Bill W. and Dr. Bob, by Stephen Bergman and Janet Surrey, will be given its Off-Broadway premiere on Stage 2 at New World Stages. Previews begin February 16, 2007, toward an opening March 5, 2007.
Bill W. and Dr. Bob is, "believed to be the first play to depict the relationship between Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith and the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous, a rich, provocative dramatization of what remains one of the most enduring, if unlikely, success stories in American history."
Co-writer Stephen Bergman was a doctor on the Harvard Medical faculty for thirty years, and, under the pen-name Samuel Shem, is a playwright and novelist. His plays
Room for One Woman and
Napoleon's Dinner were produced Off-Off-Broadway as
The Shem Plays, and selected for T
he Best Short Plays of the Year anthology.
Co-writer Janet Surrey is on the faculty and board of the Institute of Meditation and Psychotherapy in Newton, Massachusetts. She is the author of many books and papers in the area of relational psychology, women's psychological development, spirituality, and addiction.
Bill W. and Dr. Bob is directed by Rick Lombardo, who directed the play's sold-out engagement earlier this year at New Repertory Theatre in Boston.
The cast from the New Repertory Theatre production will repeat their roles for the play's Off-Broadway run: Robert Krakovski as Bill W., Patrick Husted as Dr. Bob, Rachel Harker as Lois Wilson, and Kathleen Doyle as Anne Smith. Also in the cast are Marc Carver and Deanna Dunmyer.
Performances will run Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 3 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $66, all seats, all performances. Tickets will be available at Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200 (outside NY 800 432 7250), online at
www.telecharge.com, and at the New World Stages box office (340 West 50th Street). Group sales are available though Francine Major, 212-933-0263.
For more information, visit www.billwanddrbob.com.
