GOOD PEOPLE to Open Park Square's 2013-14 Season, Begin. 9/13

Park Square opens its season September 2013 with David Lindsay-Abaire's comedy, GOOD PEOPLE. The play received the 2011 Tony Award for Best Play as well as rave reviews across the country. Its recent run at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater was extended.

The themes of the play are embodied in the characters of out-of-work Margie and Mike, a guy she dated briefly in high school who is now a successful doctor. Both of them were born and grew up in South Boston - 'Southie' - a neighborhood rife with low incomes and broken families. Mike believes that he got out of Southie due to his own skills and initiative. Margie, on the other hand, can only point out how many lucky breaks Mike has had but prefers to ignore. How much of their circumstances are due to choice versus chance? If someone gets out of Southie, is it due to good luck, or to innate ambition and talent? Underneath it all, does it matter if they are "good people" - kindly, decent and helpful toward others?

"We've got a top-notch cast waiting to sink their teeth into these parts," says director Joel Sass. Margie will be played by Virginia Burke, who wowed audiences in Park Square's production of August: Osage County and Mike will be played by James Denton, famous as hunky plumber Mike Delfino on Desperate Housewives, in his Park Square and Minnesota stage debut. "I'm looking forward to working with James Denton. Before his television work, James was a very active fixture in the Chicago small theater scene, and his enthusiasm for digging back into live theater is infectious."

Circumstances and money may separate Margie and Mike, but their worth as individuals is infinitely more difficult to calculate. Old wounds of the heart and the new sting of their very different socio-economic classes fuel both laughs and tears. "I'm a sucker for great writing, and David Lindsay-Abaire's script is one of the best in recent years: funny, pungent, lively and thought-provoking," says Joel Sass. "He writes incredibly strong roles for women-they are fully human, flesh-and-blood, who provoke you to laugh with their humor and gasp at utterances that cut to the bone. I think the entire audience will recognize and empathize with the main character Margaret, a single mother desperate to land a job in a bad economy."

In addition to Burke and Denton, Designer/Director Joel Sass has lined up a crack cast: Angela Timberman (The Sisters Rosensweig, Painting Churches) plays Margie's neighbor and sidekick, Jean. Hope Cervantes (A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Odyssey) is Mike's young wife. Jane Hammill (To Kill a Mockingbird) delights as the aptly named Dottie, and Samuel Finnegan Pearson makes his Park Square debut as Stevie, Margie's young boss at the Dollar Store.

GOOD PEOPLE's production team includes Andrea M. Gross (Costume Designer), Sarah Holmberg (Properties Designer), and Michael P. Kittel (Lighting Designer). Megan West is stage manager.

Performance Schedule: Previews begin September 13 and run through September 19. Friday, September 20 is Opening Night, and the run continues through October 6. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. except for Sunday performances, which begin at 2 p.m. All performances are in the company's intimate 348-seat theater in Saint Paul's historic Hamm Building, 20 W. Seventh Place.

Ticket prices: Previews: $25 and $35. Regular Run: $38 and $58. Discounts are available for seniors, those under age 30, and groups. Tickets are on sale at the Park Square box office, 20 W. Seventh Place, or by phone: 651.291.7005, (12 noon-5 p.m. Monday through Friday), or online at www.parksquaretheatre.org.