(Robert) won Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance for his portrayal of Louis Armstrong in Satchmo at the Waldorf. Shakespeare & Company: Richard III, Othello, The Dreamer Examines His Pillow, All’s Well That Ends Well, King Lear. Joe Mott in The Iceman Cometh with Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy at the Goodman Theatre, Kent in King Lear at the Public Theater with Sam Waterston, Macbeth at TFANA, Marc Antony in Antony and Cleopatra at Hartford Stage with Kate Mulgrew, Gennady in The Forest at CSC with Dianne Wiest, Brutus Jones in The Emperor Jones at The Irish Rep (Lucille Lortel, Drama League and Drama Desk nominations), Othello at TFANA (OBIE, Lucille Lortel Award, Drama League nomination, AUDELCO nomination). Broadway: A Time to Kill, LeBret in Cyrano with Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner, and Julius Caesar with Denzel Washington. International credits: Hotspur in Henry IV (Royal Shakespeare Company). Other off-Broadway credits: Women Beware Women (Red Bull), Enobarbus in Anthony and Cleopatra, Orombo in Oroonoko (TFANA, AUDELCO nomination), Judge Brack in Hedda Gabler (NYTW), Edgar in King Lear (Classical Theater of Harlem, AUDELCO nomination). Regional credits: Lucious Jenkins in Jesus Hopped the A Train (The Wilma Theater, Barrymore Award), Williamstown Theater, Trinity Rep, Shakespeare & Company, ART. TV/FILM: “Law and Order”, “Conviction”, “Michael Clayton”, “Midway”, “Malcolm X”.
(Robert) has appeared on Broadway in Hedda Gabler, The Price, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Visit, A Lesson From Aloes, and Watch On The Rhine. His off-Broadway credits include Raindance at Signature Theatre; Don Juan In Hell at Symphony Space; Steve Tesich’s Arts And Leisure at Playwrights Horizons; Tina Howe’s Approaching Zanzibar at Second Stage; Hamlet, King John, Richard III, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at New York Shakespeare Festival; and Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Hedda Gabler at Roundabout. Regional credits include Finishing the Picture at Goodman Theatre; a recent appearance in the title role of King Lear at New Jersey Shakespeare Festival; The Talking Cure at Mark Taper Forum; Tartuffe at the Guthrie and Arena Stage; Henry V at Hartford Stage; and The Tempest at Shakespeare & Co. Mr. Yulin’s directing credits include Horton Foote’s The Prisoner’s Song at Ensemble Studio Theatre; Conor McPherson’s This Lime Tree Bower at Primary Stages; Don Juan In Hell in London (Riverside Studios) and in New York (Symphony Space), Steve Tesich’s Baba Goya (Second Stage), Adele Shank’s Winter Play at Second Stage; Candida at the Shaw Festival; and The Front Page and The Guardsman at Long Wharf. His television credits include “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight,” “Mister Sterling,” “24,” “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Frasier” (Emmy Nomination), and “La Femme Nikita” (Emmy Nomination). His film credits include Fur, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Emperor’s Club, Training Day, The Million Dollar Hotel, The Hurricane, Looking for Richard, Murder at 1600, Multiplicity, Clear and Present Danger, and Scarface.
WP Theater presents
New York Premiere
DEAR ELIZABETH
Written by Sarah Ruhl & Directed by Kate Whoriskey
Limited Engagement: OCT 26 – DEC 5
Starring a rotating cast of LUMINARIES including: BECKY ANN BAKER, DAVID AARON BAKER, KATHLEEN CHALFANT, RINDE ECKERT, CHERRY JONES, MIA KATIGBAK, ELLEN MCLAUGHLIN, POLLY NOONAN, PETER SCOLARI, J. SMITH-CAMERON, JOHN DOUGLAS THOMPSON & HARRIS YULIN.
COME JOIN US!
