Maggie Gyllenhaal Goes Off-Broadway with ‘The Village Bike’

Maggie Gyllenhaal will star in the new Off Broadway play “The Village Bike” next year as part of the MCC Theater’s upcoming 2013-2014 season.

The play by Penelope Skinner first premiered at the Royal Court Theater in London in 2011. Skinner was presented the award for the most promising playwright by the Evening Standard for the play.

The New York Times reports that MCC Theater executives had originally hoped to hold the production at the company’s new 25,000 square-foot complex, but that complications from the sale of the building as well as construction have delayed the move until the 2015-2016 season. Instead, the play will be held at the Lucille Lortel Theater, the current home of the company.

“In Penelope Skinner’s The Village Bike, Becky (Gyllenhaal) is pregnant – and friskier than ever,” according to the MCC. “But she can’t seem to get the attention of her husband, who is preoccupied with preparing for the baby’s months-away arrival. So Becky takes matters into her own hands and sets out on an adventure that starts with the purchase of a used bike from a man in town and takes her further than she ever expected she’d go.”

The performance will be Gyllenhaal’s third recent Off Broadway appearance. She also recently performed in “Uncle Vanya” and “Three Sisters.”

The MCC’s 2013-2014 season also will include “Hand to God,” Robert Askins’ dark comedy about a puppet.

“In ‘Hand to God,’ the good children of Cypress, Texas are taught to obey the Bible in order to evade Satan’s hand,” according to the MCC. “But when students at the Christian Puppet Ministry put those teachings into practice, one devout young man’s puppet takes on a shocking personality that no one could have expected. In this hilarious and lightning-paced comedy, a foul-mouthed sock puppet named Tyrone soon teaches those around him that the urges that can drive a person to give in to their darkest desires fit like a glove.”