Park Square Continues 42nd Season with THE REALISTIC JONESES

By: Sep. 12, 2016
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Park Square continues its 42nd season on the Andy Boss Thrust Stage with the area premiere of Will Eno's captivating comic drama The Realistic Joneses. Upon his debut on the national scene with his Off-Broadway smash and Pulitzer Prize-finalist Thom Pain (based on nothing), The New York Times proclaimed Eno "a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation." In the decade since, Eno has become one of America's most daring and influential playwrights.

Director and set designer Joel Sass, says Eno's characters "are particularly verbal, but they also speak in a series a of interlocking non sequiturs, riddles, mundane observations, and wry, sly, witty repartee, which will be particularly exciting for audiences who are new to his work."

Meet Bob and Jennifer and their new neighbors, John and Pony, two suburban couples who have even more in common than their identical homes and their shared last names. As their relationships begin to irrevocably intertwine, the Joneses must decide between their idyllic fantasies and their imperfect realities. "For a while I wanted to write a play about mortality," Eno said in an interview last year. "When you think about mortality, you think about how you want to live every day ... Trying to write and think about people with compassion, you come to realize there's no bad way to deal with some huge awesome unknowable mystery."

As the play opens, a seemingly ordinary couple enjoy the twilight and each other's company in their backyard, until the quiet is literally and figuratively shattered by the appearance of their new neighbors. As the four get to know each other, they discover how radically different but how strikingly similar they are, as they struggle in the face of illness and mortality. The mysterious beauty of resilience and endurance shines through the existential crisis of four companions who need one another.

JC Cutler* and Angela Timberman* play Bob and Jennifer Jones, and Eric "Pogi" Sumangil* and Jane Froiland play their new neighbors, the other Joneses.

The production team for The Realistic Joneses includes Cole Bylander (Costume Designer), Mike P. Kittel (Lighting Designer), C Andrew Mayer (Sound Designer), and Abbee Warmboe (Properties Designer).

The Realistic Joneses Performance Schedule: Previews begin Friday, September 23, and continue through Thursday, September 29. September 30 is Opening Night, and the run continues through October 16. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. except forSaturday and Sunday matinees, which begin at 2 p.m. All performances are on the company's Andy Boss Thrust Stage in Saint Paul's historic Hamm Building, 408 St. Peter Street, Saint Paul.

Ticket prices: Previews: $27 and $37. Regular Run: $40 and $60. Discounts are available for seniors, military personnel, those under age 30, and groups. Tickets are on sale at the Park Square ticket office, or by phone: 651.291.7005, (12 noon to 5 p.m.Tuesday through Friday), or online at www.parksquaretheatre.org.

*Member, Actors Equity Association



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