Marin Ireland and Chris Messina to star in "Ironbound" at the Geffen Playhouse

MARIN IRELAND AND CHRIS MESSINA TO STAR IN “IRONBOUND” AT THE GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

IRELAND WILL REPRISE HER MUCH-LAUDED OFF-BROADWAY ROLE IN THE GEFFEN’S PRODUCTION

PREVIEWS BEGIN JANUARY 30; OPENING NIGHT IS FEBRUARY 7

LOS ANGELES (November 13, 2017) – The Geffen Playhouse today announced that Tony Award nominee Marin Ireland (Broadway’s reasons to be pretty, Amazon’s Sneaky Pete) and Chris Messina (The Mindy Project, Argo) will star in the West Coast Premiere of Martyna Majok’s Ironbound, directed by Tyne Rafaeli (Actually). Ireland is reprising the lead role of Darja, which she played Off-Broadway at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in 2016. Messina will star as Tommy.

Of the New York production, Charles Isherwood of The New York Times said, “Marin Ireland gives a performance of beautiful complexity.”

Previews for Ironbound begin Tuesday, January 30, 2018 in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse, with opening night on Wednesday, February 7. The production closes Sunday, March 4, 2018. Additional casting will be announced.

At once humorous and heartrending, Ironbound spans 22 years to tell the story of Darja, a Polish immigrant getting by on a cleaning job, aggressive pragmatism and sheer will. In this wry drama, award-winning playwright Martyna Majok points out that sometimes survival is the only measure of success.

Ironbound had its world premiere at the Round House Theatre as part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival in September 2015. Nelson Pressley of The Washington Post said, “Majok writes with such energy and charisma that the play’s four characters feel vivid and real.”
Majok’s script was awarded the National New Play Network Smith Prize and the David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize.

Rafaeli recently directed the Geffen’s world premiere of Anna Ziegler’s play Actually, which is making its Off-Broadway debut at New York’s Manhattan Theatre Club on November 14.

IRONBOUND

Written by Martyna Majok
Directed by Tyne Rafaeli

Previews: Tuesday, January 30 – Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Opening Night: Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Closing Night: Sunday, March 4, 2018

CAST
Marin Ireland as Darja
Chris Messina as Tommy

PRODUCTION TEAM
Scenic Designer Tim Mackabee
Costume Designer Elizabeth Caitlin Ward
Lighting Designer Lap Chi Chu
Sound Designer Leon Rothenberg
Production Stage Manager Elizabeth A. Brohm
Assistant Stage Manager Ross Jackson
Casting Director Phyllis Schuringa, CSA

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Monday No performance
Tuesday – Friday 8:00 p.m.
Saturday 3:00 and 8:00 p.m.
Sunday 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.

The run of Ironbound will feature the Geffen’s popular Talk Back Tuesdays, which give theater lovers a chance for a deeper conversation to discuss plot, character themes and other questions directly with the artists in a post-show Q&A from the stage. Dates: February 13, February 20 and February 27, 2018

LOCATION
Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse
10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets currently priced at $32.00 - $90.00. Available in person at the Geffen Playhouse box office, by phone at 310.208.5454 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.org. Fees may apply.

Rush tickets for each day’s performance are made available to the general public 30 minutes before showtime at the box office. $35.00 General / $10.00 Student

COLLEGE AUDIENCES
Through a variety of events and other opportunities, the Geffen Playhouse welcomes college students to experience the live storytelling presented on our stages. We are proud of our association with UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television, and open our doors to all college students throughout Los Angeles. More information is available at www.geffenplayhouse.org/college.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Martyna Majok (Playwright)
Martyna Majok’s plays have been presented at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Women’s Project Theater and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, among others. Awards include Dramatists Guild’s Lanford Wilson Award, Lilly Award, Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding Original New Play (Helen Hayes Awards), Ashland New Plays Festival Women’s Invitational Prize, The Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Award, David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize, New York Theatre Workshop’s 2050 Fellowship, Aurora Theatre’s Global Age Project Prize and the NNPN/Smith Prize for Political Playwriting. Commissions from Lincoln Center Theater, Bush Theatre in London, Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory and Manhattan Theatre Club. BA: University of Chicago; MFA: Yale School of Drama, Juilliard. Majok was a 2012-2013 NNPN Playwright-in-Residence and the 2015-2016 PoNY Fellow at the Lark Play Development Center. Upcoming: queens at LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater.

