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PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release:
April 9, 2004
Contact: Dina Croce
Communications Director
[email protected]
(617) 273-1537
Andrea Martin in The Rose Tattoo
Tennessee Williams’ “love play to the world”
The Huntington Theatre Company closes its 2003-04 Season with a grand American classic,
Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo, directed by Nicholas Martin. Tony and Emmy Award-winning
actress Andrea Martin (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) will perform the role of Serafina. Ms. Martin was
last seen with the Huntington in Betty’s Summer Vacation, also directed by Mr. Martin, for which she
won an Elliot Norton Award for Best Actress. The Rose Tattoo is sponsored in part by a grant from
the National Endowment for the Arts. It runs from May 14 - June 13 at the Boston University
Theatre. Press night will be Wednesday, May 19 at 7:30pm.
In the play Tennessee Williams referred to as his “love play to the world,” passion is reignited for a
Sicilian seamstress whose love, grief, and anger know no bounds. Serafina, played by Andrea Martin,
retreats to the safe haven of memories after the death of her husband. But when these memories are
shattered by a horrible truth, the widow finds comfort in a truck driver who reminds her of her lost
love. Living in a small immigrant town on the coast, Serafina struggles to come to terms with her
own awakening desire, as well as that of her 15-year-old daughter whom she can no longer shelter
from the perils of love.
“In The Rose Tattoo, Williams demonstrates his gift for understanding the human condition,” says
Director Nicholas Martin. “He never loses sight of what makes Serafina so like the rest of us. Even
at her lowest point, she can laugh at herself. Laughter is the most overlooked aspect of Williams’
writing. He is able to construct a complete personality by giving his characters such vivid senses of
humor. In doing so, he achieves the most sought-after theatrical triumvirate: plays that seamlessly
weave together laughter, poetry, and danger.”
Tennessee Williams is regarded as one of America’s greatest playwrights. He wrote both fiction,
poetry, and motion picture screenplays, but is acclaimed primarily for his plays -- nearly all of which
are set in the South, but which at their best rise above regionalism to explore universal themes.
Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, multiple Drama Critics Circle and Donaldson Awards, and the
National Institute of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama, he received a Tony Award for The Rose
Tattoo, and nominations for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Night of the Iguana, and Not About
Nightingales. His other works include The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Suddenly Last
Summer, and Camino Real.
Andrea Martin last appeared with the Huntington in Betty’s Summer Vacation (directed by Nicholas
Martin), for which she received an Elliot Norton Award. Ms. Martin’s Broadway and Off Broadway
credits include Oklahoma!; The Exonerated (Bleecker Theatre); My Favorite Year (Tony, Drama
Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theatre World Awards); Nude Nude Totally Nude (Drama Desk
nomination); The Vagina Monologues; Out of This World (Encores!); and The Merry Wives of
Windsor (NYSF); and her regional credits include The Royal Family and The Matchmaker
(Williamstown Theatre Festival); Lips Together, Teeth Apart (Mark Taper Forum); and Private Lives.
Her film and television credits include My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Wag
the Dog, Anastasia, Bogus, Stepping Out, Innerspace, Club Paradise, “My Big Fat Greek Life,”
“Crossing Jordan,” “Ed,” “Damon,” “The Simpsons,” “SCTV,” “Andrea Martin, Together
Again,” “Prince Charming,” and “Gypsy.”
Rounding out the cast are Diego Arciniegas, Tina Benko, Nancy Carroll, Timothy Crowe, Dara
Fisher, Dominic Fumusa, Melinda Lopez, Cheryl McMahon, Colleen Quinlan, Bobbie Steinbach, and
Greta Storace; and Boston University students Courtney Abbiati, Chris Frontiero, Rachel Rusch, and
Ryan Sypek.
