Casting Announced For Seattle Rep's LAST OF THE BOYS

Seattle Repertory Theatre today announced complete ensemble casting for its production of renowned Seattle playwright Steven Dietz's Last of the Boys, an emotional story of the Vietnam War's complex legacy. We meet Ben - he lives off-the-grid in his trailer in the California Central Valley, haunted by the memories of his service during the Vietnam War. His self-imposed exile is disrupted by the arrival of Ben's old war buddy, Jeeter, with his new girlfriend and her volatile mother in tow. Intimate, funny, and fierce, Last of the Boys delves into a veteran's struggle to understand his troubled past, which threatens to swallow him whole. Last of the Boys will be directed by Seattle Rep Artistic Director Braden Abraham and runs January 18 - February 10, 2019 (opening night is January 23) on the Bagley Wright stage. Single tickets are on sale now (starting at $17) and are available through the Seattle Rep Box Office at 206.443.2222 or online at SeattleRep.org.

Steven Dietz is "one of America's most successful, prolific living dramatists" (The Seattle Times, 2018), and he has deep roots in the Seattle theatre community. With works developed and produced at ACT Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, and a recent production at West of Lenin in Fremont (Lonely Planet), Last of the Boys marks the return of Dietz's work to the Seattle Rep stage. Dietz's adaptation of Over the Moon was produced at the Rep in 2003. Deitz spent the past decade splitting time between Seattle and Austin, Texas. He taught playwriting and directing at the University of Texas while also adding to his play arsenal, producing more than 10 scripts during his tenure, one of which was the potent and shattering war story, Last of the Boys, first produced in 2004.

"I'm certainly no expert on Vietnam or the Sixties, but I believe that era continues to haunt the American experience in deeply insidious ways," Dietz commented. "The people at the center of that cultural and political moment, whether Kennedy or Johnson or McNamara or Dylan or the Beatles, they all still have complex significance and resonance today. So, perhaps every writer and artist is drawn to this kind of resonance, the power of a singular moment in time. All I know is that I started out writing a play about Robert McNamara with my left hand, while at the same time trying to write a play about the depth and failure of a male friendship with my right hand. The war in Vietnam - which made the Sixties not just transitional but incendiary - turned out to be the thing that was powerful enough to make those two plays collide. The result was Last of the Boys."

The complete cast of Last of the Boys features: Reginald André Jackson (Two Trains Running, Well), Emily Chisholm (Pride and Prejudice, Outside Mullingar), Kate Wisniewski, Josh Kenji, and Kevin Anderson (ABC's "Nothing Sacred," Orphans, Sleeping with the Enemy, Sunset Boulevard).

The creative team for Last of The Boys includes G.W. Mercier (set and costume designer), Ben Zamora (lighting designer), and Victoria Deiorio (sound designer).

Steven Dietz's 30-plus plays and adaptations have been seen at over 100 regional theatres in the U.S., as well as Off-Broadway. International productions have been seen in over 20 countries, including recently in Brazil, Thailand, South Africa, Estonia, and Iran. Previously at Seattle Rep: Over the Moon (2003) and Private Eyes (1998). Recent world premieres include Bloomsday (Steinberg New Play Award Citation) at ACT, and This Random World (Humana Festival of New American Plays) at Actor's Theatre at Louisville. Other recent Seattle projects include Lonely Planetat West of Lenin, On Clover Road at Seattle Public, and Go Dog Go! at SCT. Dietz's interlocking companion plays for adult and youth audiences (The Great Beyond and The Ghost of Splinter Cove) will premiere in Charlotte, NC this spring. Currently a Dramatists Guild "Traveling Master," Dietz teaches workshops in playwriting, collaboration and story-making across the U.S. He and his wife, playwright Allison Gregory, divide their time between Seattle and Austin.

Braden Abraham serves as Artistic Director at Seattle Repertory Theatre where he has also directed many productions including: Ibsen in Chicago, Well, Luna Gale, A View From the Bridge, The Comparables, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and A Great Wilderness. Other productions include: The Glass Menagerie; Clybourne Park; and the critically acclaimed, extended runs of Photograph 51; My Name is Rachel Corrie (U.S. regional premiere); and Betrayal. Braden directed the West Coast premieres of This (Seattle Rep), The K of D, an urban legend (Seattle Rep, Pistol Cat, FringeNYC, Illusion Theatre), Opus (Seattle Rep), and White Hot (Marxiano Productions/West of Lenin). Other premieres include: Riddled (Richard Hugo House); Clear Blue Sky (On the Boards/Northwest New Works); Breakin' Hearts and Takin' Names (Seattle Rep); The Ten Thousand Things (Washington Ensemble Theatre); and Kuwait (Theatre Schmeater). Braden has developed new work with Seattle Rep, Denver Theatre Center, On the Boards, The O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Portland Center Stage, and The Playwrights Center. Member of SDC.

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