Photo Flash: TheatreWorks Silicon Valley presents SKELETON CREW

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley continues its 2017/2018 Season with the regional premiere of the Obie Award-winning Skeleton Crew, in a co-production with Marin Theatre Company. A makeshift family of auto-plant workers navigate the possibility of foreclosure in this funny, tough, and tender American drama which captured critical raves. Rising star playwright Dominique Morisseau (Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations, Sunset Baby, Detroit '67, Pipeline) creates a world in which ambitious dreams and corporate deception interweave, pushing friendships to the limit. Skeleton Crew will be directed by Jade King Carroll (Associate Director for Broadway revivals of A Streetcar Named Desire and The Gin Game) and will be presented by TheatreWorks March 7 - April 1, 2018 (opening night: March 10) at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto. For tickets ($40-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

The third play in Dominique Morisseau's Detroit-cycle trilogy, Skeleton Crew made its world premiere in January 2016 at the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York City. Set in 2008 during the Great Recession, this drama follows auto-plant workers facing an uncertain future. Young Shanita has to figure out how she'll take care of her unborn child; tough Faye's living situation is up in the air; determined and street-savvy Dez grapples with making his dreams a reality; while manager Reggie is caught between doing right by his workers and the red tape from the plant. Since its Off-Broadway premiere, Skeleton Crew received the 2016 Obie Award and much critical acclaim. The New York Times hailed the production as "a deeply moral and deeply American play," while The Washington Post called it an "absorbing comedy-drama" and Variety noted the play has a "sense of historical moments that define the lives of ordinary Americans."

Dominique Morisseau, (Playwright) writer and actress, is an alumnus of The Public Theater Emerging Writer's Group, the Women's Project Playwrights Lab, and Lark Playwrights' Workshop who currently serves as co-producer on the Showtime series Shameless. She is the author of The Detroit Project (A 3-Play Cycle), which includes Skeleton Crew, Paradise Blue, and Detroit'67. She is the book writer for the hit musical Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations, which premiered in the Bay Area in August 2017. Her other plays include last summer's Lincoln Center hit Pipeline as well as Sunset Baby, Blood at the Root, and Follow Me to Nellie's. Morisseau has also been published in The New York Times bestseller Chicken Soup for the African American Soul and in the Harlem-based literary journal Signifyin' Harlem. She has received the Stavis Playwriting Award, a NAACP Image Award, a Spirit of Detroit Award, the Weissberger Award, a PoNY Fellowship, the Sky Cooper New American Play Prize, a TEER Spirit Trailblazer Award, the Steinberg New Play Award, the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama (Detroit '67), an Audelco award, and an Obie Award (Skeleton Crew).

Jade King Carroll makes her TheatreWorks directorial debut with Skeleton Crew. Carroll's credits include the McCarter, New Dramatists, Primary Stages, Playwrights Realm, 24 Hour Plays, and New Jersey Repertory Company. She has served as artistic associate at Second Stage Theater and as the dramaturg for the seminal recording of the entire August Wilson Twentieth Century Cycle for National Public Radio. Carroll's directing credits include Emily Mann's Having Our Say (Long Wharf Theatre), Aurin Squire's Running on Fire (Eugene O'Neill Theater Conference), and Dominique Morisseau's Sunset Baby (City Theater). She also served as the associate director for the 2015 revival of Broadway's The Gin Game and the 2012 Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. She is the recipient of the Theatre Communications Group's New Generations Future Leader Award, and the Paul Green Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Professional from the National Theatre Conference and The Estate of August Wilson.

TheatreWorks has assembled an exciting cast for this powerful production. Margo Hall makes her TheatreWorks debut as the resilient and reliable Faye. She has regionally performed with California Shakespeare Company, Marin Theatre Company, American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Playhouse, the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Magic Theatre, among others. Christian Thompson, who was last seen in the Bay Area as Smokey Robinson in Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations, makes his TheatreWorks debut as the playful and ambitious Dez. Among his many credits, he appeared as Benny in the 20th anniversary tour of Rent, and was featured in the world tour and New York premiere of Morisseau's Blood at the Root.

Lance Gardner who appears as the dedicated and compassionate auto-plant manager Reggie returns to TheatreWorks where he was featured in Proof, Superior Donuts, Auctioning the Ainsleys, and Anna in the Tropics. Gardner has been seen on many Bay Area stages including Marin Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Encore Theatre, and City Lights Theatre, among others. Playing the working-class dreamer Shanita is Tristan Cunningham. The 2016 Theatre Bay Area Award-winning actress returns to TheatreWorks where she recently appeared as Passepartout, Fogg's comedic and resourceful sidekick in Around the World in 80 Days. Cunningham has regionally performed with California Shakespeare Theater, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, San Francisco Playhouse, Magic Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, The Cutting Ball Theater, and more.

This production of Skeleton Crew, featuring the same cast and settings will be seen at Marin Theatre Company January 25 to February 18before opening at TheatreWorks. This is the first collaboration between the two Bay Area companies.

With some 100,000 patrons per year, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has captured a national reputation for artistic innovation and integrity, often presenting Bay Area theatregoers with their first look at acclaimed musicals, comedies, and dramas, directed by award-winning local and guest directors, and performed by professional actors cast locally and from across the country.

Photo credit: Kevin Berne