Quincy Tyler Bernstine to Star in Lynn Nottage's INTIMATE APPAREL at McCarter

McCarter Theatre Center closes the 2016-2017 Theater Series with a new production
of Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel, a story of an African-American seamstress living in 1905 New York City pursuing her dreams of love and independence. Directed by Jade King Carroll, Intimate Apparel will run from May 5 to June 4.

In 1905 Manhattan, Esther Mills sews beautiful corsets for a living. Her art and talents have earned her economic independence rare for an unmarried woman of color and allows her access to diverse social worlds. Despite her success, Esther yearns for physical and emotional intimacy, and begins a romantic correspondence with George, a laborer working half a world away on the Panama Canal. Her hopes and dreams are laid bare through a series of encounters with her clients, her landlady, and an Orthodox Jewish fabric merchant with whom she shares an unspoken attraction.

Intimate Apparel had its New York City debut in 2004 at the Roundabout Theatre Company, winning the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Play. Among a plethora of accolades and honorifics, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage has been called "a justly acclaimed dramatist of ambitious scope and fierce focus" by The New York Times.

The cast includes Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Esther), Jessica Frances Dukes (Mayme), Tasso Feldman (Mr. Marks), Galen Kane (George), Kate MacCluggage (Mrs. Van Buren), and Brenda Pressley (Mrs. Dickson). In addition to director Jade King Carrol, the all-female design team includes scenic designer (and Princeton native) Alexis Distler, costume designer Dede M. Ayite, lighting designer Nicole Pearce, and sound designer Karin Graybash.

About the production and Ms. Nottage, McCarter Theatre Center Artistic Director Emily Mann said: "Lynn is one of America's premier playwrights. Her probing, profound work spans subject and genre, bringing the stories of forgotten, overlooked, and often oppressed characters to life. Through the intricately wrought portraits found in Intimate Apparel, we learn about New York City in 1905; about individuals and communities of people striving for better lives; about privilege, ambition, and unlikely friends. It is our own history as a country and also our own present. As a diverse nation, we must reckon with a painful past in order to understand the present moment and move forward. Lynn Nottage's brilliance lies in her refusal to let us forget the pain, the beauty, or the humanity of our ancestors."

Special Events and Engagement Programs:

Dialogue on Drama
Join us for a special post-show discussion with director Jade King Carroll after the Sunday, May 14, 2 p.m. matinee performance. This is a free event, no RSVP req.

Post-Show Discussions
Post-show discussions at McCarter are highly interactive audience-based conversations facilitated by a member of McCarter's artistic staff, often featuring cast members. These discussions focus on a range of topics including how artistic choices were made for the production, the actors' process, and reflections
and questions from audience members. Post-show discussions occur directly following the 7:30 p.m. performance on Wednesday, May 17 and following the 2 p.m. performance on Sunday, May 21.

Inside Story
Join us 45 minutes before any performance for a talk led by a member of McCarter's artistic staff. Hear about what inspired the play, its unique creation and style, and much more. All Inside Story talks will take place in the Berlind Theatre unless otherwise noted in the lobby upon arrival.

Visit www.mccarter.org for tickets, performance schedule, and more information.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined has received an Obie, Lucille Lortel Award, New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play (Manhattan Theatre Club, Goodman Theatre). Other plays include Intimate Apparel (New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play; Roundabout, CENTERSTAGE, South Coast Rep); Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine (Obie Award; Playwrights Horizons, London's Tricycle Theatre); Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por'Knockers; and Poof! Nottage is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2007 MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant," the National Black Theatre Festival's August Wilson Playwriting Award, the 2004 PEN/Laura Pels Award for Drama, and the 2005 Guggenheim Grant for Playwriting, as well as fellowships from the Lucille Lortel Foundation, Manhattan Theatre Club, New Dramatists, and New York Foundation for the Arts. She is a member of The Dramatists Guild, an alumna of New Dramatists and a graduate oF Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, where she is a visiting lecturer. Her newest work, Sweat, is now on Broadway. Go to www.lynnnottage.net for more.

