Download Press Release - WHALE - Final

THE WHALE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 14, 2014
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Jim Torres - 617.529.1670
(BOSTON) – From March 7 through April 5, 2014, SpeakEasy Stage Company will proudly
present the New England premiere of the acclaimed Off-Broadway drama THE WHALE by
Samuel D. Hunter.
Winner of the 2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play, THE WHALE tells the story of
Charlie, a morbidly obese man who hides away in his Northern Idaho apartment quietly eating
himself to death in the wake of a personal tragedy. With his health quickly failing, Charlie makes
one last desperate attempt to connect with his estranged daughter Ellie, a sharp-tongued and wildly
unhappy teen whom he has not seen in 15 years. Also involved in Charlie’s quest for redemption are
Liz, Charlie’s enabling caregiver; Elder Thomas, a Mormon on a mission; and Mary, Charlie’s exwife.
THE WHALE was written by Samuel D. Hunter, whose play A Bright New Boise had its
Boston debut last season. A native of Northern Idaho, Mr. Hunter lives in New York City and holds
degrees in playwriting from New York University, The Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and Juilliard.
He has received the 2013 Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a 2012 Whiting Writers Award, the
2011 Sky Cooper Prize, and the 2008-2009 PONY Fellowship. Mr. Hunter is also a member of New
Dramatists, an Ensemble Playwright at Victory Gardens, a Core Member of The Playwrights’ Center,
a member of Partial Comfort Productions, and is currently a Resident Playwright at Arena Stage. He
has three new plays set to debut nationally this season: The Few, A Great Wilderness, and Rest.
Norton Award-winner David R. Gammons will direct THE WHALE for SpeakEasy Stage.
Mr. Gammons’ previous directorial efforts for the company include the award-winning productions
of Blackbird, Red, and The Motherf**ker with the Hat.
Boston actor, teacher, and playwright John Kuntz will play Charlie, and will share the stage
with Josephine Elwood, Georgia Lyman, Maureen Keiller, and Ryan O’Connor.
The design team includes Cristina Todesco (scenic), Gail Astrid Buckley (costumes), Jeff
Adelberg (lighting), David Remedios (sound), and Megan F. Kinneen (props). Christine Lomaka is
the Production Stage Manager.
THE WHALE will run for five weeks, from March 7 through April 5, in the Roberts Studio
Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street in
Boston’s South End.
Ticket prices start at $25, with discounts for students, seniors, and persons age 25 and under.
For tickets or more information, the public is invited to call 617.933.8600 or visit
www.SpeakEasyStage.com.
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THE WHALE
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Production History
THE WHALE had its world premiere production at Denver Center Theatre Company in
Denver, Colorado in January 2012. The show then premiered Off-Broadway in October 2012 at
Playwrights Horizons with Tony Award-winner Shuler Hensley in the lead role. THE WHALE
has since been produced by Victory Gardens, South Coast Repertory, a chick & a dude
productions, and Stray Cat Theatre.
Awards
THE WHALE won the 2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play, the 2013 Drama Desk
Special Award for Significant Contribution to Theatre, and the 2013 GLAAD Media Award for
Outstanding New York Theater.
The play also received nominations for the 2013 Drama League Award for Outstanding
Production of a Play, the 2013 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway
Play, and the 2013 John Gassner Award for Outstanding New American Play.
Artist Information
SAMUEL D. HUNTER (Playwright) holds degrees in playwriting from New York University,
The Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and Juilliard. In addition to THE WHALE, his plays include
A Bright New Boise (2011 Obie Award for Playwriting, 2011 Drama Desk nomination for Best
Play) and the upcoming new works The Few, A Great Wilderness, and Rest. His plays have been
produced by such theatres as Playwrights Horizons, South Coast Repertory, Victory Gardens,
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, The Old Globe, Denver Center Theatre Company,
Clubbed Thumb, and Page 73. His work has been developed at the O’Neill National Playwrights
Conference, the Ojai Playwrights Conference, and Seven Devils. Mr. Hunter is the winner of a
2012 Whiting Writers’ Award, the 2013 Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, the 2011 Sky
Cooper Prize, and the 2008-2009 PONY Fellowship. He is a member of New Dramatists, an
Ensemble Playwright at Victory Gardens, a Core Member of The Playwrights’ Center, a member
of Partial Comfort Productions, and is currently a Resident Playwright at Arena Stage. A native
of Northern Idaho, Mr. Hunter now lives in New York City.
