mantello, as part of the 50th Anniversary Season.

The cast will feature Cassie Beck (Aimee), Reed Birney (Erik), Jayne Houdyshell (Deirdre), Greg Keller (Richard), Sarah Steele (Brigid) and Joyce Van Patten (Fiona “Momo” Blake).

The Humans begins preview performances Off-Broadway on Wednesday, September 30, 2015 and opens officially on Sunday, October 25, 2015 at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street). This is a limited engagement through Sunday, December 27, 2015.

Breaking with tradition, Erik Blake (Birney) has brought his Pennsylvania family to celebrate Thanksgiving at his daughter’s apartment in lower Manhattan. As darkness falls outside the ramshackle pre-war duplex, eerie things start to go bump in the night. Soon, family tensions reach a boiling point… and the hilarity, heart and horrors of the Blake clan are exposed. A fresh look at the mysteries of the modern American family, this strikingly witty new play reminds us that we all have our fears, but we don’t have to face them alone.

Karam’s play The Humans is part of Roundabout’s New Play Initiative, a collection of programs, designed to foster and produce new work by emerging and established artists. The Humans is Karam’s second play commissioned by Roundabout Theatre Company, following his hugely acclaimed Speech & Debate (2007) and Sons of the Prophet (his first Roundabout commission; 2011).

In addition to welcoming back Stephen Karam and Roundabout Associate Artist Joe Mantello (Assassins, The Ritz) for the 50th Anniversary Season, Roundabout Theatre Company is thrilled to welcome back a group of actors who have graced their stages multiple times. Reed Birney and Cassie Beck were seen in Picnic (2013) and Birney spent the 2010-2011 season headlining Roundabout Underground’s The Dream of the Burning Boy and Tigers Be Still; Jayne Houdyshell starred in The Importance of Being Earnest (2011), The Language Archive (2010) and Bye Bye Birdie (2009); Joyce Van Patton was seen in The People in the Picture (2011) and Sarah Steele was the breakout star in Stephen Karam’s first play Speech & Debate at Roundabout Underground in 2007.

The creative team includes: David Zinn (Sets), Sarah Laux (Costumes), Justin Townsend (Lighting) and Fitz Patton (Sound).

TICKET INFORMATION:

The Humans is part of Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2015-2016 Season, and tickets are currently available as part of a ‘Choose Your Own’ subscription package. Full 2015-2016 Season packages are currently available, and single tickets for The Humans will be available on August 2, 2015.

Whether you are interested in the best value or VIP experiences, Roundabout has a package option for you. For more information on subscriptions or VIP experiences visit roundabouttheatre.org/subscribe or call 212-719-1300. To be the first to know about tickets and other news, sign up for Roundabout’s email club at www.roundabouttheatre.org.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

The Humans will play Tuesday through Saturday evening at 7:30PM with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00PM.

Partial underwriting support for The Humans is provided by Judith and Douglas Krupp and Lauren and Danny Stein.

Roundabout’s work with new and emerging playwrights and directors, as well as development of new work, is made possible by Katheryn Patterson and Tom Kempner.

We gratefully acknowledge the Roundabout Leaders for New Works: Alec Baldwin, Peggy and Mark Ellis, Jodi Glucksman, Sylvia Golden, Judith and Douglas Krupp, K. Myers, Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, Laura S. Rodgers, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Yolanda R. Turocy, Lori Uddenberg, and Xerox Foundation.

BIOGRAPHIES

CASSIE BECK (Aimee) was recently seen in Roundabout Theatre Company’s Broadway revival of Picnic. Off Broadway credits include The Insurgents with the Labyrinth Theatre, The Whale, The Drunken City (Theatre World Award 2008) and A Prayer For My Enemy at Playwrights Horizons, By the Water a MTC/Ars Nova production, Happy Hour and Oohrah!, at the Atlantic Theatre, as well as Smudge, produced by The Women’s Project. Regionally she has performed in Elemeno Pea at the Humana Festival and South Coast Rep, Prelude to A Kiss with The Huntington Theatre, Three Sisters at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Insurgents, Heartless, and A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World with the Contemporary American Theatre Festival and The Consultant at The Long Wharf Theatre. A former resident of San Francisco, Ms. Beck performed at several Bay Area theatres such as Theatre Works, San Jose Rep, The Magic Theatre and Crowded Fire Theatre of which she is the former Artistic Director.

