JQA By Aaron Posner Gets New England Premiere

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) presents the New England premiere of JQA by Aaron Posner. The Helen Hayes- and Barrymore Award-winning playwright is known for such successful adaptations as My Name is Asher Lev from the Chaim Potok novel and his Chekhov-inspired Stupid F**king Bird. Posner's first play not adapted from an existing work, JQA uses telling and frequently humorous incidents in the life of one-term President John Quincy Adams to shed new light on our own relationship to government, as well as the evolving American experiment.

Gamm Artistic Director Tony Estrella and Associate Director Tyler Dobrowsky helm a cast of four actors all playing Adams at various points in his life. Normand Beauregard (Corin in As You Like It) and Helena Tafuri (Audrey in As You Like It), and Gamm newcomers Jonathan Higginbotham and Candice Brown also inhabit the roles of colossal historical figures with whom Adams rubbed elbows, including Henry Clay, George Washington, Frederick Douglass, his own father John Adams, and more.
Posner will join the Gamm cast at the top of rehearsals to refine his script from its only production last spring at Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage, which he also directed.

"It's an honor to introduce Aaron's stunning JQA to Gamm audiences. We are very fortunate to help develop an important new work that is sure to be produced all over our country as we head into a presidential election year," Estrella said.

"JQA is both a powerful evocation of American history and a riveting examination of our current political moment. It's also a classic American family play, a meditation on love and grief, and a deeply moving exploration of the responsibility we owe to our loved ones and our country. JQA looks backward to the pivotal years between the Revolution and the Civil War, while never taking its eye off of the perils of right now. It reminds us that the world, no matter how hard we may try to stop it, keeps spinning forward. It is brave, funny and incisive - a necessary new American play perfectly tuned for our time."

JQA runs October 24-November 17 at The Gamm Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick, RI.Tickets are $45, $55 and $65; preview performances (October 24-27) are $33. Tickets: 401-723-4266 or gammtheatre.org.

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