June 13-16

When acclaimed playwright-provocateur Neil LaBute turns his acid wit to affairs of the heart, one thing is certain…there will be blood! Passion, emotion, sexual negotiation, and infidelity all converge in this collection of recent one-act plays, each featuring a pair of lovers in crisis.

Tammy Blanchard	Michael Chernus	Emmanuelle Chriqui
Cheyenne Jackson	Krysten Ritter	Eddie Kaye Thomas

The cast featured Tammy Blanchard ("The Big C," Gypsy), Michael Chernus (Close Up Space, In the Wake), Emmanuelle Chriqui ("Entourage," "The Borgias"), Cheyenne Jackson ("30 Rock," Xanadu), Krysten Ritter ("Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23," "Breaking Bad"), and Eddie Kaye Thomas (The Submission, American Pie).

A four-performance benefit event in the vein of LaBute’s Filthy Talk for Troubled Times staged at MCC in 2010, The Heart of the Matter is an attempt to comprehend the true nature of love (or at least the fallout it can leave behind). Carolyn Cantor - who recently directed Regrets at Manhattan Theatre Club and MCC's 2007 production of LaBute's In a Dark Dark House - was director.