THE SHARK IS BROKEN to Open at Amphibian Stage in Fort Worth

The mechanical shark wouldn't work. The budget was blown. And three movie stars were stuck on a boat off Martha's Vineyard for months, slowly driving each other insane. That's the real story behind the making of Jaws, and it's the story coming to Amphibian Stage next with The Shark is Broken, July 22–August 16.

Written by Ian Shaw (son of actor Robert Shaw, who played Quint) and Joseph Nixon, The Shark is Broken imagines what happened off-camera during the famously disastrous 1974 shoot of Jaws, when Shaw, Roy Scheider, and a young Richard Dreyfuss were trapped together on the Orca day after day, waiting for a relentlessly fickle mechanical shark. 

Die-hard Jaws fans and newcomers to Amity Island alike can rest assured: this play stands on its own as a story, no shark required. In his review of the Broadway production for The Daily Beast, Tim Teeman remarks, “First, all Jaws fans be fair warned: There is no shark in Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon's excellent Broadway play…The Shark Is Broken wittily excels not just as a clever time capsule, but as an examination of male bonding and competitiveness, ego, frailty, fame, and film-making. Which is to say: You don't miss the shark for one second.”

In hopes that their own shark tale will be a blockbuster of its own, Amphibian Stage recruited David A. Miller, Director of Amphibian Stage's sold-out productions of Gutenberg! The Musical (2008, 2009, 2019), to captain this voyage. Miller says, “I am thrilled to be back at Amphibian, a nurturing home for artists and audiences. This play is such a joy to work on. It's a fantastic combination of humor and heart as it navigates the passionate, complicated personalities of three actors under the pressures of a notoriously challenging production process.”

Brandon J. Murphy, stepping into Robert Shaw's shoes, is a six-time Amphibian veteran whose past credits range from Sherlock Holmes at Stage West to Shakespeare with Trinity Shakespeare Festival and South Coast Rep. Jakie Cabe, playing Roy Scheider, has spent 33 years acting and directing across DFW, recently seen in Good Night, Oscar and The Play That Goes Wrong (WaterTower Theatre); he previously appeared at Amphibian in the staged reading of Rajiv Joseph's All This Intimacy and SparkFest's Feeding the Cat, Incorrectly, Several Times Over. And Brandon Wilhelm, taking on a young, hungry Richard Dreyfuss, returns to Amphibian, reuniting with David A. Miller after the 2019 run of Gutenberg! The Musical! Scott Eddins Jr. rounds out the cast, serving as Understudy.

Behind them, the design team includes longtime Amphibian and DFW design talent: scenic designer Brian Clinnin (TCU theatre design faculty), Costume Designer Hope Cox (a three-time Irma P. Hall Award winner), lighting and projection designer Tristan Decker (TCU's Professor of Professional Practice in Lighting Design), Amphibian's resident sound designer David Lanza, and fight choreographer Nathan Autrey. Kaitlin Hatton, frequent Amphibian Stage collaborator, will stage manage.