Suspenseful Drama By Steve Tesich THE SPEED OF DARKNESS Comes to the Riverstreet Theatre
By: Stephi Wild Jan. 09, 2018
437 RIVER STREET THEATRE COMPANY are thrilled to present THE SPEED OF DARKNESS by Steve Tesich. William Alderson will direct the suspenseful production, part mystery, part thriller, and part morality play, opening February 9th, 2018, at River Street Theatre. Tickets on sale now at: https://riverstreettheatre.yapsody.com/event/index/171616
Joe is a decorated hero of the Vietnam War and owns a prosperous construction business in South Dakota. When Joe suddenly finds himself nominated as man of the year by his town, he is faced with an unwelcome amount of attention, which begins to challenge his ability to walk the tenuous line of normality on which he has come to live.
Emotionally numbed by the fallout of war and with rumblings about family scars, Joe's home life faces upheaval with the sudden appearance of an old war buddy, Lou. The presence of his mysterious and mentally disturbed friend puts Joe and his family on edge as whispers of past misdeeds begin to unravel, all which he has worked to build.
Steve Tesich - Playwright
William Alderson - Director
Jeffrey Porter - Lighting Design
Zack Guiler - Set Design
Kuker & Lee PR - Publicist
THE CAST
Eddie Kehler (Joe)
Janet Chamberlain (Anne)
Sara Molinar (Mary)
Kenny Johnston (Lou)
Leo Ramsey (Eddie)
Theatre Venue:
River Street Theatre
Opening February 9th and running through March 18th, 2018
Performances are Friday & Saturday 8:00PM and Sunday 2:00PM
General admission $20.00
Ticket info:
Purchase at - https://riverstreettheatre.yapsody.com/event/index/171616
Info at - https://www.riverstreettheatre.org/the-speed-of-darkness
William Alderson (Director)
Trained as an actor and teacher by Sanford Meisner and worked as Mr. Meisner's principal assistant and Associate Director at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City for over twenty years. He made his directorial debut in 1975 with William Inge's "The Disposal" at the Jan Hus Theatre in New York City. Mr. Alderson has been training actors for more than 30 years. The goal of any teacher is to bring the actor securely back to himself. This is the design of the Meisner Technique, which is based on "the reality of doing." In addition to teaching, Mr. Alderson has directed a variety of theatre productions in New York, and worked closely with playwright Horton Foote. He directed Foote's "The Traveling Lady" and "Lily Dale" at the Samuel Beckett Theatre in New York, and appeared in Foote's well-received "The Roads to Home" with Jean Stapleton. Mr. Alderson is a member of the Director's Unit of the Actor's Studio and has appeared on and off-Broadway, as well as in film and television. In 1993, Mr. Alderson opened the William Alderson Acting Studio in Los Angeles and subsequently founded the River Street Theatre.
"The Disposal," by William Inge, was a successful audience show, named by theatergoers, "Best Kept Secret in NYC." "The Traveling Lady," by Horton Foote, was reviewed favorably in The New York Times in 1980 July/August and it brought Horton Foote out of retirement. After Horton saw Bill's production he gave Bill eight of his plays that had never been done and Bill chose "Lily Dale." Bill did that next with Molly Ringwald in her NY stage debut at the Samuel Beckett Theatre.
Jeffrey Porter (Lighting Design)
A lighting, sound and projection designer for theatre and special events. He has designed a variety of musicals around Los Angeles, trade show booths for the LA Auto Show and NAMM and a wide variety of corporate events. He designs lighting for theatre, industrials and schools around California. Jeffrey is also the technical director for Transcendence Theatre Company, based on Sonoma, CA, the Director of IT for Greenway Court Theatre and the technical director for Wilshire Boulevard Temple. He has received a Broadway World San Francisco award for lighting design, an NAACP Los Angeles Theatre Award nomination for lighting design, and an Ovation nomination for sound design. www.jp-ld.com
Zack Guiler (Set Design)
Designer and engineer in South Los Angeles. Raised in central Kentucky, he studied theatre at Miami of Ohio, and has been scheming and fabricating in Southern California for the past eight years. He's worked as the senior draftsman and engineer for the Los Angeles Guild, technical director for Ensemble Studio Theatre LA, and a freelance fabricator and engineer for festivals, retail, theatre, and film. Omnia sunt communia.
