'Cycling Past The Matterhorn' Carrie Preston replaces Katie Carr as Amy

Farm Avenue Productions and Joseph Smith have announced that due to a professional opportunity that has arisen for Katie Carr that would have conflicted with her appearance in Cycling Past The Matterhorn, the role of Amy in Deborah Grimberg's new play has been recast. Carrie Preston has now taken over the role.

Cycling Past The Matterhorn, a new play by Deborah Grimberg starring Shirley Knight. Opens at Theatre Row's Harold Clurman Theatre on the 29 Sep 2005, following previews that will now begin on the 18 Sep and not the 17 Sep as originally announced. This is a limited twelve week engagement running through to the 11 Dec 2005.

Set in contemporary London, Cycling Past The Matterhorn is a comedy about a mother and daughter at a crossroads. Amy is a young sidewalk psychic (with mediocre abilities) who earns her modest living forecasting the troubled lives of the British public. Amy�s eccentric mother, Esther (Shirley Knight), has recently been left by her husband and has just discovered she is slowly going blind. Amy, fearing being stuck as Esther�s caretaker, considers marrying her American boyfriend to escape the predicament while Esther decides to forge ahead with her life (�If Stevie Wonder can do it than so can I!�), and joins a cycling excursion in Switzerland to see the mountains while she still can.

Playwright Deborah Grimberg received Sherrill C. Corwin Metropolitan Theatre Award in 2000 for Cycling Past The Matterhorn. The play had its world premiere in 2003 as part of the New York International Fringe Festival in a production directed by Ms. Grimberg.

Cycling Past The Matterhorn also stars Brenda Wehle as Esther�s sister, Anita. The cast also includes Nina Jacques as Joanne. Carrie Preston as Amy and Ben Fox as Amy�s fianc�, Doug, will be announced shortly.

Cycling Past The Matterhorn has scenic design by Beowolf Borrit, costume design by Kiki Smith, lighting design by Les Dickit and sound design and original compositions by Scott Killian.

Biographies:

Shirley Knight (Esther) made her Broadway debut in 1964 in the revival of Chekhov�s Three Sisters, directed by Lee Strasberg. Her other Broadway credits include We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Watering Place, Kennedy�s Children (Tony Award) and The Young Man From Atlanta.

Brenda Wehle (Anita) received OBIE and Outer Critics Circle Awards Awards in 2003 for her portrayal of Celia in The Hand of God, one of the solo plays in the acclaimed production of Alan Bennett�s Talking Heads.

Nina Jacques (Joanne) appeared in the world premiere production of Cycling Past the Matterhorn in 2003. She most recently appeared in The Map Makers Sorrow in this summer�s SPF Festival. Her other New York stage credits include Cosi fan Tutte at B.A.M. and Champagne for the Naked Angels.

Carrie Preston (Amy) Broadway: The Rivals, The Tempest. Off-Broadway: Chaucer in Rome (Lincoln Center), Boys and Girls, Freedomland (Playwrights Horizons), Antony and Cleopatra (Public Theater), Straight-Jacket (Playhouse 91), The Libertine (Theatre Row).

Ben Fox (Doug) Broadway: Our Town. New York: Miss Julie, Three Seconds in the Key, K, Green Stockings, King John, Wasp, Pacific Overtures.

Deborah Grimberg (Playwright). A British playwright now established in New York, Deborah received the Sherrill C. Corwin Metropolitan Theatre Award in 2000 for Cycling Past the Matterhorn. Deborah is also the recipient of the Ensemble Studio Theatre�s the 2003 James Hammerstein Emerging Playwright Award and was also offered EST�s Dasha Epstein playwriting fellowship.

Eleanor Holdridge (Director) has most recently directed The Promise at Shakespeare and Company and will later this year will be directing The Crucible at Perseverance Theater and Mary Stuart at The Pearl Theatre.