Photo Coverage: First Look at Deirdre O'Connell and Company in TERMINUS

Monk Parrots announce casting for their New York premiere of Gabriel Jason Dean's (Princeton Hodder Fellow, Dramatist's Guild Fellowship, Broadway Blacklist) critically acclaimed play TERMINUS, directed by Lucie Tiberghien (The Other Thing, Don't Go Gentle, Soldier X, Hoodoo Love, The Pavilion). TERMINUS runs from February 17 - March 10, 2018 in a limited engagement at NEXT DOOR at NYTW, located at 83 East 4th Street between Bowery and 2nd Avenue in New York City. Previews began February 17 for a February 20 opening.

TERMINUS stars Obie and Drama Desk Award winner Deirdre O'Connell (Fulfillment Center at MTC, Cavedweller & Love and Anger at NYTW, "The Affair," "Nurse Jackie"), along with Reynaldo Piniella (The Death of the Last Black Man with Signature Theatre, The Skin of Our Teeth with Theatre for A New Audience, Madeline's Madeline at 2018 Sundance Film Festival, Amazon's "Sneaky Pete"), Clementine Belber (making her Off-Broadway debut, Mark Morris Student Dance Company member), Vanessa R. Butler (A Christmas Carol & Queens for a Year at Hartford Stage), Jessie Dean (Co-Artistic Director of Monk Parrots, Bum: An All-American Opera & After an Earlier Incident at La MaMa), Mat Hostetler (The Royale at Lincoln Center, A Particle of Dread at Signature Theatre, War Horse National tour), Luke Leonard (Co-Artistic Director of Monk Parrots, Kirk Lynn's The Cold Record at Dixon Place) and Shaun Patrick Tubbs (My Mañana Comes with Marin Theatre Co., Chosen at HERE, Crossing America at Kirk Douglas Theatre).

TERMINUS tells the story of Eller, a white matron, and her mixed-race grandson, Jaybo, who live together down by the railroad tracks in rural Georgia. When Eller's mind begins to fade, her violent past in the segregated South haunts her from the very walls of the old family home. And as she descends terrifyingly closer toward a horrifying truth, Jaybo's capacity to love his grandmother is put to the test.

In a lyrical style that blends psychological realism with expressionism, TERMINUS is a family drama that allegorically asks how are white Americans haunted by and continually complicit in the sustained trauma against black Americans. TERMINUS is the second chapter in Dean's The Attapulgus Elegies, a semi-autobiographical collection of plays about the slow fade of an American mill town.

TERMINUS received its world premiere at The VORTEX in Austin, TX in 2016 and ran to critical acclaim, receiving the Austin Critic's Table Award for Best Drama and an unprecedented 11 B. Iden Payne Awards including Outstanding Script and Best Drama. The Austin American-Statesman called it "a great play that's part of an important, groundbreaking cycle of American work that we can only hope will receive the widespread national attention it deserves" and Broadway World described it as "a masterful work of great power and beauty."

The production team includes three-time Emmy Award nominee Paul Brill (Sound Design/Composer), D'Vaughn Agu (Set Design), S. "Stoli" Stolnack (Lighting Design), Ari Fulton (Costume Design), Gabrielle Randle (Dramaturg), Madison Lane (Production Stage Manager), Alex Stone (Production Manager) and Liz and Jon Weiswasser (Co-Producers).

Performances are Fridays - Sundays at 7:30pm with additional shows on Wed, Feb 28 at 7:30pm, Thu, Mar 1 at 7:30pm, Sun, Mar 4 at 1:30pm and Thu, Mar 8 at 7:30pm.Special opening night show on Tue, Feb 20 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $50 (reserved seating) and $35 (general admission). Purchase at https://www.nytw.org/next-door-nytwor by calling 212-460-5475. $25 rush tickets (subject to availability) are available on the day of the show. The running time is 1 hour and 40 minutes with no intermission.

Monk Parrots create concept-driven live work through multidisciplinary collaboration ranging from the experimental to the scripted both musically inspired and inspired by the events of the world. They aim to cultivate new audiences for new forms, provide opportunities for artists, and forge uncommon unions that enrich their practice and broaden their relationships with a diverse group of professional artists and community members. For more info visit http://www.MonkParrots.org, Like them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/monkparrots.org, and follow on Twitter (https://twitter.com/monkparrots) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/monkparrots) at @monkparrots.

NEXT DOOR at NYTW provides a home for companies and artists who are producing their own work. Meeting the artists where they are in their process, this initiative provides each project with subsidized resources and space for development and performance in the newly renovated Fourth Street Theatre. As part of an ongoing effort to expand support for artists at every stage of their careers, this series will serve nearly 100 additional artists in the first year alone. The theatre is accessible from the F train to 2nd Ave. or the #6 train to Bleecker St.

Photo Credit: Maria Baranova

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