Adam Rapp's 'Red Light Winter' Begins Rehearsals

By: Jan. 09, 2006
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RED LIGHT WINTER, a new play written and directed by Adam Rapp, will begin rehearsals in New York tomorrow. The production, which played a sold-out extended run at Chicago's acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre Company last summer, begins performances Off-Broadway on Friday, January 20 at the Barrow Street Theatre (27 Barrow Street at Seventh Avenue South). Opening night is Thursday, February 9.

 

The production features the original Steppenwolf actors that Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune proclaimed "superb and wonderfully cast": Christopher Denham, Lisa Joyce and Gary Wilmes.

 


The world premiere of RED LIGHT WINTER opened at Steppenwolf's Garage Theatre in Chicago on May 29, 2005, and was extended by popular demand. Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun Times described RED LIGHT WINTER as "Spellbinding and haunting, physically and emotionally graphic. RED LIGHT WINTER keeps you watching and listening. Rapp is the real thing – a poet in the grand tradition of 'la vie boheme'." Chris Jones, Variety, pronounced RED LIGHT WINTER as "A riveting, crackling achievement. RED LIGHT WINTER is full of 180-degree turns and sexually charged surprises."

RED LIGHT WINTER follows two men and a woman in very foreign territory. College friends Davis (Gary Wilmes) and Matt (Christopher Denham) spend a wild, unforgettable evening in Amsterdam's Red Light District with a beautiful young prostitute, Christina (Lisa Joyce). They find that their lives have changed forever when their bizarre love triangle plays out in unexpected ways a year later in the East Village.

Adam Rapp is a Chicago native, and the author of Animals and Plants, Stone Cold Dead Serious, Finer Noble Gases, Gompers and Faster, as well as the novels, Under the Wolf, Under the Dog, The Buffalo Tree, 33 Snowfish and Little Chicago. He recently joined the writing team of Showtime's "The L Word" and is the writer/director of the feature film, Winter Passing, starring Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel and Ed Harris, which will be released February 17 in New York and Los Angeles by Yari Film Group.

Now in its 30th Anniversary Season, Steppenwolf is a Chicago-based professional theater company committed to ensemble collaboration and artistic risk through its work with its ensemble, guest artists, partner institutions and the community. Founded in 1976 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry and Gary Sinise, with an ensemble of nine actors, Steppenwolf has now grown into an internationally renowned company of 35 artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking and textual adaptation.

The production features set design by Todd Rosenthal, costume design by Michelle Tesdall, lighting design by Keith Parham and sound design by Eric Shim.

RED LIGHT WINTER will be produced by Scott Rudin/Paramount Pictures, Robyn Goodman, Roger Berlind and Stuart Thompson.

The Barrow Street Theatre is located at 27 Barrow Street, at the corner of Seventh Avenue South. Closest subway stop is the Christopher Street station on the 1 line, or the A/B/C/D/E/F/V lines to West 4th Street. Long running hits at the theatre include Bug, by Tracy Letts, and Orson's Shadow, by Austin Pendleton, which ends its run on December 31st. 


Tickets ($65) will be available through Telecharge at 212: 239-6200, or www.telecharge.com

 

NOTE: the play contains nudity and explicit sexual situations.

 

BIOGRAPHIES

 

CHRISTOPHER DENHAM (Matt) originated the role of Matt in the world premiere Steppenwolf Theatre Company production. New York credits include: the Broadway production of "Master Harold"...and the boys, opposite Danny Glover, and Charles Mee's Wintertime, opposite Marsha Mason and Michael Cerveris. Mr. Denham can also been seen on "Law and Order: SVU" and his film credits include: Headspace, Blackbird and Dealbreaker, directed by Gwyneth Paltrow.

LISA JOYCE (Christina) is very excited to be returning to the cast of Red Light Winter after its premiere at Steppenwolf Theater (Joseph Jefferson nomination for Best Supporting Actress). Other credits include Rose of Sharon with Syracuse Stage and the Indiana Repertory Theatre for their co-production of The Grapes of Wrath and Abigail in The Crucible at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. She recently received her B.F.A. in Acting from the Theatre School at DePaul University. Lisa has also trained with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company at the Saratoga International Training Institute. This is her New York debut.

GARY WILMES (Davis) Off-Broadway: Brace Up! with The Wooster Group; Henry IV, Part I, Boxing 2000, and House (Obie award) with Richard Maxwell: Paradise Hotel and Badboy Nietzsche with Richard Foreman; Shoppers Carried by Escalators into the Flames with Evenstar Productions; More Lies About Jerzy at The Vineyard Theatre. Regional: Laughter on the 23rd Floor; The Chicago Conspiracy Trial; Goldenboy; Uncle Vanya; White Bone Demon; The Persecution of Arnold Petch. Film: Blackbird; The Girl From Monday; Marvelous. Television: "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"; "Law and Order: CI".

ADAM RAPP (Playwright/Director) is the author of many plays. Off-Broadway productions include Nocturne (New York Theater Workshop), Faster (Rattlestick), Trueblinka (the Maverick Theater), Stone Cold Dead Serious (Edge Theater), Blackbird (Edge Theater), and Finer Noble Gases (Rattlestick). His first feature film, Winter Passing, starring Ed Harris, Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel, which he wrote and directed, will open in New York and Los Angeles on February 17th. He recently wrapped his second film, Blackbird, which he adapted from his play. He is also the author of seven novels. Most recently, Under the Wolf, Under the Dog (Candlewick Press), was short-listed for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Recent directing credits the Off-Broadway premiere of his play Blackbird, which was nominated for two Drama Desk awards, and the world premiere of Red Light Winter, which won Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work. A graduate of Clarke College in Dubuque, IA, Rapp also completed a two-year playwriting fellowship at Juilliard. He lives in New York City where he is the resident playwright for Edge Theater Company and plays in the band Less (lesstheband.com). He was born in Chicago and raised in Joliet, Illinois.

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