Peter Lefcourt's MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION Makes World Premiere at Odyssey Theatre Tonight, 7/21

Emmy Award-winner Peter Lefcourt's new play makes its World Premiere debut at the Odyssey Theatre, opening tonight, July 21, 2012 at 8pm. Mutually Assured Destruction runs 8pm Fridays and Saturdays, and 3pm Sundays through August 26, 2012.

Slated to make a very big impression, think Yasmina Reza meets Moliere, this new comedy of very bad manners will soon be arriving at the Odyssey Theatre. Penned by the celebrated playwright who brought the acclaimed Ovation-recommended, "La Ronde de Lunch" to Los Angeles last season…not a dry seat in the house is to be expected.

Guy walks into a Mexican restaurant in Canoga Park and finds his best friend's wife sitting in a booth with their accountant. Three o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon, there's a bottle of wine…half-empty, and neither of them live anywhere near Canoga Park. Do the math, and hold on tight through a chain of unforeseen events…tantric sex, private detectives, compromising photos, tool belts, Korean BBQ, and so much more.

Peter Lefcourt (Playwright) won an Emmy Award for his work as writer/producer of Cagney and Lacey. He went on to write/produce Beggars & Choosers (Showtime), which he co-created with Brandon Tartikoff, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Our Family Honor, Studio Five B, Due South; Karen Sisco, and Desperate Housewives. Among his long form TV credits are Cracked Up, The Women of Windsor, Fine Thing, and the four-hour miniseries, Monte Carlo, in which he managed to keep Joan Collins in the same wardrobe for thirty-five pages (and live to tell the tale). His play La Ronde de Lunch, was an Ovation Recommended production at the Skylight Theater in 2009, and one of five of his produced works which include Only The Dead Know Burbank, Sweet Talk (which he adapted for a feature film to be released 2013), and The Audit. Peter is the author of seven published novels – The Deal, The Dreyfus Affair, Di & I, Abbreviating Ernie, The Woody, Eleven Karens and The Manhattan Beach Project. His eighth novel, An American Family, has just been published as a featured Kindle electronic book, by Amazon Digital.

Terri Hanauer (Director) helmed the short film A Day in the Life, which screened at numerous film festivals. She was accepted into the prestigious AFI Directing Workshop for Women, where she adapted and directed Recycling Flo. It was chosen by AFI to represent it at the Cannes Film Festival - International Short Film Corner. It was the 'official selection' in over 25 film festivals and has won two BEST SHORT FILM/JURY PRIZES at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and The Farmington Comedy Film Festival. Additional credits include 13 half hour episodes of Zane's Chronicles for HBO/Afterdark television. Selected directing credits for Los Angeles theatre include the Ovation Recommended La Ronde de Lunch, at Katselas Theatre Company, which received 6 Awards from Stage Scene LA, including BEST DIRECTION. She directed the critically acclaimed solo show by Mitch Hara called Mutant Olive, at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Terri has just completed her first feature film, Sweet Talk.

The World Premiere of MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION opens Saturday, July 21st with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm through August 26, 2012.

The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles, Calif. Tickets are $25 at http://www.plays411.com/destruction or (323) 960-5772.

CAST:

Bobby Costanzo: Co-starred in City Slickers and Forget Paris with Billy Crystal. Total Recall with Arnold Schwartzeneggar, Honeymoon in Vegas alongside Nicholas Cage, and played Anne Bancroft's husband in Fatso. He was the lead in With Friends Like These, with Bill Murray and David Straithern, produced by Penny Marshall.

MICHAEL CALDWELL: Performed with Sacred Fools in View of the Dome, America's Moist Wanted, and Icarus and Aria. TV & Film credits include Love Stinks, Roswell, Sabrina, Special Unit 2, and numerous recurring television roles.

Gwendolyn Druyor: Toured Europe with Boom Chicago and North America with Shenandoah Shakespeare and Sex Signals. She has been seen on Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and The Future Dead as well as Disney's Cereality.

Kip Gilman: Appears with Jennifer Lopez and Nick Nolte in the upcoming Taylor Hackford film Parker, as well as Atlas Shrugged Part 2 with Samantha Morton. Theater credits include, Catskill Sonata, Adam Baum and the Jew Movie, both directed by Paul Mazursky, Michael Weller's What The Night is For, Moonlight and Magnolias and Mark Taper Forum's production of Stuff Happens by David Hare (Ovation Award nominee).

Gina Hecht: Received the LA Weekly Theater Award for her role in Circle of Will. Gina starred in Night Owls and Wrestlers (with Mark Harmon and George Clooney) both of which garnered her Drama Logue awards for OUTSTANDING ACTRESS.

Stuart Pankin: Five time nominated, CableAce Award winning actor for HBO's Not Necessarily The News. He has performed with the New York Shakespeare Festival, Brooklyn Academy Of Music Repertory Company, American Place Theatre, Lincoln Center, and the Folger Shakespeare Theatre.

Brynn Thayer: Appeared in, and wrote, The Eulogy, directed by Michael Learned and highly acclaimed by the LA Times. She was seen in La Ronde de Lunch directed by Terri Hanauer (Stage Scene LA Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress) and the Beverly Hills Playhouse productions of Rabbit Hole and Engagement both directed by Allen Barton.

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