Thora Birch will star in the dark comedy Petunia which is set to commence filming in New York on Jan 24.

Christine Lahti, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Michael Urie, Brittany Snow, David Rasche and newcomer Tobias Segal round out the cast.

Ash Christian will direct from a screenplay by Christian and Theresa Bennett. Jordan Yale Levine, Birch and Christian are producing.

Petunia follows a New York family as they learn to reconcile themselves to their misgivings about life.

Christian’s feature debut Fat Girls premiered at Tribeca and he is currently in post on his comedy Mangus! starring Jennifer Coolidge, Heather Matarazzo, Leslie Jordan, Deborah Theaker and John Waters.