The Guthrie Hosts 'Fall Theater Weekend', Kicks Off 10/21

Guthrie Theater and Walker Art Center staff will spend this weekend preparing for next week's five-day Twin Cities fall theater bonanza, highlighted by the American stage debut of Guthrie Director Joe Dowling in Brian Friel's Faith Healer, the Guthrie/Walker co-presentation of the internationally acclaimed Druid Ireland's The Walworth Farce, an accompanying In Conversation event with Dowling and Walworth playwright Enda Walsh, two high-definition NT Live filmed presentations of the U.K. National Theatre's All's Well That Ends Well, the United States premiere of Interact Theater's Northern Lights/Southern Cross: Tales from the Other Side of the World and continuing performances of the Guthrie's "Wilde and witty" production of The Importance of Being Earnest.

Wednesday, October 21
7:30 p.m. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (WT)
7:30 p.m. Preview - Brian Friel's Faith Healer (MP)
8 p.m. Opening Night - Druid Ireland's production of The Walworth Farce (WAC)

Thursday, October 22
7:30 p.m. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (WT)
7:30 p.m. Preview - Brian Friel's Faith Healer (MP)
7:30 p.m. Preview - Interact Theater's Northern Lights/Southern Cross (DS)
8 p.m. Druid Ireland's production of The Walworth Farce (WAC)

Friday, October 23
7:30 p.m. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (WT)
7:30 p.m. Opening Night - Brian Friel's Faith Healer (MP)
7:30 p.m. Preview - Interact Theater's Northern Lights/Southern Cross (DS)
8 p.m. Druid Ireland's production of The Walworth Farce (WAC)

Saturday, October 24
1 p.m. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (WT)
1 p.m. Special Screening - NT Live's filmed presentation of All's Well That Ends Well (MP)
2 p.m. Druid Ireland's production of The Walworth Farce (WAC)
7:30 p.m. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (WT)
7:30 p.m. Brian Friel's Faith Healer (MP)
7:30 p.m. Opening Night - Interact Theater's Northern Lights/Southern Cross (DS)
8 p.m. Druid Ireland's production of The Walworth Farce (WAC)

Sunday, October 25
12 p.m. Special Event - In Conversation: Joe Dowling and Enda Walsh (WA)C
1 p.m. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (WT)
1 p.m. Special Screening - NT Live's filmed presentation of All's Well That Ends Well (MP)
1 p.m. Interact Theater's Northern Lights/Southern Cross (DS)
2 p.m. Druid Ireland's production of The Walworth Farce (WAC)
7 p.m. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (WT)
7 p.m. Brian Friel's Faith Healer (MP)
7 p.m. Interact Theater's Northern Lights/Southern Cross (DS)

WT: Wurtele Thrust (Guthrie)
MP: McGuire Proscenium (Guthrie)
DS: Dowling Studio (Guthrie)
WAC: Walker Art Center

Tickets for The Importance of Being Earnest ($29 - $60), Faith Healer ($29 - $60), Interact Theater's production of Northern Lights/Southern Cross ($22 - $30) and NT Live's filmed presentation of All's Well That Ends Well ($20), all of which will be held at the Guthrie Theater (818 South 2nd Street), are available through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE, 612.225.6244 (Group Sales) and online at www.guthrietheater.org.

Tickets for Druid Ireland's production of The Walworth Farce ($34 - $42) and the In Conversation: Joe Dowling and Enda Walsh ($10), both of which will be held at the Walker Art Center (1750 Hennepin Avenue) are available through the Walker Art Center Box Office at 612.375.7600 or online at www.walkerart.org/tickets.

PRODUCTION/EVENT INFORMATION

The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde
directed by Joe Dowling
Playing through November 8, 2009 at the Guthrie Theater
In Oscar Wilde's most perfect comedy, loved for its sensational characters and popular one-liners, young bachelors Jack and Algernon each assume a pseudonym to woo the women who have won their hearts. Abandoned in London's Victoria Station as an infant and now living in a country manor, Jack has fallen in love with Algernon's cousin Gwendolen, the daughter of the formidable Lady Bracknell. In order to meet with her in London he invents "Ernest," a fictitious brother who demands his attention in the city. Meanwhile Algernon escapes his obligations in London to visit his friend "Bunbury" in the country. There Algernon meets and falls in love with Jack's ward Cecily, and the stage is set for clever manipulations and hilarious confusion. When each gentleman is forced to unwind his web of lies and reveal himself to the ladies - and in Jack's case, his parentage to Lady Bracknell - being earnest takes new meaning.

