La Jolla Playhouse Announces 2010/11 Season

La Jolla Playhouse announced today five of six productions in its 2010/11 subscription season, including the world premiere of Annie Weisman's Surf Report, running June/July in the Mandell Weiss Forum; William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and featuring an on-stage orchestra playing the music of Mendelssohn, running July/Aug in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre; the world-premiere musical comedy A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, book by Robert L. Freedman, music by Steven Lutvak, lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, starring Tony Award-winner Jefferson Mays, running Sept/Oct in the Mandell Weiss Theatre; a new adaptation of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground, adapted by RoBert Woodruff and Bill Camp, directed by RoBert Woodruff, running late Sept/Oct in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre; and Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined, running Nov/Dec in the Mandell Weiss Theatre. The final production of the 2010/11 season - a musical - will be announced shortly.

"It is a true pleasure this season to assemble not only some of the nation's most esteemed artists, but renowned Playhouse alumni as well," said Ashley. "Jefferson Mays, RoBert Woodruff, Annie Weisman and others have all played an integral part in the institution's history and development, and we are delighted to welcome them back to our stages for this series of intoxicating new productions."

Subscriptions to La Jolla Playhouse's 2010/11 season are available by calling (858) 550-1010 or by visiting lajollaplayhouse.org. Subscriptions are available in six-play, four-play and three-play packages, ranging from $135 to $312.

Leading off the season will be Surf Report (June/July, Mandell Weiss Forum) by San Diego-bred playwright Annie Weisman, author of The Playhouse's 2001 world premiere Be Aggressive. She now returns with another world premiere comic drama that centers on Judith, who spends her days serving as assistant and caretaker for her demanding venture capitalist boss in a coastal southern California town. Her husband Hal spends his nights trying not to pick a fight with Judith; and her daughter Bethany, a struggling artist in New York, spends every waking moment trying to stay as far away from home as possible. But when Bethany returns to California for a family emergency, The Shadows of the past and the specter of an uncertain future threatens the very core of this turbulent threesome. This funny and poignant play examines the sacrifices we make - or avoid - for our families.

Next up will be William Shakespeare's classic A Midsummer Night's Dream (July/August, Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre). Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley re-imagines this timeless celebration of love and dreams in an innovative and gravity-defying production. In a Victorian court of rules and constraints, Hermia faces the threat of an arranged marriage. When she and her forbidden lover escape into the forest, her jilted fiancé follows in hot pursuit. But the woods and its mischievous fairies have their own surprises, and the lovers soon find themselves in a world turned upside-down - literally. The piece will be interwoven with music from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream score, performed live by an on-stage orchestra.

The Playhouse will also present the world-premiere musical comedy A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder (September/October, Mandell Weiss Theatre), book by Robert L. Freedman, music by Steven Lutvak, lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, directed by Darko Tresnjak (The Laramie Project Epilogue). This delightful new piece will star Tony Award winner and UC San Diego graduate Jefferson Mays playing a multitude of roles. Mays has appeared in numerous Playhouse productions and won the Tony Award for his performance in Doug Wright's Pulitzer Prize-winning play I Am My Own Wife, which originated at The Playhouse as the Theatre's first Page To Stage production. A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is a deliciously witty romp through manners, mores and murder in Edwardian England. In a tale with strikingly contemporary resonance, a young man of little means discovers he's eighth in line for a great fortune and a title. Driven by revenge and torn between two beautiful women, he discovers just how low he is willing to go on his climb to the top.

Notes from Underground (September/October, Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre) is a haunting, compelling play based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's (Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov) landmark 1864 novella. Nearly 150 years later, Dostoevsky's "Underground Man" is brought to the stage in an astonishing adaptation by acclaimed director RoBert Woodruff, frequent Playhouse artist during the '80s and '90s and leading avant-garde director, and Obie Award-winning actor Bill Camp, who gives a tour-de-force performance as the Underground Man. Having resigned his position as a civil servant to live in isolation, the Man holes up in a squalid office cluttered with discarded equipment and wet snow, ready to take vengeance on a corrupt world. Obsessively reliving old wounds and spurning any chance at affection, the Man begins a descent into madness that is at times heartbreakingly funny, at times disquieting, but always honest, searing and unforgettable. The New York Times called Camp's portrayal a "remarkable, terrifying performance" in a production hailed by The Boston Globe as a "brilliantly original and theatrical work of art." Contains nudity, violence and strong language.

