Blum, Friedman et al. Lead AFTER THE REVOLUTION at Playwrights Horizons, 10/21 - 11/9

By: Sep. 21, 2010
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Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced complete casting for the New York premiere of AFTER THE REVOLUTION, a new play by Amy Herzog (Missed Connections, 508 at Ars Nova, Hungry at EST). Directed by Carolyn Cantor (Essential Self-Defense at PH, Pumpgirl, Orange Water Flower), the production will begin previews Thursday, October 21 at 7:30 PM. With an Opening Night set for Tuesday, November 9 at 7PM, the limited engagement will play through Sunday, November 28 at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street). AFTER THE REVOLUTION will be the second production of the theater company's 40th Anniversary Season.

The cast will feature Obie Award winner Mark Blum (Gus & Al, Table Settings at Playwrights Horizons, Broadway's Twelve Angry Men, "The Good Wife"), Tony Award nominee and Obie and Drama Desk winner Peter Friedman (Ragtime, PH's Circle Mirror Transformation, The Heidi Chronicles), Meredith Holzman (Los Angeles, Screen Play, JABU all at The Flea), David Margulies (The Perfect Party at PH, Primary Stages' Chasing Manet, Neil Mink on "The Sopranos"), Katharine Powell (The Farnsworth Invention on Broadway, The Voysey Inheritance at The Atlantic), two-time Tony Award nominee Lois Smith (Buried Child and The Grapes of Wrath, plus 100 Saints You Should Know at PH, "True Blood," "Desperate Housewives"), Elliot Villar (Coraline at MCC, The Brothers Size at The Public) and Academy Award and Emmy Award winner Mare Winningham (Georgia, "George Wallace," 10 Million Miles at The Atlantic). The production reunites the complete, acclaimed cast from this summer's World Premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival.

In AFTER THE REVOLUTION, the brilliant, promising Emma Joseph (Ms. Powell) proudly carries the torch of her family's Marxist tradition, devoting her life to the memory of her blacklisted grandfather. But when history reveals a shocking truth about the man himself, the entire family is forced to confront questions of honesty and allegiance they thought had been resolved. AFTER THE REVOLUTION is a bold and moving portrait of an American family, thrown into an intergenerational tailspin, forced to reconcile a thorny and delicate legacy.

The production will feature scenic design by Clint Ramos, costume design by Kaye Voyce, lighting design by Ben Stanton and sound design by Fitz Patton. Production Stage Manager is Hannah Cohen.

AFTER THE REVOLUTION had its World Premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival, opening on July 22, 2010 and playing a limited engagement through August 1, 2010. Variety hailed the play as, "A smart, funny and provocative play. Written with an extraordinary balance of insight, humor and surprise, it's totally engaging. This terrific production, featuring a dream ensemble, is guided with an expert hand by helmer Carolyn Cantor. The cast couldn't be better. AFTER THE REVOLUTION will have audiences talking not only about the issues it raises, but also its compelling and complex characters and the choices they face." (Frank Rizzo)

The performance schedule for AFTER THE REVOLUTION will be Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30 PM, Saturdays at 2PM & 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2PM & 7PM. Single tickets, $55, may be purchased online via www.TicketCentral.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily), or in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues). There are special added Monday evening performances on November 8 and 22, both at 7:30 PM.

A ticketing initiative created as part of Playwrights Horizons' Arts Access program, LIVEforFIVE makes available $5 tickets for the first preview performance of each Playwrights Horizons production through a lottery via the company's website. The LIVEforFIVE lottery for AFTER THE REVOLUTION will be for tickets to the first preview on Thursday, October 21 at 7:30 PM. Details for the lottery are as follows: beginning Wednesday, October 13 at 10 AM, theatergoers can enter the lottery by filling out an entry form at www.playwrightshorizons.org. Entries will be accepted until Monday, October 18 at 12 Noon. Winners of the lottery will be notified via email no later than 3:00 PM on Monday, October 18 with instructions on how to book their $5 tickets. Unclaimed tickets will be offered via email starting at 12 Noon on Tuesday, October 19 on a first-come, first-served basis. One or two tickets may be purchased for $5 each. A total of 40 tickets will be available for Sharp shows via the lottery.

Reflecting Playwrights Horizons' ongoing commitment to making its productions more affordable to younger audiences, the theater company will offer HOTtix, $20 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before showtime to patrons aged 30 and under. Proof of age required. One ticket per person, per purchase. STUDENT RUSH, $15 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before curtain to full-time graduate and undergraduate students. One ticket per person, per purchase. Valid student ID required.

LIVEforFIVE, HOTtix and STUDENT RUSH are some of Playwrights Horizons' popular Arts Access initiatives, which allow the institution to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket. This program is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The McGraw-Hill Companies and the Elroy and Terry Krumholz Foundation.

Special Post-Performance Discussions with members of the creative team will take place immediately after the following three performances: Friday evening, October 22 at 7:30 PM, Wednesday evening, October 27 at 7:30 PM and Sunday matinee, October 31 at 2PM.