Faith Healer
by Brian Friel
directed by Joe Dowling
associate director Benjamin McGovern
October 17 - December 6, 2009 at the Guthrie Theater
Guthrie Director Joe Dowling, known throughout the United States and Ireland as a preeminent director and scholar of Brian Friel's work, will return to his acting roots - making his American acting debut - to play the title role in this powerful play about Frank Hardy, his wife Grace and talent manager Teddy. Dowling takes to the stage opposite longtime Guthrie favorites Sally Wingert (Third), and Raye Birk (Scrooge in A Christmas Carol). In this intimate portrait of three adults, told through a series of four emotionally stirring monologues, Frank, Grace and Teddy each describe their own version of the personal and professional bond they share, the astonishing yet unpredictable nature of Frank's ability, and how their lives were ultimately shaped forever by a single event.

The Guthrie WorldStage Series and the Walker Art Center present
a Druid Ireland production of
The Walworth Farce
by Enda Walsh
directed by Mikel Murfi
October 21 - 25, 2009 at the Walker Art Center
It's 11 o'clock in the morning in a council flat on the Walworth Road in London. In two hours' time, as is normal, three Irish men will have consumed six cans of Harp, 15 crackers with spreadable cheese, 10 pink biscuit wafers and one oven-cooked chicken with a strange blue sauce. In two hours' time, as is normal, five people will have been killed. This remarkable play by Enda Walsh combines hilarious moments with shocking realism as it delivers an achingly tender insight into what happens when we become stuck in the stories we tell ourselves about our lives.

The Guthrie Theater present
an Interact Theater Production of
Northern Lights/Southern Cross: Tales from the Other Side of the World
an international collaboration with Australia's Tutti Ensemble
written by Kevin Kling
music by Pat Rix
directed by Jeanne Calvit
October 22 - November 8, 2009 at the Guthrie Theater
Northern Lights/Southern Cross: Tales from the Other Side of the World begins the moment Kling goes boots over helmet from his motorcycle. When his startled soul flies from his brain-injured body, Kling discovers himself on the other side of the world trying to put things back together. Throughout his dream-world journey, it is the Native American heyoke (the wise fools) and their Australian larrikin cousins that goad and guide him to understanding and healing. Kling describes, "If there is the unseen wind and the visible water, then this play takes place on the waves." In the end, as he is accepted into the world of the sacred clowns, he discovers that his reason for being on this earth is to heal through the powerful medicine of his humor.

The Guthrie Theater present
an NT Live filmed presentation of
the U.K. National Theatre production of
All's Well That Ends Well
by William Shakespeare
directed by MariAnne Elliott
October 24 - 25, 2009 at the Guthrie Theater
Set against a background of sexism, snobbery and a battle between generations, Shakespeare turns fairytale logic on its head in a wondrous, bittersweet story. The feisty but lowly Helena falls in love with Bertram, a haughty count. To gain his hand she is set a string of impossible tasks. Even if accomplished, they can hardly guarantee his love. He refuses to bed her and yet says he'll only be hers if she bears his child; and he lusts after another. Nevertheless, our heroine, whether wisely or no, refuses to give him up.

The Guthrie WorldStage Series and the Walker Art Center present
In Conversation: Joe Dowling and Enda Walsh
October 25, 2009 at the Walker Art Center
Join Guthrie Theater artistic director Joe Dowling and acclaimed Irish playwright Enda Walsh for a conversation about The Walworth Farce and the state of theater and performance in Ireland and beyond.

About the Guthrie
The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Guthrie is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Led by Director Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie opened its new three-theater home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in June 2006.

The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue), in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets or season subscriptions call the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224 or toll-free 877.44.STAGE. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.guthrietheater.org.