REED BIRNEY (Erik) appeared last season in New York in Halley Feiffer's I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk Award nominations) at The Atlantic Theater and Clare Barron's You Got Older (Drama Desk Award nomination) at Here Arts Center. He won a Drama Desk award and was nominated for a Tony for his performance as Charlotte in Harvey Fierstein's Casa Valentina. He was Hubert Humphrey in the A.R.T. production of All The Way with Bryan Cranston. His Broadway debut was in 1977 in Albert Innaurato’s Gemini. In 2012 he returned to Broadway in the Roundabout revival of Picnic. In 2011, he received a Special Drama Desk Award honoring his career as an actor. Recent productions: Core Values at Ars Nova, Hapgood at Williamstown Theater Festival, Annie Baker's translation of Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep-Drama Desk Nomination), Kim Rosenstock’s Tigers Be Still and David West Read’s The Dream Of The Burning Boy (Drama League, Outer Critics Circle nominations), both at The Roundabout Underground, and Adam Bock’s A Small Fire at Playwrights Horizons. He was Ian in the New York premiere of Sarah Kane’s Blasted in 2008 at Soho Rep (Drama Desk Award nomination.) He received an Obie and Drama Desk Award for his performance in Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation also at Playwrights Horizons. He was Tony Blair in the acclaimed Public Theater production of Stuff Happens. Other notable performances include the world premiere of Tony Kushner’s revised Homebody/Kabul at Steppenwolf, The Mark Taper Forum and BAM; Tracy Letts' Bug (Obie award) at The Barrow Street Theater; The Common Pursuit at the Promenade Theater; Gaev in The Cherry Orchard at Williamstown Theater Festival. He made his film debut in Arthur Penn and Steve Tesich’s Four Friends, and has appeared in Clint Eastwood’s Changeling, Morning Glory and Jeff Lipsky’s Twelve Thirty, Molly’s Theory of Relativity, and Mad Women, and with Kristen Wiig in The Girl Most Likely. He is Rep. Donald Blythe on the Netflix series, "House of Cards" and can be seen as Patti LuPone's husband in HBO's "Girls." Other recent TV appearances include "Blue Bloods,” as Tom Connolly on "The Blacklist" and NBC’s “American Odyssey.” On the web, he is in the series “What’s Your Emergency?” He won a 2006 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Performance and in 2011 Actors' Equity awarded him the Richard Seff Award. He has taught acting at Columbia University and The Scott Freeman Studio. He is married to actress Constance Shulman and they have two children, Ephraim and Gus, who are both actors.

JAYNE HOUDYSHELL (Deirdre) is a two time Tony nominee for her performances in the most recent revival of Follies and the Broadway production of Well. She won Obie and Theater World Awards for Well's original Off-Broadway run at the Public Theater. Her other Broadway appearances include Fish In The Dark, Romeo And Juliet, Wicked, Bye Bye Birdie, The Importance Of Being Earnest, and Dead Accounts. Recent Off-Broadway productions include Horton Foote's Harrison Texas, The Language Archive, Coraline, The New Century, The Pain And The Itch, The Receptionist, and Much Ado About Nothing. She received a special Drama Desk award in 2013 for her artistry as an exceptionally versatile and distinctive Broadway and Off-Broadway performer. She has appeared in the films Lucky Stiff, Everybody’s Fine, Morning Glory, Garden State, Trust The Man, and Changing Lanes. Television credits include “Law and Order SVU,” “American Odyssey,” “Elementary” and “Blue Bloods.”

GREG KELLER (Richard). Broadway: Wit (Manhattan Theatre Club). Off-Broadway: Of Good Stock (Manhattan Theatre Club); The Who and The What (LCT3); Somewhere Fun (Vineyard Theatre); Belleville (New York Theatre Workshop); Cradle and All (Manhattan Theatre Club), The Seagull with Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming (Classic Stage Company); That Pretty Pretty, Steve & Idi (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater); Telethon (Clubbed Thumb); Reborning (The Public Theater/Summer Play Festival); and Smudge (Women’s Project). Los Angeles: Seminar with Jeff Goldblum and 33 Variations with Jane Fonda (Ahmanson Theatre). Regional: War and Elevada (Yale Rep), and nine plays at Berkshire Theatre Festival. Television: “Orange is the New Black,” “The Good Wife,” “Lipstick Jungle,” “Law & Order.” MFA: NYU. Greg was a Lila Acheson Wallace playwriting fellow at The Juilliard School. His plays have been produced at Cherry Lane, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and LAByrinth Theater Company, where he is a member.

SARAH STEELE (Brigid) can currently be seen as Marissa Gold on “The Good Wife.” After working as a child actress, most notably in the James L Brooks film Spanglish, Sarah took a four year hiatus to attend Columbia University, earning a degree in English Literature. She has worked on many TV, film and theater projects since graduating in 2011. In 2014, she made her Broadway debut in The Country House, directed by Dan Sullivan. Other credits include: Off-Broadway: Slowgirl, Russian Transport, All-American, Speech and Debate, The Netflix Plays, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Regional: Not Waving (Williamstown Theater Festival) Film: Viena and the Fantomes, Adult Beginners, The Mend, The To-Do List, Please Give, Margaret, Spanglish, Last Kind Words, Man (short). Television: “Girls,” “The Good Wife,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Blue Bloods,” “Harry’s Law,” “Gossip Girl,” “Law & Order.”

