Annie Baker's play 'The Flick' to return to New York City

NEW YORK (AP) - Get out the popcorn, fans of Annie Baker: "The Flick" is being rereleased.

Baker's Pulitzer Prize-winning play about three low-paid employees of a rundown movie theater can be seen at the Barrow Street Theatre starting in May with the same cast and director who made it a hit at Playwrights Horizons in 2013.

"It'll be fun to totally re-block it and make a new movie theater in a totally new space," Baker said by phone Tuesday. "The movie theater will look different. It's a really great space."

The play became something of a topic of discussion two years ago when a small group of early theatergoers found it too long at 3 hours and 15 minutes and walked out. But critics found it challenging and rewarding, and it soon won over audience members, running for months.

Actors Alex Hanna, Louisa Krause, Matthew Maher and Aaron Clifton Moten will reprise their roles, and Sam Gold will return to direct. It will be produced by Scott Rudin. Previews begin May 7, and opening night is May 28.

"There may be some tiny tweaks but no major changes," Baker said, before joking: "I think I'm going to add two hours and some space aliens."

In "The Flick," three relatively youthful employees work together in a theater in Massachusetts that still shows 35mm movies on film. Everyday jealousies, disappointments and anger share the stage with jokes, chit-chat, occasional poignant revelations and a lot of workplace tedium.

The play takes place in summer 2012 as movie theaters across the country made the transition from film to digital. That transition is almost complete, and Baker said her play now has an "almost a funeral feel." The Pulitzer Prize judges called it "a hilarious and heart-rending cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world."

The new venue will offer an opportunity to look at the work with a new lens, Baker said. "It's a very different space at the Barrow Street. I think it will actually be a very different play in that space."

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