Roundabout Theatre Company announces THE CHERRY ORCHARD and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY

ANNOUNCES TWO NEW PRODUCTIONS FROM

TWO ACCLAIMED PLAYWRIGHTS

TO CULMINATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

THE CHERRY ORCHARD

By ANTON CHEKHOV

New Adaptation by STEPHEN KARAM

Directed by SIMON GODWIN on Broadway

And

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE

By MIKE BARTLETT

Directed by Tony Award Winner MICHAEL MAYER Off-Broadway

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is thrilled to announce two new productions from two acclaimed playwrights for the 2016-2017 season: a new Broadway production of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov with a new adaptation by Stephen Karam (The Humans), directed by Simon Godwin and a new play, Love, Love, Love by Mike Bartlett (King Charles III), directed by Michael Mayer.

These productions will culminate Roundabout’s 50th anniversary season.

THE CHERRY ORCHARD

Roundabout Theatre Company welcomes back playwright Stephen Karam on the heels of his enormously successful and critically acclaimed play, The Humans; Karam’s second play commissioned by Roundabout Theatre Company, follows his wildly acclaimed Speech & Debate (2007) and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sons of the Prophet (his first Roundabout commission; 2011). Simon Godwin is an Associate Artist at the Royal Court and Bristol Old Vic and makes his Broadway debut following two critically acclaimed productions at the National including The Beaux’ Stratagem and Man and Superman.

The Cherry Orchard will begin preview performances on September 8, 2016, and open officially on October 6, 2016. This is a limited engagement through November 27, 2016 on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre (227 W. 42nd St.)

Set in Russia at the turn of the twentieth century, The Cherry Orchard chronicles a noblewoman's return to her family estate after a five-year absence to escape troubling memories of her son's death. Lyubov Ranevskaya arrives home to find the cherry orchard in full bloom, but the finances of the estate on the verge of ruin. Lyubov and her brother, Gaev, find themselves scrambling to retain a vision of gentility amidst a climate of huge social and economic transition.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE

Roundabout welcomes Mike Bartlett following the critically acclaimed and celebrated Broadway debut of his play King Charles III. Tony Award winning stage, film and opera director Michael Mayer returns to Roundabout to direct his sixth production. Mayer’s next film The Seagull, with an adaptation of the Chekhov classic by Stephen Karam, will be released in 2016.

Love, Love, Love will begin preview performances on September 22, 2016 at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. This is a limited engagement Off-Broadway through January 1, 2017.

It’s the late 1960s in a north London flat, and Henry is excitedly anticipating the arrival of his date, Sandra. The night changes course when Sandra and Henry’s brother Kenneth quickly realize how much they have in common—their love of Rock and Roll and their love of marijuana, for starters. A fiery relationship is sparked in the haze of the 60s, and charred by today’s brutal realities. Fast forward twenty-three years, and the economy and politics of an ever-changing world are wearing on the marriage of this baby boomer couple. Can they remain faithful to each other while trying to provide a loving and supportive home for their children—children who are growing up in a time when the next generation is not always provided for? Spanning more than four decades, this dark comedy is the story of what happens when the free-loving teens of the 60s face the harsh realities of today’s world. From passion to paranoia, Love, Love, Love takes on the baby boomer generation as it retires, and finds it full of trouble.

The cast and creative team for both productions will be announced in the near future.

TICKET INFORMATION:

Tickets for The Cherry Orchard and Love, Love, Love will be made available to Roundabout subscribers first, on a 2016 date to be announced. Whether you are interested in the best value or VIP experiences, Roundabout has a package option for you. Visit roundabouttheatre.org or call 212-719-1300 for more info. Sign up for Roundabout’s email club at roundabouttheatre.org to be notified when tickets go on sale to the general public.

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, Linda L. D'Onofrio, Peggy and Mark Ellis, Jodi Glucksman, Sylvia Golden, Judith and Douglas Krupp, K. Myers, Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, Lauren and Danny Stein, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Yolanda R. Turocy, Lori Uddenberg, and Xerox Foundation.

BIOS:

ANTON CHEKHOV (Playwright, The Cherry Orchard) was born in Taganrog, Ukraine, on January 17, 1860. Plays include Platanov, Ivanov, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.

STEPHEN KARAM (Adaptation, The Cherry Orchard)’s plays include The Humans, Sons of the Prophet (2012 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, 2012 Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel and Hull-Warriner Awards for Best Play; inaugural Sam Norkin Drama Desk Award) and Speech & Debate (the inaugural production of Roundabout Underground). For film, he’s written the screenplay for Chekhov’s The Seagull (starring Annette Bening) scheduled for 2016 premieres. He teaches playwriting at The New School. Born and raised in Scranton, PA, he’s a graduate of Brown University.