Playwrights Horizons' season productions are generously supported by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Playwrights Horizons is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New
York State Assembly and the New York State Senate. In addition, Playwrights Horizons receives major support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Time Warner Inc., the Charina Endowment Fund and the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation.

Additional casting for the 2010/2011 Season will be announced in the coming months.

For subscription and ticket information to all Playwrights Horizons productions, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, Noon to 8 pm daily, or purchase online at the Playwrights Horizons website at www.playwrightshorizons.org.

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Amy Herzog (Playwright) received the 2008 Helen Merrill Award for Aspiring Playwrights. She recently completed commissions for the Yale Repertory Theatre and the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and her play After the Revolution was initially produced at Williamstown this past summer 2010. Her other plays have been produced at Ensemble Studio Theater, American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, The Williamstown Theater Festival, The Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Yale School of Drama; she has had readings and workshops at Manhattan Theater Club, New York Stage and Film, Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., The Black Dahlia in Los Angeles, The Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, and the Juilliard School, among others. She performed her solo play, Love Song in Two Voices, at the Huntington Theater/A.R.T.'s "Emerging America" Festival in May. Her short works, 508 and Christmas Present will be included in forthcoming anthologies published by Applause Books and Vintage. Amy is an alumna of Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theater, a member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, a Fellow at The Playwrights' Realm, and the Playwright in Residence at Ars Nova. She teaches Playwriting at Bryn Mawr College. MFA in Playwriting, Yale School of Drama.

Carolyn Cantor (Director) directed Adam Rapp's Essential Self-Defense at Playwrights Horizons. Other New York: Pumpgirl (Manhattan Theatre Club); In A Dark Dark House (MCC Theater); Something You Did (Primary Stages); Orange Flower Water (Time Out-NY 10 Best of the Year), Now That's What I Call A Storm, Living Room in Africa, Stone Cold Dead Serious (New York Times 10 Best of the Year) and Life is a Dream (Edge Theater); EVE-olution (Cherry Lane); and Kitty Kitty Kitty (SPF). Regional: The Violet Hour (Old Globe), Rabbit Hole (Geffen Garland Award), Diary of Anne Frank (Paper Mill), Not Waving and King Stag (both Williamstown Theatre Festival), Vera Laughed and Get What You Need (both NYS&F), After Ashley and Finer Noble Gases (both Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference) and Nocturne (Ojai Playwrights Conference). Film/TV: The Green Room (Bravo) and Bravo Profiles: Roger Ebert. Carolyn has received the Garson Kanin-Marion Seldes Award from the American Theatre Wing, both the Boris Sagal and Bill Foeller Fellowships from the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and a Drama League Directing Fellowship. She is the founding artistic director of the Obie Award-winning Edge Theater and a graduate of Dartmouth College.

Mark Blum (Leo) returns to Playwrights Horizons having previously appeared in Gus & Al (Obie Award), Table Settings, Say Goodnight Gracie and Little Footsteps. Broadway: Twelve Angry Men, The Graduate, A Thousand Clowns, The Best Man, Lost in Yonkers, My Thing of Love, The Merchant. Off-Broadway: The Singing Forest (Public); Mourning Becomes Electra, The Music Teacher (New Group); Buffalo Gal (Primary Stages); The Overwhelming (Roundabout); The Long Christmas Ride Home (Vineyard); The Waverly Gallery (Promenade); Mizlansky/Zilinsky (MTC). Film: Step-Up 3D, Shattered Glass, Getting To Know You, You Can Thank Me Later, Stag, Miami Rhapsody, Worth Winning, The Presidio, Blind Date, ‘Crocodile' Dundee, Just Between Friends, Desperately Seeking Susan, Lovesick. TV: "The Good Wife," "Jesse Stone," "Fringe," "CSI: Miami," "Law & Order," "L&O: Criminal Intent," "The Practice," "Ed," "The Judge", "The West Wing," "The Sopranos," "Frasier," "NYPD Blue," "Indictment: The McMartin Trial" (HBO), "Capital News" (series regular), "Sweet Surrender" (series regular).

Peter Friedman (Ben) originated the role of Tateh in the musical Ragtime in Toronto, as well as on Broadway (Outer Critics Circle Award, Tony and Drama Desk nominations). He last appeared at Playwrights Horizons in Circle Mirror Transformation (Obie, Drama Desk awards) and also appeared in the original 1988 production of Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles (Drama Desk Award nomination, also Broadway). Other original New York productions include Annie Baker's Body Awareness (Drama Desk Award nomination), Simon Gray's The Common Pursuit (Drama Desk Award nomination), Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play, C.P. Taylor's And a Nightingale Sang and Emily Mann's Execution of Justice. He's also appeared in New York in Twelve Angry Men (Roundabout), The Tenth Man, The Loman Family Picnic, My Old Lady and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (Encores!). His films include Spinning into Butter, Safe, Single White Female and Paycheck. On television he was a performer on "The Muppet Show" and a regular on "Brooklyn Bridge."

