The play was originally titled Love and Mercy.[2] The play was first presented at a staged reading at the Ojai Playwrights Conference, California, in August 2010.[3]
Other Desert Cities premiered Off-Broadway at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center Theater on January 13, 2011, in a limited engagement run, closing on February 27.[4] The production starred Stockard Channing as Polly Wyeth, Linda Lavin as Silda Grauman, Stacy Keach as Lyman Wyeth, Thomas Sadoski as Trip Wyeth and Elizabeth Marvel as Brooke Wyeth.[4] It was named Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play by the Outer Critics Circle.[5]
The play transferred to Broadway at the Booth Theatre on November 3, 2011. Judith Light replaced Lavin and Rachel Griffiths replaced Marvel. Both the Off-Broadway and Broadway production were directed by Baitz's former romantic partner Joe Mantello.[1] This production received five nominations for the 2012 Tony Awards, including for Best Play, Best Actress in a Play (Stockard Channing), Best Featured Actress in a Play (Judith Light), Best Scenic Design (John Lee Beatty), and Best Lighting Design (Kenneth Posner).[6] Judith Light won for Best Featured Actress in a Play.[7]
Other Desert Cities was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.[8]
Motion picture adaptation
In 2011, producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald acquired the film rights[9] to Other Desert Cities. Baitz was to write the script and was set to co-produce, with Parkes and MacDonald producing; at the time, a studio was not named. No further word on a film adaptation has emerged since this initial announcement.
