Deirde O'Connell to star in Lucas Hnath's Dana H. at Vineyard Theatre

The New York premiere of Dana H. completes Vineyard Theatre's 2019-2020 Off-Broadway season.

Stage & screen favorite Deirdre O'Connell will star in the New York premiere of Dana H., written by Tony Award nominee Lucas Hnath, adapted from interviews with Dana Higginbotham conducted by Steve Cosson, at the Vineyard Theatre.

Synopsis: "Dana was a chaplain of a psych ward where she met a charismatic patient, an ex-convict searching for redemption. A harrowing true story, Dana was held captive with her life in this man's hands — trapped in a series of Florida motels, disoriented and terrified — for five months. Told in Dana's own words and reconstructed for the stage by her son Lucas Hnath, this innovative work shatters the boundaries of the art form and our understanding of good and evil."

Ms. O'Connell will play Dana Higginbotham in this production, which will be directed by Les Waters and co-produced by the Goodman Theatre and Center Theatre Group. Performances are expected to begin in winter 2020. 

The world premiere of Dana H. was staged at the Kirk Douglas Theatre at Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group in June 2019 and prior to New York, it will be mounted in Chicago at The Goodman's Owen Theatre in September 2019.

Deirdre O'Connell last appeared on the New York stage in Manhattan Theatre Club's 2017 production of Abe Koogler's Fulfillment Center and has appeared regularly Off-Broadway since 1982. She was last seen on Broadway in the 2012 premiere of Magic/Bird.

Lucas Hnath's previous New York credits include Hillary and Clinton and A Doll's House, Part 2 on Broadway, Red Speedo at New York Theatre Workshop, and The Christians at Playwrights Horizons.

Dana H. completes Vineyard's previously announced 2019-2020 Off-Broadway season, which also includes Tina Satter's Is This a Room in fall 2019, and Antoinette Nwandu's Tuvalu or, The Saddest Song in spring 2020.

^{(Photos courtesy of The Press Room NYC)}