San Jose Rep’s DOUBLE INDEMNITY Announces Casting

A veteran cast brings its acclaimed performance of the noir classic Double Indemnity to San Jose, in a world premiere co-produced by the San Jose Repertory Theatre and Seattle's A Contemporary Theatre (ACT).  The ensemble of five actors from Seattle and the Bay Area brought the story to stage during a successful run of  Double Indemnity in Seattle in October 2011.

Double Indemnity is directed by Kurt Beattie and will run from January 12 through February 5, 2012.  Press Opening Night is Wednesday, January 18 at 7:30 p.m.  

Tickets are available at the San Jose Rep Box Office at 101 Paseo de San Antonio or can be purchased online at www.SJRep.comor by calling 408.367.7255.

Double Indemnity was written by James M. Cain and adapted for the stage by David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright. The plot involves the beautiful and seductive Phyllis Nirlinger (Carrie Paff) who hatches a cold-blooded scheme to murder her husband, but not before taking out an insurance policy on his life -- one which pays double if he dies in an accident -- in this case, a fall from a moving train.

Smart-talking insurance agent Walter Huff (John Bogar) falls victim to the persuasive femme fatale and caught in a web of greed and lust, the adulterous couple commits the near perfect crime leading to guilt, suspicion, and betrayal. Suffused with suspense and intrigue, Double Indemnity explores the materialistic and sexual cravings of Depression-era America, with Pichette and Wright now giving the story a fresh and electrifying rendering.

Cast
John Bogar (WALTER HUFF) has the great pleasure of working at both San Jose Rep and A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) for the first time. Seattle audiences have seen him in a number of roles with the Seattle Shakespeare Company, including Macheath in The Threepenny Opera, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, and The Man in The Turn of the Screw. Some favorite productions are Macbeth with Wooden O (title role), Persuasion and Night Flight with Book-It Repertory Theatre, and 42nd Street with Village Theatre. Bogar trained at Circle in the Square and Columbia University from which he holds an MFA. He is a producer and ensemble member of The Seagull Project, bringing Chekhov's The Seagull to Seattle next year with the support of ACT's Central Heating Lab, an initiative devoted to nurturing and supporting new works, new talent, and local artists, and for which he is a co-producer with his real-life partner in crime, Julie Briskman. www.theseagullproject.org

Jessica Martin (LOLA NIRLINGER/NETTIE/NURSE) is appearing on the San Jose Rep stage for the first time. Martin has appeared at A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) in Rock 'n' Roll, The Trip to Bountiful, and in two seasons of A Christmas Carol as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Most recently she appeared as Marianne Dashwood in Book-It Repertory Theatre's production of Sense and Sensibility. Elsewhere: Hamlet at Indiana Repertory Theatre, the world premiere production of Jane Martin's Somebody/Nobody at Arizona Theatre Company, 12 Minutes Max at On the Boards, and in readings for the Icicle Creek Theatre Festival, TheFilmSchool, and Short Stories Live at Town Hall. Martin is the voice of Samus Aran in Nintendo's Metroid: Other M. She is a graduate of the University of Washington with degrees in drama and psychology. www.jessicaerinmartin.com

Carrie Paff (PHYLLIS NIRLINGER) is thrilled to return to San Jose Rep where she has also been seen in Legacy of Light, A Picasso, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (a co-production with Arizona Theatre Company), and The Haunting of Winchester. Regional credits include Tiny Alice and A Streetcar Named Desire at Marin Theatre Company; After the War at A.C.T. in San Francisco; A Delicate Balance, Collapse,Small Tragedy and Betrayal at Aurora Theatre Company; and Joan Rivers - A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and London's Leicester Square Theatre. Film work includes Love & Taxes, Presque Isle, Opal, This is Macbeth, and This is Hamlet. She holds a master's degree in educational theater from New York University and is the co-founder of StageWrite, Building Literacy through Theatre. www.carriepaff.com

Mark Anderson Phillips (NINO/JACKSON/NORTON) is pleased to be back at San Jose Rep, where he was most recently seen in San Jose Rep's 50-minute version of A Christmas Carol as part of the ArtSPARK program. Additional San Jose Rep performances include The Weir, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and Major Barbara. His other work includes roles with A.C.T. in San Francisco, Magic Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, TheatreWorks, Aurora Theatre, SF Playhouse, Marin Theatre Company, Arizona Theatre Company, and California Shakespeare Theater. Phillips has appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Joan Rivers - A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress) and the New York International Fringe Festival (Abraham Lincoln's Big, Gay Dance Party), which won Best of Fringe. He is the recipient of three Bay Area Critics Circle Awards for best performance in a leading role.www.markandersonphillips.com
Richard Ziman (KEYES/NIRLINGER) is appearing on the San Jose Rep stage for the first time. His A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) credits include Das Barbecü,Stuff Happens, The Underpants, Mitzi's Abortion, Born Yesterday, Polish Joke,Grand Magic, and A Christmas Carol. Ziman most recently appeared as Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1 and Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers for Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and earlier this year as Claudius in Hamlet for Seattle Shakespeare Company. Other work includes Rounding Third at Intiman Theatre; Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 and Richard III at Seattle Shakespeare Company; and The Gypsy King and The Importance of Being Earnest for Village Theatre. A graduate of The Julliard School, Ziman is also a core member of Endangered Species Project and The Sandbox Artists Collective. www.richardziman.com.