SIMON GODWIN (Director, The Cherry Orchard) is an Associate Director at the National Theatre, where he has directed The Beaux Stratagem, Man and Superman and Strange Interlude. At the Royal Court, his work includes Routes, If You Don’t Let Us Dream, We Won’t Let You Sleep, NSFW, The Witness, Goodbye to All That, The Acid Test and Wanderlust. For Bristol Old Vic, The Little Mermaid, Krapp’s Last Tape, A Kind of Alaska, Faith Healer and Far Away. For the RSC, he has directed The Two Gentlemen of Verona. He has also directed Richard II for Shakespeare’s Globe and a national tour or Pat Barker’s acclaimed novel, Regeneration. In 2016, Simon will direct Hamlet for the RSC, as well as the world premiere of Sunset at the Villa Thalia, a new play by Alexi Kaye Campbell, for the National Theatre.

MIKE BARTLETT (Playwright, Love, Love, Love). Plays for the theatre include: King Charles III (Music Box Theatre on Broadway/Almeida Theatre/Wyndham’s Theatre), An Intervention (Paines Plough/Watford), Bull (Sheffield Theatres/Off Broadway/Young Vic), Medea (Headlong/Glasgow Citizens/Watford/Warwick), Chariots of Fire (Hampstead Theatre/Gielgud Theatre), 13 (National Theatre), Decade (co-writer Headlong), Earthquakes in London (Headlong, National Theatre), Love, Love, Love (Paines Plough / Plymouth Theatre Royal/Royal Court), Cock, Contractions, My Child (Royal Court Theatre), Artefacts (Bush Theatre/ Nabokov). Plays for the radio: King Charles III, Cock, Heart, The Core, Family Man, Love Contract (BBC Radio 4), The Steps, Not Talking (BBC Radio 3). As Director: Medea (Headlong /Glasgow Citizens/ Watford/Warwick), Honest (Theatre Royal Northampton). Television includes: “Doctor Foster” (Drama Republic/BBC), “The Town” (Big Talk Productions). At the 2015 Olivier Awards King Charles III won Best New Play and BULL won Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. Love, Love, Love won Best New Play in the 2011 Theatre Awards UK and COCK won an Olivier Award in 2010 for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.

MICHAEL MAYER (Director, Love, Love, Love) is very happy to be back at the Roundabout where he was an Associate Artist for several years. Productions here include Everyday Rapture, A View From the Bridge (Tony, Best Revival), Side Man (Tony award for Best Play), The Lion in Winter, An Almost Holy Picture, Uncle Vanya, and After the Fall. He directed the Tony Award-winning revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and co-wrote and directed American Idiot, as well as last season's Brooklynite at the Vineyard Theatre. Other Broadway: Spring Awakening (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Awards), Thoroughly Modern Millie, (Tony, Best Musical); You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, 'night, Mother, and Triumph of Love. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut with a celebrated new production of Rigoletto. TV: Smash (season one), Alpha House. Films: A Home at the End of the World, Flicka, and upcoming film of The Seagull. He is on the Board of New York Stage and Film.

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.

Roundabout Theatre Company’s 50th Anniversary Season celebrates the company’s numerous accomplishments and vision for the future with bold new productions of classic plays, a revival of the Roundabout’s first musical, and new work by some of the country’s most exciting young talent. Founded in 1965, Roundabout Theatre Company has grown from a small 150-seat theatre in a converted Chelsea supermarket basement to become one of the nation’s most influential not-for-profit theatre companies, as well as one of New York City’s leading cultural institutions. Roundabout has been recognized with 29 Tonys, 41 Drama Desks, 50 Outer Critics Circle, 10 Obie and 15 Lucille Lortel Awards for its work on five stages, reaching more than 700,000 theatergoers and employing hundreds of artists each year. Bank of America is a proud 50th Anniversary Season sponsor – a partnership that makes possible Roundabout’s many productions and not-for-profit initiatives during this landmark year.

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.

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, Campbell Scott, Tracee Chimo, Daniel Davis, David Furr, Kate Jennings Grant, Megan Hilty, Rob McClure and Jeremy Shamos in Noises Off by Michael Frayn, directed by Jeremy Herrin; The Humans by Stephen Karam, directed by Joe Mantello; Keira Knightley, Gabriel Ebert, Matt Ryan and Judith Light in a new adaptation of Thérèse Raquin by Helen Edmundson, based upon the novel by Émile Zola, directed by Evan Cabnet; Laura Benanti, Zachary Levi, René Auberjonois, Gavin Creel, Michael McGrath and Jane Krakowski in She Loves Me by Joe Masteroff, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, directed by Scott Ellis; The Robber Bridegroom by Alfred Uhry and Robert Waldman, directed by Alex Timbers; Jessica Lange, Gabriel Byrne, Michael Shannon 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.

Roundabout’s 2016-2017 season will include a new adaptation of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov with a new adaption by Stephen Karam, directed by Simon Godwin; and Love, Love, Love by Mike Bartlett, directed by Michael Mayer.

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