Center Theatre Group Brings 'Heisenberg' to Los Angeles

Manhattan Theatre Club’s acclaimed production of “Heisenberg” by Tony Award and two-time Olivier Award winner Simon Stephens has been announced as part of Center Theatre Group’s 50^th Anniversary Season. This insightful and entertaining new play comes to the Taper June 28 through August 6, 2017. Opening is set for July 6.

Directed by Drama Desk Award winner Mark Brokaw and featuring Denis Arndt and Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe winner Mary-Louise Parker, the creative team for “Heisenberg” includes Mark Wendland (scenic design), Michael Krass (costume design), Austin R. Smith (lighting design) and David Van Tieghem (sound design).

Amidst the bustle of a crowded London train station, Georgie (Parker) spots Alex (Arndt), a much older man, and plants a kiss on his neck. This electric encounter thrusts these two strangers into a fascinating and life-changing game as “Heisenberg” brings to blazing, theatrical life the uncertain and often comical sparring match that is human connection.

When “Heisenberg” received its world premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club in 2015, Ben Brantley of The New York Times called the play “a probing work that considers the multiplicity of alternatives that could shape our lives at every moment.” On returning to see the Broadway run in 2016, Brantley said “Heisenberg” “seems more shimmeringly and satisfyingly elusive each time I see it.” Adding that Parker and Arndt are “the sexiest couple on a New York stage just now.”

Mark Kennedy of Associated Press said playwright Simon Stephens “does nothing less than alchemy here. He captures new love and old love at the same time, hope and fear, the new world and the old. He's turned the simplest of tales—boy meets girl—into an unexpectedly rich thing with just two chairs, two tables and two actors.” Jesse Green of New York Magazine added, “Under Mark Brokaw’s exquisite direction, the two actors could not be better.”

“Heisenberg” was commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club and received its world premiere in the summer of 2015 as part of The Studio at Stage II—Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Series, MTC's initiative to bring bold new work to audiences. “Heisenberg” was then transferred to the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in 2016.

Manhattan Theatre Club, under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, has become one of the country’s most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. Over the past four and a half decades, MTC productions have earned numerous awards including six Pulitzer Prizes and 20 Tony Awards. MTC has a Broadway home at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) and two off-Broadway theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street.

Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’ leading nonprofit theatre company, programming seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1600 to 2000-seat Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the nation’s leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions, and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics and circumstance to serve Los Angeles.

Tickets for “Heisenberg” are currently available by season ticket membership only and current subscribers to Center Theatre Group’s 2017-2018 season at the Mark Taper Forum will be receiving tickets to this production. For information and to charge season tickets by phone, call the Exclusive Season Ticket Hotline at (213) 972-4444. To purchase season memberships online, visit CenterTheatreGroup.org/Taper.

Biographies

Denis Arndt (Alex Priest). Recent credits include “The Night Alive” (Geffen Playhouse), Prospero in Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s “The Tempest.” Also at OSF: title roles in “King Lear,” “Titus Andronicus,” “Brand,” “The Father” and “Coriolanus” as well as “The Dance of Death,” “The Devil’s Disciple,” “A Moon for the Misbegotten,” “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” “Wild Oats,” “Othello” and “The Entertainer.” New York Theatre: Soapy Smith in “The Ballad of Soapy Smith,” “Richard II” (The Public Theater). Regional theatres include Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Alley Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, The Studio Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Mark Taper Forum (“Dealer’s Choice”), Intiman Theatre, Arena Stage, Goodman Theatre. TV/Film: “Basic Instinct,” “Distant Thunder,” “Metro,” “Dolphin Tale 2,” “Bandidas,” “Sniper 3,” “Anacondas,” “S.W.A.T.,” “Undisputed,” “How to Make an American Quilt,” “Firebeetle,” “Serious Money,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Supernatural,” “Boston Legal,” “24,” “The Practice,” “CSI.”

Mary-Louise Parker (Georgie Burns). This is Parker’s eighth production with Manhattan Theatre Club. Broadway: “Proof” (Awards: Tony Award, Drama League, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Obie), “Prelude to a Kiss” (Tony nomination), “Bus Stop,” “Reckless” (Tony nomination), “Hedda Gabler,” “The Snow Geese.” Off-Broadway: “How I Learned to Drive” (Obie Award), “Communicating Doors,” “The Art of Success,” “Four Dogs and a Bone,” “Dead Man’s Cell Phone.” Television: “Angels in America” (Emmy and Golden Globe Awards), “Weeds” (Golden Globe Award), “The West Wing” (Emmy nomination) and others. Film: “RED,” “RED 2,” “R.I.P.D.,” “Boys on the Side,” “Reckless,” “The Assassination of Jesse James…,” “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “The Client, Solitary Man,” “Saved,” “Pipe Dream,” “The Portrait of a Lady,” “The Five Senses,” “Romance and Cigarettes,” “Howl” and others. Parker’s first book, “Dear Mr. You,” was published by Scribner in November 2015 (San Francisco Chronicle Best Books of the Year). She has written for The New York Times, Esquire, O Magazine and Bullett, The Riveter, Bomb and other publications.

Simon Stephens (Playwright). Simon’s plays have been produced in many languages throughout the world. His plays “Harper Regan” and “Bluebird” were staged in New York at the Atlantic Theater Company. His play “Punk Rock” was staged by MCC. His version of “A Doll’s House” for the Young Vic transferred to New York in 2014. His adaptation of Mark Haddon’s novel “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” ran for two years on Broadway and won the Tony Award for Best New Play in 2015. Simon is an associate at the Lyric, Hammersmith and Royal Court, London.

Mark Brokaw (Director). Broadway: “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” “The Lyons,” “After Miss Julie,” “The Constant Wife,” “Cry-Baby,” “Reckless.” New York premieres include works by David Auburn, Lynda Barry (“The Good Times Are Killing Me”), Douglas Carter Beane (“As Bees in Honey Drown”), Charles Busch, Julia Cho, Lisa Kron (“2.5 Minute Ride”), Kenneth Lonergan (“This Is Our Youth,” “Lobby Hero”), Craig Lucas (“The Dying Gaul”), Nicky Silver (“The Lyons,” “Too Much Sun”) and Paula Vogel (“How I Learned to Drive,” “The Long Christmas Ride Home”). He has directed at London’s Donmar Warehouse and Menier Chocolate Factory, Dublin’s Gate Theatre and the Sydney Opera House. Mark is the artistic director of the Yale Institute for Music Theatre and serves on the Executive Board of SDC. Artistic associate: Roundabout Theatre.