Artistic Collaborators
James M. Cain (AUTHOR) one of the creators of the roman noir genre began his career as a police reporter for The Baltimore Sun and was a protégé of the famous critic H. L. Mencken. As a journalist born and raised on the East Coast, he contributed to The Atlantic, The Nation, The New York World, American Mercury, and became the managing editor of The New Yorker magazine before moving to Hollywood in 1930. Though he tried his hand at both play and screenwriting, Cain found his true voice and fame as a crime novelist and short story writer. Best known for his novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, Cain is also the author of Serenade, MildrEd Pierce, Sinful Woman, The Moth,Rainbow's End, and Past All Dishonor, among others. Double Indemnity, his second novel, was first published in serial form in Liberty Magazine in 1943. Cain died at the age of 85 in 1977.

David Pichette (PLAYWRIGHT/ADAPTER) has been seen at San Jose Rep as Nixon in Nixon's Nixon (both the original offering and the 10-year anniversary production), Nicola in Arms and the Man, Felix in Odd Couple, and Ivan in 'ART.' A Northwest native, Pichette appears regularly at all the major theatres in Seattle. Recent performances include his ninth Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Andrew Wyke in Sleuth, Polonius in Hamlet, Voltaire/Dr. Pangloss in Candide, and Captain Hook in Peter Pan. He shares a life-long love of noir crime fiction with his writing partner, R. Hamilton Wright. Their next collaboration is an adaptation of Hound of the Baskervilles, commissioned by the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

R. Hamilton Wright (PLAYWRIGHT/ADAPTER) is a native of Seattle and has been a professional actor for over thirty-five years. His previous work at San Jose Rep was in 2008 as director on Souvenir with Mark Anders and Patti Cohenour and as Henry Jekyll in Jeffery Hatcher's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Anna Bullard, Stephen D'Ambrose, Alan Kaiser, Carrie Paff, Danielle Perata, Mark Anderson Phillips, and Ken Ruta. He is thrilled that Double Indemnity is having its co-premiere in San Jose.

Kurt Beattie (DIRECTOR) has been the artistic director at A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) since 2003. Beattie's past productions at ACT include In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; The Lieutenant of Inishmore; Rock 'n' Roll; Becky's New Car; Intimate Exchanges; First Class; The Pillowman; Mitzi's Abortion; The Underpants; Vincent in Brixton; Bach at Leipzig; Black Coffee; Alki; Fuddy Meers; Fully Committed; Via Dolorosa; and A Christmas Carol. Elsewhere he has directed Things Being What They Are and, 'ART,' at Seattle Repertory Theatre, as well as productions at The Empty Space Theatre, Intiman Theatre, the Hugo House, and the University of Washington. As an actor, he has appeared in leading and major roles at ACT, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, and The Empty Space Theatre. Beattie was the co-recipient of the 2004 Theatre Puget Sound Gregory A. Falls Sustained Achievement Award.

Thomas Lynch (SCENIC DESIGNER) Broadway credits include A Raisin in the Sun; Contact; The Music Man (Tony Award® nomination); Having Our Say; Swing!; The Heidi Chronicles (Tony Award® nomination); Ah, Wilderness!; andTintypes. Off-Broadway credits include Wendy Wasserstein's Third, See What I Wanna See, A Woman Before a Glass (OBIE Award), Valhalla, Richard Nelson's Madame Melville, Christopher Durang's Laughing Wild and Betty's Summer Vacation (OBIE Award), and Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy. Lynch designs for all major regional theatres and with directors including Daniel Sullivan, Robert Falls, Kyle Donnelly, Richard Nelson, Stephen Wadsworth, and Emily Mann. Opera credits include Rodelinda and the upcoming Iphigenie en Tauride (Metropolitan Opera), The Ring Cycle (Seattle Opera), Alcina (Covent Garden), and A Quiet Place (Vienna Staatsoper).

