“33 years ago I met Julianne Moore at the same time I met MCC Theater. Bernie, Bob, and Will had arranged for a stage reading of my play Andy and Claire. An actress unknown to me at that time, Julianne Moore, read Claire. In that moment, she became one of my favorite actors in all the world. MCC Theater is my favorite theater in all the world. And back when I wrote plays, MCC often workshopped and produced them. I even wrote much of my first novel, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, reading and staging excerpts under the auspices of MCC Theater. In 1994, my one-act play Good As New premiered at MCC. After experiencing the sublime and exquisite live reading this past spring of Alan Bowne’s Beirut with Marisa Tomei and Oscar Isaac, the possibilities of meaningful virtual theater became ever apparent. It was a thrill when MCC approached me about doing a reading of Good As New – and the whole thought of it went to a surreal next level when the great Julianne Moore and one of my favorite younger actors in all the world, the phenomenal Kaitlyn Dever, agreed to come play at what will be a live virtual theatrical party on July 16th.”- Playwright and Director PETER HEDGES

“As much as you can never replace the thrill of the in-person experience of theater, we have seen through our LiveLab: One Acts series and our previous benefit reading of Beirut in the spring, that our community craves connection to this artform in real time – virtual or not. We’re thrilled to share this benefit play-reading of Peter Hedges’ Good As New on July 16, which was first performed at MCC in 1993 in the Class One Acts series. As well as being an incredible playwright and film director, Peter has been an artist at MCC for over 30 years and is also on the MCC Board. Additionally, to have the incomparable Julianne Moore and Kaitlyn Dever bring this reading to life is such an honor, a project that has been in the pipeline for months!”- MCC Co-Artistic Director BERNIE TELSEY