Yale Repertory Theatre (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents the world premiere of COMPULSION by Rinne Groff, directed by Oskar Eustis, at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street, New Haven) January 29-February 28. Opening Night is Thursday, February 4. COMPULSION is a co-production with The Public Theater and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
The cast of COMPULSION features
Hannah Cabell,
Mandy Patinkin, and
Stephen Barker Turner.
Emily DeCola, Liam Hurley, and Eric Wright are the puppeteers.
COMPULSION features sets by
EuGene Lee, costumes by Lisa Loen, lighting by Marie Yokoyama, sound by
Darron West, puppets by Matt Acheson, dramaturgy by Amy Boratko, vocal and dialect coaching by Thom Jones, and stage management by Jessica Barker.
Sid Silver (
Mandy Patinkin) wants nothing more than to bring
Anne Frank's story to an American audience, and he believes he's the right man to translate the young girl's diary and adapt it for the stage. But his passion spirals into a lifelong obsession when a New York publishing house reveals its own plans for what would become one of the most powerful and enduring documents of the 20th century.
Inspired by the story of Meyer Levin, Compulsion marks the Yale Rep debuts of Rinne Groff, whose plays have been praised for their "kaleidoscope style" (The Village Voice), and Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of The Public Theater.
Hannah Cabell (Miss Mermin, Mrs. Silver) New York credits include the Broadway revival of A Man for All Seasons (
Roundabout Theatre Company), Pumpgirl (
Manhattan Theatre Club), Jane Eyre (
The Acting Company), Millicent Scowlworthy (Summer Play Festival), Gentleman Caller (Clubbed Thumb),
Mark Smith (13P), and Uncivil Wars (Pickup Performance Company). Her regional credits include the world premiere of
Sarah Ruhl's adaptation of Three Sisters (
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park);
Lewis Black's Slight Hitch (New York Stage and Film); the world premiere of
Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (
Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Sedition, Mary's Wedding (Westport Country Playhouse); and ten seasons with The Barnstormers Theatre in New Hampshire. She received her BA from Oberlin College and her MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Mandy Patinkin (Mr. Silver) won the Tony Award for his Broadway debut in Evita and was again nominated for Sunday in the Park with George and The Wild Party. He also appeared on Broadway in Trelawny of the ‘Wells,' The Shadow Box, The Secret Garden, Falsettos, and his solo concerts Dress Casual, Celebrating Sondheim, and Mamaloshen. For the New York Shakespeare Festival/The Public Theater, Mandy appeared in Leave It to Beaver Is Dead, The Knife, The Winter's Tale, Henry IV - Part I, Rebel Women, Hamlet, and Dress Casual. Other theatre credits include The Split, Savages, Enemy of the People, and most recently The Tempest at
Classic Stage Company. Film appearances include The Choking Man, Pinero, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, Lulu on the Bridge, Men with Guns, The Princess Bride, Yentl, The Music of Chance, Daniel, Ragtime, Impromptu, The Doctor, Alien Nation, Dick Tracy, The House on Carroll Street, True Colors, Maxie, and Squanto: Indian Warrior. Television series include Chicago Hope (Emmy Award), Showtime's Dead Like Me, and Criminal Minds. His solo albums include
Mandy Patinkin,
Mandy Patinkin Dress Casual, and on the Nonesuch label: Experiment, Oscar and Steve, Mamaloshen,
Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim, and Kidults. Mandy continues to tour his concerts Dress Casual, Celebrating Sondheim, Mamaloshen, and An Evening with
Patti LuPone and
Mandy Patinkin.
Stephen Barker Turner (
Mr. Thomas, Mr. Harris, Mr. Ferris, Mr. Matzliach,
Mr. Williams) appeared as Jerry in The Evildoers at Yale Rep in 2008. He has also appeared in The Scene, After Ashley (world premieres, Humana Festival of New American Plays); Hedda Gabler (American Conservatory Theater); All My Sons (Roundabout); Race (
Classic Stage Company); A Letter from
Ethel Kennedy (
MCC Theater); Lips (
Primary Stages); Measure for Measure, All's Well That Ends Well, Richard III (New York Shakespeare Festival); as well as productions at
Williamstown Theatre Festival,
Arena Stage, Long Wharf,
Intiman Theatre, Magic Theater, Denver Center Theatre Company,
Hartford Stage Company, and New York Stage and Film, among others. His film and television credits include The Scene (upcoming), Human Resources (upcoming), We Pedal Uphill, Satellite, The Warrior Class, The Disappearance of Andy Waxman, Cosmopolitan, Blair Witch 2, Machiavelli Rises, all three Law & Order series, Hack, Sex and the City, Swift Justice, Guiding Light, One Life to Live, and All My Children.
Mr. Turner is a graduate of The Juilliard School and a Fox Fellow.
