Roundabout's SONS OF THE PROPHET Begins Previews

The cast of of the New York premiere of Stephen Karam's new play Sons of the Prophet, directed by Peter DuBois features Yusef Bulos (Bill), Jonathan Louis Dent (Vin), Santino Fontana (Joseph), Joanna Gleason (Gloria), Lizbeth MacKay (Mrs. McAndrew), Dee Nelson (Dr. Manor), Chris Perfetti (Charles), Charles Socarides (Timothy).

Sons of the Prophet will begin performances tonight and open officially on Thursday, October 20, 2011 at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre / Laura Pels Theatre (111 West 46th Street). Sons of the Prophet will play a limited engagement through December 23, 2011.

The design team includes Anna Louizos (Sets), Bobby Frederick Tilley, II (Costumes), Japhy Weideman (Lights), M.L. Dogg (Sound).

If to live is to suffer, then Joseph Douaihy (Fontana) is more alive than most. With unexplained chronic pain and the fate of his reeling family on his shoulders, Joseph's health, sanity, and insurance premium are on the line. In an age when modern medicine has a cure for just about everything, Sons of the Prophet is a refreshingly honest take on how we cope with wounds that just won't heal, and the funniest play about human suffering you're likely to see.

Karam's play Sons of the Prophet was commissioned by Roundabout Theatre Company, following his hugely acclaimed New York debut as the author of Speech & Debate in 2007 at Roundabout Underground. That successful production of Speech & Debate not only launched the Roundabout Underground program, it also went on to play in over 100 theaters in the United States and Canada. In April 2011, Sons of the Prophet premiered at Huntington Theatre Company (Peter DuBois, Artistic Director; Michael Maso, Managing Director), by special arrangement with Roundabout Theatre Company.

Tickets will be available by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212)719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the Laura Pels box office. Ticket prices range from $71.00-81.00.

Roundabout Subscribers save up to 50% off of ticket prices and have access to special in-theatre events and perks. To become a Roundabout Subscriber, visit www.roundabouttheatre.org/joinnow or call Roundabout Ticket Services (212) 719-1300 today.

Sons of the Prophet will play Tuesday through Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.

The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre reflects Roundabout's commitment to produce new works by established and emerging writers as well as revivals of classic plays. This state-of-the-art off-Broadway theatre and education complex is made possible by a major gift from The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. The Trust was created in 1986 by Harold Steinberg to promote and advance American Theatre as a vital part of our culture by supporting playwrights, encouraging the development and production of new work, and providing financial assistance to theatre companies across the country. Since its inception, the Trust has awarded over $45 million to more than 100 not-for-profit theatre organizations.

New plays at Roundabout are supported by the New Play Production Fund. Roundabout thanks The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Jodi Glucksman, The Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, and Laura S. Rodgers/The Honorable Ann W. Brown & Donald A. Brown.

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Yusef Bulos (Bill). Recent: Sons of the Prophet - Huntington, The Torch Bearers - Williamstown Theatre, Anne Carson's An Oresteia and The Tempest - CSC. Broadway: The Rabbi, 2004 Fiddler on the Roof, Arthur Kopit's Indians, Shaw's Captain Brassbound's Conversion. Off-Broadway: The American Pilot - MTC, Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul, Jose Rivera's Sueno, Mac Wellman's Crowbar, A Dybbuk. Regionally: Guthrie, Yale Rep, Arena Stage, Hartford Stage. Film/TV: "Awakenings", "Tattinger's", "Law and Order", "Sex and the City". Training: AADA.

JONATHAN LOUIS DENT (Vin). Jonathan Louis Dent originated the role of "Vin" in the world premiere of Sons of the Prophet at the Huntington Theater Company. He has regional credits that include Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 (Actors' Shakespeare Project) and The Good Negro (Company One); and an ongoing tour of his original solo-show piece, Mr. Glass. He received his B.A. from Brown University where he was a Weston Fine Arts Award recipient for acting.