Jade King Carroll's credits include directing Having our Say at Hartford Stage; The Piano Lesson (McCarter Theatre); Sunset Baby (City Theater); Autumn's Harvest (Lincoln Center Institute); Trouble in Mind (Two River Theater & Playmaker's Rep); Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, The Whipping Man (Portland Stage); A Raisin In The Sun (Juilliard & Perseverance); The Tempest (Chatauqua Theater Company); Black Girl, You've
Been Gentrified (Joe's Pub); Seven Guitars, The Persians, Splittin' the Raft (People's Light and Theatre & Point Park University); King Hedley (Portland Playhouse); Mr. Chickee's Funny Money (Atlantic Theater); Janice Underwater (Premiere Stages); The Etymology of Bird (CitiParks Summer Stages); The Piano Lesson (Cape Fear Regional Theater); alondra washere (The Wild Project); Cherry Smoke (Theatre Row); Sexon
Sunday (Urban Stages); The History of Light, Samuel J&K, The Summer House (Passage Theatre); Spit (Intar); A Member of the Wedding (Tennessee William's Theater Festival in Provincetown); Associate Director for The Gin Game (Broadway-2015) and Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire (Broadway-2012). Jade was a TCG New Generations Future Leader Award recipient, through which she was the Artistic Associate at Second Stage Theatre. In 2010 Jade was presented with the Paul Green Award for Outstanding
Emerging Theatre Professional from the National Theatre Conference and The Estate of August Wilson. Past Fellowships & Awards: New York Theatre Workshop, Van Lier, Second Stage Theatre, Women's Project, McCarter Theatre and Gates Millennium Scholar. Jade served as the dramaturg for the seminal recording of the entire August Wilson Twentieth Century Cycle for National Public Radio.

Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Esther) Theater: Small Mouth Sounds; Peer Gynt; Kings; Grand Concourse; 10 out of 12; The Nether; Mr. Burns; Neva; We Are Proud to Present a Presentation...; born bad; Far From Heaven; Red-Handed Otter; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; Ruined; Family Week; Love, Loss and What I Wore; The Misanthrope; 'nami; The Ladies. Film: Manchester by the Sea, Easy Living, Still Alice, Ned Rifle, Red Hook Summer, While We're Young, Hungry Hearts, Rachel Getting Married. TV: Power, The Good Wife, The Blacklist, Elementary, Blue Bloods, Madame Secretary, The Leftovers, The Strain, Chappelle's Show, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, All My Children. Training: Brown, UCSD. Obie, Audelco, Clarence Derwent, Lilly Awards.

Jessica Frances Dukes (Mayme) makes her McCarter Theatre debut after playing Lady Macbeth at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Off-Broadway: Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons, Obie Award). Regional: King Hedley II, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Arena Stage); Detroit 67 (co-pro with Detroit Public Theatre), Beneatha's Place, Clybourne Park (Centerstage); Stick Fly (Arden Theatre); A Raisin in the Sun, The Piano Lesson (Geva Theatre); The Piano Lesson (Indiana Repertory); Trip to Bountiful (Cleveland Play House); Jitney (Ford's Theatre); The Conference of The Birds (Folger Theatre); Passing Strange, Caroline, or Change (Studio Theatre). Film/TV: The Good Wife; Bernard & Huey with David Koechner, directed by Dan Mirvish; A Raisin in the Sun Revisited. MFA: Catholic University. www.jessicafrances-dukes.com.

