"This Is Us" Star Chrissy Metz to Make Her Theater Debut in Neil LaBute's "Fat Pig" at the Geffen Playhouse

“THIS IS US” STAR CHRISSY METZ TO MAKE HER THEATER DEBUT IN NEIL LaBUTE’S “FAT PIG” AT THE GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

AN UPDATED VERSION OF THE PLAY IS RETURNING TO THE GEFFEN IN 2018 WITH DIRECTOR JO BONNEY

PREVIEWS BEGIN MAY 16; OPENING NIGHT IS MAY 23

LOS ANGELES (December 13, 2017) – Chrissy Metz, the Emmy Award and Golden Globe nominated star of the NBC drama This Is Us, will make her stage debut in Neil LaBute’s critically acclaimed play Fat Pig at the Geffen Playhouse.

Fat Pig is returning to the Geffen, where it made its West Coast debut in 2007, with a revised script and a new ending for 2018. Jo Bonney, who helmed the Off-Broadway production in 2004 and the Geffen’s 2007 production, will direct.

Commented LaBute, “Not long after Fat Pig’s extended run at the Geffen, I decided to expand the play to include another office scene and a varied take on the ending. Both of these additions give new voice to the female characters in particular, yet I have never allowed the material to be added to a production until now. I have waited for a revival that excited me and that I could be an intimate part of, and I’ve now found that opportunity in the return of this play to its Los Angeles home.

“I feel so lucky to be returning to the Geffen Playhouse with a show that had such success there in its first incarnation, and with its original director, Jo Bonney. I can’t wait to work with Jo again and to have this exciting chance to see Chrissy Metz on stage.”

The production will replace LaBute’s The Way We Get By as the final show in the Geffen’s Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater for the 2017/2018 season. Preview performances begin Wednesday, May 16, 2018, with opening night on Wednesday, May 23. The production closes Sunday, June 24. Additional casting will be announced.

Cow. Slob. Pig. How many insults can you hear before you stand up and defend the woman you love? Tom faces just that question when he falls for Helen, a bright, funny, sexy young woman who also happens to be plus-sized. Forced to explain his new relationship to his friends who think that size does matter, Tom faces an impossible choice in LaBute’s “most emotionally engaging and unsettling play.” – The New York Times

In March, Metz appeared in MCC Theater’s one-night-only benefit reading of Fat Pig at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, directed by LaBute.

The play had its West Coast premiere at the Geffen in 2007. Directed by Bonney, the cast featured Scott Wolf, Kirsten Vangsness, Chris Pine and Andrea Anders. Bonney also directed the play’s world premiere at MCC Theater in New York in 2004, where it won an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, a Drama Desk Award Nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play (Jeremy Piven), a 2005 Theatre World Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Debut (Ashlie Atkinson) and was nominated for two Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress (Atkinson) and Outstanding Director (Bonney).

FAT PIG

Written by Neil LaBute
Directed by Jo Bonney

Previews: Wednesday, May 16 - Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Opening Night: Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Closing Night: Sunday, June 24, 2018

CAST
Chrissy Metz as Helen

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 Fat Pig 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: May 22, May 29, June 5 and June 12, 2018.

LOCATION
Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse
10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets currently priced at $60.00 - $85.00. 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

