DTC Sets Cast, Creative Team for THE BOOK CLUB PLAY, Running 1/1-2/1
By: BWW News Desk Dec. 22, 2014
"Reading has always been a private activity for me -- journeying alone into new lands, meeting new people through someone else's eye. So when I first encountered The Book Club Play, I was intrigued by the window that Karen Zacarías gave me into this unknown world," said McDonough. "Each of the characters is trying to figure out their own path and each is fighting their own loneliness in a community that's opened up to the public through the lens of a documentary filmmaker. The desire for intimacy and the plight of these characters is truly funny in their base humanity."
Ana lives in a letter-perfect world with an adoring husband, the perfect job, and her greatest passion: book club. But when her book club becomes the subject of a film documentary their discussions about life and literature take a hilarious turn. Add a club-crashing newcomer along with some provocative book titles and the club's long-intertwined group dynamics begin to unravel as the friends start to read between the lines.
Brierley Resident Acting Company member Christie Vela (LES MISERABLES, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure) stars as Ana, the Book Club's fearless leader. Vela is joined by fellow Company members Brandon Potter, who is making his DTC Company debut, as the outsider Alex and Steven Michael Walters (LES MISERABLES, Clybourne Park) as Will, the Book Cluber who's about to make a startling revelation. Also in the cast are Dallas actor Jeffrey Schmidt as Rob, Ana's doting husband, and Southern Methodist University graduate students Tiana Kaye Johnson as Lily and Sarah Rutan as Jen.
Ana's perfect world of books and hospitable home is created by scenic designer Daniel Zimmerman. Costume design is by Jennifer Ables (Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, Red); lighting design is by Paul Toben (Fly By Night); and sound design is by Brian McDonald.
Tickets for The Book Club Play are on sale now. Ticket prices start at $18 and are available online at www.DallasTheaterCenter.org or by phone at (214) 880-0202. All performances of The Book Club will take place at the Kalita Humphreys Theater, located at 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd, where it runs Jan. 1 - Feb. 1, 2015. The Book Club Play begins previews on Thursday, Jan. 1 at 7:30pm with a Pay-What-You-Can performance. Tickets to this performance will be available for purchase online at www.DallasTheaterCenter.org beginning Friday, Dec. 26 at 10am. Press night will take place on Friday, Jan. 9 at 8:00p.m.. DTC's Come Early sponsored by Wells Fargo will take place one hour before every performance and will be led by Brandon Potter. Patrons will have the opportunity to learn about the play prior to viewing the production. DTC's Stay Late presented by Dr Pepper Snapple will take place after each performance and will be led by Christie Vela. Patrons will have the opportunity to engage with artists, learn about the production and share insights about the play in a lively discussion. Details for Come Early and Stay Late are available online. Tickets for The Book Club Play are on sale now. Ticket prices start at $18 and are available online at www.DallasTheaterCenter.org or by phone at (214) 880-0202.
ABOUT DALLAS THEATER CENTER: One of the leading regional theaters in the country, Dallas Theater Center (DTC) performs to an audience of more than 120,000 North Texas residents annually. Founded in 1959, DTC is now a resident company of the AT&T Performing Arts Center and presents its Mainstage season at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, designed by REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramus and Rem Koolhaas and at its original home, the Kalita Humphreys Theater, the only freestanding theater designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty and Managing Director Heather M. Kitchen, DTC produces a seven-play subscription series of classics, musicals and new plays and an annual production of A Christmas Carol; extensive education programs, including the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award-winning Project Discovery, SummerStage and partnerships with Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts; and community outreach efforts including leading the DFW Foote Festival and recent collaborations with the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Public Library, Dallas Holocaust Museum, North Texas Food Bank, Dallas Opera, and Dallas Black Dance Theater. Throughout its history, DTC has produced many new works, including The Texas Trilogy by Preston Jones in 1978, Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men, adapted by Adrian Hall, in 1986, and recent premieres of FLY by Rajiv Joseph, Bill Sherman and Kirstin Childs; Fly by Night by Kim Rosenstock, Michael Mitnick and Will Connolly; Giant by Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson; The Trinity River Plays by Regina Taylor; the revised It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams; Give It Up! (now titled Lysistrata Jones and recently on Broadway) by Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn; Sarah, Plain and Tall by Julia Jordan, Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin; and The Good Negro by Tracey Scott Wilson.
