Shanley's Chain of Command has Longer Run at Vassar

By: Jun. 23, 2005
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New York Stage & Film and Vassar have made some changes in the schedule of the previously-announced Chain of Command by 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winner John Patrick Shanley (Doubt), with the play moving from a special presentation slot on July 16th to a longer run from July 29th to 31st.  In addition, Academy Award-winner Chris Cooper has signed on to headline the show.

The production, which replaces the postponed staging of The Talk, will now be part of the Powerhouse Plays, and will receive an enhanced workshop.  Chain of Command is a drama about two officers who clash over an explosive incident; Cooper will play Lieutenant Littlefield.

Cooper received a 2003 Academy Award for his portrayal of an eccentric gardener in Adaptation.  He has also garnered nominations and awards for a number of other screen performances--a Screen Actor's Guild nod for Seabiscuit, an Emmy Award for HBO's My House in Umbria, and a Screen Actor's Guild Award for American Beauty.  Other film credits include Silver City, October Sky, Lone Star, The Horse Whisperer, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, A Time to Kill and This Boy's Life.  In 1980, he appeared on Broadway in Of the Fields, Lately, and other theatre credits include The Ballad of Soapy Smith and A Different Moon.

Shanley is the recipient of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony, Drama Desk, and Obie Awards for his play Doubt. Other full-length plays include Psychopathia Sexualis, Four Dogs and a Bone, The Big Funk, Women of Manhattan, Savage in Limbo, The Dreamer Examines His Pillow,  Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, and Welcome to the Moon. His script for Moonstruck won both the Writers Guild Award and an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He made his debut as a feature film director with his script Joe Versus the Volcano. He also wrote the screen adaptations of both Alive and Congo.  This is his 8th season at the Powerhouse.

The rest of the 21st Powerhouse Season will be held on the Vassar campus in Poughkeepsie from June 17 to July 31, 2005.  Highlights include: the presentation of 3 new original musicals in the Martel Theater, 5 workshops of plays with partial production values, allowing audiences an early look at developing scripts; 2 special presentations shown free to the public, and 2 festivals of developmental readings, with  classic plays in repertory, in free outdoor performances by the apprentice company rounding out the season.

Tickets to the workshop are available online at powerhouse.vassar.edu or by calling (845) 437-5599.  Chain of Command will be performed in the 135-seat Powerhouse Theater.  Performances are Friday and Saturday, July 29 and 30 at 8 PM, and Sunday, July 31 at 2 PM and 7 PM.  All tickets are $35. Ticket holders for The Talk should call the box office to have their tickets honored.  Subscriptions for the season are available and can be purchased online at powerhouse.vassar.edu.  Single tickets and subscriptions may be purchased online, or by calling (845) 437-5599, beginning June 2.

For information on the rest of the season, the latest updates on casting and events, visit the web sites of New York Stage and Film at www.newyorkstageandfilm.org or the Powerhouse's website.

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