Annie Smart (COSTUME DESIGNER) returns to San Jose Rep where her work was last seen in The Weir. Smart is originally from London where she designed sets and costumes for The Royal Court Theatre, Joint Stock Theatre Group, and The National Theatre amongst others. Now resident in the Bay Area, her work includes The Threepenny Opera, A Doll's House, and Night and Day at A.C.T. in San Francisco; The Tempest, Man and Superman, An Ideal Husband, Private Lives, The Pastures of Heaven, and Candida at California Shakespeare Theater; Brooklyn Boy, Theophilus North,Auctioning the Ainsleys, and [title of show] for TheatreWorks; and for Berkeley Repertory Theatre: Big Love, Suddenly Last Summer; To The Lighthouse; Heartbreak House; Fêtes de la Nuit; Taking Over (also The Public Theater, NY); Yellowjackets; Passing Strange; Tiny Kushner (also at The Tricycle Theatre, London); Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West; In The Next Room, or the vibrator play (also the Lyceum Theatre, NY); Three Sisters; and more. She currently teaches costume and set design at University of California, Berkeley.

Rick Paulsen (LIGHTING DESIGNER) Paulsen's past San Jose Rep productions include Souvenir, The Underpants, Rounding Third, A Flea in Her Ear, and others. Based in Seattle, he has lit over 50 shows at A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) including First Class, Vincent in Brixton, Fiction, The Trip to Bountiful, Lonely Planet, Becky's New Car, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, last season's Yankee Tavern, as well as The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue. Paulsen's work has appeared all around the Seattle area and across the nation. Some recent works of note include The Borrowers and The Brementown Musicians at Seattle Children's Theatre, as well as Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse at Childsplay and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe at Syracuse Stage. He is, most importantly, devoted to his wife Roberta and daughter Paige.

Brendan Patrick Hogan (SOUND DESIGNER) Double Indemnity is Hogan's 16th design for A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) and his first design for San Jose Rep. Favorite designs for ACT include Mary Stuart; Yankee Tavern; Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World; Rock 'n' Roll; Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde; The Lieutenant of Inishmore; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; and Below the Belt. Other designs and compositions for stage include RoboPop!, Titus, God's Ear, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom, Mr. Marmalade (Washington Ensemble Theatre); Demonology (Next Stage); Chamber Cymbeline (Seattle Shakespeare Company); and The River Why (Book-It Repertory Theatre). His music has also been featured in a video for Amnesty International. When not editing audio files in a dark room, Hogan performs with Seattle based bands Miss Mamie Lavona the Exotic Mulatta and Her White Boy Band and The Bad Things. He is married to actress Samara Lerman.

Adam Stern (COMPOSER) is currently the Music Director and Conductor of the Seattle Philharmonic and the Port Angeles Symphony. When not conducting, he is active as a pianist, composer, lecturer, writer, and teacher; he is currently on the faculty at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle where he teaches conducting and composition. Stern has written the incidental music for a handful of A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) productions over the years, includingThe Pillowman, Alki, The Red and the Black, and A Christmas Carol, the score of which has been heard at ACT every December since 1996. Adam is thrilled to be working with colleagues Kurt Beattie, R. Hamilton Wright, and David Pichette again on Double Indemnity.

Stephanie Schliemann (STAGE MANAGER) has worked on Spring Awakening, Love in American Times, The Dresser, and Ain't Misbehavin', among others, at San Jose Rep. Other local stage management credits include Flower Drum Song, Guys and Dolls, The King and I, Gypsy, and The Wizard of Oz at American Musical Theatre of San Jose;Orson's Shadow and The Last Schwartz at Marin Theatre Company; Le Nozze de Figaro and The Magic Flute at Opera San Jose; and Race, Marcus, The Tosca Project, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and At Home at the Zoo, among others, at American Conservatory Theater. She has also worked with Teatro ZinZanni and the Circus Center of San Francisco.

Kathleen J. Parsons (ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER) returns to San Jose Rep having most recently worked on the world premiere of Love in American Times. She also previously worked as the stage manager for Amy's View. Other companies she has worked for include The National Theatre of the Deaf, Access Theater, North Shore Music Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, The Pasadena Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Teatro ZinZanni, and the Rubicon Theatre Company. Ms. Parsons is also the production manager for the California InterNational Theatre Festival.

A Contemporary Theatre (CO-PRODUCER) Located in the heart of downtown Seattle and serving a population of curious, open-minded, and brave audiences, A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) is the only theatre in Seattle dedicated to producing contemporary work with promising playwrights and local performing artists since 1965. A theatre of new ideas, ACT serves as a cultural engine that makes plays, dance, music, and film that touch us. Because contemporary life demands examination, ACT is driven to inspire and strengthen our diverse community through works that advance our understanding of human life. With more than 100,000 people who attend shows annually, ACT is an interactive community where artists and the public witness, contemplate, and engage in dialogue on today's thought-provoking issues, ideas, and, art, presented with intelligence, insight, and humor.

About San Jose Rep:
San Jose Rep is the premier non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay, presenting six to seven main stage productions each year. Now in its 31st year as a major contributor to the South Bay's cultural community, San Jose Rep's mission is to engage, entertain and inspire people. San Jose Rep produces innovative theatrical performances that offer fresh perspectives into the human condition, educational programs that promote life-long learning, and outreach initiatives that benefit our diverse community. For more information, visit www.SJRep.com.