The Playhouse will also present the phenomenal hit off-Broadway play Ruined (November/December, Mandell Weiss Theatre) by celebrated playwright Lynn Nottage (Intimate Apparel, Fabulation). As a civil war rages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mama Nadi runs a canteen where any soldier can put down his weapon, have a beer and spend an evening in the company of beautiful women - for a price. But the good-time atmosphere of this cozy brothel cannot hide the battles waged on the women who work there. They have been torn from their families, brutalized at the hands of violent men and bartered as a commodity by the shrewd Mama Nadi, but despite the atrocities inflicted on them, their courage, humor and hope survive.

Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Ruined was extended multiple times off-Broadway and has earned numerous awards, including the Obie Award for Best New American Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. Variety wrote that Nottage "has crafted a work that speaks eloquently of the monstrous acts bred by war, and of the courage and compromises required to survive them," while The Chicago Tribune raved, "Sincere, passionate, courageous and acutely argued, Ruined is a remarkable theatrical accomplishment."

Corporate supporters of La Jolla Playhouse's season include Qualcomm Incorporated; Cooley Godward Kronish LLP; Morrison & Foerster; Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP; California Bank & Trust; US Bank; Bank of America; and Sempra Energy.

The nationally acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including Big River, The Who's Tommy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Dracula, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Jersey Boys, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Farnsworth Invention, 33 Variations and Memphis. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre, and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-Art Theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

* * *

BIOGRAPHIES

Christopher Ashley (Director, A Midsummer Night's Dream) has served as La Jolla Playhouse's Artistic Director since October, 2007. During his tenure, he has helmed the world premiere of Claudia Shear's Restoration and the acclaimed musicals Xanadu and Memphis (which opened to critical acclaim on Broadway in October, 2009). He also spearheaded The Playhouse's Resident Theatre program and was instrumental in developing The Edge series. Prior to joining The Playhouse, Ashley directed the Broadway productions of Xanadu, All Shook Up and The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations). Off-Broadway credits: Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards), Regrets Only, The Night Hank Williams Died, Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award), among others. Regional: Sweeney Todd and Merrily We Roll Along (Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration), They All Laughed and Lucky in the Rain (Goodspeed Musicals) and Without Walls (Mark Taper Forum). He also directed the feature film Jeffrey and the American Playhouse production of Blown Sideways Through Life for PBS. Mr. Ashley is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award, the Drama League Director Fellowship and an NEA/TCG Director Fellowship.

Bill Camp's (Adapter/Actor: Notes from Underground) credits include the Broadway productions of St. Joan, The Seagull, Jackie: An American Life, Heartbreak House and Coram Boy. Off-Broadway: Homebody/Kabul (OBIE Award), Lydie Breeze, The Demons, The Misanthrope, Beckett Shorts (New York Theatre Workshop); Macbeth, Measure for Measure (Theatre for a New Audience); One Flea Spare (The Public Theater); and Inferno (Jewish Rep). At American Repertory Theatre, he appeared in Henry IV, Parts I and II; Henry V; Picasso at the Lapin Agile; Long Day's Journey into Night (Elliot Norton Award, Best Actor); Richard II; The Provok'd Wife; and Olly's Prison. Other US theatre credits include productions at Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Yale Repertory, Mark Taper Forum, Guthrie Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse and Hartford Stage, among others. Television and film credits include Public Enemies, The Guitar, Coach, Deception, The Dying Gaul, Brotherhood, Law and Order, Joan of Arcadia and The Great Gatsby.