Laura Eason (Playwright) is the author of twenty plays (original work and adaptation), a musical book writer and screenwriter. Productions in ‘14/’15 include Sex With Strangers at Second Stage, NYC; Brisbane Powerhouse, AU; Signature Theatre, D.C. (previously at Steppenwolf Theatre; Sydney Theatre Company, AU; published by Overlook Press); the premiere of the musical Days Like Today, music and lyrics by Alan Schmuckler, commissioned and produced by Writers’ Theatre, Chicago; the premiere of The Undeniable Sound of Right Now with Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre and WP Theater, NYC; and Around the World in 80 Days in an encore production at the New Vic and Royal Exchange in the UK (previously at Lookingglass Theatre, Chicago; Baltimore Centerstage; KC Rep; New Vic; published by Broadway Play Publishing). She was a staff writer on season two and is currently a story editor on season three of the Netflix show “House of Cards”. Laura is an Ensemble Member of Lookingglass Theatre (2011 Regional Tony Award) and served as Artistic Director for six years. In New York, she is a member of Rising Phoenix Rep, New Georges, and a WP Playwright’s Lab alumna. Laura was a singer, songwriter and bass player for the 90’s Chicago power pop band Tart. The band regularly played such venerable venues as Lounge Ax, Double Door, Metro and Empty Bottle. Their CD, START, is available from the dusty box in Laura’s closet. A longtime Chicagoan, she lives in Brooklyn with her family. More information about past productions, current commissions and other things in the works is available at lauraeason.com. Twitter @LeasonNYC
Kirsten Kelly (Director) is a theatre director, educator and documentary filmmaker who lives in Brooklyn. This season, in addition to The Undeniable Sound of Right Now, Kirsten will be directing Macbeth at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Recent New York theatre credits include Slipping by Daniel Talbott with Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre & Piece by Piece Productions (off-broadway), and shows for Rising Phoenix Rep, The Juilliard School and Lincoln Center, The Shakespeare Society and Roots&Branches Theatre (an intergenerational theatre company). Previous highlights include Big Love in Washington D.C. (Helen Hayes nomination for Best Direction), and the D.C. premieres of The Clockmaker and Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gillman (Helen Hayes Nomination, Best Direction) as well as the Midwest/Chicago premiere of Mamet’s Boston Marriage (After Dark Award, Best Director). Kirsten is the Co-creator and director of “CPS Shakespeare” program at Chicago Shakespeare. Kirsten is a graduate of the Master’s Directing program at Juilliard where she received the Andrew W. Mellon Directing Fellowship, is a documentary fellow of the Sundance Documentary Institute and is a proud member of Rising Phoenix Repertory.
DANIEL ABELES (Nash) At Rattlestick: Where We’re Born (Hilltown Plays); Wyoming (Lesser America), reasons to be pretty (Philadelphia Theater Company), Offices (Atlantic Theater Company), Helping People (IRT), Squealer (Lesser America), Too Much Too Soon (Lesser America), Keep Your Baggage With You… (NYIT nominee), Too Little Too Late (NYIT nominee), The Gnadiges Fraulein (Provincetown), The Comedy of Errors (Lake George). TV: Forever, Elementary, Smash (recurring), Law & Order, Wallflowers (recurring). Film: Seattle Road, You Bury Your Own, Son of Mourning, Gasoline. Education: NYU Tisch. Founding member and producing director of Lesser America. Twitter @DanielAbeles
JEB BROWN (Hank) Recently played legendary pop/rock leisure suit Don Kirshner in Beautiful. Other B’way: Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark, Time Stands Still, High Fidelity, Ring of Fire, Aida, I’m Not Rappaport, Grease, Bring Back Birdie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Off-Broadway: Romantic Poetry, Game Show. Regional: Steppenwolf, McCarter, Old Globe, Actors Theatre Louisville, Dallas Theatre Center, Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Coconut Grove, Hartford Theatreworks, Paper Mill. TV: “Law and Order: SVU,” “Star Trek: DS9,” and so many in between. Film: The Dictator, Salt, The Namesake, Renaissance Man, I’ll Do Anything. Co-Founder of LA’s award-winning Evidence Room Theatre Project. Yale. Various bands. Husband to Elyse. Father of Eleanor.
