Rea And McGinley Reprise Roles In Shepard's AGES OF THE MOON, Buffini's GABRIEL Makes US Premiere For Atlantic's 2009/2010 Season

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) is proud to announce that Academy Award®, Golden Globe Award® and Tony Award® nominee Stephen Rea (The Crying Game, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me) and Sean McGinley (the film On a Clear Day) will reprise their starring roles in the American premiere of The Abbey Theatre's production of Sam Shepard's AGES OF THE MOON.

The American premiere of Moira Buffini's award-winning play GABRIEL will mark the final main stage production of Atlantic's 2009-2010 season at the Linda Gross Theater. Previews will begin in April toward a May 2010 opening. Dates and casting will be announced.

AGES OF THE MOON will begin previews Tuesday, January 12; open Wednesday, January 27; and play a limited engagement through Sunday, March 7, 2010 Off-Broadway at Atlantic's main stage, The Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20 Street).

Pulitzer Prize Award-winning playwright Sam Shepard will make his Atlantic debut with the American premiere of The Abbey Theatre's production of AGES OF THE MOON following the acclaimed world premiere engagement in Ireland directed by Jimmy Fay. GABRIEL also marks Moira Buffini's Atlantic debut. Her Olivier Award® nominated play Dinner was produced at the Bay Street Theatre this summer in a production starring Mercedes Ruehl.

AGES OF THE MOON is a gruffly poignant and darkly funny play. Byron (McGinley) and Ames (Rea) are old friends re-united by mutual desperation. Over bourbon on ice, they sit, reflect and bicker until fifty years of love, friendship and rivalry are put to the test at the barrel of a gun.

GABRIEL is set around a largely forgotten moment in British history - the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II. A naked young man washes up on a Guernsey beach. Unnervingly handsome, he's fluent in both German and English but has no recollection of who he is. Patriot or Nazi...innocent or madman...or does it depend entirely on your point of view? GABRIEL explores the heart of memory, identity and imagination, as well as the lies people tell themselves and each other to make the darkness light again.

The 1997 world premiere production of GABRIEL was awarded the UK's prestigious LWT (London Weekend Television) Plays on Stage Award and the Meyer Whitworth Award.

Stephen Rea achieved international fame and an Academy Award® and a Golden Globe Award® nomination for his performance in Neil Jordan's film The Crying Game. Previously, Rea worked with Jordan on Angel (aka Danny Boy), his feature film debut and Company of Wolves. They have since collaborated on the films Interview with a Vampire, Michael Collins, The Butcher Boy, In Dreams, End of the Affair, Breakfast on Pluto and Ondine. He starred in the world premiere production Ages of the Moon at The Abbey Theatre in Ireland in January and returns to New York after starring in Sam Shepard's Kicking a Dead Horse at The Public Theater, as well as The Abbey Theater staging. He will star in Sebastian Barry's play Tales of Ballycumber at The Abbey this fall. Rea was nominated for a Best Actor Tony Award® for his performance in Frank McGuiness' Someone Who'll Watch Over Me in 1993. Other film: Mike Leigh's Life is Sweet, Robert Altman's Pret a Porter, Still Crazy, Guinevere, Bruce Beresford's Evelyn, Ulysses, Tara Road, V for Vendetta, Spies ,The Reaping, Sisters, Sixty Six and Till Death. Upcoming films include Neil Jordan's Ondine, Devil's Mercy and The Heavy. He has starred in numerous theatre productions in Dublin and London's West End as well as several teleVision Productions for the BBC, Channel 4 and HBO. Rea trained at Ireland's Abbey Theatre School and divided his time in the 1970's and 1980's between fringe theatre, major stage productions, television and film. He also starred in or directed all of the productions of the Field Day Theatre, a group he formed with playwright Brian Friel in 1980. 

Sean McGinley was a member of the Druid Theatre Company from 1977-1989 and appeared at the company in The Glass Menagerie, Loot, Private Dick, The Playboy of the Western World and the Corsican Brothers. He has become a dominant force on the Irish stage, winning awards for Whistle in the Dark (Abbey and Royal Court Theatres), Much Ado About Nothing (Druid), The Shaurgraun (Abbey Theatre) and The Hackney Office (Druid). He recently starred on television as "Malachy Doyle" in the CBC series "Republic of Doyle." Other television includes the ITV series "Lewis," "Gently's Last Case," Granada Television's "The Street" by Jimmy McGovern, "Bleak House," "Taggart," "Pure Mule," "Trial and Retribution VIII," the BBC series "Waking the Dead IV" and "Pulling Moves" and RTE's series "On Home Ground," "The Vice V," television adaptation of Marian Keyes successful novel "Watermelon," "The Hanging Gale," "Murder Rooms," "Making the Cut," "The Ambassador," "Cold Feet III" and "Midsomer Murders." Recent film work includes The Running Mate, The Wind that Shakes the Barley directed by Ken Loach, 66 directed by Paul Weiland and On a Clear Day for which he won an Irish Film and Television Best Supporting Actor Award. Other film work includes Braveheart, Michael Collins, The Butcher Boy, The General, Simon Magus, Angela's Ashes, The Closer You Get, The Claim, Gangs of New York, Dead Bodies, Conspiracy of Silence and Freeze Frame. Upcoming films include Shrooms directed by Paddy Breathnach, A Tiger's Tale for John Boorman and Closing the Ring for Richard Attenborough. He was born in Donegal and graduated from University College Galway.