Theatermania
Aya Cash, Frank Wood, and More Join The Best We Could (A Family Tragedy) at MTC
The Best We Could
by Emily Feldman
directed by Daniel Aukin
with Aya Cash, Brian D. Coats, Maureen Sebastian, Constance Shulman, Frank Wood
OFF-BROADWAY AT
New York City Center Stage I
Opened Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Closed Sunday, March 26, 2023
A daughter’s road trip with her father becomes a theatrical journey across more than just state lines. This funny, wise, and heartbreaking debut from an exciting new writer is brought to vibrant life by director Daniel Aukin, whom MTC audiences will remember from Fool for Love and Fulfillment Center.
The Best We Could (a family tragedy) is supported by an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.
Emily Feldman was the 2019-2020 Tow Playwright-in-Residence at Manhattan Theatre Club.
For audience advisories for The Best We Could (a family tragedy), please click here.
90 minutes with no intermission.
“CAPTIVATING AND IMAGINATIVE! The actors are impeccably cast and deliver subtly astonishing performances.”
The New York Times
“One of the best Off Broadway shows this spring!”
Time Out
“INCREDIBLY POWERFUL! Draws ‘Our Town’ and ‘Death of a Salesman’ into the #MeToo era.”
Theatermania
Cast
Aya Cash
Ella
Aya can currently be seen starring in the second season of the FOX comedy “Welcome to Flatch.” She most recently appeared opposite Elle Fanning in the Hulu limited series “The Girl From Plainville” and appeared alongside Michelle Pfeiffer in the Showtime limited series “The First Lady.” Prior to that, Cash starred as “Stormfront,” the Nazi superhero and primary antagonist in the second season of the Emmy Award-nominated streaming series “The Boys.” Her performance on the show earned her a Critics Choice Award, as well as MTV Movie & TV Award and Hollywood Critics Association Award nominations. Cash’s additional television credits include “Fosse/Verdon,” the Emmy Award-winning limited series starring Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams; the critically-acclaimed comedy series “You’re the Worst” (which earned her a Critics’ Choice Award and TCA Award nominations); Joe Swanberg’s streaming anthology series “Easy;” and the FOX comedy series “Traffic Light,” as well recurring roles on “The Newsroom” and “We Are Men;” and guest-starring roles on “Will & Grace,” “Modern Family,” and others. On the film side, Cash recently completed production on the indie ensemble The Young Wife directed by Tayarisha Poe. She most recently was seen starring opposite William Jackson Harper in the indie comedy We Broke Up and in Josh Ruben’s Scare Me (2020 Sundance Film Festival World Premiere). Her additional film credits include the indie dark romantic comedy Social Animals with Noel Wells and Josh Radnor; the Netflix action-comedy, Game Over, Man!, starring “Workaholics” co-creators Adam Devine, Anders Holm and Blake Anderson and produced by Seth Rogen; the dark comedy Mary Goes Round (2017 Toronto International Film Festival), for which she earned the Excellence in Acting Award from the 2018 Vail Film Festival; and Big Brother Volcano (2017 Los Angeles Film Festival), directed by Paul Briganti. She also appeared in Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award-nominated film The Wolf Of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk With Me and The Oranges, among others. Cash’s theatre credits include starring roles in off-Broadway plays at Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, Atlantic Theater Company, MCC, and Rattlestick Theater, to name a few. She has starred in New York or world premieres of plays by Ethan Coen, Bruce Norris, Zoe Kazan, Matthew Lopez, Lucy Thurber, Liz Flahive and Nicky Silver. She most recently starred opposite Gillian Jacobs in the world premiere of Kings, a play by Sarah Burgess at the Public Theater.
Brian D. Coats
Marc
Brian has New York credits that include Broadway’s August Wilson’s Jitney (MTC/ U.S. Tour); On the Levee (Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3); La Ruta (Working Theater, Pan Asian Rep, Ensemble Studio Theatre); The Bacchae, The First Noel (Classical Theater of Harlem); The Merry Wives of Windsor and Two Gentlemen of Verona (The Public Theater); among others. Regional credits include productions at Mark Taper, Old Globe, Arena Stage, Seattle Rep, Pittsburgh Public, Huntington, Cincinnati Playhouse, Two River Theater, Denver Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geva Theatre, and others. Television credits include: “Queens,” “FBI: Most Wanted,” “Luke Cage,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “JAG,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Sopranos.” Mr. Coats is a graduate of the University of North Carolina’s School of the Arts.
