KING OF THE WILD FRONTIER to Star Joe Spano at New Vic Theatre
The staged reading by John Romano is directed by Jenny Sullivan with a post-show talk back planned.
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Ensemble Theatre Company will present a very special event, acclaimed actor Joe Spano starring in a staged reading of a new play, King Of The Wild Frontier by John Romano and directed by Jenny Sullivan. Joe Spano in King Of The Wild Frontier will perform one performance only with a post-show talk back featuring the creative team on, Sunday, August 30 at 2pm at the New Vic Theatre, 33 W. Victoria St. in Santa Barbara.
Set against the world of a New Jersey country club in the 1960s, King of the Wild Frontier is a richly layered, funny, suspenseful and deeply moving meditation on family, faith, organized crime and the moral choices that shape a life. Through the memories of a young man coming of age, Romano interweaves two stories: one involving a gifted golfer whose desperation leads him across an unspoken line, and another involving a Catholic school student whose faith is transformed by an encounter with authority. The stories converge in a haunting reflection on power, conscience and the hidden structures that hold a world together.
ABOUT Joe Spano
Joe Spano is one of America's most respected actors, with an extraordinary career spanning Broadway, regional theatre, film and television. He received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for 'Midnight Caller' and earned widespread acclaim as Lt. Henry Goldblume on 'Hill Street Blues.' For more than two decades, audiences have also known him as FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell on 'NCIS.'
His film credits include 'Apollo 13,' 'Primal Fear,' 'American Graffiti,' 'Hart's War,' 'Fracture' and 'Frost/Nixon.' On Broadway, he appeared opposite Eli Wallach in Arthur Miller's The Price. Locally he has performed at the Rubicon in A.R. Gurney's Ancestral Voices, Sylvia, Waiting for Godot, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Heisenberg and The Realistic Joneses.
ABOUT JOHN ROMANO (Playwright)
John Romano is an Emmy-nominated screenwriter, television writer and producer, playwright, novelist and essayist whose career bridges literature, theatre, film and television. His film credits include 'The Lincoln Lawyer,' 'Nights in Rodanthe,' 'Intolerable Cruelty,' and 'The Third Miracle.'
In television, Romano wrote for and produced some of the medium's most acclaimed dramatic series, including 'Hill Street Blues,' 'L.A. Law,' 'Monk,' 'Party of Five,' 'Third Watch,' 'Banshee' and 'Hell on Wheels.' He received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for writing the final episode of 'Hill Street Blues.'
Before moving to Los Angeles to join 'Hill Street Blues,' Romano taught English at Columbia University, wrote the literary study Dickens and Reality, and was a frequent book reviewer for The New York Times. He is also a contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books and a member of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities.
ABOUT Jenny Sullivan (Director)
Jenny Sullivan is an award-winning director and longtime Artistic Associate of Rubicon Theatre Company. She has directed more than twenty productions for Rubicon, including Our Town, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Nazi Hunter - Simon Wiesenthal, Doubt, Hamlet, Art, Dancing at Lughnasa and Old Wicked Songs, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Joe Spano, earning multiple Indy Awards and an Ovation Award nomination.
Her directing credits also include productions at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Laguna Playhouse, Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara, The Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, Theatre 40, The Falcon Theatre and Off-Broadway. She directed the world premiere of Jane Anderson's The Baby Dance at Pasadena Playhouse, followed by productions at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Long Wharf Theatre and the Lucille Lortel Theatre Off-Broadway. Sullivan's film credits include 'Access All Areas' and 'The Next Best Thing.'
TICKET INFORMATION
King Of The Wild Frontier will perform on Sunday, August 30, 2026 at 2pm at The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria Street in Santa Barbara with a post-show talk back with the creative team following the performance.Ticket prices are $50.00 (show only) & $100 (which includes a VIP Reception).For more information, visit www.etcsb.org or call 805-965-5400.
ABOUT ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY
Ensemble Theatre Company, a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), is Santa Barbara's sole professional Equity theater company. ETC is committed to producing the highest professional quality theater in Santa Barbara, employing accomplished professional actors and stage managers. ETC has been home to several world, American and West Coast premieres and has received recognition and accolades throughout its enduring history, including being recognized in an Equity theater company by the Actors' Equity Association, the labor union for American actors and state managers. As the sole professional Equity theatre company in Santa Barbara, ETC brings a wide range of accomplished theatrical professionals to the region.
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