Santino Fontana (Joseph). Roundabout: Sunday in the Park With George. Broadway: Brighton Beach Memoirs (Drama Desk Award), Billy Elliot. Off-Broadway: The Fantasticks (original revival cast), Perfect Harmony. Regional: title role in Hamlet (Guthrie); Hay Fever (Old Globe); Love's Labour's Lost, On the Verge, 9/11 Project, Once in a Lifetime (Chautauqua Theater Co.); As You Like It, Death of a Salesman, Six Degrees of Separation, A Christmas Carol, The Boys (Guthrie). International: Death of a Salesman (Gaiety Theatre, Dublin). Film: Newsworthy and the upcoming Fade to White and Nancy, Please. Television: "The Good Wife" and upcoming "Nurse Jackie." New York Stage and Film, 2010. Sundance Theatre Lab, 2005; Presidential Scholar in the Arts. BFA, Guthrie/UMN Actor Training Program.

Joanna Gleason (Gloria). Gleason is an all-encompassing actress with credits ranging from Broadway to feature films to television series. She is the recipient of a Best Actress Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critic's Award for her performance in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. Gleason also received Tony nominations for her performances in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Joe Egg. Other Broadway credits Nick and Nora, I Love My Wife, The Real Thing and Social Security. Recently, Gleason directed Doria Fram's Callwaiting at The Tiffany Theater in Los Angeles, as well as Chris Gorman's A Letter From Ethel Kennedy at New York's MCC Theater. Her feature film credits include Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors and Hannah and Her Sister, as well as Heartburn, For Richer, For Poorer, Life Under Water, FX2, Road Ends, American Perfekt, Mr. Holland's Opus, Boogie Nights and The Wedding Planner. Some of Gleason's major television credits include a recurring role on "The West Wing," "E.R.," "Friends," "King of the Hill," "How to Make it in America," and "The Good Wife." She was a series regular and director on "Oh Baby" for Lifetime. Other series regular credits include CBS' "Bette," "Temporarily Yours" and "Love and War," which she also directed. Gleason taught for 15 years at high schools and colleges all over the country and has taught workshops for composers and lyricists, as well as staged new works for theatre. Gleason is married to actor Chris Sarandon. They have four children.

Lizbeth MacKay (Mrs. McAndrew). Broadway: All My Sons; Doubt; The Price; Abe Lincoln In Illinois; The Heiress; Death and the Maiden; Crimes of the Heart (Theatre World, Outer Critics Circle, Hollywood Dramalogue Awards). Off-Broadway: Durang, Durang; Tales of the Lost Formicans and many more. Lots of regional theatre including, most recently, A Slight Hitch at Williamstown and Sons of the Prophet at the Huntington Theatre. Several movies and all the NYC TV shows. Yale Drama School and Katie and John's mom.

DEE NELSON (Dr. Manor) is making her New York debut in Sons of the Prophet, having appeared in the world premiere with the Huntington Theatre Company. She has also worked regionally at Trinity Rep, Merrimack Rep, W.H.A.T., Peterborough Players, and many others, and has received an Elliot Norton Award. Dee has acted in films including State and Main and Moonlight Mile, and on TV shows including "Friday Night Lights," "The Sopranos," "Grey's Anatomy," and "Judging Amy."
CHRIS PERFETTI (Charles). Chris is honored to make his NY debut with this incredible company. Regional credits include: GeVa Theatre Center and the Hangar Theatre. Education: BFA SUNY Purchase Acting Conservatory. Thanks to Peter, Charles, Perry, and everyone at Abrams. www.chrisperfetti.com

Charles Socarides (Timothy). Theatre: Trust (Second Stage, Peter DuBois), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Roundabout, Walter Bobbie), The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall (Stage 13, Sam Gold), Indian Blood (Primary Stages, Mark Lamos), Awake and Sing! (Belasco Theatre), Old Money (Lincoln Center), Sons of the Prophet (Huntington Theatre, Peter DuBois), Lulu (Yale Rep). Flim: Breaking Upwards, The Missing Person, Virgin (Deborah Kampmeier, dir.), Jesus Children of America (Spike Lee, dir.) TV: "Law and Order," "Guiding Light," "Starved."

