Marvel will say plenty in 'Fifty Words'

Actress stars in world premiere of Weller drama

By DAVID ROONEY

Elizabeth Marvel will star in the world premiere of Michael Weller's two-character drama "Fifty Words," beginning previews Sept. 10 for a Sept. 28 opening at Off Broadway's Lucille Lortel Theater.

The MCC Theater production is directed by Austin Pendleton. The play reflects on modern marriage by chronicling the alternately funny and frightening developments between a couple during one night alone behind the seemingly idyllic facade of their Brooklyn brownstone. The role of the husband has not yet been cast.

Marvel recently completed a run in the Broadway revival of Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls." Her Off Broadway credits include the lead in "Hedda Gabler" at New York Theater Workshop and an ensemble role in Ethan Coen's "Almost an Evening" for the Atlantic.

Also scheduled for MCC's upcoming season are Neil LaBute's "The Break of Noon," about an avowed disbeliever's sudden embrace of religious faith, and "Coraline," a new musical adapted by David Greenspan from Neil Gaiman's paranormal children's novel, with score and lyrics by Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt.

MCC's recent production of LaBute's "Reasons to Be Pretty," which closed Saturday, will transfer to Broadway in February with its original cast intact.