Taylor Trensch, Sam Lilja and Heidi Armbruster Lead Samuel D. Hunter's CLARKSTON Premiere, Starting Tonight in Dallas

Dallas Theater Center presents the world premiere of CLARKSTON this winter. Written by 2014 MacArthur Foundation Fellow Samuel D. Hunter, one of the most provocative new voices in American theater, and directed by Davis McCallum, CLARKSTON begins with previews tonight, December 3 at 7:30 p.m. with a Pay-What-You-Can performance and runs through Sunday, January 31. Press Opening is Friday, December 11 at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $18 and are on sale now at www.DallasTheaterCenter.org.

"Sam Hunter is one of my favorite writers creating in the American theater today," said Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty. "His ability to create characters of complexity and depth with both a clear eye and an empathetic heart lends his work a unique power. It is a great joy to be able to share the world premiere of his newest play with our Dallas audiences."

CLARKSTON transforms the Wyly Theatre's intimate Studio Theatre into a Costco-the heart of the New American West. Steps away from the Lewis and Clark trail, the lives of Chris, a fledgling writer, and Jake, a descendant of William Clark, intersect as they stock televisions and cheese puffs. In a story leavened with humor and compassion, these two young men move toward an uncertain and unpredictable future, realizing that sometimes the most important journey you can take is the one between two people. CLARKSTON is a recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

The playwright and director duo of McCallum and Hunter have collaborated on six productions of five plays, including The Whale and A Bright New Boise.

"I'm thrilled to be a part of CLARKSTON and work on this world premiere," said McCallum. "Sam's writing has a way of bringing people together, and this show truly highlights the voyage of discovery between one person and the next, in a deeply personal and honest way."

"With pretty much everything I write I hope people will come away from it with a feeling of faith in the value of human connection," explained Hunter. "Even though most of the plays I write go to some dark places, ultimately they are about moving forward and finding meaning through our relationships with other people."

Making their DTC debut is Taylor Trensch (pictured, right; Broadway's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Matilda the Musical, Wicked) as Jake, Sam Lilja (Shakespeare Theatre Company's The Winter's Tale) as Chris, and Heidi Armbruster (Broadway's Time Stands Still, Film/TV: The Blacklist, House of Cards, 30 Rock) as Trisha.

Transforming the Studio Theatre into the small town of Lewiston, Idaho is set designer Drew Boyce (Sense and Sensibility) alongside sound designer Stowe Nelson and lighting designer Eric Southern. Jessica Pabst (Fortress of Solitude, Broadway's The Heidi Chronicles) will be designing costumes. Seating will be General Admission.

DTC's Come Early sponsored by Wells Fargo will take place one hour before every performance and will be led by Armbruster. DTC's Stay Late presented by Dr Pepper Snapple will take place after each performance and will be led by Lilja. 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.

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 Jeffrey Woodward, 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.

 

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