Maureen Sebastian
Maps
Regional credits include Vietgone (South Coast Repertory,) Arabian Nights (Berkeley Repertory Theatre & Arena Stage,) The Winter’s Tale and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey) and Thunder Above, Deeps Below (Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center & Second Generation). Her off-Broadway credits include Now Circa Then (Ars Nova); Lonely, I’m Not and Year Zero (Second Stage Theater), Soul Samurai (Vampire Cowboys & Ma-Yi Theater Company). Her television credits include “Law & Order: SVU” (NBC), “Bull” (CBS), “Elementary” (CBS), “Oasis” (Amazon), “American Gothic” (CBS), “Revolution” (NBC), “New Girl” (FOX). She is a member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab.
Constance Shulman
Peg
Yoga Jones in “Orange is the New Black” (three-time SAG Award for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series); voice of Patti Mayonnaise in Nickelodeon’s animated series, “Doug.” Original cast of Steel Magnolias (Annelle – WPA, Lucille Lortel). Theater: Shhh, Atlantic Theater; Barbecue, The Public; Bobby Clearly (Drama Desk nomination), Roundabout; The Rose Tattoo, Williamstown Theater Festival, Roundabout American Airlines. TV: “Search Party,” “Blacklist,” “SVU,” “Broad City,” “Florida Girls” and upcoming, “The Curse” for Showtime. Film: From Fried Green Tomatoes to Reversal of Fortune to Strawberry Mansion to Funny Pages…
Frank Wood
Lou
Tony Award and Drama League Award for Sideman. Broadway: The Great Society; Network; The Iceman Cometh; Clybourne Park; August: Osage County; Born Yesterday; Hollywood Arms. Off-Broadway: The Perplexed; In The Blood; Can You Forgive Her; The Babylon Line; The Nether; Angels in America; Spring Awakening. Film: Joker; Detroit; Gold; St. Vincent; Changeling; Taking of Pelham 123; Dan in Real Life; Thirteen Days; Pollock; People I Know; In America; Down to You; Royal Tennenbaums. TV: “Prodigal Son;” “Blacklist;” “The Get Down;” “The Night Of;” “Mozart in the Jungle;” “Newsroom;” “Younger;” “The Good Wife;” “Modern Family;” “Elementary;” “Blue Bloods;” “The Knick;” “Girls;” “Flight of the Conchords;” “Grey’s Anatomy;” “Sopranos;” “Law & Order: SVU.” Regional: Goodman Theatre; ACT; Long Wharf Theatre; Hartford Stage; Williamstown Theatre Festival; Cincinnati Playhouse; Arena Stage, DC; Mark Taper Forum; New York Stage & Film. Education: BA, Wesleyan University; MFA, NYU Graduate Acting Program.
Aya Cash
Ella
Brian D. Coats
Marc
Maureen Sebastian
Maps
Constance Shulman
Peg
Frank Wood
Lou
Kim Blanck
u/s Ella and Maps
New York credits include Octet (Signature Theatre Company, Drama Desk Ensemble Award), Alice by Heart (MCC), Twelfth Night (Public Works/Shakespeare in the Park), and Folk Wandering (Pipeline). Regional credits include Octet (Berkeley Rep), The Tattooed Lady (Philadelphia Theatre Company), Moby-Dick (A.R.T.), Twelfth Night (Alley Theatre), among others. TV: “East New York” (CBS), “New Amsterdam” (NBC), “WeCrashed” (Apple TV+), “Dr. Death” (Peacock). Film: Call Jane, Friday Afternoon, Women Who Kill. BFA, NYU Tisch; MFA, UC San Diego. www.kimblanck.com
Catherine Lloyd Burns
u/s Peg
TV: recurring on “Search Party”, series regular “Malcolm in the Middle”, “Lateline”, “Partners”. Theater: The Dinner Party directed by John Rando at Paper Mill Playhouse, 14 productions with Naked Angels back in the day. Film: Clara’s Ghost, Adult World, The Baxter, Keeping The Faith, Michael, Everything Put Together. She is the author of 3 published books and lives in Brooklyn with her husband, daughter, dog Shirley and daughter’s cat Edna. After many years away she is thrilled to return to the theater.
Michael Bryan French
u/s Marc and Lou
Broadway: The Minutes, Mockingbird, The Height of the Storm, Hillary and Clinton, A Doll’s House: Part2, The Humans. Off-Broadway: Roundabout, The Public, Playwrights, Vineyard, Wooster Group. Film: This Is Where I Leave You, Big Fat Liar. TV: “The Flight Attendant”, “Orange Is The New Black”, “Breaking Bad”, “Elementary”, “24”, “Madoff”.
