EISENHOWER: THIS PIECE OF GROUND Starring John Rubinstein Begins Performances Off-Broadway Tomorrow

Beginning tomorrow, June 13, Tony Award winner John Rubinstein (Pippin, Children of a Lesser God) returns to the New York stage starring as President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground, a new American play by Richard Hellesen and directed by Peter Ellenstein. Following acclaimed Los Angeles engagements, The New Los Angeles Repertory Company (Peter Ellenstein, Producing Artistic Director) is presenting the seven-week Off-Broadway engagement, through July 30, at Theatre at St. Clements (423 W. 46th Street, NYC). Opening night is Tuesday June 20 at 7PM. Tickets are now on sale at OvationTix.com. For further information, visit EisenhowerThePlay.com.

Starting with previews on June 13, $35 rush tickets will available by unlocking “Rush Tickets” for Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground in the TodayTix app. Tickets are available every morning starting at 9AM (EST) on a first come first serve basis until inventory sells out. Blackout dates may apply. Additionally, in-person rush tickets can be purchased at the Theatre St. Clements box office (subject to availability) up to an hour before showtime.

“I had never before done a one-person play,” says John Rubinstein. “I had often thought that I would like to try it, but never found the person to portray or the piece to interpret -- until Peter Ellenstein sent me this inspiring play by Richard Hellesen. I think that people need to hear these profound, personal, and uplifting words from an actual U.S. President during these very trying times. I was so gratified by the overwhelming enthusiasm we were shown when we premiered in L.A. last fall, and we are all extremely proud and happy to now bring this play to New York audiences this summer.”

“With such division in the country today, I wanted to go back in our history and look at an individual who lead with faith and optimism during a very a crucial time, says playwright Richard Hellesen. “Despite the Cold War, McCarthyism and the start of the Civil Rights movement, Eisenhower believed in Democracy. On our stage, Eisenhower says ‘some days it feels like democracy is going to have a hell of a time persevering. But this piece of ground, that we all share...if we're going to leave our young people something better, then we just can't be complacent. …We have to keep choosing the harder right instead of the easier wrong. Never be content with half-truth when the whole truth can be ours.’”

“I knew almost nothing about Eisenhower except that he was in charge of World War II and was President during the ‘Leave it to Beaver’ years,” says director Peter Ellenstein. “My image of Ike was a somewhat kindly, stodgy, conservative figurehead. But after reading some of his speeches, I discovered that he really was one of the most fascinating and important people in American history. His life and career were packed with so many world-altering events. Richard Hellesen, has crawled inside Ike’s skin to fashion this remarkable play that tells Eisenhower’s story and speaks with profound hope to our own times. In John Rubinstein, we are so fortunate to have found an actor who could interpret the complexity of Ike’s intellect, judgement, scope, humor and humanity.”

The New York premiere of  Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground will feature a scenic design by Michael Deegan and Sarah Conly; costume consultation by Sarah Conly; lighting design by Esquire Jauchem; and projection and sound design by Joe Huppert. The Producing Team includes Victoria Morris of Lexikat Artists and Adam Weinstock of Red Spear Productions. General Management is by LDK Productions, LLC, and Marketing and Promotions is by Table 7 Strategy, LLC. 

John Rubinstein

(Dwight D. Eisenhower) originated the title role in the Broadway musical Pippin, directed by Bob Fosse, and won the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his performance in Children of a Lesser God. Other Broadway appearances include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Ragtime, Hurlyburly, M. Butterfly, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (Drama Desk nomination), Getting Away with Murder, Fools, Love Letters, and the 2013 Pippin revival. He appeared off-Broadway in Counsellor-at-Law (2005 Lucille Lortel Award, Outer Critics' Circle and Drama League nominations), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Urban Blight, Cabaret Verboten, and Morning's at Seven. Regionally: Wicked in LA, and the international tour of the Pippin revival. He starred in the TV series, “Family” (Emmy nomination), and “Crazy Like A Fox”, and over 300 episodes. Films include “Being the Ricardo’s”, “Hello, I Must Be Going”, “21 Grams”, “Red Dragon”, “The Boys from Brazil”, “Someone to Watch Over Me”, “Daniel, Zachariah,” and “Getting Straight”. He directed the world premiere of A. R. Gurney's The Old Boy, and Counsellor-at-Law, Company, Brigadoon, Macbeth, The Three Sisters, Phantasie, Nightingale, The Rivals, A Little Night Music, Guys and Dolls, Into The Woods, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and The Rover. He composes film and TV music (“Jeremiah Johnson”, “The Candidate”, “The Dollmaker”, "China Beach", among others), hosted two classical music radio programs, played keyboards in a rock band, and has recorded over 200 audiobooks, most numerously Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware series of Los Angeles crime novels. He is married to Bonnie Burgess, and their son Max is the youngest of his five children, joining Jessica, Michael, Peter, and Jacob.
    

