I NEED THAT - Staged Reading

By Theresa Rebeck 
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel 

A comedy about memory starring Danny DeVito, Lucy DeVito, and Ray Anthony Thomas

Cited by the health department for hoarding, Sam (Danny DeVito) has to clean the place up or be evicted. But he can’t let go of anything, no matter how much his daughter Amelia (Lucy DeVito) and his friend Foster (Ray Anthony Thomas) urge him to face reality. The past holds them in its grip while the future arrives.

THERESA REBECK (Playwright) Theresa Rebeck’s many plays have been widely produced on and off Broadway, regionally and internationally. Recently, her play BERNHARDT/HAMLET was seen on Broadway at the American Airlines theater on Broadway, starring Janet McTeer, and her play DOWNSTAIRS was presented at Primary Stages, starring Tyne and Tim Daly. Her play SEARED, starring Raul Esparza was recently produced at Manhattan Class Company. The production received an Outer Critics Circle award. Ms. Rebeck is also a recipient of PEN America’s Laura Pels Award for mid-career playwrights.

As a director her work has been seen at The Alley Theater of Houston, Dorset Theater Festival, the Orchard Project, the REP theater of Delaware, the Folger Shakespeare Theater and the Working Theater, in NYC. In television, she is known for her work on NYPD Blue (Writer’s Guild, Peabody and Edgar awards) and for creating the NBC series Smash. She wrote the screenplay for The 355, starring Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong'o and Penelope Cruz.

Ms. Rebeck is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. She has a Ph.D. and M.F.A. from Brandeis University. She is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. She teaches at the University of Houston as the Distinguished Visiting Theater Artist. She is the resident playwright at the Dorset Theater Festival of Vermont.

MORITZ VON STUELPNAGEL (Director) Moritz von Stuelpnagel is a freelance director based in New York City. His production of Hand to God on Broadway received five Tony Award nominations including Best Play and Best Director. Other recent productions include Important Hats of the Twentieth Century by Nick Jones (Manhattan Theatre Club), Teenage Dick by Mike Lew (Public Theater), Verité by Nick Jones (Lincoln Center/LCT3), Bike America by Mike Lew (Ma-Yi), Love Song of the Albanian Sous Chef by Robert Askins (Ensemble Studio Theater), Trevor by Nick Jones (Lesser America), Mel & El: Show & Tell (Ars Nova), The Roosevelt Cousins Thoroughly Sauced by Mike Lew (EST), Spacebar by Michael Mitnick (Studio 42), and My Base and Scurvy Heart by Adam Szymkowicz (Studio 42). Around the US, his work has been seen at the Alliance Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Huntington Theatre, and others. Moritz is the former Artistic Director of Studio 42, New York City’s producer of “unproducible” plays. www.moritzvs.com

Lucy DeVito (Amelia) is an actress and producer originally from Los Angeles. Her film work includes The Secret Art of Human Flight, The Comedian, Curmudgeons, Marvelous and the Black Hole, Leaves of Grass, Sleepwalk With Me, Can You Ever Forgive Me, Cubby, and the upcoming, Blonde. She is also known for her television work, particularly for playing Sue on Hulu’s original series “Deadbeat”, as well as roles in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, “Shameless”, “Girls”, “Melissa & Joey”, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, and her voice talents can be heard in the new animated series “Little Demon” , which will debut on FXX in August. Selected theatre work includes, Bump, Hot Mess, How My Grandparents Fell in Love, Steel Magnolias, Love Loss and What I Wore, In Quietness, The Electric Baby, Miracle at Naples,The Diary of Anne Frank, and Lucy.

RAY ANTHONY THOMAS (Foster) recent credits: Broadway— Trouble In Mind; Jitney; The Crucible; Race. Off-Broadway - Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow; Volunteer Man (Obie Award). Television - Flatbush Misdemeanors; New Amsterdam; Social Distance; High Maitenance. Film - The Rest of Us; Isn’t It Romantic; Harbinger; Shutter Island; Trouble With The Curve.