Robert L. Freedman (Librettist/Co-Lyricist: A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder) was nominated for the Writers Guild Award and two Emmy Awards as the writer and a producer of ABC's acclaimed Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. He was a finalist for the Humanitas Prize for his teleplay of Lifetime's What Makes a Family, which won a GLAAD Award as Best Television Film of 2001. He was also nominated for the Writers Guild Award for his teleplay for Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, starring Brandy. Additional television credits include the HBO film A Deadly Secret, CBS's What Love Sees and Norman Rockwell's America, Fox's Liberty, and Lifetime's Murder in the Hamptons, among many others. His New York theatre credits include the play Frantic at the Collective Actors Theatre and workshops of his musical Grand Duchy at Playwrights Horizons and the Paper Mill Playhouse. Robert wrote the PBS "Great Performances" special Broadway Sings the Music of Jule Styne, which starred Carol Channing, Chita Rivera and many others. For their work in the theatre, Freedman and his collaborator, Steven Lutvak, won the 2006 Fred Ebb Award, the 2006 Kleban Award, and the 2006 California Musical Theatre Award, the latter for their musical Campaign of the Century. Freedman is a graduate of the UCLA Theatre Arts program and received Masters degrees in Dramatic Writing and Musical Theatre from NYU.

Steven Lutvak (Composer, Co-Lyricist: A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder) wrote the title track to Mad Hot Ballroom, one of the most successful documentaries of all time. In 2006, he won the Kleban Award and the Fred Ebb Award, each with his principal collaborator, Robert L. Freedman. Their musical, Campaign of the Century, won the California Musical Theater Competition from the Beverly Hills Theater Guild. Lutvak received a New American Work grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for his musical Esmerelda, which premiered at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. His musical Almost September was honored with eight Bay Area Critics Circle Awards and seven Drama-Logue Awards for its run at Theatre Works in Palo Alto. As a singer/songwriter, Lutvak has performed to sold-out audiences at such prestigious New York venues as Carnegie Hall, the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room and Rainbow and Stars. The release of his solo CD "The Time It Takes" was celebrated with a sold-out run at New York's Joe's Pub. Other awards include the Johnny Mercer Foundation Emerging American Songwriter Award, two Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Grants and two Bistro Awards.

Jefferson Mays (Actor: A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder) won the Tony Award for his performance in Doug Wright's Pulitzer Prize-winning play I Am My Own Wife, which was developed at The Playhouse as the Theatre's first Page To Stage production. Additional Playhouse credits include Tartuffe, The Importance of Being Earnest, Fortinbras, Twelfth Night, Life During Wartime and Macbeth. Prior credits include Moe's Lucky Seven at Playwrights Horizons; Lydie Breeze, Quills and Culture of Desire at New York Theatre Workshop; Orestes at En Garde Arts; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at Williamstown Theatre Festival; Misalliance, The Importance of Being Earnest and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at Long Wharf Theatre; The Beauty Part at Yale Rep; The Importance of Being Earnest, Not Suitable for Children and The Cherry Orchard at McCarter Theatre; Hamlet at San Diego Repertory; and Miss Julie and Private Lives at Actors Theatre of Louisville. On film and television he has appeared in Kinsey, Alfie, Cousin Bette, Low Life, Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade, Hudson River Blues, Grey Night, Liberty!, Benjamin Franklin, The Federalist Papers. Mays received his BA at Yale and his MFA at UC San Diego.

Lynn Nottage (Playwright: Ruined) won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Ruined, as well as the Obie and Drama Desk Awards for Best New Play. She is also the author of Intimate Apparel, which received the 2004 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play, the Outer Critics Circle Best Play Award, the John Gassner Award, the American Theatre Critics/Steinberg 2004 New Play Award and the 2004 Francesca Primus Award. Her next play, Fabulation (Obie Award), was first produced by Playwrights Horizons and recently received a highly acclaimed production at the Tricycle Theatre in London. Her other plays, including Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Mud, River, Stone and Las Meninas, have been produced at theaters throughout the country, including South Coast Rep, ALLIANCE THEATRE, Second Stage, Vineyard Theatre, Crossroads Theatre Company, Intiman Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Yale Rep and The Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, among many others. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious 2004 PEN/Laura Pels Award for literary excellence and the MacArthur "Genius" Award, as well as fellowships from Manhattan Theatre Club, New Dramatists and the New York Foundation for the Arts, where she is a member of the Artists Advisory Board. Ms. Nottage is an alumna of New Dramatists and a graduate oF Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, where she is currently a visiting lecturer.