Tasso Feldman (Mr. Marks) Amadeus, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Charley's Aunt, The Cocoanuts, The Three Musketeers (Utah Shakespeare Festival); The Seagull, The Taming of the Shrew, The Heart of Robin Hood, Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Comedy of Errors, On The Razzle, The Clay Cart, Tartuffe (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Mlle. God (Ensemble Studio Theatre LA); Goldfish (South Coast Repertory); Equivocation (Geffen Playhouse); What You Will (New Theater House); War Music (Chicago Humanities Festival); The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (Lyric Stage Company of Boston); The Glass Menagerie (New Repertory Theatre); Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); The Mousetrap (Stoneham Theatre). Film/TV: Every day Saturday, The Artist, Black Box (ABC), C.S.I: NY (CBS), H.M.S. *pilot (CW), The Resident *pilot (FOX). Education: BFA Boston University.

Galen Kane (George) earned his master's degree from the Yale School of Drama in May 2016, where he appeared in This Land Was Made, The Winter's Tale, Paradise Lost, The Children, Women Beware Women, and Othello. Other credits: The Piano Lesson (Hartford Stage); Petrol Station (World Premiere at Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts); Rose and the Rime, The Untitled Project, The Hotel Nepenthe, The Brother's Size (Yale Cabaret); Fences, The Color Purple: The Musical (University of Maryland Eastern Shore). Galen grew up on the island of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. This is his McCarter debut.

Kate MacCluggage (Mrs. Van Buren) is thrilled to be part of this production! NYC: The Farnsworth Invention (Broadway); The 39 Steps (off-Broadway, NWS); Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing (TFANA); In Quietness (Dutch Kills); Primal Play (New Georges); Three Sisters (The Assembly); Evanston: A Rare Comedy (HERE/Wolf 359). Regional: Williamstown, Long Wharf, Hartford Stage, Westport Country Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Virginia Stage, Portland Center Stage, Denver Center, Chautauqua Theater Company. TV: The Knick, Law & Order: SVU, TURN, Red Oaks. Film: Ambition's Debt, Hedda Gabler, Butterflies of Bill Baker, movement + location. Upcoming: Chicago Justice. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting. BA: Wesleyan University. www.katemaccluggage.com.

Brenda Pressley (Mrs. Dickson) Broadway: The Lyons, The American Plan, Cats, Dreamgirls, The Moony Shirpiro Songbook. Off-Broadway, Brenda starred in Almost Home, The First Breeze of Summer, Seven Guitars, Fran's Bed, Marvin's Room, And The World Goes 'Round (Outer Critics Circle Award), and Blues In The Night. Regional: Black Odyssey, Trouble in Mind, The Old Settler (Barrymore Award), Blues For An Alabama
Sky, and A Raisin In The Sun. In film, Ms Pressley has appeared in Third Street Blackout, Detachment, 16 Blocks, Cradle Will Rock, and It Could Happen to You. On television, Brenda has guest starred on such shows as The Path, The Good Wife, Elementary, The Mysteries of Laura, Body of Proof, Law & Order; Deadline; Law & Order: SVU, Harambee, Lifestories, and Brewster Place (with Oprah Winfrey).

Alexis Distler (Set Design) The Government Inspector (The Duke on 42nd Street); Having Our Say, The Piano Lesson (Hartford Stage); ToasT (The Public Theater); Daddy Long Legs, Nureyev's Eyes (George Street Playhouse); Three Sisters, Trouble In Mind (PlayMakers Theatre); Il Turco in Italia, The Marriage of Figaro (Juilliard Opera); Seven Guitars (People's Light and Theatre Company). Awards: winner of the Barrymore Award for In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (The Wilma Theatre). Education: MFA NYU. www.alexisdistler.com.

