Trinity Rep to Stage World Premiere of ARNIE LOUIS AND BOB

Trinity Rep continues its 52nd season Rebels, Renegades and Pioneers with the world premiere of Arnie Louis and Bob by Katie Pearl directed by Melissa Kievman. Arnie Louis and Bob runs April 7-May 8, 2016. Tickets are on sale now by phone at (401) 351-4242, online at www.trinityrep.com, or in person at the theater's box office at 201 Washington Street, Providence.

Welcome to the home of three older men-two brothers and their cousin-who are trying to find meaning in their lives in their golden years. Arnie uses meditation. Bob loves pop culture. But Louis, no matter how hard he tries, can't seem to find anything that works-not online dating, not anti-depressants, not moving back to his childhood home. He thinks all is lost...until he's visited by a fantastical stranger. In this funny, moving world premiere, Arnie, Louis and Bob come to grips with who they are, what they have been and who they aren't.

"What's so delightful about Arnie, Louis and Bob is how, with the lightest possible touch, it deftly explores what it means to reconcile your dreams and ambitions with the life you've actually led, and with the person you've ultimately become," says associate artistic director Tyler Dobrowsky. "Funny and whimsical with moments of fantasy, Arnie, Louis and Bob is a tender, slightly nostalgic story that strikes at a universal human experience: growing up and realizing who your family members actually are."

The script was developed at Trinity Rep for members of the acting company. The cast includes Trinity Rep resident acting company members Stephen Berenson, Timothy Crowe and Brian McEleney, with Brown/Trinity Rep actor Julia Atwood with playwright Katie Pearl.

The design team includes Michael McGarty (set design), Olivera Gajic (costume design), Barbara Samuel (lighting design), Peter Sasha Hurowitz (sound design) and stage manager Megan Tracy Leddy.

Playwright Katie Pearl is a collaborative theater director, performer, and author of new performance for both traditional and alternative spaces. She is co-Artistic Director of the Obie Award winning PearlDamour, an interdisciplinary company she shares with playwright Lisa D'Amour. Recognition for PearlDamour includes a 2015 NEA Our Town grant for their national project Milton, a spoken-and-sung performance examining what it means to be American, made and performed in five small towns named Milton (coming to Milton, MA in the spring of 2017). Katie received her MFA from the Brown University Writing for Performance program. She is also the recipient of a Steinberg Playwriting Commission from Trinity Rep, which she is using to support the development of a new script for the company.

Melissa Kievman's directing credits include Sotto Voce by Nilo Cruz (Asolo Rep), Anon by Kate Robin (Atlantic Theater Company), Walk Two Moons by Julia Jordan (Lucille Lortel), Miss Electricity by Kate Walat (La Jolla Playhouse), world premiere of [sic] by Melissa James Gibson (Roadworks, Chicago), the London premiere of Big Love by Charles Mee (Gate Theater), Bug (Syracuse Stage), Spinning Into Butter (Hangar Theater), Nickel and Dimed (Great Lakes Theater Festival), productions and workshops at Soho Rep, Clubbed Thumb, The O'Neill, Geva, ACT Seattle, Children's Theater Company of Minneapolis, the Guthrie Theater Lab, Playwrights Horizons, EST, Ars Nova and others. Kievman is a graduate of New York University, Playwrights Horizons and Northwestern University and is the former Associate Artistic Director of New Dramatists. She is a Drama League and NEA/TCG Fellow and a Brown/Trinity Rep faculty member.