Emily DeCola (PUPPETEER) works with puppetry and masks as a designer, director, and performer. As a puppeteer, she has appeared in New York in Hamlet (The Public Theater), regionally in Peter & Wendy and Prelude to a Death in Venice (Mabou Mines), and on television in LazyTown (Nickelodeon). She is a founding member (with Eric Wright) of The Puppet Kitchen: a full-service puppet studio in New York's East Village.
LIAM HURLEY (PUPPETEER) has worked as a puppeteer for eight years in and around New York City. He has performed for thousands of children as part of City Parks Foundation's Puppets in the Parks touring company and has built several shows for the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in Central Park. Liam was a performer in Erik Sanko's The Fortune Teller at
HERE Arts Center and Dartmouth College, as well as Ice Cream for Diablo by Oliver Dalzell. He has played drums for the Off-Broadway production of Reefer Madness and currently tours with singer/songwriter Josh Ritter.
ERIC WRIGHT (PUPPETEER) has puppeteered in New York in Powerhouse (New York International Fringe Festival);
The cat Who Went to Heaven (The
Culture Project); Disfarmer, Hiroshima Maiden (
St. Ann's Warehouse); La Bella Dormente Nel Bosco, Petrushka (Lincoln Center); and Madama Butterfly (The Metropolitan Opera). His regional credits include Peter and Wendy (
Arena Stage) and Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty (Art Basel Miami). His television work includes three seasons on PBS's SeeMore's Playhouse as Harry Hippo. www.puppetkitchen.com
Rinne Groff (PLAYWRIGHT) is the author of the plays The Ruby Sunrise (The Public Theater), What Then (Clubbed Thumb), Jimmy Carter Was a Democrat (PS 122), Orange Lemon Egg Canary: A Trick in Four Parts (Humana Festival of New Plays - Actors Theatre of Louisville), The Five Hysterical Girls Theorem (Target Margin Theater), Inky (
Women's Project), and The Moliere Impromptu (
Trinity Repertory Company), among others; and of the musicals In the Bubble (book and co-lyrics; American Musical Theater Project) and Saved (co-book and lyrics;
Playwrights Horizons). Rinne has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the
Sundance Theatre Lab, the Australian National Playwrights Conference, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Perry Mansfield New Noises Festival, and Chautauqua Theater Company; OBIE Award and NYSCA Individual Artist grants; and a Whiting Writers Award. She wrote for a season of Weeds on Showtime. She is a founding member of Elevator Repair Service and a member of
New Dramatists and the
Dramatists Guild. Rinne received her BA from Yale College and MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she teaches in the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing.
Oskar Eustis (DIRECTOR) has been the Artistic Director of The Public Theater since 2005. From 1981 through 1986, he was resident director and dramaturg at the
Eureka Theatre Company in San Francisco and Artistic Director there until 1989, when he moved to L.A.'s
Mark Taper Forum as Associate Artistic Director, where he remained until 1994. Mr. Eustis then served as Artistic Director at
Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, for eleven years. At The Public he has directed the 2008 Shakespeare in the Park production of Hamlet, featuring
Michael Stuhlbarg and
Sam Waterston, and the New York premiere of
Rinne Groff's The Ruby Sunrise. At Trinity Rep he directed the world premiere of
Paula Vogel's The Long Christmas Ride Home (
Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Production); Homebody/Kabul (
Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Production); the world premiere of
Rinne Groff's The Ruby Sunrise; Angels in America, Part I: Millennium Approaches (
Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director); Angels in America, Part II: Perestroika. He has directed world premieres of plays by
Philip Kan Gotanda,
David Henry Hwang,
Emily Mann,
Suzan-Lori Parks,
Ellen McLaughlin, and
Eduardo Machado, among many others. He commissioned
Tony Kushner's Angels in America at the
Eureka Theatre Company in San Francisco and directed its world premiere at the
Mark Taper Forum. He was a professor of Theatre, Speech and Dance at Brown University, where he founded and chaired the Trinity Rep/Brown University Consortium for professional theatre training. He received an honorary doctorate from Brown in 2001 and currently serves as Professor of Dramatic Writing and Arts and Public Policy at New York University.
EuGene Lee (SCENIC DESIGNER) has been the production designer at Saturday Night Live since 1974. He holds BFA degrees from the Art Institute of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon, an MFA from Yale, and three honorary doctorates. He is currently represented on Broadway by the musical Wicked. He has received the Tony Award,
American Theatre Wing's Design Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award,
Lucille Lortel Award,
Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Achievement, and Pell Award. He was recently inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in New York. He lives with his wife Brooke in Providence, where they raised their two sons.