Neil LaBute (Playwright)
Geffen Playhouse productions include Reasons to be Pretty (2014); a new adaptation of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie (2013); The Break of Noon (2011, co-world premiere with MCC Theater) and the West Coast premieres of Wrecks starring Ed Harris (2010), Some Girl(s) (2008) and Fat Pig (2007). Theater credits also include Bash: Latter-Day Plays (Douglas Fairbanks Theatre, Almeida Theatre); The Shape of Things (Almeida Theatre, Promenade Theatre); The Distance from Here (MCC Theater, Almeida Theatre); The Mercy Seat (MCC Theater, Almeida Theatre); Filthy Talk for Troubled Times (MCC Theater); Autobahn (MCC Theater); This is How it Goes (Donmar Warehouse, Public Theater); Land of the Dead/Helter Skelter (Ensemble Studio Theatre, Bush Theatre); In a Dark Dark House (MCC Theater, Almeida Theatre); In a Forest, Dark and Deep (Vaudeville Theatre, Profiles Theatre); The Heart of the Matter (MCC Theater); Woyzeck – adaptation (Schauspielhaus Zurich); Things We Said Today (Profiles Theatre, Sala Beckett); The Furies/The New Testament/Romance (59E59); The Great War (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Taming of the Shrew - additional scenes (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Short Ends (Open Fist Theatre); Lovely Head (Spoleto Festival-Italy, Fringe Festival-Madrid, La Mama); In The Beginning (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Theatre Row); Reasons to be Happy (MCC Theater); Good Luck (In Farsi) (59E59); Over The River And Through The Woods (Planet Connections Theatre Festivity); Pick One (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Young Vic); One Day Like This (American Academy of Dramatic Arts); Here We Go ‘Round The Mulberry Bush (59E59); The Money Shot (MCC Theater); The Way We Get By (Second Stage); All The Ways To Say Goodbye (MCC Theater) and How To Fight Loneliness (Utah Shakespeare Festival). Film includes: In the Company of Men, Your Friends & Neighbors, Nurse Betty, Possession, The Shape of Things, The Wicker Man, Lakeview Terrace, Death at a Funeral, Some Girl(s), Some Velvet Morning, Dirty Weekend; and the shorts Tumble, After-School Special, Sexting, Denise, Double or Nothing, Bench Seat, Sweet Nothings, BFF, It’s Okay, 10K and Black Chicks. Television includes: Bash: Latter-Day Plays (Showtime); Full Circle, Ten X Ten and Billy & Billie (Directv); and Van Helsing (SYFY). Fiction includes: Seconds of Pleasure (Faber & Faber).

Jo Bonney (Director)
Jo Bonney has directed premieres of plays by Alan Ball, Eric Bogosian, Culture Clash, Eve Ensler, Jessica Goldberg, Danny Hoch, Neil LaBute, Warren Leight, Martyna Majok, Lynn Nottage, Dael Orlandersmith, Suzan-Lori Parks, Darci Picoult, John Pollono, Will Power, David Rabe, Jose Rivera, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, Christopher Shinn, Diana Son, Universes, Naomi Wallace and Michael Weller, and productions of plays by Caryl Churchill, Nilo Cruz, Anna Deavere Smith, Charles Fuller, Lisa Loomer, John Osborne, Carey Perloff and Lanford Wilson. She has directed at American Repertory Theater, Performance Space 122, Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Second Stage Theater, Goodman Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, MCC Theater, Geffen Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, McCarter Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Arena Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Signature Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, New Group, Classic Stage Company, Humana Festival, Royal Court Theatre, Almeida Theatre, Edinburgh Festival, Market Theatre, Baxter Theatre Centre and Cine 13. She is the recipient of a Lucille Lortel Best Musical and Lucille Lortel Best Revival, a Drama Desk nomination for By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, an Audelco Award for Father Comes Home from the Wars, an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Direction and a Lilly Award.

Chrissy Metz (Helen)
An Emmy Award and Golden Globe nominated actress, Chrissy Metz stars on the critically acclaimed hit NBC series This Is Us, which has been renewed for two additional seasons. Metz plays Kate, a woman struggling with her weight, eating habits and body image. ET named her one of six “breakout stars you will fall in love with this fall” and People magazine named her to its “Ones to Watch” list. This is Us also stars Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, Justin Hartley and Emmy Award-winner Sterling K. Brown. The show received nominations from the Critics’ Choice Awards, AFI, NAACP, and it won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama. Beyond This is Us, Metz is known for her roles in American Horror Story: Freak Show, Loveless in Los Angeles, Solving Charlie, My Name is Earl and Entourage. After being discovered in Gainesville, Florida at a local talent event that she originally attended as a chaperone for her sister, she packed up and moved to Los Angeles to find her way into entertainment.

SEASON SPONSOR
888 Hilgard

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

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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