Performance Network Theatre is selling out performances to "Good People" by David Lindsay-Abaire and has decided to extend the run an extra week with a 7:30pm performance on April 4, a 3pm and 8pm performance on April 6, and a final performance at 2pm on April 7, 2013. "Good People" - a 2011 Tony Nominee for Best Play - is studded with a cast of good friends and all-star talent.
"Good People" is a topical comedy about the struggles associated with the loss of a job and parenthood based in "Southie" Boston in 2009. With a Four Star Review from the Detroit Free Press and earning a place in AnnArbor.com's heart as "one of the year's highlights in local theater", "Good People" has received glowing reviews across the board and is one of the season's most
Popular Productions. "We decided to extend the run because we do not want to turn away people who really want to see this show. It has been selling out and this thrills us because it is such a hilarious story that makes it possible to digest such a topical subject matter," said Performance Network's Marketing Director, Marissa Kurtzhals about the many sold out performances.
"Good People" featuring Qamara "Peaches" Black,
Ruth Crawford, MaryJo Cuppone, Alex Leydenfrost,
Suzanne Regan, and Logan Ricket with direction by David Wolber is not the first time the theatre industry has brought these creative spirits together. Each actor and the director knew each other before the extension, before rehearsals, before auditions, even before the 2012-2013 Season was announced.
Award-winning actress
Suzanne Regan, starring as Margie Walsh, is known for her acting and directing career, as well as being a musician. "Suzi taught a class I took at the Purple Rose Theatre. She brought out her guitar to play music over a movement exercise and I swear, the first chord she hit brought tears to my eyes," said MaryJo Cuppone who plays the saucy "Southie", Jean and is one of the founders of Tipping Point Theatre. Both Regan and Cuppone studied at Michigan State University, but did not know each other. Regan studied theatre while Cuppone was playing field hockey for the university. Regan directed her current Director in the production, "The Waiting Room" at PNT as well as her current co-star Alex Leydenfrost in "Panache" at the Williamston Theatre. Now, Regan and Leydenfrost star as former lovers who end up on opposite sides of the economic divide.
Leydenfrost recently completed his performance in Purple Rose's "Superior Donuts" in 2012. Originally a "New Yorker", Leydenfrost and his wife moved to Michigan five years ago. Since his move he has performed at various Michigan theatres, however this is his first appearance at Performance Network Theatre.
Wolber saw Leydenfrost "Panache" at Williamston Theatre and had directed him and Cuppone in readings at Performance Network Theatre. He had followed
Ruth Crawford in her various performances throughout Southeast Michigan, and had directed Regan in "The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead".
Cuppone plays a brash friend who enjoys bickering with Margie's landlord played by Crawford. These ladies have starred in numerous plays at the Tipping Point Theatre but met well before they hit the stage together. "We met at a baby shower and fell in love. Now we talk almost every day," said Cuppone. Crawford also performed in "The Importance of Being Earnest" which was directed by Julia Glander - Leydenfrosts' wife.
Every cast member, and Wolber the Director had seen Qamara "Peaches" Black perform a number of times. "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf", "Cat on a Hot tin Roof", "Twelfth Night", and the one-woman show "Pretty Fire" are just a few of the performances Black has starred in Southeastern Michigan. Playing the role of Leydenfrost's well-to-do wife, Black and every other female cast member (Crawford, Cuppone, and Regan) performed in the historical rally on the steps of the Michigan capitol with a reading of "The Vagina Monologues" to confront the "Vagina Scandal" with
Eve Ensler and female politicians, Senators Gretchen Whitmer and Rebekah Warren and Representative
Lisa Brown.
Logan Ricket makes his professional acting debut as Stevie in "Good People". He began his journey at Performance Network Theatre as an apprentice and now serves as the theatre's Company Manager. Ricket's first day as an apprentice was spent in the rehearsals for "Time Stands Still" featuring Regan.
A review from New Monitor stated, "'Good People' is a comedy with an unsettling heart. It begins leisurely, stoked by a steady laugh track. It ends with a torrent of emotion, proving that behind every good circus clown, there exists a wellspring of sadness, failure and regret. In telling Margie's story, PNT has fashioned a winner that is not to be missed."
Tickets can be ordered now through April 7, 2013 at the Performance Network Box Office at
734-663-0681, online at
www.performancenetwork.org or at Performance Network Theatre (120 East Huron St., Ann Arbor, 48104) Monday - Friday 10am-6pm, and Saturday 11am-6pm.
Founded in 1981, Performance Network Theatre has grown from a fledgling company to Ann Arbor's resident, professional theatre. The Network reaches 40,000 theatre patrons and children each year through the year-round Professional Series and
The Children's Theatre Network. Performance Network also presents the Fireside New Play Festival and a series of classes on theatre-related topics. The Network provides uncompromising artistic leadership in the region and produces works that engage, challenge and inspire audiences and artists.
