Actors Theatre Announces BOB, Plays The 35th Anniversary Humana Fest

Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein today announced the addition of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's latest play, Bob to the 35th Anniversary Humana Festival lineup at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Bob will receive its premiere during the Festival in the 633- seat Pamela Brown Auditorium and will be directed by Actors Theatre's Associate Artistic Director, Sean Daniels. This Season's Humana Festival will run February 27 through April 17, 2011.

The Humana Festival of New American Plays is the pre-eminent new play festival in the country. Recognized nationally and internationally for its contribution to the American theatre canon, it has introduced more than 400 plays to the world over the past 34 years.

"The Humana Festival is the country's opportunity to celebrate theatre's newest works by both emerging and established playwrights, and I am thrilled to announce that Bob will be included in this season's lineup" Marc Masterson, the company's Artistic Director, announced today. "Each year we seek to present a collection of stories that reflect the diversity of the human experience. Peter's body of work is starting to make a significant presence on the American stage and I am excited to introduce his latest play to audiences at this year's Humana Festival."

Nachtrieb returns to Actors Theatre following his success with BRINK!, a new-play collaboration among six playwrights including Lydia R. Diamond, Kristoffer Diaz, Greg Kotis, Deborah Zoe Laufer and Deborah Stein, exploring rites of passage and rituals in the 2009 Humana Festival, performed by The Actors Theatre Professional Apprentice Company. Quickly emerging as a prevalent voice in American Theatre, his play boom was recognized by Theatre Communications Group as the most produced play of the 2009-2010 Season.

Nachtrieb cut his teeth performing and writing as part of a sketch comedy group Killing My Lobster. His easy humor and smart one-liners are very much evident in Bob, which is littered with colorful characters and outrageously fantastical situations. Further evident are his astute observations of everyday life and ability to tackle more serious themes with a darkly comedic wit. Bob is a five-act epic which traces the highly unusual life of Bob from birth in the bathroom of a White Castle Restaurant in Louisville, KY, to a rags-to-riches-to-fall-to-legacy-to-the-love-of-living-life tale. Described by the playwright as "a side-splitting social satire that roasts the American dream, and celebrates its detritus", Bob promises to be a hilarious and poignant story of a dream. A dream of greatness. The greatness of Bob.

"I am so thrilled that Actors Theatre will premiere Bob at the Humana Festival", Peter Sinn Nachtrieb said on hearing the news Bob had been selected. "The first moments of the play were sparked by my walk to rehearsals in Louisville while working there in 2009. Creatively, I have found Actors Theatre's community of artists and professionals, with whom I've worked and whose work I've gotten to witness at Humana, to be a truly exciting and diverse collection of theatrical thinkers. The energy I felt there really inspired and challenged me to try to write a play that thought big. Actors Theatre is the perfect home to birth Bob."

The Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays is a major force in revitalizing American playwriting. Each year the festival draws producers, journalists, critics, playwrights and theatre lovers from around the world to view a marathon of new works housed within Actors Theatre.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.