LISA LOEN (COSTUME DESIGNER) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include last season's The French Play (Carlotta Festival of New Plays) and Brecht's Man=Man. At the Yale Cabaret she designed The Little Prince, Babs the Dodo, Dancing in the Dark, and Chicano Sketches. Other theatre credits include The Threepenny Opera, Uncle Vanya, and Luku Lake (Wright State University Dance Ensemble). She received a BFA in costume design from Wright State University in 2007.
MARIE YOKOYAMA (LIGHTING DESIGNER) is a third-year MFA Candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include American Catnip, The French Play (Carlotta Festival of New Plays); The Ghost Sonata, Man=Man, and Jelly's Last Jam. Yale Cabaret credits include The Homecoming Project, Electra: Mask Ritual, One for the Road, and The Little Prince. Credits outside of the university include King Cat Calico produced by Son of Semele and The Underpants by Little Fish Theatre. She graduated from California State University, Long Beach, with a BA in Technical Theatre Arts in 2006.
Darron L. West (SOUND DESIGNER) His work has been heard in more than 400 Broadway, Off-Broadway, national, and international productions. He is the recipient of the Lortel, AUDELCO, Henry Hewes, Princess Grace, OBIE, and Entertainment Design Magazin
E Eddy Awards. His directing credits include Kid Simple (2004 Humana Festival of New Plays), Big Love (Austin's Rude Mechanicals; Austin Critics Table Award, Best Director), and the national tours of SITI's War of the Worlds Radio Play and RadioMacbeth. He served as resident sound designer at
The Actors Theatre of Louisville and is a founding member of Anne Bogart's SITI Company.
MATT ACHESON (PUPPET DESIGNER) has had the pleasure of performing, building, and touring extensively with
Basil Twist's productions of Symphonie Fantastique, Petrushka, Master Peter's Puppet Show, and La Bella Dormente Nel Bosco;
Dan Hurlin's productions of Hiroshima Maiden and Disfarmer; the Mabou Mines production of Peter and Wendy;
Lee Breuer's A Prelude to Death in Venice;
Paula Vogel's A Long Christmas Ride Home; and was the puppetry rehearsal director for The Metropolitan Opera's Madame Butterfly. Matt has also worked with choreographer Nami Yamamoto on A Howling Flower and directs the
St. Ann's Warehouse Puppet Lab with
Tom Lee. Film credits include the national and international Audience Choice Awards-winning In the House of the Sin Eater, which he wrote, directed, and designed with filmmaker Paul Kloss. Currently Matt is collaborating with
Tom Lee to create a new piece for The Swedish Marionette Theater in Central Park.
AMY BORATKO (DRAMATURG) previously served as dramaturg on the Yale Rep productions of Notes from Underground, A Woman of No Importance, Eurydice, and The Cherry Orchard. Other dramaturgy credits include The Time of Your Life, The Summer People, Romeo and Juliet, The War Is Over (Yale School of Drama); as well as Voice and Vision's Envision Retreat at Bard College. She is the Literary Manager at Yale Rep. She has been a teaching fellow at Yale College and Yale School of Drama and was a managing editor of Theater magazine. A graduate of Rice University, she received her MFA in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism from Yale School of Drama.
THOM JONES (VOCAL AND DIALECT COACH) has been the Voice and Speech Director for
Trinity Repertory Company for nine seasons. His theatre credits include productions at The Public Theater (New York),
Long Wharf Theatre,
Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Hangar Theatre (six seasons), Rites and Reason, Providence Black Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and
Dallas Theatre Center. Film and Television credits include Black Irish with
Brendan Gleeson and
Melissa Leo; Edge of Darkness with Mel Gibson; Rabbit Hole with
Nicole Kidman,
Dianne Wiest, and
Aaron Eckhart; and Brotherhood (Showtime). He is director of voice and speech for the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium. Other teaching: Purchase College, NYU at
Playwrights Horizons, The
Paper Mill Playhouse Conservatory, Providence College, and Rhode Island College.
JESSICA BARKER (STAGE MANAGER) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include The Bedtrick, The Robbers, I Am a Superhero, Peer Gynt, Learning Russian, and Dramatis Personae. Other recent credits include Lydia (Yale Rep); Three Sisters, or a Dormouse's Tale; Little Shop of Horrors (Yale Cabaret); Fly-by-Night (Yale Summer Cabaret); Fall Opera Scenes (Yale Opera); sam i was (Yale Institute for Music Theatre); La Passion de Simone and Lemi Ponifasio's Requiem (Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival). She received her BFA in technical theatre from the University of Central Missouri.
Tickets for COMPULSION range from $35-82 and are available online at www.yalerep.org, by phone at (203) 432-1234, and in person at the Yale Rep Box Office (1120 Chapel Street, at York Street). Student, senior, and group rates are also available.
In addition, all tickets for the Monday, February 1, performance are $10.