Nicholas Martin, Artistic Director of the Huntington Theatre Company, most recently directed
the Broadway premiere of Match by Stephen Belber. For the Huntington he has directed Butley,
Springtime for Henry, A Month in the Country, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the
Somme, Betty’s Summer Vacation (Elliot Norton Award, Best Director), Hedda Gabler, Fully
Committed, and Dead End. New York credits include Hedda Gabler (Broadway); Observe the Sons of
Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations),
Chaucer in Rome, The Time of the Cuckoo (Lincoln Center Theater); Fully Committed (Vineyard
Theatre); Bosoms and Neglect (Signature Theatre); Sophistry, Betty's Summer Vacation (Playwrights
Horizons; Obie Award, Drama Desk Nomination); You Never Can Tell, The Rehearsal (Roundabout
Theatre Company); Full Gallop, Overtime (Manhattan Theatre Club); Oblivion Postponed (Second
Stage); It Changes Every Year (Malaparte); and The Rivals (The Acting Company). His extensive
regional credits include the world premiere of Arthur Laurents’ 2 Lives at The Lyric Stage Company
of Boston, as well as productions of Full Gallop in Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and at The
Old Globe Theatre, where he also directed Macbeth and Later Life. Mr. Martin was a recipient of the
TCG National Artist Residency Grant with the Williamstown Theatre Festival where he has directed
Mother of Invention, Where’s Charley?, The Royal Family, Dreading Thekla, The Matchmaker,
Evolution, and Camino Real. He was featured as one of the Top Creative People in the Country in
Entertainment Weekly’s annual "It List," and is a professor at Boston University.
The designers for The Rose Tattoo are James Noone (set), Michael Krass (costumes), Kevin
Adams (lighting), Jerry Yager (sound). The composer is Mark Bennett. The production stage
manager is Janet Takami and the Assistant Stage Managers are Hannah Cohen and David Lurie.
The Rose Tattoo
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Nicholas Martin
May 14 – June 13, 2004
TICKETS
Huntington Box Office: 617-266-0800
TicketMaster: 617-931-ARTS
www.huntingtontheatre.org
Or visit the Huntington Box Office at 264 Huntington Avenue
TICKET PRICES
$14 - $64
GROUP SALES
For groups of 10 or more, call 617-266-7900, x1565
DATES
May 14 - June 13, 2004
Previews: May 14 - 18
Press Opening: Wednesday, May 19, 7:30pm
PERFORMANCE TIMES
Evenings:
Matinees:
Tuesday - Thursday, 7:30pm (excluding May 25)
Friday and Saturday, 8:00pm
Sundays, 7pm (excluding May 16 and 23 and June 13)
Monday, May 17 ONLY
Saturdays and Sundays, 2pm (excluding May 15 and 16)
Wednesday, 2pm (June 2 and 9 ONLY)
CLUB NIGHTS
Designed for theatregoers aged 35 and under and for theatregoers in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender community, these nights provide an opportunity to mingle with fellow theatregoers and
the artistic team or cast at a pre- or post- show reception (free with purchase of tickets).
NIGHT CLUB, sponsored by The Boston Phoenix
for theatregoers 35 and under
Thursday, May 20
7:30pm performance, with a post-show reception
OUT & ABOUT CLUB, sponsored by Bay Windows
for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community
Wednesday, May 26
7:30pm performance, with a pre-show reception
THEATRE 101
Learn more about theatre – both what’s on stage and what’s happening behind the scenes – with this
exciting new interactive program. Begins at 6pm, Tuesday, June 8.
POST-PLAY AUDIENCE DISCUSSION
Converse with your peers about the play you have just seen. This program gives everyone a chance
to listen and be heard by fellow theatregoers. Sunday, June 6, following the 7pm show.
SNEAK PREVIEW
See a presentation by a member of the Huntington’s artistic staff, featuring contextual background,
as well as production-related information. Tuesday, May 18 and Thursday, June 3, 6:30 to 7pm
in the theatre.
HUMANITIES FORUMS
There will be a Humanities Forum on Sunday, May 30, following the 2pm matinee. Humanities
Forums are free and open to the public.
ACTORS FORUMS
The cast from The Rose Tattoo will reappear on stage after the show to participate in an open
dialogue with the audience. The Actors Forums will be on Thursday, May 27, following the 7:30pm
performance, and on Wednesday, June 9, following the 2pm matinee.
The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams, directed by Nicholas Martin, runs from May 14 – June 13,
2004. Performance times are: Tuesday - Thursday at 7:30pm (excluding May 25); Friday and
Saturday at 8pm; Sundays at 7pm (excluding May 16 and 23 and June 13); Saturday and Sunday at
2pm (excluding May 15 and 16); and Wednesday at 2pm (June 2 and 9 only). Tickets range from
$14 to $64. For tickets or information, call the Huntington Box Office at 617-266-0800 or visit
our Web site at www.huntingtontheatre.org.