Tyne Rafaeli (Director)
Tyne Rafaeli directs classics, new plays and musicals, including the recent world premiere of the Geffen Playhouse’s production of Actually by Anna Ziegler. Her work has been seen at Classic Stage Company, Playwrights Realm, Atlantic Theater Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, Two River Theater, California Shakespeare Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, New York Stage & Film, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Goodspeed Musicals, Julliard, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Great Lakes Theater, American Players Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, the O’Neill Playwrights Conference and PlayPenn, among others. Rafaeli is a 2016-2018 Time Warner Directing Fellow at the Women’s Project Theater and was awarded the 2013-2014 SDCF Sir John Gielgud Fellowship for Classical Direction. She has served as Associate Director on the Broadway productions of The King & I, Fiddler on the Roof, The Bridges of Madison County and Golden Boy and the West End’s Women on the Verge.

Marin Ireland (Darja)
Marin Ireland’s theater credits include reasons to be pretty, for which she won a Theatre World Award and was nominated for a Tony Award. Her other New York credits include The Big Knife on Broadway (opposite Bobby Cannavale); Ironbound at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater; Kill Floor at Lincoln Center Theater; Blasted and Marie Antoinette, both at Soho Rep; Three Sisters at Classic Stage Company; Cyclone at Studio Dante (Obie Award) and In the Wake at the Public Theater. Some of her television and film work includes Girls, Homeland, Masters of Sex, The Divide, The Slap, Glass Chin (Independent Spirit nomination 2016), Sparrows Dance, The Family Fang, 28 Hotel Rooms, In the Radiant City and Hell or High Water. Most recently she was seen in the Lifetime movie Flint, about the Flint water crisis, playing activist Melissa Mays. She currently appears on the Amazon series Sneaky Pete.

Chris Messina (Tommy)
Chris Messina has appeared on stage in Salome (Broadway); Far Away (New York Theatre Workshop); Faster (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater); The Cherry Orchard (Williamstown Theatre Festival); This Thing of Darkness (Atlantic Theater Company); Good Thing (New Group); Blur (Manhattan Theatre Club); The Light Outside (Flea Theatre); Hologram Theory (Blue Light Theater Company); Refuge (Playwrights Horizons) and American Clock (Signature Theatre).
Most recently, he shot Martin Krejci’s film The True Adventures of Wolfboy opposite John Turturro and Chloe Sevigny. Prior to that he finished filming Sharp Objects with director Jean-Marc Valle opposite Amy Adams for HBO. Messina can be seen in Ben Affleck’s Live by Night and four seasons of The Mindy Project opposite Mindy Kaling. Previous film and television work includes Argo, Newsroom, Celeste & Jesse Forever, Ruby Sparks, Cake, Manglehorn opposite Al Pacino, Damages, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Julia & Julia alongside Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, Away We Go and Greenberg.

SEASON SPONSOR
888 Hilgard

OPENING NIGHT SPONSORS
STK
Audi of America
City National Bank
Hint
KIND Snacks

# # #

ABOUT GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE
Geffen Playhouse has been a hub of the Los Angeles theater scene since opening its doors in 1995. Noted for its intimacy and celebrated for its world-renowned mix of classic and contemporary plays, provocative new works and second productions, the not-for-profit organization continues to present a body of work that has garnered national recognition. Named in honor of entertainment mogul and philanthropist David Geffen, who made the initial donation to the theater, the company was founded by Gilbert Cates and is currently helmed by Executive Director Gil Cates, Jr., Artistic Director Matt Shakman and Board Chair Howard Tenenbaum. Proudly associated with UCLA, the Geffen welcomes an audience of more than 130,000 each year, and maintains extensive education and community engagement programs, designed to involve underserved young people and the community at large in the arts. www.geffenplayhouse.org

MEDIA CONTACT
Ashley Bodul, Geffen Playhouse

310.966.2405