Tiana Kaye Johnson (Lily) is currently an MFA candidate for Acting at Southern Methodist University. Recent SMU: Look Homeward, Angel (Eliza Gant). She received her BA in Theater from Prairie View A&M University where she was seen in Once on This Island (Madame Armand/Andrea/Storyteller), To Be Young Gifted and Black (Lorraine Hansberry), and Jelly's Last Jam (Anita). Tiana is a proud company member of The Ensemble Progress Theatre, based in Houston, TX. She holds the title of Miss South Dallas, enjoys serving the community and inspiring social change through the arts.
Brandon Potter (Alex) is the newest member of DTC's Brierley Resident Acting Company, where his credits include A Christmas Carol and King Lear. He has appeared onstage in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin, San Francisco and New York. Brandon's voice has been heard internationally in cartoons, video games, television and radio commercials, and numerous online outlets. He holds an MFA in acting from SMU.
Sarah Rutan (Jen) spent seven seasons as a member of the acting company at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where her work included: Othello; The Taming of the Shrew; The Diary of Anne Frank; Coriolanus; Love's Labours Lost; Much Ado About Nothing; As You Like It and many others. Other regional theaters include: Milwaukee Repertory Theater (Pride and Prejudice) Shakespeare in the Park - Bend (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Pasadena Playhouse (A Footnote to the Iliad). She is currently an MFA candidate for Acting at SMU.
Jeffrey Schmidt (Rob) DTC: A Christmas Carol. Recent performances include Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Dallas) and Diamond Dick (La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club.) He's worked for many Dallas theaters including: Trinity Shakespeare Festival; Kitchen Dog Theater; Theatre Three; Stage West Theatre; Undermain Theatre and WaterTower Theatre. Film/TV: Parkland; Dallas; Bad Kids Go to Hell; The Good Guys; Crash; Friday Night Lights and Prison Break. He also directs and scenic designs-most recently: Hands on a Hardbody; On the Eve; Spunk and The Arsonists. Represented by the Mary Collins Agency. jeffreyschmidtdesign.com
Christie Vela (Ana) is a member of DTC's Brierley Resident Acting Company, where her credits include: A Christmas Carol; LES MISERABLES; Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure; King Lear; God of Carnage; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; and The Beauty Plays. Christie is also a member of Dallas' Kitchen Dog Theater Company where she was last seen in The MotherF*&^%er With the Hat, and where she has directed many shows including PEN Award winner Se Llama Cristina by Octavio Solis; The Turn of the Screw; Boom; and The Pillowman. Christie will proudly make her Second Thought Theatre directing debut in February with Bull as part of the Elevator Series. Christie is represented by The Mary Collins Agency.
Steven Michael Walters (Will) is a member of the Brierley Resident Acting Company and co-founder of Second Thought Theatre. DTC: LES MISERABLES; Clybourne Park; Henry IV; The Beauty Plays; The Good Negro (a co-production with The Public Theatre in New York). Theatrical credits: King Lear (Trinity Rep); Love's Labour's Lost and The Cherry Orchard (Peterborough Players); Thom Pain (based on nothing), King Ubu, and The Glory of Living (Second Thought Theatre); Romeo and Juliet; As You Like It and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Dallas). TV: Chase; My Generation; Friday Night Lights; Trauma; Dallas; Salvation; Prison Break.
Karen Zacarías (Playwright) Karen's award-winning plays include: The Book Club Play; Legacy of Light: Mariela in the Desert; The Sins of Sor Juana; an adaptation of Julia Alvarez's How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents; and the adaptation of Helen Thorpe's nonfiction book Just Like Us. Her TYA musicals with composer Deborah Wicks La Puma include: Chasing George Washington: A White House Adventure; Einstein Is a Dummy; Looking for Roberto Clemente; Jane of the Jungle; Cinderella Eats Rice and Beans; Ferdinand the Bull; and Frida Libre. Her plays have been produced at the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Goodman Theatre, Round House Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Alliance Theatre, Imagination Stage, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, South Coast Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, San Jose Repertory Theatre and more. Her awards include 2010 Steinberg/ACTA New Play Citation, National Francesca Primus Prize, the Kennedy Center's New Visions/New Voices Award, National Latino Playwriting Award and a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play. Additionally, Zacarías was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She is currently a playwright-in-residence at Arena Stage and teaches at Georgetown University. Zacarías is the founder of Young Playwrights' Theater, an award-winning theatre company that teaches playwriting in local public schools.
