Ross Valley Players Presents DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE

An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet café. A stranger at the next table who has had enough. And a dead man - with a lot of loose ends. So begins this wildly imaginative comedy by MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl, author of the Ross Valley Players hit The Clean House. A work about how we memorialize the dead - and how that remembering changes us - it is the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about morality, redemption, and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world.

Sarah Ruhl Originally from Chicago, Ms. Ruhl received her M.F.A. from Brown University where she studied with Paula Vogel. An alum of 13P and of New Dramatists, she won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006 and most recently, the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award. She was the recipient of the PEN Center Award for a mid-career playwright, the Whiting Writers award, the Feminist Press' Forty under Forty award, and a Lilly Award. She proudly served on the executive council of the Dramatist's Guild for three years, and she is currently on the faculty at Yale School of Drama. Her book of essays on the theater and motherhood, 100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write, was a Times Notable Book of the Year. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.

FULL CAST:

Deborah Murphy (Jean): Past productions include Loves and Hours (Linda) with Broadway West, Medea (chorus) at College of Marin, and SF Sketchfest. She will appear next in The Rover (Angelica) with Role Players Ensemble.

Steve Price (Gordon) most recently appeared at College of Marin in The General Inspector as The Mayor (Best Plays 2017, Marin Independent Journal). Steve performed last summer in Marin Shakespeare Company's Love's Labor's Lost as Holofernes and Much Ado About Nothing as Leonato (SFBATCC nomination for Best Production, Bay Area 2017). Steve has acted in many plays at Ross Valley Players including Journey's End as Hardy and The Colonel (Best Ensemble SFBATCC nomination 2013), Bus Stop as Will Masters (Best Plays of 2017, Marin Independent Journal), Harvey as Elwood P. Dowd, The Diary of Anne Frank as Mr. Van Daan and To Kill a Mockingbird as Atticus Finch. He lives in San Rafael.

Christine Macomber (Mrs. Gottlieb) discovered theater just this century, and has since performed with 42nd Street Moon, Shotgun Players, Lamplighters, Center REP, Shakespeare's Associates of Livermore, New Conservatory Theatre Center and with many community theaters. This is her third show with RVP; the others were The Cocktail Hour, and Doubt. Chris has a BA from UC Berkeley, a Master of Music in Voice from Boston University and studied voice in Italy on a Fulbright Scholarship. She lives in Oakland, up 46 steps with her three cute dogs, and is a violinist in The Exeter String Quartet.

Marilyn Hughes (Hermia): For the past 15 years, she has appeared in shows throughout the Bay Area with favorite roles including Bottom/Pyramus in Midsummer Night's Dream, Kate/Mom in Broadway Bound (BATCC best actor in leading role nominee), and Mom in All My Sons. Marilyn has appeared on-camera and provided the voice over for many commercials, industrials, video games and toys. An award-winning actor and playwright, Marilyn's plays have been produced on stage and radio.

Peter Warden (Dwight): After a three year absence, Peter is thrilled and honored to be gracing the stage of Ross Valley Players once again. He was previously seen in 2014's Arms and the Man, Other Desert Cities and Persuasion here at RVP, and other past favorite roles include Felix Ungar in The Odd Couple (Bay Area Stage), Michal in The Pillowman (Exit Theatre), Clotaldo in Life Is A Dream (Cutting Ball Theatre) and Father Flynn in Doubt (Raven Players). As a Theatre Arts graduate from Sonoma State University, he has long held the art of performance very close to his heart. He lives in San Rafael.

Nan Ayers (Mystery Woman) was last seen at Ross Valley Players as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. She directed August Osage County at NTC with longtime mentor, Terry McGovern. By day she is a Pilates, Natural Movement, and Trauma Release exercise instructor. Nan is a member of the Lucy Kinchen Chorale and lives in Richmond.

About Ross Valley Players:

Now in its 88th year, Ross Valley Players, a non-profit arts organization, is the oldest continually operating community theater on the West Coast. Created in 1930 as a way to escape the hardships of the Depression, Ross Valley Players has introduced live theater to tens of thousands of Marin residents over the years. Each year, RVP presents a regular season of six full productions, running a total of 30 weeks. RVP offers special events and short-term productions outside the regular season. Plays include recent Broadway material, popular plays, classic theater, and a selection of works by well-known playwrights from around the world. RVP features all genres: comedy, drama, mysteries, and musicals. Their Ross Alternative Works (RAW) program presents short run, minimal set productions of original scripts by Bay Area playwrights.ll 415-456-9555, ext. 1 or visit www.RossValleyPlayers.com.