RICHARD HELLESEN

(Playwright) is the author of numerous plays and musicals for adult and young audiences. His work has been seen at the Denver Center, South Coast Repertory, Los Angeles Repertory Company, Sacramento Theatre Company, Geva, Florida Stage, Gretna Theatre, Sundance Children's Theatre, Imagination Stage, People's Light & Theatre, City Theatre in Miami, B Street Theatre, and Ford's Theatre in Washington DC, where he is an Associate Artist. He has received playwriting awards from The National Theatre Conference, the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild, the Philadelphia Festival Theatre for New Plays , and PEN USA-West; his two-dozen short plays include five finalists for The Actors Theatre of Louisville Heideman Award. A member of the Dramatists Guild, he has twice been Playwright-in-Residence at the William Inge Center for the Arts in Kansas.
    

Peter Ellenstein

(Director) is Producing Artistic Director of the New Los Angeles Repertory Company. He is a multi-award-winning director, producer, new play midwife, and educator, whose work has been seen all over the country. For thirteen years, Peter was Artistic Director of the William Inge Center for the Arts in Kansas where he created many innovative playwright development programs such as the William Inge Home Playwright Residencies, partnerships with leading national arts organizations (Martha Graham Company, Cornerstone Theater) and rural arts and education partnerships.. He served seven years as Producing Director of the original Los Angeles Repertory Company, for whom he directed the LA Premiere of Assassins, Odets’  Rocket to the Moon, and many other acclaimed productions. Peter served as Interim Artistic Director of both the Gretna Theatre in Pennsylvania, and the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre at the University of Miami in Florida. Peter has been a consultant, board member, panelist and site visitor for many institutions including the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and KCACTF. Peter directed a nationally prominent streaming version of Richard Hellesen’s Necessary Sacrifices. He has a decades long artistic relationship with Richard Hellesen and has directed the premieres of many of Richard Hellesen’s plays. Peter comes from a theatre family, his father was noted actor/director Robert Ellenstein and his brother David is longtime Artistic Director of North Coast Rep and current interim Artistic Director of Laguna Playhouse.
THE NEW LOS ANGELES REPERTORY COMPANY (Producer) is inspired by the vision of the original co-Founder and Artistic Director, Robert Ellenstein, who received career achievement awards from the LA Weekly and the Company of Angels for his lifetime of contributions to the theatre. The original Los Angeles Repertory Company was founded in 1966. It strove to bring theatrical experience to its highest form. Until it paused operations in 2006, LA Rep maintained a credo that the quality of the work should take precedence over all other considerations. In concentrating on quality rather than quantity, the Rep built a steady following of avid theatre-lovers. Over 40 years, the original LA Rep produced a wide variety of plays, new and old, Including the professional L.A. premiere of George Bernard Shaw’s magnum opus Back to Methuselah, multiple productions of an award-winning six-actor Hamlet, the L.A. premiere of Stephen Sondheim & John Weidman’s Assassins, the West Coast Premiere of Martin Sherman's Messiah and Chaim Potok's The Chosen, as well as Shakespeare’s King Lear, Shaw’s Misalliance, Odets' Rocket to the Moon, and Ibsen's A Doll's House, all of which garnered tremendous critical praise and numerous awards.

Photo credit: Pierre Lumiere

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