Dede M. Ayite (Costume Design) Off-Broadway: Marie & Rosetta (Atlantic), The Royale (Lincoln Center), Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout); brownsville song (b-side for tray) (LCT3); ToasT, Urban Retreat, Manahatta (The Public). Regional: The Last Tiger in Haiti (La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep); Bella: An American Tall Tale, Stagger Lee (Dallas Theater Center); The Wiz (OSF); Between Riverside and Crazy (Studio Theatre); The Blood Quilt (Arena Stage); Marie Antoinette (Steppenwolf); The CA Lyons Project (Alliance); Five Guys Named Moe (Arena Stage, Cleveland Play House); A Raisin in the Sun (California Shakespeare Theater); The Piano Lesson (Yale Rep); The Music Man in Concert (Two River, NJPAC); Fried Chicken & Latkes (National Black Theatre); Holding it Down (Harlem Stage); Vassa (Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute). TV: Comedy Central, Fox Shortcoms, COPPER Project. MFA: Yale School of Drama.

Nicole Pearce (Lighting Design) Previously with Jade King Carroll: Having Our Say (Hartford Stage, Long Wharf), Trouble in Mind (Two River), A Raisin in the Sun (Juilliard School), King Hedley (Portland Playhouse), History of Light (Passage Theater). Selected credits include work with directors: Edward Albee, Leigh Silverman, Trip Cullman, Pam Mackinnon, Maria Mileaf, and Ed Sylvanus Iskandar with companies including Cherry Lane, The Play Company, Labryinth Theater Company, Philadelphia Theater
Company, and Williamstown. Selected work in dance with Mark Morris, Jessica Lang, Aszure Barton, Robert Battle, Andrea Miller, John Heginbotham, Brian Brooks, Alexander Ekman, Kyle Abraham, and Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa and companies including American Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Finnish National Opera, Hubbard Street, Gallim, Mark Morris, Alvin Ailey, and Nederlands Dance Theater. www.nicolepearcedesign.com

Karin Graybash (Sound Design) has designed the sound for a number of productions at McCarter, including Mrs. Warren's Profession, Polk County, Tartuffe, and Emily Mann's A Seagull in the Hamptons. Other design credits: Hartford Stage, Berkeley Repertory, Dallas Theater Center, Yale Rep, Arena Stage, Portland Stage, Long Wharf, and the Alliance, among others. She is a recipient of the Bay Area Theatre Critics Award for her sound design of Polk County at Berkeley Rep. Karin was the live sound consultant
for the multi-media production Freedom Rising at the National Constitution Center. Many of her soundscapes can be heard at The Franklin Institute's exhibit entitled Your Brain. Karin also holds the position of Sound Supervisor for the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Thom Jones (Dialect Coach) Head of Voice/Speech Brown University/Trinity Repertory MFA Program. He has coached voice, dialects, and text extensively in theater, film, and TV. Theater: Trinity Repertory Company, McCarter Theatre, The Public, Shakespeare In the Park, Yale Rep, Dallas Theater Center, Cleveland Play House, The Huntington, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Syracuse Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Hangar Theatre. Film/TV clients: Steven Spielberg, Nicole Kidman, Ben Mendelsohn, Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart, Ciaran Hinds, Sandra Bullock, Alan Rickman, Vanessa Redgrave, Robin Williams, David Oyelowo, Amy Adams, Lee Daniels, Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater, Raul Esparza, Kate Burton, Mandy Patinkin, Emma Watson, Sienna Miller, Brendan Gleeson, Melissa Leo, Emily Van Camp, Ryan Reynolds, among others.

Tony Award-winning McCarter Theatre Center is one of America's leading regional theaters and is the only organization in this country that is a professional producing theater and simultaneously a presenter of major performing artists. World premiere plays include Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (2013 Tony Award - Best Play), Miss Witherspoon; The Brother/Sister Plays; Me, Myself & I; Having Our Say; The Convert; and Crowns. Other plays include Broadway productions of Translations; Anna in the Tropics (Pulitzer Prize); and Electra. McCarter is a presenter of world renowned artists such as Lang Lang, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Wynton Marsalis, David Sedaris and many others. Our education and outreach efforts serve tens of thousands through student matinees, in-school residencies, adult education classes, and more. McCarter is supported by contributions from Princeton University, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, many corporations and foundations and from over 3,000 individuals. Discover more at www.mccarter.org.

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