Photo Flash: American Repertory Theatre's END GAME

The American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) presents the fifth production of its 2008-09 Season: Samuel Beckett’s iconic masterpiece Endgame, directed by Marcus Stern, at the A.R.T.’s Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge.  The production begins performances on Saturday, February 14 and runs through Sunday, March 15; it will be available for press viewing from Wednesday, February 18 at 7:30pm.

Spare, enigmatic, and absurdly funny, Endgame is one of the greatest dramas of the modern age.  Both an existential comedy and a domestic tragedy, it charts a day in The Life of a family fallen on mysteriously hard times — blind and chair-bound Hamm, his beleaguered servant Clov, his parents Nagg and Nell, who live in two ashbins and long for sugar-plums, and a black toy dog with a missing leg.   Beckett’s language is honed to a distilled beauty, and his archetypal characters achieve a poetic grace despite their bizarre condition. Fifty years after it burst onto the world’s stages, Endgame is as exquisite and surprising as ever.

Marcus Stern, who has created some of the A.R.T.’s most visually stunning productions — including Donnie Darko, Woyzeck, The Onion Cellar, Nocturne, and Buried Child — directs this modern masterpiece, which showcases the comic talent of the Resident Acting Company.  Remo Airaldi plays Nagg, Thomas Derrah is Clov, Will LeBow is Hamm, and Karen MacDonald Nell.  Set design is by Andromache Chalfand, costume design by Clint Ramos, lighting design by Scott Zielinski, and sound design by David Remedios. 

Remo Airaldi has appeared in fifty-seven productions at the A.R.T.  He has performed at Hartford Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, American Conservatory Theatre, Walnut St. Theatre, Prince Music Theater, Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, Serious Fun Festival, Moscow Art Theatre, Taipei International Arts Festival, and Commonwealth Shakespeare Company.
   
Thomas Derrah has appeared in more than 100 roles at the A.R.T. over 27 years, receiving a number of awards.  He has toured with the Company across the U.S., and throughout Europe, Canada, Israel, Taiwan, Japan, and Moscow.  He was seen on Broadway in twenty-seven roles in Jackie: An American Life, as well as off–Broadway, in regional theatres and local companies. He is the recipient of a number of awards from local critics and the Los Angeles DramaLogue Award (for title role in Shlemiel the First).
   
Will LeBow has appeared at the A.R.T. in fifty-two productions, most recently as Count Dracula in The Communist Dracula Pageant.  Other credits include The Huntington Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Gloucester Stage Company, and the Boston Pops premiere of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (narrator).  He appears on television in the Cable Ace Award-winning animated series Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist as the voice of Stanley.

Karen MacDonald is a founding member of the A.R.T., has appeared in sixty-four productions (most recently as Arkadina in The Seagull), and received a number of Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards for her work.  She directed Dressed Up! Wigged Out! for Boston Playwrights Theatre, played in numerous productions in local theatres, as well as nationwide at the Alley Theatre (Company member), Goodman Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Hartford Stage, and Philadelphia Festival of New Plays.

Director Marcus Stern is Associate Director of the A.R.T. and the A.R.T./ MXAT Institute for Advanced Theatre Training.  His A.R.T. credits include Donnie Darko, The Onion Cellar with The Dresden Dolls, Suzan Lori Parks' The America Play, Adrienne Kennedy's The Ohio State Murders, Büchner's Woyzeck, Sam Shepard's Buried Child, Adam Rapp's Nocturne, and Christopher Durang's The Marriage of Bette and Boo (also at NYU and Harvard University).  Other credits include Hang Ong's The Chang Fragments and Martin Crimp's The Treatment, The Joseph Papp Public Theater; Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits, Theater Neumarkt, Zurich; Jose Rivera's Marisol, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Humana Festival; Mac Wellman's Hyacinth Macaw, Primary Stages, New York; Instant Girl's On the Run, Dance Theater Workshop; Mac Wellman's The Land of Fog and Whistles, Whitney Museum Biennial; Neena Beber's The Living Goddess, The Magic Theater; and Erin Cressida Wilson's Cross Dressing in the Depression, Soho Rep.  Adaptations: Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits, Zurich; Phoebe's Got Three Sisters, Cucaracha Theater in New York; O'Neill's The Great God Brown, N.Y.U. and Harvard University.  Has taught at the Yale School of Drama, New York University, and Columbia University, currently teaches at Harvard University (acting, directing, and screenwriting), Harvard's Extension School, and A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theatre Training.

Clint Ramos designs set and costumes for theatre, opera, dance and film throughout the US and Europe.  Recent credits include Donnie Darko at the A.R.T.; Aunt Dan and Lemon at Merrimack Repertory Theater, The Taming of the Shrew at Commonwealth Shakespeare Co., Angels in America at Opera Boston; References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot for The Public Theater/NYSF, And God Created Great Whales for Foundry Theater/Culture Project.  