Kuker & Lee PR - Publicist
Publicists Sandra Kuker & Anita Lee work as the team, Kuker & Lee PR, providing publicity and marketing service & consultation for theatre, authors & talent. Sandra Kuker's three-decade career in Los Angeles theatre publicity and marketing is rich with a client list of diversity and many successful campaigns. Anita Lee has over a decade of experience in LA 99-seat theatre with many acclaimed productions both as producer & publicist. Together they bring their personal commitment to each client. Kuker & Lee clients include Sacred Fools, Café Arts, Theatre Asylum, Theatre 68, Projects have included My Child - Mother's of War, Drop Dead by Billy Van Zandt, Almost, Maine directed by Marty Papazian, I Am Not A Comedian...I'm Lenny Bruce starring Ronnie Marmo and Directed by Joe Mantegna, A Time To Kill by John Grisham, Time Stands Still, and author Bill Ratner of Parenting For The Digital Age.
Eddie Kehler (Joe)
He is an actor, director, writer and teacher/coach. He has been acting for over 30 years from New York to Hollywood. His theater credits include; "The Odd Couple" (Laguna Playhouse), "Speed-the-Plow" (Actors Studio), "The Sunshine Boys" (Odyssey Theater), "Side Man" (Malibu Stages), etc. TV and Film credits include: Chance, Small Shots, Culture of Fear, Criminal Minds, Dexter, Desperate Housewives, etc. Directing credits include the recent: "A Vegas Love Story" in the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Fest. He is currently shopping his screenplay, Talk About James Dean, and is hard at work on his next script. He is a member of The Actors Studio, of which he serves on the Board of Directors. His training includes Meisner with Maggie Flanigan, Wynn Handman, and Sensory with Barbara Bain and Penny Allen.
Janet Chamberlain (Anne)
Has been acting in the theatre in New York and Los Angeles, and various parts of the country, for many years. In New York, she appeared Off-Broadway with The Working Theatre, Intar, and The Clurman Theatre. In Los Angeles, she most recently appeared in the second cast of the hit show, "The Lyons," at the Road Theatre. Also, "Four Chambers," "White Guy on the Bus," "John Gabriel Borkman," and "The Butcher of Baraboo," as well as several other productions. She also created and performed a one-woman show, "Smorgasboard," which ran at The Road Theatre and Fringe Festival. She has worked with Helsinski West, The Company of Angels, and The William Alderson Theatre, as well as others. She toured and performed with Theatre Education Center for four years and developed and performed over 20 original works, performed extensively on the East Coast. Her original play, "Apostrophe 68," set in the Vietnam era, ran for 9 weeks at The Company of Angels, and received on Honorable Mention Award from Women in Theatre. She has worked in commercials as well as several independent films. She studied with Mr. Alderson for several years, and is thrilled to be "back home", working with him again.
Sara Molinar (Mary)
A recent graduate of USC's School of Dramatic Arts where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Acting and studied with Mary Joan Negro, John DeMita, Joseph Hacker, Vicki Lewis, Gregg Daniels, among others. She has also studied improv at UCB and screenwriting at USC's School of Cinematic Arts. At USC, Sara could be seen in various film and new media projects as well as on the stage in "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot" (Cunningham), "Breath, Boom" (Denise), and "Camille" (Ensemble). Sara is thrilled to be working with William Alderson and the River Street Theatre Company.
Kenny Johnston (Lou)
Studies at the Groundlings school of improv and The Actors Studio West. His role as Aaron in the Los Angeles stage production of "A Still Small Voice" earned him an L.A. Theater Awards best actor nomination. He has appeared in many films and T.V. shows; The Flash in the CBS pilot The Justice League, and a list of others.
Leo Ramsey (Eddie) is thrilled to be back on the LA stage. Other onstage roles include Treat in "Orphans" and Warren in "This is Our Youth" with Aquila/Morong Studios, Bobby in "American Buffalo" at Saint Louis Actor's Studio, Peter in "The Diary of Anne Frank" at The New Jewish Theatre, and Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet" at Saint Louis Shakespeare. He has appeared in several feature films including BLUE LINE STATION directed by Jorge Xolalpa Jr. where he won breakthrough Performance at the Downtown LA Film Festival, and THUNDERS, a psychedelic Thriller directed by The Cordero Brothers where he played Rock 'n Roll legend, Johnny Thunders.
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