Neil Patrick Harris to Direct Premiere Presentation of Amanda Rogers' Comedic Play I AM GROCK

Neil Patrick Harris to Direct Premiere Presentation of Amanda Rogers' Comedic Play I AM GROCK

All-Star Cast Includes: Kurtwood Smith, Susan Sullivan, Ming-Na, Mo Collins, Michael McDonald and K Callan

LOS ANGELES, July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Neil Patrick Harris, star of How I Met Your Mother, will be making his debut as a theatrical director with the private premiere presentation of playwright, Amanda Rogers' original comedic script, I AM GROCK. The event is set for July 17 at the historic El Portal Theatre and is being produced by film director, Peter Segal (Get Smart, Anger Management).

Phoebe Broman, a wife, mother and family therapist has a successful new book promoting raw, uncensored, brutal honesty within the family unit. Her popularity has netted her an interview on a national news broadcast. However, all goes awry when her entire extended family shows up at her front door an hour before the interview. Phoebe is left with no choice but to heal her own family before the cameras arrive.

Outrageous secrets are revealed, lies are exposed and family dynamics explode. Phoebe's journey involves healing the people closest to her and the discovery that the state of her family's mental health is the key to her own.

"Amanda Rogers brings a great new voice to the theater," said Peter Segal, producer of I Am Grock and director of feature films including Anger Management and the upcoming Get Smart starring Steve Carell. "I look forward to I Am Grock finding success on Broadway as a hilarious and original representation of the modern day family, issues and all."

"I'm thrilled that this project is gaining so much steam and that a talent like Neil Patrick Harris is directing," said I Am Grock playwright, Amanda Rogers, daughter of Tony nominated playwright, David Rogers. "This wildly talented cast that Neil has assembled is brilliantly suited to bring out the humor and pathos of the piece."

Neil Patrick Harris will adapt his Broadway expertise in his directorial debut to showcase Amanda Roger's unique script. Harris previously starred in three consecutive Broadway productions; including roles of The Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald in the Tony Award-winning musical Assassins, the role of Anne Heche's unexpected suitor in the Pulitzer Prize-winning production of Proof, as well as the emcee in Cabaret.

I AM GROCK CAST LIST:

Phoebe Broman Gardner, TBA
Paul Gardner, Michael McDonald (Mad TV)
Jasper Gardner, TBA
Jackie Broman, Mo Collins (Mad TV)
Lacey Broman, Susan Sullivan (Dharma and Greg)
Grandma Lois, K Callan (How I Met Your Mother)
Ron Broman, Kurtwood Smith (That 70's Show)
Yu Takisama, Ming-Na (Joy Luck Club, E.R.)

About Amanda Rogers

Amanda Rogers wrote, directed and produced the PBS documentary, Behind the Scenes with Groucho, currently airing nationally. Her screenplay Finn was performed as a staged reading, starring Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank and subsequently optioned.

In the theater, she wrote and directed By George a play about the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, George S. Kaufman, which premiered at Philadelphia's historic Walnut Street Theatre. She wrote and directed the critically acclaimed Naked on Broadway, which also debuted at the Walnut. Amanda has received critical acclaim as a writer/director for the long-running European cirque/cabaret Teatro Zinzanni, based in San Francisco and Seattle.

Most Recently, Amanda was honored for her new play, I Am Grock by the Virtual Theatre Project's 2006 international playwriting competition "The Pen is a Mighty Sword." Her play also won this years "Best New Comedy" from the Walnut Street Theatre's New Play Project Series.

Amanda is a graduate of Northwestern University's School of Theatre and the National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center.

Media Contact for "I AM GROCK":
Brian McWilliams
Spelling Communications
310-477-9500
bmcwilliams@spellcom.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Spelling Communications

CONTACT: Brian McWilliams of Spelling Communications, +1-310-477-9500,
bmcwilliams@spellcom.com; or Amanda Feld of PMK/HBH, +1-310-967-7252,
Amanda.feld@pmkhbh.com, for Neil Patrick Harris

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