While still dabbling in helpful cuts of his director friends’ films, Steven Soderbergh has kept to his word of retiring from theatrical moviemaking. Currently in the midst of completing his Cinemax miniseries “The Knick”, he—as usual—hasn’t kept satisfied with simply one project on his plate; rather, after much talk of bringing his 2012 stripper pic “Magic Mike” to the Broadway stage, he’s instead selected Off Broadway as his choice for a gripping drama featuring one of Hollywood’s talented young actresses.
Variety reports Soderbergh has chosen “Carrie” and “Laggies” actress Chloe Grace Moretz for the lead in his new Off Broadway play “The Library,” which marks the New York stage debut altogether for Soderbergh, Moretz, and the play’s writer, Scott Z. Burns (“Contagion”, “Side Effects”). The play follows a young woman (Moretz) who survives a school shooting and struggles with the aftermath in her relationships to her parents, friends, and police; meanwhile, her version of the truth slowly distorts as the media takes hold of the incident and her story.
When we talked to Burns last year he described the play as specifically taking place after Columbine, and also that he’d slowly written it over the past few years before fortuitously offering it to Soderbergh when an opportunity for the “Behind The Candelabra” director to pursue theatre presented itself during production on “Side Effects”. This won’t be the first time Soderbergh has done theatre—he staged “Tot Mom”, inspired by the Casey Anthony case, for the Sydney Theatre Company in 2009—but it proves an interesting choice for Moretz, who continue to command more central roles in distinctive films.
“The Library” will start performances at New York’s Public Theater on March 25th, before an official world premiere opening on April 15th. It will continue to run only through April 27th, so be sure to hunt down tickets quick if you’re interested in seeing what Soderbergh, Moretz, and Burns bring to the stage.