Kim Blanck
u/s Ella and Maps
Catherine Lloyd Burns
u/s Peg
Michael Bryan French
u/s Marc and Lou
Creative
Emily Feldman
Playwright
Emily was the 2019-2020 Tow Playwright-in-Residence at Manhattan Theatre Club. Her plays have been included on The Kilroys List, received The Kennedy Center’s Paula Vogel Prize, and an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. She is an alum of MacDowell, The Working Farm at SPACE on Ryder Farm, Page 73’s Interstate-73 Writers Group, and The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep. She is a Core Writer at The Playwrights Center and a graduate of The Juilliard Playwrights Program. She is working on commissions for Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Arena Stage, and developing a television series for AMC.
Daniel Aukin
Director
Daniel is a New York based director. Broadway: Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love. World premieres: Admissions (LCT and London’s West End), Skintight (Roundabout and Geffen Playhouse), Bad Jews (Roundabout), Fulfillment Center (MTC), Rancho Viejo (Playwrights Horizons), Placebo (Playwrights Horizons), What Rhymes With America (Atlantic), Suitcase and [sic] (Soho Rep), The Fortress Of Solitude (Dallas Theatre Center and The Public), Heartless (Signature), 4000 Miles (LCT), The Ugly One (Soho Rep, US premiere), Back Back Back (MTC, NY premiere), Everything Will Be Different, Cat’s-Paw, The Year Of The Baby and Molly’s Dream. Also Catch As Catch Can (Playwrights Horizons) and revivals of A View From The Bridge and The Adding Machine. Playwright collaborators include Maria Irene Fornes, Dan LeFranc, Melissa James Gibson, Abe Koogler, Amy Herzog, Michael Friedman, Itamar Moses, Mark Schultz, Mac Wellman, Quincy Long, Sam Shepard, Joshua Harmon, and Mia Chung. As Artistic Director of Soho Rep (1998-2006) he garnered three OBIE Awards and developed and produced world premieres by Richard Maxwell, Young Jean Lee, Thomas Bradshaw, Adam Bock, Anne Washburn, The Flying Machine, and Jordan Harrison, among many others.
Lael Jellinek
Scenic Design
Anita Yavich
Costume Design
Matt Frey
Lighting Design
Kate Marvin
Sound Design
lark hackshaw
Production Stage Manager
Emily Feldman
Playwright
Daniel Aukin
Director
Lael Jellinek
Scenic Design
Anita Yavich
Costume Design
Matt Frey
Lighting Design
Kate Marvin
Sound Design
lark hackshaw
Production Stage Manager
“Acerbically funny, heartrending and provocative, with A POWERFUL CAST! It left me reeling and leaves us thinking.”
DC Theater Arts
★★★★!
New York Theatre Guide
“ABSORBING AND DEFT, WITH PLENTY OF FUNNY MOMENTS!”
New York Sun
Frank Wood, Aya Cash in
The Best We Could (2022-2023)
Photo by Marc J. Franklin
Masureen Sebastian in
The Best We Could (2022-2023)
Photo by Marc J. Franklin
Constance Shulman, Aya Cash, Frank Wood in
The Best We Could (2022-2023)
Photo by Marc J. Franklin
The cast of The Best We Could in
The Best We Could (2022-2023)
Photo by Marc J. Franklin
Constance Shulman in
The Best We Could (2022-2023)
Brian D. Coats in
The Best We Could (2022-2023)
Photo by Marc J. Franklin
Aya Cash in
The Best We Could (2022-2023)
Photo by Marc J. Franklin
Frank Wood in
The Best We Could (2022-2023)
Photo by Marc J. Franklin
Join MTC
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Student rush tickets are available at the box office on the day of the show when the box office opens. Tickets are $30 (including all fees), payable by cash or credit card, and are available to students with an ID from a degree or diploma granting institution. Tickets are subject to availability and are limited to two per valid ID. Note that anyone aged 35 or under may prefer to purchase their tickets through the 30 Under 35 program instead.
Click here for a seating chart. Stage I seats 300. All seats are on Orchestra level—all seating accessible by elevator. Stage I is accessible to people with disabilities and is equipped with both assistive listening and hearing-aid compatible devices. For more information on accessibility, please click here.
Through the run of The Best We Could, masks are required for all audience members attending performances on Tuesday evenings and Sunday matinees.
For all other performances, masks are not required, but strongly encouraged.