Paul Gross Heads World Premiere Cast of ARE YOU THERE, MCPHEE? at McCarter Tonight, 5/4

Paul Gross, one of Canada's acclaimed actors, leads the cast of Are You There, McPhee? a world premiere by John Guare at McCarter Theatre Center. Directed by Sam Buntrock, the production runs tonight, May 4 through June 3, 2012. (Opening Night: Friday, May 11.)

Joining Mr. Gross in the cast of Are You There, McPhee? will include Gideon Banner, John Behlmann, Jeremy Bobb, Molly Camp, Patrick Carroll, Alicia Goranson, Jenn Lyon, Danny Mastrogiorgio, and Lusia Strus.

The design team is David Farley (set and costumes), Ken Billington (lighting), Jill BC Du Boff (sound), Justin Ellington (composer), Lisa Shriver (movement director and puppet consultant). The production stage manager is Cheryl Mintz with Marcy Victoria Reed as assistant stage manager.

In this new play by John Guare, a playwright is inexorably sucked into the tangle of the lives of a pair of abandoned children. An old Nantucket house, the secret of a long-dead children's book author, a group of amateur actors, a career opportunity, and a mysterious stranger collide in this whirlwind of a play. Funny and intense, McPhee moves fast and surprises with a subtle emotional touch. A McCarter Theatre Center commission.

Among his many honors, John Guare received the Obie, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and Tony nominations for House of Blue Leaves and Six Degrees of Separation, which also won the Olivier Award for Best Play. He also wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Louis Malle's Atlantic City. Mr. Guare won a Tony for his libretto to the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona and was nominated for his libretto to Sweet Smell of Success. His adaptation of His Girl Friday premiered to great acclaim at London's National Theater. In 2003, he won the PEN/Laura Pels Master Dramatist Award, the 2004 Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2005, an Obie Award for sustained excellence. He is a council member of the Dramatists Guild and co-editor of The Lincoln Center Theater Review.

Paul Gross is internationally known for his role as Constable Benton Fraser on the multi-award-winning drama Due South and received two Gemini Awards (Canada's Emmy) for his portrayal of Geoffrey Tenant in the critically acclaimed series Slings & Arrows. He wrote, directed, and starred in the feature films Passchendaele and Men with Brooms, two of the highest grossing Canadian films and winner of a combined six Genie Awards (Canada's Oscar) including Best Picture. He recently starred on TV's Eastwick, based on the movie The Witches of Eastwick. On stage, Gross has received the Dora Awards for Romeo and Juliet and Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Toward the Somme. Most recently, he was seen on Broadway opposite Kim Cattrall in Private Lives. In the fall, he will be directing and starring in Hyena Road, an Afghan war story to be shot in Kabul and Jordan.

Gideon Banner has been seen in The Four of Us at Manhattan Theatre Club and The Old Globe, Blue Man Group in New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Brazil, Big Bill at Lincoln Center Williamstown, The Small at Clubbed Thumb, and others.

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