David Cromer to Direct KC Rep's ANGELS IN AMERICA in 2015

Eric Rosen, Artistic Director of Kansas City Repertory Theatre, announced that acclaimed director David Cromer will direct a major revival of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America as part of KC Rep's 50th anniversary 2014-15 season. Cromer, recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Grant among many honors, has directed extensively in Chicago, London, New York; KC Rep credits include the recent 2014 production of his Obie-Award winning Our Town and the 2009 production of The Glass Menagerie, which was named one of the top productions of 2009 in the Wall Street Journal. Early in his career, Cromer directed Angels in America for Chicago's The Journeymen, which reaped accolades including the coveted Joseph Jefferson Award in 1998 for best production, best director, best ensemble and more. This production is his first return to the play in 17 years.

KC Rep's Angels in America, Part One- Millennium Approaches and Part Two- Perestroika, will run in rotating repertory February 20 - March 29, 2015 at the downtown Copaken Stage.

"For our 50th anniversary season, we're exploring theater that has changed the world, and without doubt Angels in America is one of the most era-defining plays in American theater history," said Rosen. "To bring the unique vision of one of the nation's best interpreters of classic works to Kushner's masterpiece will create an exciting production of one of my favorite plays.

It is particularly exciting to welcome David back to KC Rep for a second time this season, and to expand this brilliant artist's relationship with the vibrant artists and audiences in Kansas City's burgeoning theater scene," he added.

"Since 2009, KC Rep has been an artistic home for me, and my experiences with The Glass Menagerie and Our Town were deeply satisfying," Cromer said. "The unexpected opportunity to direct one of the best plays of the last century in a full, rotating repertory production was too exciting to pass up. And to return to a play I first directed shortly after its New York premiere 17 years later will show that Angels has become a true American classic. Eric is right - this play changed the world - and in hindsight we'll have the chance to understand why."

Schedule changes to the Broadway production of Honeymoon in Vegas made previously announced director Gary Griffin unavailable.

David Cromer (Director) NY Credits Include: Women or Nothing at The Atlantic Theater Company, Really Really at MCC, The House of Blue Leaves on Broadway, When the Rain Stops Falling (2010 Lortel Award for Outstanding Direction) and Nikolai and the Others at Lincoln Center Theater. A Streetcar Named Desire at Williamstown Theatre Festival and the Writers Theatre in Chicago, as well as Brighton Beach Memoirs on Broadway and Orson's Shadow at Barrow Street Theater. His production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town ran for 19 months Off Broadway and received the 2009 Lortel Awards for Direction and Outstanding Revival, as well as a 2009 Obie Award for Direction. David's production of Our Town has also been produced at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica and The Huntington Theater Company in Boston. Our Town will be produced by the Almeida Theater in London later this year. His New York production of Adding Machine at the Minetta Lane garnered him 2008 Obie and Lortel Awards for Direction. Originally from Chicago, his credits there include Picnic and The Price (Writers Theatre), Cherrywood, Mojo, and The Hot l Baltimore (Mary-Arrchie), Our Town, (The Hypocrites), The Cider House Rules (co-directed with Marc Grapey at Famous Door), Angels in America (The Journeymen), The Dazzle, Orson's Shadow and Golden Boy (Steppenwolf), among others. David is a 2010 recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship.

To post a comment, you must register and login.