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Dane Cook to Star in Neil LaBute Comedy on Broadway

Dane Cook, comedian, and Josh Hamilton, screen and stage star, will be leading the cast for the Broadway debut for “Fat Pig” by Neil LaBute. Spring 2011 is the scheduled opening time. The theater will be announced later.

The Broadway run will be produced by Aldo Scrofani and Heather Provost. LaBute, the playwright, will be directing. The two women roles haven’t been cast yet.

Hamilton will be playing a young man starting a relationship with a woman who is overweight. Cook, making his debut on Broadway, will play his obnoxious friend.

The playwright said through a statement, since our original production, the play’s text has seasoned over the last five years from my experience as well as the continuing struggle to gain acceptance of people around me in the world who are outside of classic, mainstream definitions. People have approached me who have seen “Fat Pig.” It’s the play people need to talk about more than any of the others. This story pinches the universal nerve. I’m very anxious to start rehearsing with Josh and Dane. Being able to cater to the actors is such a luxury for both the director and writer. I plan to write new material for the production in order to enhance the considerable gifts the two actors bring to their characters. I am really look forward to the chance of “Fat Pig” being seen through fresh eyes.

In 2004 “Fat Pig” was presented by MCC Theater at Lucille Lortel Theatre on Off-Broadway. The cast in the Off-Broadway show featured Ashlie Atkinson, Andrew McCarthy, Keri Russell and Jeremy Priven. The director was Jo Bonney.

The London production of the show was directed by LaBute.

According to the press notes, “Fat Pig” tells Tom Hamilton’s story. He’s an eligible bachelor who ends up falling for Helen, a bright, beautiful, plus-sized woman. Tom is incredibly happy in his new relationship. However his shallow co-workers aren’t as enthusiastic. At first Tom shrugs their objections off. However eventually the cruel jabs from Carter (played by Cook), his acerbic friend, and his former flame Jeannie, force him into questioning his values as well as the importance placed on conventional good looks.

Labute’s “Reasons to be Pretty” played on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony.

Dane Cook, famed comic, appeared in “Employee of the Month,” “Mr. Brooks,” “Good Luck Chuck,” “Dan in Real Life” and “My Best Friends Girl.”

Josh Hamilton’s theatre credits in New York include “Women and Wallace,” “Suburbia,” “The Violent Hour,” “Gone Home,” “As Bees in Honey Drown,” “The Cider House Rules,” “The Waverly Gallery,” “This is our Youth,” “Proof” “Hurlyburly,” “The Coast of Utopia,” “Things We Want” and “A Lie of the Mind.”