Maggie Gyllenhaal to Star in ‘The Village Bike’ for MCC Theater

After featured roles in recent Off Broadway productions of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” and “Three Sisters,” Maggie Gyllenhaal will switch things up and star in a new play, the sexually charged British drama “The Village Bike,” at MCC Theater next year, the downtown company announced on Tuesday. Its 2013-14 season will also include “Hand to God,” a black comedy about a teenager battling his demonic sock puppet, which was a critical and audience favorite during an Off Off Broadway run in 2011.

MCC Theater executives had hoped to mount the 2013-14 season in a new home at West 52nd Street and 10th Avenue, a 25,000-square-foot complex that is roughly five times the size of the Lortel.

But a spokesman said that the move had been delayed considerably, first by complications in the sale of the building that the company will move into with a long-term lease, and then by construction delays. The spokesman said MCC Theater would not be in its new home until the 2015-16 season. He said that financing was not a problem, noting that New York City has already committed the bulk of the money for the $25-million complex and that additional private fund-raising is on track.

In “The Village Bike” Ms. Gyllenhaal - whose breakout role was in the acclaimed 2002 indie film “Secretary” and who was an Oscar nominee for “Crazy Heart” - plays a pregnant young wife whose libido takes her in surprising directions. The play earned good reviews during its premiere production at the Royal Court Theater in London in 2011, and the author, Penelope Skinner, won a top London theater prize, The Evening Standard’s award for most promising playwright. The Obie winner Sam Gold (“The Flick”) will direct the production, which is to begin performances May 21 at the Lucille Lortel Theater and open June 9.

“Hand to God,” by Robert Askins, will again be directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel and star Steven Boyer, who drew strong reviews in the original Ensemble Studio Theater production for playing the naïve Texas churchgoer Jason and his satanic puppet Tyrone. The play is set to start Feb. 20 at the Lortel and open on March 11.

MCC Theater’s 2013-14 season will also include two previously announced productions for the fall: John Pollono’s play “Small Engine Repair” at the Lortel, and a co-production on Broadway with Manhattan Theater Club of “The Snow Geese,” a new play by Sharr White (“The Other Place”) and starring Mary-Louise Parker.