JOYCE VAN PATTEN (Fiona “Momo” Blake) returns to the Roundabout having last been seen in People in the Picture at Studio 54. Other Broadway credits: originated roles in I Ought to be in Pictures, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Rumors, Jake’s Women (all Neil Simon), Taller Than a Dwarf, More to Love. Off Broadway: Love, Loss and What I Wore. Lincoln Center: Fair Country, Ring Round the Moon. Signature: The Oldest Profession. MTC: Labor Day Public: The Seagull; Playwrights Horizon: The Great God Pan. Chicago: Show Boat. Los Angeles: Dead End, Geffen Theatre: Rabbit Hole. Huntington: The Cherry Orchard. Film: God’s Pocket; Grown Ups; Peace, Love & Misunderstanding; This Must be the Place; Mame; Bad News Bears; St. Elmo’s Fire. Lots of TV.

STEPHEN KARAM (Playwright) is the author of Sons of the Prophet, a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and the recipient of the 2012 Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel and Hull-Warriner Awards for Best Play. Other plays include Speech & Debate, the inaugural production of Roundabout Underground; columbinus (New York Theatre Workshop); and the libretto for Dark Sisters, an original chamber opera with composer Nico Muhly. Stephen is a MacDowell Colony fellow and the recipient of the inaugural Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Drama Desk Award. He teaches graduate playwriting at The New School. He grew up in Scranton, PA and is a graduate of Brown University.

JOE MANTELLO (Director). Directing credits include An Act of God, The Last Ship, Casa Valentina, I’ll Eat You Last, The Other Place, Dogfight, Other Desert Cities, The Pride, Pal Joey, 9 to 5, Wicked, Blackbird, November, The Receptionist, The Ritz, Three Days of Rain, The Odd Couple, Glengarry Glen Ross, Laugh Whore, Assassins (Tony Award), Take Me Out (Tony Award), Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Design for Living, The Vagina Monologues, bash, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Proposals, The Mineola Twins, Corpus Christi. Film: Love! Valour! Compassion! As an actor: The Normal Heart (Tony Award nomination), Angels in America (Tony Award nomination) and The Baltimore Waltz. He is the recipient of Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Clarence Derwent, Obie and Joe A. Callaway awards. He is a member of Naked Angels and an associate artist at Roundabout Theatre Company.

The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre opened in March 2004 with an acclaimed premiere of Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel starring Viola Davis, directed by Dan Sullivan. In the ten years since that landmark production, the center has expanded beyond the Laura Pels Theatre to include the Black Box Theatre and now a new education center. The Steinberg Center continues to reflect Roundabout’s commitment to produce new works by established and emerging writers as well as revivals of classic plays. This state-of-the-art off-Broadway theatre and education complex is made possible by a major gift from The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. The Trust was created in 1986 by Harold Steinberg to promote and advance American Theatre as a vital part of our culture by supporting playwrights, encouraging the development and production of new work, and providing financial assistance to not-for-profit theatre companies across the country. Since its inception, the Trust has awarded over $70 million to more than 125 theatre organizations.

Roundabout Theatre Company is committed to producing the highest quality theatre with the finest artists, sharing stories that endure, and providing accessibility to all audiences. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills its mission each season through the production of classic plays and musicals; development and production of new works by established and emerging writers; educational initiatives that enrich the lives of children and adults; and a subscription model and audience outreach programs that cultivate and engage all audiences.

Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays, musicals, and new works on its five stages, each of which is specifically designed to enhance the needs of Roundabout’s mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design, is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout’s Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. The Stephen Sondheim Theatre offers a state of the art LEED certified Broadway theatre in which to stage major large-scale musical revivals. Together these distinctive homes serve to enhance Roundabout’s work on each of its stages.

American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Art Works.

Roundabout’s 2014-2015 season includes Coleman, Comden & Green’s On The Twentieth Century starring Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher, directed by Scott Ellis; and the world premiere of Joshua Harmon’s Significant Other, directed by Trip Cullman.

Roundabout’s 50th anniversary season in 2015-2016 includes: Clive Owen, Eve Best and Kelly Reilly in Old Times by Harold Pinter, directed by Douglas Hodge; Andrea Martin in Noises Off by Michael Frayn, directed by Jeremy Herrin; The Humans by Stephen Karam, directed by Joe Mantello; Keira Knightley in a new adaptation of Thérèse Raquin by Helen Edmundson, based upon the novel by Émile Zola, directed by Evan Cabnet; Laura Benanti and Josh Radnor in She Loves Me by Joe Masteroff, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, directed by Scott Ellis; Jessica Lange, Gabriel Byrne and John Gallagher, Jr. in Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Jonathan Kent. The 2015-2016 Roundabout Underground production is Ugly Lies the Bone, a new play by Lindsey Ferrentino, directed by Patricia McGregor.