Written and Directed by John Patrick Shanley
Prodigal Son is a passionate, explosive portrait of a young man on the verge of salvation or destruction, written and directed by John Patrick Shanley (of Tony, Academy Award, and Pulitzer Prize fame). A 17-year-old boy (Timothee Chalamet) from The Bronx finds himself suddenly in a private school in New Hampshire. He’s violent, gifted, alienated, on fire with a ferocious loneliness. Two faculty members (Tony Award winner Robert Sean Leonard and Chris McGarry) wrestle with the dilemma: Is the kid a star or a disaster?
The world premiere of Prodigal Son marks another exciting step forward in the collaboration between Manhattan Theatre Club and this visceral New York playwright (Doubt, Outside Mullingar).
Lead support for Prodigal Son has been provided by MTC’s Producing Fund Partner, Ned Lustbader. Additional support for Prodigal Son is provided by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation. Prodigal Son is a recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award.
Running time: 95 minutes, with no intermission. From 09, Feb 2016
Reviews
Cast
| Actor | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Annika Boras | Louise Schmitt | |
| Timothee Chalamet | Jim Rogan | |
| Robert Sean Leonard | Alan Hoffman | |
| Chris McGarry | Carl Schmitt | |
| David Potters | Austin |
Creative Crew
John Patrick Shanley – Writter/Director
Lynne Meadow – Artistic Director
Barry Grove – Executive Producer
Manhattan Theatre Club – Producer
Santo Loquasto – Set Designer
Ann Roth – Costume Designer
Natasha Katz – Lighting Designer
Fitz Patton – Sound Designer
John Patrick Shanley
John was born October, 1950 and is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning American playwright, an Oscar winning screenwriter, and a theatre and film director. Shanley is the author of more than 23 plays, which have been translated and performed around the world, including 80 productions a year in North America. He has often directed his own productions
His play Doubt: A Parable ran on Broadway from March 31, 2005 to July 2, 2006 and won four 2005 Tony Awards (including Best Play), the Drama Desk Award (including Outstanding Play) and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Shanley directed the 2008 film version, which starred Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis. The screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award, and the film won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Doubt: A Parable, is featured in The Fourth Wall, a book of photographs by Amy Arbus for which Shanley also wrote the foreword.
In 2012, Shanley wrote the libretto for an opera version of Doubt: A Parable, which premiered at the Minnesota Opera in January 2013, with music by Douglas J. Cuomo. Until then, his experience with opera was not extensive; he had attended a few performances and had listened to recordings. As he worked on the libretto, using many lines that come directly from the play, he describes that his enthusiasm for the form grew. Also in 2012, his play Storefront Church ran Off-Broadway in a production by the Atlantic Theater Company. The play concerns Bronx residents “whose lives become tangled in unexpected ways when a mortgage goes sour”. Storefront Church was also put up by San Francisco Playhouse in San Francisco in December 2013 where it was very well received.
His play, Outside Mullingar, opened on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club, on January 3, 2014 (in previews) and officially on January 23, 2014. The play is directed by Doug Hughes and stars Debra Messing and BrÃan F. O’Byrne, the play was set in the Irish countryside.
New York City Center Stage 1
131 W 55th Street (Between 6th and 7th Ave)
All seats are on Orchestra level, all seating accessible by elevator. Stage I is accessible to people with disabilities and is equipped with both assistive listening and hearing-aid compatible devices.
The entrance to the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre is located on street level at 261 West 47th Street (between Broadway and 8th Avenue). An elevator, located at the right of the box office lobby, provides easy access to all levels of the theatre, as well as the Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Lounge (which has restrooms, concessions, coat lockers and the MTC gift shop) and the mezzanine lounge/restroom area.
The entrance to Manhattan Theatre Club at New York City Center is located on street level at 131 West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues). Inside the west entrance, immediately to the left, is an elevator that services all levels of the theatre, including the first landing, where the restrooms and coatroom are located, and the main lobby, where the concession area and entrances to Stage I and Stage II are located.