CHRIS KIPINIAK (Joey) Broadway: Macbeth with Alan Cumming, dirs. John Tiffany/Andrew Goldberg; Metamorphoses (dir. Mary Zimmerman), off-Broadway: Kit Marlowe (Public Theater), Charles Winn Speaks… (Living Image Arts), Nora (Marvell Repertory). Regional: Huntington Theater, Lookingglass Theater, Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory, Mark Taper Forum, Goodman Theater. Film/TV/Web: Love Life (also writer), Deal Travis In; The Blacklist, The Good Wife, Delocated; the web series Real Actors Read . . .Playwright: Save the World (Roundtable Ensemble), Iiiinsaaaaaaaane!, Change the Be, Stalled (Horse Trade Theater Group); Comics Writing: Nightcrawler, Amazing Fantasy and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man for Marvel comics, the upcoming Behemoth from MonkeyBrain comics. Twitter @ckipiniak
BRIAN MISKELL (Toby) Recent credits include The Hill Town Plays by Lucy Thurber (Rattlestick, Obie Award), The Aliens by Annie Baker at The Studio Theatre (Washington, D.C.) and The SF Playhouse (West Coast premiere), Eightythree Down (Horse Trade; NY Innovative Theatre Nomination), Barn (Rising Phoenix Rep), Home Universe (Columbia Stages), The Un-Marrying Project (Purple Rep), The Sunken Living Room (Theater 80). Company member with Rising Phoenix Rep. Brian studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute and graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Upcoming at Rattlestick in May 2015:Afghanistan Zimbabwe America Kuwait written and directed by Daniel Talbott. Twitter @BrianMiskell
MARGO SEIBERT (Lena) made her Broadway debut as “Adrian” in the musical adaptation of Rocky and starred off-Broadway as “Tamar” in Marisa Michelson and Josh Cohen’s acclaimed Tamar and the River, for which she was nominated for a 2014 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. Margo has developed work at The Public, MTC, Playwrights Horizons, NAMT, The O’Neill Center, New Dramatists, and has originated roles in pieces for award-winning writers, including David Byrne, Ahrens & Flaherty, Goldrich & Heisler, Adam Gwon and more. Aside from her extensive work in theatre, Margo has appeared on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. She graduated from American University with a degree in International Business. Twitter @Margo_Seibert
LUSIA STRUS (Bette) Women’s Project Theater and Rattlestick debut. Broadway: Enron, Elling. Off-Broadway: The Retributionists (Playwrights Horizons). Other credits include Ironbound, Good People (Jeff Award nomination- Supporting Actress), her own solo show, It Ain’t No Fairy Tale (LAWeekly Award-Solo Performance), Hysteria, Our Town and Whispering City (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Commons of Pensacola (Northlight Theatre); Love’s Labours Lost, Merry Wives of Windsor (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Henry IV (Royal Shakespeare Company); Big Love (Goodman Theatre/BAM); SLAVS!, Go Away Go Away (Jeff Award-Principal Actress) (European Repertory Theatre) Travesties and John Guare’s World Premier of Are You There, McPhee? (McCarter Theater) and many years of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (Chicago and New York City) as a Neo-Futurist. Film: Gus Van Sant’s Restless, 50 First Dates, Miss Congeniality 2, Stir of Echoes and independents currently in festivals – Kelly and Cal, The Mend, Cotton. TV: Modern Family, Blue Bloods, Wayward Pines (Fall-2015).
(Playwright) Tanya Barfield’s The Call premiered last spring at Playwrights Horizons in co-production with Primary Stages and was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. Her play Blue Door (South Coast Rep, Playwrights Horizons) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Tanya wrote the book for the Theatreworks/USA children’s musical, Civil War: The First Black Regiment which toured public schools regionally. Other work includes: Feast (co-writer, Young Vic/Royal Court) and Of Equal Measure (Center Theatre Group), Chat (New Dramatists’ Playtime Festival), The Quick (New York Stage & Film). Short plays include: Medallion (WP Theater/Antigone Project), Foul Play (Royal Court Theatre, Cultural Center of Brazil), The Wolves and Wanting North (Guthrie Theatre Lab, named Best 10-Minute Play of 2003). A recipient of a Lilly Award, the inaugural Lilly Award Commission and a Helen Merrill Award, Tanya is a proud alumna of New Dramatists and a member of The Dramatist Guild Council.
(Director) Broadway: Violet (Tony nomination, Roundabout, Encores)); Chinglish; Well. Other: American Hero (2ST); Kung Fu (Signature Theatre); The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence (Playwrights Horizons); The Call (Playwrights Horizons); The Madrid (MTC); Golden Child (Signature Theatre); No Place to Go (Public Theater; Two River Theatre); In the Wake (Center Theatre Group/Berkeley Repertory Theatre and The Public Theater, Obie Award, Lortel nomination); Go Back to Where You Are (Playwrights Horizons, Obie Award); From Up Here (MTC, Drama Desk nomination); Yellow Face (Center Theatre Group/The Public Theater); Coraline (MCC/True Love); Blue Door (Playwrights Horizons); Well (The Public Theater; Huntington Theatre; ACT); Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Second Stage Theatre). Recent regional: The Heidi Chronicles (Guthrie Theater); American Hero (WTF); Chinglish (Goodman Theater, Jeff nomination; West Coast/Hong Kong tour).
