Sean Grennan's NOW AND THEN Makes World Premire at Peninsula Players Theatre's 83rd Season Opener

Peninsula Players Theatre, America's Oldest Professional Resident Summer Theatre and Door County's theatrical icon, opened its 83rd season June 12 with the world première of "Now and Then" by Sean Grennan, a new comedy-drama featuring Erica Elam, Sean Fortunato, Barbara Robertson and Greg Vinkler, the Peninsula Players Artistic Director. The cast is under the direction of Tom Mula who directed the world première of Grennan's "The Tin Woman" and "Making God Laugh."

"Now and Then" performs Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7:30 p.m. except for the closing matinee performance July 1 at 4 p.m.

This touching, funny and fanciful story which centers on Jamie, an aspiring pianist, his girlfriend Abby and a mysterious older gentleman who offers them $1,000 each to talk with him for an hour. Their ensuing conversation changes their lives.
"It is, at the end, very much a love story," playwright Sean Grennan said. "It kind of asks us what is love worth in our lives? What is it worth going through for love? Are we destined to be with certain people?"

Working as a book writer and lyricist, he collaborated with composer Leah Okimoto on the musicals "Married Alive!," "A Dog's Life" and "Another Night Before Christmas," all of which premièred at Kansas City's American Heartland Theatre. Two of playwright Grennan's plays, "Beer for Breakfast" and "As Long as we Both Shall Live" premièred at AHT.

Grennan found a new artistic home at Peninsula Players when his "Making God Laugh" (2011) and "The Tin Woman" (2014), made their world premieres. Both have gone on to have very full lives elsewhere. There have been more than 85 productions of "Making God Laugh" all over the United States, Canada and Latvia. Since it premiered "The Tin Woman" has been produced more than 32 times around the U.S., as well as in England.

"As with the other shows I've done there, and all my shows at other places, really, I will be there at all rehearsals and I will be rewriting as we go," Grennan said. "I do go through some paper and printer ink... I've not often created whole new scenes for things, as I usually have the event structure pretty close but I firmly believe in the maxim 'writing is rewriting.' Tom Mula (the director) has generously given me some gem ideas to go back to my room and execute. And at a certain point in the process, the actors know the show better than I do and have great suggestions or can at least let me know where it feels wrong. This cast is a bunch of stone-cold killers that I'm thrilled and honored to have, so I'm sure we'll be doing all of that as we go."

Peninsula Players veteran actor and director Tom Mula directed both of Grennan's premières at the Players productions and once again helms the director's chair for the world première of "Now and Then." Peninsula Players' Artistic Director Greg Vinkler is cast as the older gentleman. Vinkler was a member of the Broadway cast of the Tony Award-winning revival of "West Side Story" and has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Barbican Theatre in London, Vienna's English Theatre and Singapore Rep.