2009-2010 Season In New York City

Andrew Weems and Henry Stram in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Photo by Christopher Oquendo.

The TONY Award-winning Acting Company presents the New York premiere of Carson McCullers’ poignant novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, adapted for the stage by acclaimed playwright Rebecca Gilman and directed by Doug Hughes. Heart will be co-produced by and presented at the New York Theatre Workshop November 13 through December 20.

This enduring masterpiece captures a universal longing for connection.  At its center is John Singer, a deaf-mute who becomes the confidante to a constellation of lonely souls – an angry carnival worker, a crusading physician, the owner of a failing café and a fifteen-year-old girl in love with music – all seeking understanding and compassion from a man desperately in need of understanding himself.  Some fight their loneliness with violence or drink, while some give voice to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty.

The Acting Company and New York Theatre Workshop proudly offer the work of two extraordinary American writers.  Ms. McCullers’ other books include Reflections in a Golden Eye and The Member of the Wedding.  Ms. Gilman has been honored by The Kennedy Center, the Olivier and Jefferson Awards for her plays, which include Boy Gets Girl and Spinning Into Butter.

In addition to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Acting Company is continuing its 37-year commitment to producing the work of the world’s greatest playwright, by separately touring William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. 

The Acting Company has performed 133 plays for more than two million people in the United States, London, Australia, Russia and Eastern Europe.  It's Education Programs -- including master classes, student matinees and weeklong artistic residencies -- have reached tens of thousands of students, the artists and audiences of tomorrow.  The Acting Company was founded in 1972 by John Houseman and current Producing Artistic Director, Margot Harley, with the first graduating class of The Juilliard School's Drama Division. Winner of the Obie, Audelco and Los Angeles Critics Awards for excellence, The Acting Company is a TONY Award Honoree for Excellence in Theater. 

CAST of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter              

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called it
“A THEATRICAL LANDMARK”