A CABLE FROM GIBRALTAR, the unusual new comedy by Daniel Meltzer about the intersecting lives of two couples over a lifetime, their good fortune and bad choices, literally from cradle to creeping decrepitude, plays its final show on February 28 at the Medecine Show Theatre.
The four-character comedy, an Equity Showcase Production staged by veteran Broadway and Off Broadway director
Robert Kalfin, touches all the bases in the games lovers play: flirtation, attraction, true love, lost love, separation, reunion, second chances and squandered opportunities, not to mention the essentials of coastal fishing, good manners, bad decisions, fine dining, and military tactics and strategy. A CABLE FROM GIBRALTAR begins in the nursery and ends, 90 years later, on a battlefield. Its director describes it as "a marriage between Coward and Shaw, officiated by Ionesco, and witnessed by Wilder (Thornton, not Gene)."
The cast includes (in alphabetical order):
Roger Clark, David Csizmadia, Deborah Radloff and
Jeannine Taylor.
Roger Clark comes to A CABLE FROM GIBRALTAR directly from a successful tour of The American Drama Group Europe's A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Born in New Jersey, raised in Ireland and trained in the United Kingdom, he has had significant roles on stage and screen here and in Great Britain in A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, MACBETH, FRANKENSTEIN, DEATH OF A SALESMAN, BATTLE FOR HADITHA (Film 4), and HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE (Film 4).
David Csizmadia's New York stage credits include CARPOOL (Rattlestick Theatre); THE CASTLE (45th Street Theatre); WANDA'S VISIT (HudsonRiver Repertory) and SPIKE HEELS (Partner Productions). Also JEST A SECOND (Coconut Grove Playhouse, Florida), SYLVIA and COMPLEAT WKS OFSHKSP (abridged) at the Arkansas Theater Festival; and I HATE HAMLET (Leather Stocking Theater Company). TV work includes ALL MY CHILDREN (ABC).
Deborah Radloff previously appeared in
Robert Kalfin's staged reading of A CABLE FROM GIBRALTAR, in POWERHOUSE (NYC Fringe 2009) DON'T DO DRUGS (Crosstown Playwrights), A CHRISTMAS CAROL and TWELFTH NIGHT (
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park) and PERICLES, THE TEMPEST, MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, RICHARD III, OTHELLO and TWELFTH NIGHT with the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival.
Jeannine Taylor's distinguished career includes the role of
Emily Dickinson in THE BELLE OF AMHERST at The William Esper Studio in New York, Laurey in the national tour of OKLAHOMA! (Broadway revival, directed by
William Hammerstein), Nina in THE SEAGULL at
Cincinnati Playhouse-in the-Park, directed by
Robert Kalfin, and Henrietta Barrett in ROBERT AND ELIZABETH at
Paper Mill Playhouse. She has appeared at Seattle Rep and in NY at
Joseph Papp's Public Theater, La Mama ETC, INTAR and The
Manhattan Theatre Club. She was in the CBS movie, A ROYAL ROMANCE, with
Olivia de Havilland, and with
Kevin Bacon in FRIDAY THE 13TH. Jeannine studied at RADA in London.
Daniel Meltzer is an award-winning fiction writer, playwright, essayist, and journalist who has contributed to Newsday, The Baltimore Sun, Albany Times Union, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, and Washington Post syndicates, CBS News, and WNYC Radio. His earlier plays include INTERMISSION, MOVIE OF THE MONTH, THE SQUARE ROOT OF LOVE (Samuel French), SUNDAY IN SUBURBIA, ICU (with
Jay Thomas and
Richard Portnow) and WHAT COMES AFTER OHIO.
Meltzer's plays have been staged at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Circle Repertory,
Syracuse Stage, Shadowbox Cabarets in Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio; and at many other theatres cross the U.S. and Canada, as well as in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
Director
Robert Kalfin is founder of New York's Chelsea Theatre Center, whose productions have garnered five Tony Awards, four Tony nominations and 21 Obie Awards. He has directed over 150 productions and workshops in venues that include Broadway, Off Broadway, major American regional theaters, as well as internationally in Europe, the Middle East and as far abroad as Siberia.
His Broadway credits include STRIDER; HAPPY END (starring
Meryl Streep and
Christopher Lloyd); YENTL (starring
Tovah Feldshuh); TRULY BLESSED (a celebration of
Mahalia Jackson), and as Chelsea Co-Producer of
Hal Prince's production of CANDIDE. He staged RASHOMON and THE MISTRESS OF THE INN starring
Tovah Feldshuh) for
Roundabout Theatre Company. He also directed the TV production of THE PRINCE OF HOMBURG (starring
Frank Langella) for PBS' Theatre in America series.
During the 2008-2009 season, his production of MARIE ANTOINETTE: THE COLOR OF FLESH ran Off Broadway during May through October, playing in alternating repertory with his staging of A BRUSH WITH GEORGIA O'KEEFE. His other 2008-2009 productions include THE ODYSSEY PROJECT for Stages of Learning at the Queens Playhouse-in-the-Park;
Eugene O'Neill's ANNA CHRISTIE at the Metropolitan Playhouse and THE SHANGHAI GESTURE, starring
Tina Chen and
Larry Pine, for the Mirror Repertory Theatre.
For more information, please visit http://www.medicineshowtheatre.org/
