Lombardi - play about Hall of Fame football coach expected to arive on Broadway in fall 2010

Tony Ponturo and Fran Kirmser have announced that they are to produce Lombardi, a new play by Oscar winner and Steppenwolf Theater Company member Eric Simonson, based on the best-selling biography 'When Pride Still Mattered' by Pulitzer Prize winning author David Maraniss.

Opening on Broadway in the fall of 2010, this original work will bring the audience into the life and times of one of America's most inspirational and mercurial personalities, Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi.

"Sometimes we need to go back in our history to learn lessons for today. Vince Lombardi's name is on the Super Bowl trophy, but many young people do not know the story of this man," Ponturo said. "In a time where people continue to look for the shortcuts to success, Vince Lombardi's story teaches that hard work, discipline, respect and time are the elements needed to succeed. I expect Lombardi to entertain those who love the stage with the classic tale of triumph by a very diverse and sometimes misunderstood soul, while also bringing in those who enjoy sports but never thought that such drama could be played out on the stage."

"Vince Lombardi - his inspiration, passion and ability to drive people to achieve what they never thought they could - is more relevant now, in these challenged times, than ever before," Kirmser said. "Sport produces great human drama, and there is no better dramatic character from sport to bring to life in theater than a man who overcame great obstacles to become a success and is always identified as one of America's most inspirational leaders."

Tony Ponturo is the head of Ponturo Management Group LLC, the New York-based sports and entertainment management, investment and marketing company. Fran Kirmser, a fixture in the arts community who backs projects in both non-profit and commercial realms, met Ponturo while collaborating on the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of 'Hair.'

"Vince Lombardi was not just a great coach. He was one of the most compelling individuals in American popular culture in the 20th Century. I am very pleased to bring the essence of my work and his life to Broadway in this play," Maraniss added.

Additional production information including director, casting for the multi character roles, design team, and production schedule will be announced shortly.

Eric Simonson is an ensemble member of the renowned Steppenwolf Theatre Company, a post he maintains while working as a writer and director for film, television, theatre and opera. Most recently he completed a documentary for HBO called 'Studs Terkel: Listening to America.' His documentary 'A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin' won the 2006 Oscar for Documentary Short. Simonson was also nominated for an Oscar for his documentary ON 'Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom' in 2001.

Simonson's directing and writing credits in theatre include work at Steppenwolf Theatre, The Huntington Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Kansas City Rep, The Kennedy Center, Pasadena Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Milwaukee Rep, Arizona theatre, San Jose Rep and Court Theatre in Chicago. His work at Steppenwolf includes premieres of his plays 'Carter's Way,' Honest' and 'Fake.' His play 'The Song of Jacob Zulu' ran on Broadway and received six Tony nominations - including Best Director.

David Maraniss is an associate editor at The Washington Post and the author of five bestselling books about history, sports and politics. Among the most honored writers/journalists of his generation, Maraniss won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his reportage on Bill Clinton, was part of a Post team that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Virginia Tech tragedy, and has been a Pulitzer finalist twice more for his journalism and once in history for his Vietnam work, They Marched into Sunlight.

Maraniss' 'When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi,' won the Frankfurt International Book Prize and was hailed by Sports Illustrated as "maybe the best sports biography ever published." It was a New York Times bestseller for more than five months and remains immensely popular ten years after its first publication.