DAVID R. GAMMONS (Director) is a director, designer, visual artist, and theatre educator.
David is thrilled to return to SpeakEasy Stage, where he previously directed the New England
premieres of The Motherf**ker with the Hat (2013 Elliot Norton Awards for Outstanding
Production and Outstanding Actress), Red (2012 Elliot Norton Awards for Outstanding
Production and Outstanding Actor), and Blackbird (2009 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding
Actress). Other recent directing credits include Chekhov’s Three Sisters (Boston College);
Cherry Docs, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and My Name is Rachel Corrie (New Repertory
Theatre); Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro (Brandeis Theater Company); the world
premieres of The Farm by Walt McGough and The Salt Girl by John Kuntz (Boston Playwrights'
Theatre); The Winter's Tale as part of the Shakespeare Exploded! Festival (American Repertory
Theater); and Medea, The Hotel Nepenthe, The Duchess of Malfi, and Titus Andronicus for
which he won the 2007 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director (Actors’ Shakespeare
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THE WHALE
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Project). Mr. Gammons has proudly served as the Director of the Theatre Program at Concord
Academy for the last fourteen years, where he teaches directing and oversees a company of
young performers devoted to developing original experimental work for the stage. David also
serves as the 2013-2014 Rev. J. Donald Monan S.J. Professor of Theatre Arts at Boston College.
Mr. Gammons is a graduate of Harvard University with a degree in Visual and Environmental
Studies, and a graduate of the Directing Program of the American Repertory Theatre Institute for
Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. For more information, please visit
davidrgammons.com.
Actor Information
JOSEPHINE ELWOOD (Ellie) is thrilled to be making her SpeakEasy debut. Recent credits
include Long Ago and Far Away and The Cherry Orchard at Walking the dog Theater. She is
currently pursuing a B.F.A. in Acting at Emerson College.
MAUREEN KEILLER* (Mary) SpeakEasy: Nine; The Little Dog Laughed; Almost, Maine;
The Women (IRNE Award - Best Play); The Wild Party. Other credits include 33 Variations,
Big River, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Elliot Norton Award and IRNE Award
- Best Play), Speech and Debate (Elliot Norton Award - Best Play), Epic Proportions, Inspecting
Carol (Lyric Stage); Oh God (Israeli Stage); Car Talk, The Musical!!! (Central Square
Theater); The Sweetest Swing in Baseball (Boston Theatre Works); A Streetcar Named
Desire (New Repertory Theatre): Anne of Green Gables (Wheelock Family Theatre); Frankie
and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Lyric West). Maureen is a two time recipient of the IRNE
Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Women and The Wild Party. Film and television
credits include: Olive Kitteridge (HBO series); The Makeover (Hallmark/ABC Family); Fever
Pitch, We Pedal Uphill, My Best Friend's Girl, and Brotherhood (Showtime series). Maureen is
a member of Actors’ Equity and SAG/AFTRA.
JOHN KUNTZ* (Charlie) is very happy to return to SpeakEasy, where he has appeared in
Jeffrey, Fifth of July, Porcelain, Balm in Gilead, After School Special, The SantaLand
Diaries, as well as the premieres of his solo shows Freaks, Party Poopers, Actorz…with a
“Z”, and Starfuckers. John is a founding company member of Actors’ Shakespeare Project
where he has appeared in Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Hotel Nepenthe, Titus Andronicus,
Timon of Athens, The Tempest, King John, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado about
Nothing, The Winter’s Tale, Measure for Measure, All’s Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night,
and Richard III. Other credits include Betty’s Summer Vacation and The Hotel Nepenthe
(Huntington Theatre Company); The Lily’s Revenge, Copenhagen, The Communist Dracula
Pageant (ART); The Mystery of Irma Vep, Fully Committed, Never the Sinner, The Baltimore
Waltz, The Comedy of Errors (Lyric Stage); The Pillowman, Waiting for Godot, True West, The
SantaLand Diaries, Scapin, Cabaret, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (New Rep); Mr.
