Paul Webb's WARSAW to Have World Premiere at International City Theatre

International City Theatre will present the world premiere of a new drama by British playwright and screenwriter Paul Webb (Selma). Directed by ICT artistic director caryn desai [sic], Warsaw opens May 1 for a three-week run through May 17. Performances take place at ICT’s home in the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center. Two low-priced previews are set for April 29 and April 30.

A woman fighting for her life after a devastating accident (Suzanne Ford) draws four very different visitors to her bedside — a doctor (Anna Van Valin), the doctor’s estranged fiancé (Elias Scoufaras), a truck driver (Spencer Del Carmen), and a hospital volunteer who believes he once knew her long ago (Bruce Nozick). As the four keep vigil, they realize that the comatose patient holds vital pieces missing from their own lives. Warsaw is a moving meditation on survival, forgiveness, and the invisible threads that bind our lives together.

Webb, who lives in Reading, England, travelled widely in America as a teenager, acquiring a lifelong fascination with the country and its people. After a career in teaching followed by several years in the oil industry, he wrote his first play, Four Nights in Knaresborough, at the age of 50. It was produced in London, had a national tour and drew the attention of the film industry. He was subsequently commissioned by Stephen Spielberg, Michael Mann and Ridley Scott, working closely with all three over a number of years. Paul wrote Selma, the 2014 film about the voting rights campaign in Alabama, led by Dr Martin Luther King. Shortly after, Paul turned once again to the theater. Hold On! premiered at the St. Louis Black Rep in January 2024. Paul recently completed Six Easy Steps, an intimate history of the marriage between Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the defining influence of their confidante, Louis Howe. Paul is currently working on a play about the epochal summit meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in Iceland in 1986.

ICT’s creative team includes set designer Destiny Manewal, lighting designer Donna Ruzika, Costume Designer Kim DeShazo, sound designer Hunter Moody, and prop designer Patty Briles. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA, and Richie Ferris, CSA. The stage manager is John Freeland, Jr.