Geffen’s new season: Donald Margulies, Harold Pinter, Teller plays

New and recent plays by Donald Margulies and Gina Gionfriddo will highlight the 2013-14 season at the Geffen Playhouse. The season also will include performances by actors Amy Brenneman and William Petersen, as well as a Harold Pinter play directed by Oscar-winning director William Friedkin.

The Geffen will present nine productions for the season, one more than the current season. Randall Arney, the company’s artistic director, said in an interview that he wanted to achieve “a balance between new plays, recent plays and classic works.”

Gionfriddo’s “Rapture, Blister, Burn” (Aug. 21-Sep. 22) will have its West Coast premiere in a production starring Brenneman, who appeared in the comedic play last year in New York at the off-Broadway Playwrights’ Horizons. Peter DuBois will return as director.

FULL COVERAGE: 2013 Spring arts preview

“Wait Until Dark” (Oct. 16-Nov. 17) is a new adaptation of the 1966 Frederick Knott drama about a blind woman victimized by criminals.

“Play Dead” (Nov. 20-Dec. 15), created by the magician-illusionist Teller and Todd Robbins, is a macabre theater piece that will be staged at the company’s smaller space, the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater.

Friedkin will direct a revival of Pinter’s “The Birthday Party” (Feb. 12-Mar. 16). The director helmed the 1968 screen version of the play and will stage a new production for the Geffen. This marks the first time that Friedkin will direct a play for the company.

“Slowgirl” (March 12-April 13, 2014) will have its West Coast premiere in a production starring Petersen. The play, by Greg Pierce, will be staged by Arney at the Audrey. The play follows a young woman who is sent to visit her uncle in Costa Rica. It ran last year in a different production at New York’s Lincoln Center Theatre.

Steven Drukman’s “Death of the Author” (May 28-June 29, 2014) follows the repercussions of a plagiarism case at a college. Drukman was an arts journalist who is now a playwright. Bart DeLorenzo will stage the play at the Audrey.

The Geffen will present the world premiere of Margulies’ “The Country House” (June 18-July 20, 2014). The drama, directed by frequent collaborator Daniel Sullivan, is inspired by Chekhov’s “The Seagull” and follows a family of actors reuniting for the summer.

The new play was commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club but will debut at the Geffen.

The season also will include the return of “Coney Island Christmas” (Dec. 4-24), a holiday-themed family play by Margulies that debuted last year. A final production will be announced at a later date.

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