Scott Zielinski designed lighting for the A.R.T.’s Julius Caesar, Donnie Darko, Oliver Twist, Three Sisters, Dido, Queen of Carthage, Black Snow, Woyzeck, Peter Pan and Wendy.  New York and regional highlights include Topdog/Underdog (Broadway), Lincoln Center, Public Theater, Theatre for a New Audience, Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Signature Theatre, Classic Stage Company, and numerous regional theaters throughout the U.S. and he has designed productions all over the world for theatre, opera, and dance.

Resident Sound Designer David Remedios has forty-four productions to his credit, including Cardenio, Julius Caesar, Copenhagen, Donnie Darko, No Man's Land, Oliver Twist, The Onion Cellar, Orpheus X, The Provok'd Wife (original music), Absolution, Enrico IV, Man and Superman. He has toured regionally and internationally for the A.R.T. and has created sound designs for several regional theatres. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his work as designer and composer.

The performance schedule of Endgame is as follows:
February 14, 20, 21,27, 28, March 6, 7, 13, 14 at 8:00pm; February 15, 17, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25, 26, March 1, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 15 at 7:30pm; February 15, 21, 22, 28, March 1, 7, 8, 14, 15 at 2:00pm.  Special performances include Under 35 Night on Thursday, February 19 with a pre-show reception, and Out at A.R.T. for the GLBT community on Friday, February 27, with post-show reception.

Single ticket prices range from $25-$79, with a $10 discount for seniors.  Student discounts include the $60 Student Pass for 5 performances (at $12 a seat); single tickets at $25 advance purchase, and $15 day of performance.  Other discounts include 50 @ 15 at noon ($15 tickets on sale at noon on the day of performance; in person only, based on availability) and Pay What You Can (50 tickets available for every Saturday matinee performance of the season at the Loeb Drama Center for patrons to purchase at whatever amount they can afford (based on availability). Group rates, with extra savings for senior citizens and student groups are also available.

The balance of the A.R.T. 2008-09 Season includes the world premiere of Trojan Barbie by Christine Evans, directed by Carmel O’Reilly (March 28 — April 22, Zero Arrow Theatre); and Romance by David Mamet, directed by Scott Zigler (May 9 - 31, Loeb Stage).  

The A.R.T. is offering various plans for the season — including choose-your-own and flex plans — with a host of benefits, including free Zipcar membership; free tickets to A.R.T. Institute productions; discounts on parking, on books at the Harvard Coop, fine dining, and tickets to other theatres; a child-care series (Saturday matinee); and pre-performance and post-performance discussion series (Saturday matinees).

To learn more about this production and the A.R.T.’s upcoming season, log onto the A.R.T. website at www.amrep.org or call the A.R.T. InfoLine at (617) 547-8300.  The InfoLine is also available 24 hours a day to provide directions to the theatre; to order brochures, calendars, and newsletters; and to allow direct access to the A.R.T. Box Office (hours are noon to curtain time on performance days, noon to 5 pm on non-performance days, closed on Mondays).
   
The American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) is one of the country’s most celebrated resident theatres and the winner of numerous awards — including the Tony Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and numerous local Elliot Norton and I.R.N.E. Awards; it was recently named one of the top three theatres in the country by Time magazine.  Over its twenty-eight-year history the A.R.T. has welcomed major American and international theatre artists whose singular visions generate and define the theatre’s work, presenting a varied repertoire that includes new plays, progressive productions of classical texts, and collaborations between artists from many disciplines.  The Company has performed throughout the country, and worldwide in twenty-one cities in sixteen countries on four continents.  This fall the organization welcomed its new Artistic Director, Diane Paulus, who begins plans for the 2009-10 Season, the Company’s 30th in Cambridge.

The A.R.T., located at the Loeb Drama Center at 64 Brattle Street, and at the Zero Arrow Theatre at the corner of Arrow Street and Massachusetts Avenue, Harvard Square, Cambridge, are accessible to persons with special needs and to those requiring wheelchair seating or first-floor restrooms.  Deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons can also reach the Theatre by calling the toll-free N.E. Telephone Relay Center at 1-800-439-2370.

Photos by Michael Lutch

Will LeBow

Will LeBow and Thomas Derrah

Thomas Derrah

Remo Airaldi

Will LeBow and Thomas Derrah

Karen MacDonald

Remo Airaldi, Karen MacDonald, and Will LeBow

Will LeBow and Thomas Derrah

Karen MacDonald and Will LeBOw

Will LeBow and Thomas Derrah