Meredith Holzman (Jess). New York: the world premiere of Julian Sheppard's Los Angeles (dir. Adam Rapp), Ashley Montana..., the world premiere of A.R. Gurney's Screen Play (dir. Jim Simpson), JABU (Flea Theater); Never the Sinner (Woodshed Collective), The Impotent General (Brick Theater), The Violence Project (La Mama). Regional: As it is in Heaven (Opera House Arts); Lysistrata, Ten Blocks on the Camino Real, Snow White, The After-Dinner Joke (Hangar Theatre); Street Scene, The Bluebird (Williamstown). Graduate of NYU.

David Margulies (Morty). Broadway: Wonderful Town, Angels in America, Conversations With My Father, Brighton Beach Memoirs, 45 Seconds From Broadway, West Side Waltz, Comedians, Zalman or the Madness of God, The Iceman Cometh, among others. Other Theater includes: Chasing Manet (Primary Stages), The Accomplices (New Group; 2007 Richard Seff Award); The Price, Rocket to the Moon, She Stoops to Conquer (Long Wharf); All That I Will Ever Be (NYTW; 2007 Richard Seff Award); The Happy Time (Signature, VA); A Thousand Clowns (Roundabout); Hamlet (McCarter); Hysteria (Mark Taper); The Rivals (Hartford Stage). Film: Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2, Ace Ventura Pet Detective, Dressed to Kill, All That Jazz, Running on Empty, A Jersey Tale, Celebrity, 9 1/2 Weeks, among others. TV: Neil Mink on "The Sopranos," "Law & Order," "Northern Exposure," "NYPD Blue," "Chicago Hope."

Katharine Powell (Emma). Broadway: The Farnsworth Invention. Off-Broadway: Election Day, The Water's Edge (Second Stage); The Voysey Inheritance (Atlantic); Smashing (Play Company). Regional: Happy Now? (Yale Rep.), The Farnsworth Invention (La Jolla), A Midsummer Night's Dream (ART), The Three Sisters (ACT). Film: The Girl in the Park, Oranges, The Baxter. TV: "Guiding Light," "Out of Practice," "Without a Trace." Education: MFA, NYU; BA, Brown University.

Lois Smith (Vera) previously appeared at Playwrights Horizons in 100 Saints You Should Know. For her performance in Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful (originally at Signature Theatre) she received Obie, Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Kingsley-Evans and Joseph Jefferson awards. Broadway credits include The Grapes of Wrath (Tony nomination), Buried Child (Tony nomination), Time Out for Ginger (debut), The Young and Beautiful, The Iceman Cometh and Orpheus Descending (original production). She has a long history with Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater, where she first worked in 1988 and became a Steppenwolf Ensemble Member in 1993. She's a longtime member of The Actors Studio and has appeared in many plays both Off-Broadway and regionally. Her many films include her debut in East of Eden with James Dean and Five Easy Pieces (National Society of Film Critics Award) with Jack Nicholson. Her television work spans live television plays ("Miss Julie," "The Master Builder"), series (Adele on "True Blood," Allison on "Desperate Housewives"), series guest appearances ("Grey's Anatomy," "Frasier," "Law & Order") and HBO films ("Truman," "The Laramie Project").

Elliot Villar (Miguel). New York: The Age of Iron (Classic Stage), Coraline (Manhattan Class Co.), The Brothers Size (Public Theater), A Midsummer Night's Dream (New York Shakespeare Festival/Delacorte Theater), El Amor de Don Perlimplin con Belisa en su Jardín (Repertorio Español), I'm with Mauricio (INTAR Theatre), Playing House (HERE Arts Center). Regional: Boleros for the Disenchanted (Huntington Theatre Co.); The Brothers Size (Studio Theatre); All's Well That Ends Well (Yale Rep.); The Winter's Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III (Shakespeare Theatre Co.); The Winter's Tale, Othello (Colorado Shakespeare Festival). Film: The Rebound, Two Lovers. TV: "Mercy," "Law & Order," "The Beautiful Life," "The Return of Jezebel James." Education: MFA, Yale School of Drama (Oliver Thorndike Acting Award); BA, Vassar College.

Mare Winningham (Mel) earned an Academy Award nomination, as well as a Screen Actors Guild nomination and an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in the film Georgia. She most recently appeared Off-Broadway in 10 Million Miles at The Atlantic Theater, earning a Lucille Lortel Award and a Drama Desk nomination. Regional: Bonnie & Clyde (La Jolla), The Glass Menagerie (Old Globe), Side Man (Pasadena Playhouse), Hurlyburly (Geffen Playhouse), The Genius (Mark Taper Forum). Her many other film credits include Brothers, Swing Vote, The War, Wyatt Earp, Turner & Hooch, Miracle Mile, St. Elmo's Fire. Her extensive television work includes "MildrEd Pierce," "The Maldonado Miracle" (Emmy Award nomination), "George Wallace" (Emmy Award; Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations), "The Boys Next Door" (Emmy Award nomination), "HallMark Hall of Fame: Love Is Never Silent" (Emmy Award nomination), "Amber Waves" (Emmy Award nomination), "Grey's Anatomy," "Clubhouse" and "The Brotherhood of Poland, NH."

 



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