Darko Tresnjak (Director, A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder) recently directed The Playhouse's special engagement of The Laramie Project Epilogue. His credits include Cyrano de Bergerac, Coriolanus, The Pleasure of His Company, All's Well That Ends Well, Bell, Book and Candle, Hamlet, Pericles, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter's Tale, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Titus Andronicus at The Old Globe; The Merchant of Venice at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Theatre for a New Audience; All's Well That Ends Well, Antony and Cleopatra at Theatre for a New Audience; The Two Noble Kinsmen at The Public Theatre; Princess Turandot and Hotel Universe at Blue Light Theater Company; The Skin of Our Teeth, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Winter's Tale, Under Milk Wood, Moving Picture, The Blue Demon, Princess Turandot and The Love of Three Oranges at Williamstown Theatre Festival; Heartbreak House, What the Butler Saw, Amphitryon and The Blue Demon at the Huntington Theatre; The Two Noble Kinsmen at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; A Little Night Music, Amour at Goodspeed Opera House; and La Dispute at UCSD. He is the recipient of the Alan Schneider Award for Directing Excellence, TCG National Theater Artist Residency Award, Boris Sagal Directing Fellowship, NEA New Forms Grant, two Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowships, two San Diego Critics Circle Awards for his direction of Pericles and The Winter's Tale, and two Patté Awards for his direction of The Winter's Tale and Titus Andronicus. He was educated at Swarthmore College and Columbia University.

A native San Diegan, award-winning playwright Annie Weisman's (Playwright: Surf Report) plays include Be Aggressive, which had its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse and was subsequently produced in Dallas, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Portland and elsewhere. Additional credits include Hold Please and A Totally Meaningful Ritual. She has received an NEA/TCG Playwrights Grant, a Patté Award for Best New Play, and was a Susan Smith Blackburn Award Finalist. Ms. Weisman's works have been published by Dramatists Play Service, Vintage's Under Thirty: Plays for a New Generation, and Smith and Kraus' Best New Plays. Her television credits include "Dead Like Me" (Showtime), "Inconceivable" (NBC), and the upcoming "Heartland" (TNT). A graduate of Williams College, she is a member of the Dramatists' Guild and the Writers Guild.

RoBert Woodruff (Co-Adaptor/Director: Notes from Underground) has directed over 60 productions across the US at such theatres as Lincoln Center Theater, The Public Theater, Brooklyn Academy Of Music, American Conservatory Theater, Guthrie Theater and Mark Taper Forum, among others. His Playhouse credits include Happy Days, Le Petomane - A Comedy of Airs, The Tempest, Figaro Gets a Divorce and A Man's a Man. Most recently, he directed Chair at Theatre for a New Audience and created Ifigeneia in Aulis with Toneelgroep Amsterdam and Philip Glass's Appomattox for the San Francisco Opera. Internationally, his work has been seen at the Habimah National Theatre in Israel, Sydney Arts Festival, Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Hong Kong Festival of the Arts, Jerusalem Festival and Spoleto Festival USA. Mr. Woodruff has taught at the University of California campuses at San Diego and Santa Barbara, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and Columbia University. He is now on the faculty of Yale School of Drama. In 1972, he co-founded the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco, where he served as Artistic and Resident Director until 1978. In 1976, Mr. Woodruff established the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, a summer forum for the development of new plays that is still flourishing. From 2002 to 2007, Mr. Woodruff was the Artistic Director of American Repertory Theatre. He was named a 2007 USA Biller Fellow by United States Artists, an arts advocacy foundation dedicated to the support and promotion of America's top living artists.

For more information, visit http://www.lajollaplayhouse.org/

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.