(Erica) Select theatre: The Wayside Motor Inn (Signature); Your Mother’s Copy of the Kama Sutra, The Whale, The Retributionists (Playwrights Horizons); Too Much Too Much Too Many (Roundabout Theatre Company); La Brea, Roadkill Confidential (Clubbed Thumb); Red-Handed Otter (Playwrights Realm); Autumn Sonata (Yale Rep.); The Collection, A Kind of Alaska (Atlantic Theater Company); Spin, U.S. Drag, Vengeance (the stageFARM); bobrauschenbergamerica (American Repertory Theater). Film and Television: Mistress America, True Story, Actresses, The Mend, Appropriate Behavior, Diving Normal, Compliance, East of Acadia, Meskada, Little Horses, A Lone Star State, “The Impossibilities”, “Wallflowers”, “The Good Wife” and “Grand Theft Autor IV & V”. MFA, Columbia University.
Rachael Holmes (Vicky) just made her Yale Rep debut in the world premier of War by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (dir. Lileana Blain-Cruz). Other credits include Ruined directed by Kate Whoriskey (Manhattan Theatre Club); Persephone’s Cowboy: A Musical directed by Alex Timbers, 365 Days/365 Plays with directors Michael Greif, Leigh Silverman, and Hal Brooks (The Public Theater). Regional credits include: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Broadway World nomination for Best Supporting Actress) directed by Jonathan Moscone (Alley Theatre); Good People directed by Kate Whoriskey (Huntington Theatre); Ruined (Helen Hayes Award for Best Ensemble) directed by Charles Randolph-Wright (Arena Stage); The Book Club Play directed by Molly Smith (Arena Stage); Richard II directed by Michael Kahn, Julius Caesar directed by David Paul (Shakespeare Theatre); and Marcus; or The Secret of Sweet directed by Timothy Douglas (Studio Theatre); She recorded Lady Macbeth and Titania for the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Luminary Shakespeare App. Television: The Mysteries of Laura, The Good Wife, Dirt, as well asnational commercials and voice-overs. She received her MFA from NYU and teaches at New Victory Theatre and New York Film Academy. rachael.biz
(Everywoman) Jessica Almasy is a co-founder of the TEAM and a member of the wook taut majesty. She is an actress and a writer. BFA Acting: NYU Tisch. MFA Playwriting: Brooklyn College.
(GrandDada) Gerry Bamman received Obie and Drama League awards and a Drama Desk nomination for best featured actor for his performance as Richard Nixon in Nixon’s Nixon. He was a founding member of the Manhattan Project, one of the foremost experimental theater companies of the 1970’s, directed by Andre Gregory. His most recent work includes Keen Company’s The Film Society, Jen Silverman’s Phoebe in Winter and Merchant of Venice, and Enemy of the People on Broadway. Films: Runaway Jury, Two Family House, Passion of Mind, Home Alone 1 and 2, Lorenzo’s Oil, Secret of My Success, Bodyguard, True Believer, Pink Cadillac. Many appearances on Law and Order.
(Everyman) Christian Felix is originally from Evanston, IL, which sits on the shores of the greatest of the Great Lakes. Past theater credits: Blacken the Bubble (Liberation Theater), The Two Lives of Napoleon Beazley (Vital Theater), Romeo and Juliet (Public Theater), Take Me Out (Barebones, Pittsburgh). Film credits: Sardines Out of a Can, Waiting Room. TV: Guiding Light. BA: Dartmouth College. Thanks to my Family and Friends for their support!
(Trifle) New Georges: Great Lakes (Jam on Toast Fest). Off Broadway: Paris Commune (BAM – Civilians); The Internationalist (Vineyard – Lucille Lortel Nomination – featured actress); Trouble in Paradise (Hourglass – Obie Award); Curmudgeons in Love (EST Marathon); The Ladies, In The Footprint (The Civilians); Boozy, Heddatron (Les Freres); Once in a Lifetime (Atlantic). Regional: Huntington, South Coast Rep, Geva. Film/TV: Nurse Jackie (Season 7 – recurring), Wet Hot American Summer (Upcoming Netflix series – recurring), Role Models, The Ten, Wet Hot American Summer, Damages, Venture Brothers, L&O:CI. Wainy Days (web series). Affiliated artist: Civilians, Clubbed Thumb, Les Freres Corbusier.
