Pasadena Playhouse Adds South Coast Repertory's THE WHIPPING MAN to 2014-15 Season

The Pasadena Playhouse announced that they will present Matthew Lopez's multi-award winning play THE WHIPPING MAN, which will replace the previously announced production of William Gibson's TWO FOR THE SEESAW as the fourth production of the 2014-2015 season. THE WHIPPING MAN is produced in association with South Coast Repertory, where the show will play January 4-25, 2015, and then transfer to The Pasadena Playhouse February 3 - March 1, 2015 with a press opening on February 4.

Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director of The Pasadena Playhouse, said "I am very pleased that we will once again be working in collaboration with our highly respected colleagues at South Coast Repertory to present THE WHIPPING MAN, a play which I have had under consideration for our season for quite some time. This play, one of the most frequently produced works in contemporary American Theatre, is beautifully written, a perfect play for actors, and its themes fall so well into our ongoing diversity initiatives."

Elizabeth Doran, Executive Director of The Pasadena Playhouse, says, "The Pasadena Playhouse is pleased to partner with the esteemed South Coast Repertory once again with this production of THE WHIPPING MAN. As with our most recent partnership in 2012 when we presented SCR's Jitney, this kind of collaboration deepens the artistic experience for the artists, and broadens the audiences who ultimately receive the work. As was the case in bringing Stoneface from Sacred Fools' to our mainstage in 2013, we value partnerships like these with our peer theatres. They feed our community's cultural ecosystem by sustaining artists and broadening community dialogue through the telling and retelling of great stories on our stages.""

South Coast Repertory's production of THE WHIPPING MAN is directed by Martin Benson. Stage and television star Charlie Robinson plays Simon in this Obie Award-winning drama The New York Times proclaimed "haunting and powerful." South Coast Repertory describes THE WHIPPING MAN as follows: The Civil War has ended, leaving destruction in its wake. As a raging storm illuminates what's left of a once majestic plantation home, three Jewish men prepare for Passover-the owner's son, and his family's former slaves. Only one of them, Simon, remains strong in his faith, but it is threatened with truths about what happened in this house-and in their lives-during its antebellum days. Full casting and the creative team for THE WHIPPING MAN will be announced at a later date.

Matthew Lopez is the author of THE WHIPPING MAN, one of the most widely produced new American plays of the last several years. It premiered at Luna Stage in Montclair, NJ, had its New York debut at Manhattan Theatre Club in a production directed by Doug Hughes and featuring Andre Braugher. The sold-out production extended four times-ultimately running 101 performances off-Broadway-and garnered Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards. Lopez was awarded the John Gassner New Play Award from the New York Outer Critics Circle for the play. Since then, THE WHIPPING MAN has had more than 40 productions worldwide. Lopez's play Somewhere has been produced at The Old Globe, TheatreWorks in Palo Alto and most recently at Hartford Stage Company, where his play Reverberation will receive its world premiere in 2015. His newest play,The Legend of Georgia McBride, premiered earlier this year at the Denver Theatre Center for the Performing Arts. His playThe Sentinels premiered in London at Headlong Theatre Company in 2011. Lopez currently holds new play commissions from Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Hartford Stage, and South Coast Repertory. He was a staff writer on HBO's "The Newsroom" and is currently adapting Javier Marias' trilogy Your Face Tomorrow for the screen.

The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. Single tickets for THE WHIPPING MAN are $30.00 - $75.00 with premiere seating priced at $125.00. Single tickets and subscriptions are available online atPasadenaPlayhouse.org, by calling the Box Office at 626-356-7529 or by visiting The Pasadena Playhouse Box Office. The box office phone lines are open Monday-Friday 12:00 pm -6:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 pm -6:00 pm on non-performance dates. The windows are open from Monday-Sunday 12:30 pm -6:00 pm on non-performance dates. On performance dates the box office windows are open Monday from 12:30 pm - 6:00 pm and Tuesday-Saturday 12:30 pm -8:00 pm, and Sunday from 12:30 pm -7:00 pm. For groups of 8 or more call 626-921-1161.

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