Stephen Karam (Playwright). Karam is the author of Speech & Debate which was produced off-Broadway by Roundabout Theatre Company as the inaugural production of Roundabout Underground. Following an extended run in New York, Speech & Debate has received over 100 productions across the U.S. and Canada. Other plays include Sons of the Prophet (co-world premiere by Huntington/Roundabout Theater Companies), columbinus (New York Theatre Workshop), Girl on Girl (Brown/Trinity Playwrights Rep), and Emma (a re-imagining of Jane Austen's novel), performed this spring by the Professional Performing Arts High School in NYC. His work is published by Dramatists Play Service and Dramatic Publishing Company and his freelance writing has appeared in The Advocate and McSweeneys.net. Current projects include the film version of Speech & Debate and Dark Sisters, an original chamber opera with composer Nico Muhly (a co-production of Gotham Chamber Opera, Music-Theatre Group and Opera Company of Philadelphia). A MacDowell Colony Fellow, Stephen grew up in Scranton, PA and received his B.A. from Brown University.

Peter DuBois (Director). DuBois is the Artistic Director of the Huntington Theatre Company, where he has directed the world premieres of Stephen Karam's Sons of the Prophet, Bob Glaudini's Vengeance is the Lord's, and David Grimm's The Miracle at Naples, Craig Lucas' Prelude to a Kiss, and Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw. He will direct Zach Braff's All Good People at Second Stage Theatre this June, as well as Sons of the Prophet at the Roundabout Theatre Company and Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn at Playwrights Horizons next season. He recently directed the Off Broadway production of Paul Weitz's Trust at Second Stage Theatre and the U.K. premiere of Becky Shaw for London's Almeida Theatre in addition to directing its Off Broadway production at Second Stage Theatre and its world premiere at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Prior to arriving at the Huntington, he served for five years as associate producer and resident director at The Public Theater, preceded by five years as artistic director of the Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska. His Public Theater directing credits include Glaudini's Jack Goes Boating with Philip Seymour Hoffman and A View from 151st Street, both with LAByrinth Theater Company; Measure for Pleasure (SSDF Callaway Award for Excellence in Direction; Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Production of a New Play); Richard III with Peter Dinklage; Adrienne Kennedy's Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles?; and Biro. Selected directing credits for Perseverance include The Seagull, The Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet, and The Glass Menagerie, as well as the West Coast premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks' In the Blood and the world premiere of Chay Yew's Long Season. Regional credits include a revival of Sam Shepard's The Curse of the Starving Class at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and productions at Trinity Repertory Company and California Shakespeare Theater. Prior to his work at Perseverance, Mr. DuBois lived and worked in the Czech Republic where he co-founded Asylum, a multi-national squat theatre in Prague.

Roundabout Theatre Company is a not-for-profit theatre dedicated to providing a nurturing artistic home for theatre artists at all stages of their careers where the widest possible audience can experience their work at affordable prices. Roundabout fulfills its mission each season through the revival of classic plays and musicals; development and production of new works by established playwrights and emerging
writers; educational initiatives that enrich the lives of children and adults; and a subscription model and audience outreach programs that cultivate loyal audiences.

Roundabout Theatre Company currently produces at three permanent homes each of which is designed specifically to enhance the needs of the Roundabout's mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout's Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. Together these three distinctive venues serve to enhance the work on each of its stages.

American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State's 62 counties.

Roundabout Theatre Company's 2010-2011 season features Anything Goes starring Sutton Foster & Joel Grey, directed & choreographed by Kathleen Marshall; Stone, Meehan & Yeston's Death Takes a Holiday, directed by Doug Hughes.

Roundabout Theatre Company's 2011-2012 season features Bob Fosse's Dancin', directed by Graciela Daniele; Terence Rattigan's Man & Boy, starring Frank Langella, directed by Maria Aitken; Stephen Karam's Sons of the Prophet, directed by Peter DuBois; John Osborne's Look Back in Anger, directed by Sam Gold; Andrew Hinderaker's Suicide, Incorporated, directed by Jonathan Berry.