Hillbarn Theatre Presents IT'S ONLY A PLAY Next Month

Hillbarn Theatre, the Peninsula's premier theatre company, continues its 2019-20 season with Terrence McNally's satirical farce, It's Only a Play. Hailed by Entertainment Weekly as "hilariously, sidesplittingly funny," It's Only a Play will perform at Hillbarn Theatre (1285 East Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City) October 10-27, 2019. The performance schedule is as follows: Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Press night for It's Only a Play will be on Friday, October 11, 2019. Single tickets range in price from $27-$60 are available now by calling 650-349-6411 ext. 2 or visiting www.hillbarntheatre.org.

It's the opening night of The Golden Egg on Broadway, and the wealthy producer Julia Budder is throwing a lavish party in her swanky Manhattan townhouse. Downstairs the celebrities are pouring in, but the real action is upstairs in the bedroom, where a group of insiders have staked themselves out to await the reviews. The group includes the excitable playwright; the possibly unstable wunderkind director; the pill-popping leading lady, and the playwright's best friend, for whom the play was written but who passed up this production for a television series. Add to this a drama critic who's panned the playwright in the past and a new-in-town aspiring singer, and you have a prime recipe for the narcissism, ambition, childishness, and just plain irrationality that infuse the theatre! But don't worry: this play is sure to be the hit they have all been hoping for.

"This show is a hilarious look into the real-life drama of drama," says Dan Demers, Hillbarn Theatre's Executive Artistic Director. "Our tight-knit cast of seven brilliant actors delivers this smart script with impeccable comedic timing and acerbic wit that will have audiences howling!"

The show was originally produced by Manhattan Theatre Club at The Space City Center Theater in New York in 1985, then revised for Broadway in 2014, starring actors including Matthew Broderick, Megan Mullally, Rupert Grint, Nathan Lane, and Micah Stock.

Under the direction of Steve Muterspaugh, It's Only a Play features Ryan Cordero as 'Peter Austin,' the playwright; April Green as the producer, 'Julia Budder;' Jesse Caldwell* as 'Ira Drew,' the critic; Gary Schoenfeld as 'Frank Finger,' the director; Luisa Sermol* as 'Virginia Noyes,' the star of the show; Chris Reber* as 'James Wicker,' the playwright's best friend, and Josiah Frampton as 'Gus P. Head,' the aspiring singer.

*Member of Actors' Equity Association

The creative team for It's Only a Play includes Kuo-Hao Lo (Scenic Deisgner), James Goode (Sound Designer), and Valerie Bradshaw (Costumers, Hair and Makeup). Additional creative team members will be announced at a later date.

Up next, Hillbarn Theatre presents the Tony Award-winning musical, Newsies (December 5-22, 2019); the Broadway sci-fi cult musical, Little Shop of Horrors (January 23-February 9, 2020); the sidesplitting play, Laughter on the 23rd Floor (March 12-29, 2020); and the critically-acclaimed musical, La Cage aux Folles (May 7-24, 2020). Hillbarn Theatre closes its season with the world premiere play The Four Gifts (June 18-21, 2020), based on the memoir of San Mateo local Fr. Joseph Bradley.

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