Marmalade (Company One); The Salt Girl, Infestation (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); Hamlet,
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Twelfth Night, Henry V (Commonwealth Shakespeare); Uncle Vanya (Apollinaire Theatre); The
Caretaker, Hysteria, How I Got That Story, Mere Mortals (Nora Theatre Company). John is the
author of 15 full-length plays, including The Hotel Nepenthe and The Salt Girl (both directed by
David R. Gammons). He is the recipient of three Elliot Norton Awards, two IRNE Awards, a
New York International Fringe Festival Award, and the Michael Kanin & Paula Vogel National
Playwrighting Awards. He is on the faculty of The Boston Conservatory.
GEORGIA LYMAN* (Liz) happily returns to SpeakEasy where she was last seen as Crystal
Allen in The Women. She most recently appeared as Kerr in Chesapeake (New Rep), for which
she won the 2013 Elliot Norton Award for Best Solo Performer. A founding member of Orfeo
Group, Georgia appeared as Molly in Love Song, Helena Charles in Look Back in Anger, and coproduced their award-winning production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
(Abridged). Other credits include: John Kuntz’s The Hotel Nepenthe (Actors’ Shakespeare
Project); afterlife: a ghost story (New Rep); The Real Inspector Hound (Publick Theatre); Cat on
a Hot Tin Roof and The Scene (Lyric Stage); White People (New Rep Downstage). Her film and
TV credits include The Forger with John Travolta; The Makeover with Julia Stiles; R.I.P.D. with
Kevin Bacon; three seasons as Cassie Giggs on Showtime’s Brotherhood; a recurring role on
Law & Order: SVU; The Town; Bride Wars; My Best Friend’s Girl; The Mulberry Tree; and The
Women. Georgia also recently served as the Associate Curator for the Outside the Box festival
and is currently the Events Curator for Cambridge Historical Tours.
RYAN O’CONNOR (Elder Thomas) is making his SpeakEasy Stage and professional debut. He
last performed at Suffolk University as Mephistopheles in Doctor Faustus, also under the helm
of director David R. Gammons.
For tickets or more information on THE WHALE, the public can call the BostonTheatreScene
Box Office at 617.933.8600 or visit www.BostonTheatreScene.com.
Press inquiries should be directed to Marketing and Communications Director Jim Torres:
Office: 617.482.3279 Cell: 617.529.1670
Email: [email protected]
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Calendar Listing Information
THE WHALE
By Samuel D. Hunter
Set on the outskirts of Mormon Country in Northern Idaho, THE WHALE tells the story of
Charlie, a morbidly obese recluse who hides away in his apartment quietly eating himself to
death in the wake of a personal tragedy. With his health quickly failing, Charlie makes one last
desperate attempt to connect with his estranged teenage daughter Ellie, a sharp-tongued and
wildly unhappy teen whom he has not seen in 17 years. Also involved in Charlie’s quest for
redemption are Liz, Charlie’s enabling caregiver; Elder Thomas, a Mormon on a mission who
becomes caught up in Charlie’s drama; and Mary, Charlie’s ex-wife.
Presented by: SpeakEasy Stage Company, the Calderwood Pavilion Resident Theatre Company at
the Boston Center for the Arts; Paul Daigneault, Producing Artistic Director
Cast:
Josephine Elwood, Maureen Keiller, John Kuntz, Georgia Lyman, and
Ryan O’Connor
Director:
David R. Gammons
Production Stage Manager:
Christine Lomaka
Design Team:
Scenic: Cristina Todesco
Costumes: Gail Astrid Buckley
Lighting: Jeff Adelberg
Sound: David Remedios
Props: Megan F. Kinneen
Performing at:
The Roberts Studio Theatre
in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts,
527 Tremont Street in Boston's South End
Press Performance:
March 9, 2014 at 3PM
Performance Schedule:
March 7 – April 5, 2014
Wed. & Thurs. at 7:30PM; Fri. at 8PM; Sat. at 4PM & 8 PM;
Sun. at 3PM. Added Performance: Wed. April 2 at 2PM.
Run Time:
1 hour, 50 minutes without intermission
Ticket Prices:
Tickets start at $25. Seniors: $5 off at all times except gallery
seats. Age 25 and under: $25 at all times.
Student Rush:
$15 with valid college ID, at the box-office only, two hours
before curtain, subject to availability
Box Office:
617.933.8600; www.BostonTheatreScene.com
Press Contact Only:
Jim Torres – 617.529.1670 (cell)