(Cheesecake) NY: Good Person of Szechwan (Public, La MaMa), Trade Practices (HERE), Help Me To Make It (CTown), Takarazuka!!! (Clubbed Thumb), Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G (Ma-Yi, Vampire Cowboys), Happy Sunshine Kung Fu Flower (Ars Nova, Zipper). Workshops/readings: Vineyard, La Jolla Playhouse, Lark, Lincoln Center, New Victory, Prelude, Clubbed Thumb, HERE, PEN World Voices, 2G, NAAP, Pan Asian, Music-Theatre Group, Leviathan Lab, Maltby & Shire’s Behind The Painting & BD Wong’s The Post Office. Concerts: Highline Ballroom, Joe’s Pub, City Winery. Brooke is developing an independent feature, a pilot treatment for TV, & a musical solo show. brookeishibashi.com
(Snapdragon) Recently seen in NYTW’s Scenes from a Marriage. Other NYC: Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Foundry Theater, Civilians, Ma-Yi, Target Margin, New Georges, Clubbed Thumb, Women’s Project, Pan Asian Rep and NAATCO, of which she is Artistic Producing Director and co-founder. Regional: Berkeley Rep (CA), Swine Palace (LA), Guthrie (MN). International: Philippines, Abu Dhabi. Awards: Obie (NAATCO’s Awake and Sing!, 2014); Lucille Lortel, Lee Reynolds Awards (League of Professional Theatre Women); AEA’s Rosetta LeNoire Award; New Dramatists’ Charles Bowden Actor Award. Founding director, CAATA (Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists). BA: Barnard College. MA: Columbia University.
(Gumbo) Kristine Haruna Lee is a playwright, director, and performer living in Brooklyn, NY. She’s a founding member of harunalee theater company. She has performed nationally and internationally with artists such as Taylor Mac, NAATCO, Jim Neu, Yubiwa Hotel, Andrea Geyer’s Comrades of Time at the Whitney Biennial, Mettawee, and Antony and the Johnsons. Her work as part of harunalee has received a Dixon Place Artist Residency and Commission for War Lesbian, an LMCC Grant for Drunkfish Oceanrant, and she’s a recipient of the New Dramatists Van Lier fellowship. She teaches Theatre at York College. BFA: Tisch. MFA: Brooklyn College.
(@ color commentary) Previously appeared in Nightlands with New Georges. A Fable (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), The Model Apartment (Primary Stages), A Map of Virtue (13P), Angels in America (Signature Theatre Company), The Tempest (Target Margin Theater), The Brother/Sister Plays (The Public Theater, u/s), The Gentleman Caller (Clubbed Thumb). Regional credits: The Two Gentleman of Verona (The Old Globe), A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Phylicia Rashad (Westport Country Playhouse), Romeo and Juliet (The Shakespeare Theatre Company), Blue Door (Seattle Repertory Theatre). TV credits: The Good Wife (CBS), happyish (Showtime), Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU (NBC), Over/Under (USA), Black Jack (Comedy Central). Film credits: James White and SWEEP (SAG short). Training: New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. YoungArts awardee.
(Cherry Pie): Broadway: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; A Raisin in the Sun; Gem of the Ocean, VSMS. Other Theater: The Rattlestick, Soho Rep, The Public, Playwrights Horizons, McCarter, Berkeley Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse. TV: The Good Wife, Life Support, Law & Order, Law & Order: CI, Whoopi, Third Watch and Homicide. Film: Red Hook Summer, Broken Flowers, The Nanny Diaries, You Belong to Me, Head of State. Heather is the recipient of an Audie Award for the audiobook Upstate. Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship through TCG. BA: Tufts University. MFA: Columbia University. www.heatherasimms.com
(# in charge of action) Ben Williams is an actor and a sound designer. With Elevator Repair Service: Arguendo; Fondly, Collette Richland; The Select (The Sun Also Rises); Shuffle, The Sound and the Fury (April Seventh, 1928); No Great Society; and Gatz. Other collaborators include: Julia Jarcho, Christina Masciotti, Sibyl Kempson, Suzanne Bocanegra, The Wooster Group, New York City Players, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Awards for Sound Design: 2012 Obie, 2012 Lucille Lortel, 2013 LADCC. Ben is the Editor of Performance Texts for BODY, an online literary journal, where you can read an excerpt from this play: www.bodyliterature.com.
(Costume Design) Kathleen Doyle designs costumes and puppets for theater, opera, dance and animation. Recent projects include Sunfish – Daegu Opera House – South Korea, The Magic Flute – Boston Symphony Orchestra, Lollapalooza – Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Light Princess – American Repertory Theater, The Snow Queen – Here, Sassy Swings Tokyo – La MaMa, Gideon’s Knot – 59E59, Cendrillon -Manhattan School of Music, Fireweather – The Joyce Theater, Girl of The Golden West – New Ohio Theater. Doyle is the recipient of many awards and grants, including two Fulbrights. Her artwork was recently exhibited in a solo show called Criacoes in Brazil. MFA in Theatrical Design, NYU. www.kathleendoyledesign.info