Meredith McDonough (Director) DTC: Dramaturg, Fly By Night. She is the Associate Artistic Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she's directed brownsville song (b side for tray); The Delling Shore; The Last Five Years; Noises Off and The Whipping Man. Regional: Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Magic Theatre. Developed work: Roundabout Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company, and Ars Nova. Previous director of new works at TheatreWorks, associate director at The Orchard Project, and new works director for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. She currently serves on the board of directors for Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. B.S.; MFA, UCSD.
Daniel Zimmerman (Set Designer) Select New York credits: Suicide, Incorporated (Roundabout Theater Company); I Call My Brothers (The Play Company); Henry IV, Part 1 (The Pearl Theatre Company); Be a Good Little Widow (Ars Nova); You Got Older, We Got Older (Page 73Productions); The Confidence-Man (Woodshed Collective). Daniel has also worked with Colt Coeur, Lesser America, Clubbed Thumb and Slant Theatre Project. Regional: Actors Theatre of Louisville; Humana Festival of New American Plays; Trinity Repertory Company; Center Stage; Milwaukee Repertory Theater; Theatreworks; Portland Stage Company; Pioneer Theater Company. MFA: NYU Tisch
Jennifer Ables (Costume Designer) DTC: Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure; Red; To Kill a Mockingbird; Henry IV. Second Thought Theatre: Gruesome Playground Injuries, Thom Pain (based on nothing). Alabama Shakespeare Festival: Good Night Moon, Charlotte's Web. Oklahoma Shakespeare Festival: Macbeth, A Winter's Tale. University of Texas at Dallas: Dr. Calagari's Cabinet; The Comedy of Errors; R.U.R.; The Way They Shine. WaterTower Theatre: As You Like It. Risk Theater Initiative: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Florida Repertory Theater: All My Sons; The Underpants; Absurd Person Singular; Amy's View. Jennifer has been the costume shop manager at Dallas Theater Center since December 2008 and holds an MFA in costume design from Florida State University.
Paul Toben (Lighting Designer) DTC: Fly By Night. Broadway: The Story of My Life. Off-Broadway: The Judy Show: My Life as a Sitcom (DR2 Theatre); Saturn Nights (Incubator Arts Project); Electra in a One-Piece; The Realm (The Wild Project); Romeo and Juliet (Columbia Stages),Futurity (HERE); When in Disgrace (Haply I Think on Thee) (Examined Man Theatre); and The Redheaded Man (FringeNYC). London: Daddy Long Legs (St. James Theatre) and Fly By Night at TheatreWorks' New Works Festival. His work has been seen at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Walker Art Center, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Magic Theatre, Flat Rock Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, Arizona Theatre Company and others. paultoben.com
Brian McDonald (Sound Designer) is currently the Sound Supervisor at DTC. He previously served as the production manager and technical director for Shakespeare Dallas and Technical Director for The University of North Texas Opera Theater. Design Work: Kitchen Dog Theater, Project X Theatre, and The Festival Ballet of North Central Texas. Brian spent several years working in higher education, holding positions at the University of North Texas and Texas Woman's University. He also works as a recording engineer and producer with releases on Idol Records, GIA, Vandan Records, Elba Records, Drop6 Media, Equilibrium and more.
Barb Hicks (Production Manager) served as the Costume Shop Manager at Dallas Theater Center for many years prior to, most recently, leading the Costume Department at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. She is enjoying her second season back at DTC, leading the Production Department through this exciting, thrilling adventure of a season.
Megan Winters (Stage Manager) DTC: Driving Miss Daisy; Sherlock Holmes: the Final Adventure; Oedipus el Rey; Clybourne Park, Red, Tigers Be Still (SM); FLY, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, The Tempest (ASM); Dividing the Estate, The Trinity River Plays, A Christmas Carol (PA). NYC Workshop: FLY (ASM). Second Thought Theatre: Thom Pain (based on nothing) (PSM). Shakespeare Dallas: Comedy of Errors (ASM). She worked the Grand Opening of the AT&T Performing Arts Center and has also enjoyed working for the Olney Theatre Center and the Seaside Rep. Megan is, by day, the Interim Production Stage Manager at the Dallas Theater Center.
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