Birney, Caras, et al. Join Roundabout's DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY

Roundabout Underground is pleased to announce the full cast for The Dream of the Burning Boy, a new play by David West Read directed by Evan Cabnet.   

The Dream of the Burning Boy will feature Reed Birney (Larry), Josh Caras (Dane), Matt Dellapina (Steve), Jake O'Connor (Kyle), Jessica Rothenberg (Chelsea), Kristie Dale Sanders (Andrea), Alexandra Socha (Rachel). 

This play marks the first time a two-production season has been produced at Roundabout Underground since the program premiered in 2007.  The Dream of the Burning Boy follows the critically acclaimed & sold out hit Tigers Be Still from fall 2010.

The Dream of the Burning Boy will begin previews performances on Friday, February 25^th, 2011 and officially open on Wednesday, March 23^rd, 2011. This will be a limited engagement through Sunday, May 8^th, 2011.  All tickets for Roundabout Underground productions are $20.

The Dream of the Burning Boy creative team includes Lee Savage (Sets), Jessica Wegener Shay (Costumes), Ben Stanton (Lighting) & Jill BC DuBoff (Sound).

In The Dream of the Burning Boy the sudden death of a high school overachiever exposes a secret that could destroy those left behind, or bring them closer together. A bittersweet story of choices made, opportunities lost, and finding the strength to move on.

Roundabout is thrilled to welcome back Reed Birney who appeared in Tigers Be Still this fall.

The Dream of the Burning Boy is the fifth production of Roundabout Underground, an initiative launched in 2007 to introduce and cultivate artists in Roundabout's 62-seat Black Box Theatre, at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. Prior productions include Speech & Debate (2007), The Language of Trees (2008), Ordinary Days (2009) & Tigers Be Still (2010).

Roundabout Underground is an initiative to showcase new plays that will either allow an experienced director to go back to his/her creative roots or give a debut production to an emerging writer or director. Robyn Goodman (Artistic Consultant to the Roundabout), who has significant artistic development experience, is curating the initiative that continues to be a creative breeding ground for nurturing new talent.

The 62-seat Black Box Theatre, below the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, allows Roundabout to take artistic risks that are better suited for a more intimate space.  

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.

BIOGRAPHIES:

Reed Birney (Larry) just finished Adam Bock's A Small Fire at Playwrights Horizons where he last year he appeared in Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation. Last Fall at The Roundabout Underground he was in Kim Rosenstock's Tigers Be Still. Other notable NY roles include Sarah Kane's Blasted at Soho Rep (Drama Desk nomination), Tony Blair in Stuff Happens at The Public Theater, and Homebody/Kabul at BAM.   He has three Obies and a Drama Desk Award.

Josh Caras (Dane) was born in Guam. He was raised in Connecticut. His first theater appearance was at the age of 12 in a production of On Golden Pond at the Ivoryton Playhouse. At the age of 15 he began to audition for film and television. Since then he has appeared in a number of independent films, including Bugcrush, Assassination of a High School President and Gracie. He attended New School University and lives in New York.

Matt Dellapina (Steve). Off-Broadway: In The Footprint (Irondale), underneathmybed (Rattlestick), Telephone (Foundry), Tender (Public Theater, SPF), #9 (Waterwell), Gone Missing (Barrow Street), I Am Nobody's Lunch (59E59), The Parrot (Flea), The Angel Project (Lincoln Center Festival).  Regional: Humana Festival, Cleveland Playhouse, City Theatre, Studio Theatre (Helen Hayes nom.), Sundance Institute, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Chautauqua.  Associate Artist, The Civilians.  Original member, Senator at The PIT.  Film/TV: Safe, Proud Iza, "Onion SportsDome" (Comedy Central), "Law & Order".

Jake O'Connor (Kyle). Off-Broadway- Randolph in Wildflower at Second Stage. Regional Theater- The Merry Wives of Windsor, Pride and Prejudice, Measure for Measure, The Tempest and The Comedy of Errors with the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey. Television- "Gossip Girl", "Fringe", "Rescue Me", "The Big C", "Lights Out", and "Body of Proof". Film- Margaret and Return to Sleepaway Camp. Training-Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute Certificate of Merit. 
 
Jessica Rothenberg (Chelsea) Jessica is a proud Colorado native; thrilled to be making her Roundabout debut! Regional credits include the Nicholas Martin and Kate Burton production of The Cherry Orchard (Huntington Theatre), as well as Kevin Moriarty's HAIR (Hangar Theatre).  She can soon be seen in the upcoming feature film The Art Of Love, starring Olympia Dukakis and Zosia Mamet. Training: BFA Boston University, LAMDA. Thank you to The Mine, Russell, my friends and family, and CB for your love, support, and making all of this possible.

Kristie Dale Sanders (Andrea). Broadway: Next Fall, Phantom, Urinetown & The Sound of Music.  Off-Broadway: Johnny Guitar, A Class Act, Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh.  Favorites: Sweeney Todd, King Lear, Trust, Cover of Life, Intimate Apparel, Flight of the Lawnchair Man, Three Penny Opera, Private Lives, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Anna Karenina, Dark of the Moon, The Rivals, My Favorite Broadway Diva (Carnegie Hall), Broadway Pops Series (New Haven Symphony). TV: "All My Children", "The Wire".

Alexandra Socha (Rachel). Broadway: Spring Awakening (Wendla), Brighton Beach Memoirs (Nora), Roundabout Theatre Company's Benefit of A Little Night Music (Fredrika) with Vanessa Redgrave. Regional: We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Merricat) at Yale Repertory Theatre and the reading of Cuba Libre at La Jolla Playhouse. Television: The Big C, White Collar. Love and thanks to her parents, amazing family and friends, Lindsay and The Gersh Agency, and of course Carrie Gardner and Roundabout Theatre Company.

David West Read (Playwright) is currently a Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at The Juilliard School, and a recent graduate of the MFA program in Dramatic Writing at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.  His play The Dream of the Burning Boy was developed at the 2010 National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.  His work has been featured in the Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Repertory, the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival, NYU's Festival of New Works, the Toronto Fringe, and the SummerWorks Festival, and he is currently working on a commission for South Coast Repertory.  Selected honors include the Robertson Davies Playwriting Award, the Alta Lind Cook Prize for Drama, and NYU's John Golden Prize for Graduate Playwriting.  David is a native of Toronto, Canada.

Evan Cabnet (Director). Credits include: David West Read's The Dream of the Burning Boy at the O'Neill National Playwrights' Conference and the World Premiere of Michele Lowe's Map of Heaven at Denver Center Theatre, Elizabeth Meriwether's Oliver Parker! (Cherry Lane, world premiere), Bekah Brunstetter's Oohrah! (Atlantic Theatre Company, world premiere), Mark Schultz's The Gingerbread House (stageFARM at the Rattlestick, world premiere), Donald Margulies' Shipwrecked! An Entertainment (Long Wharf Theater, East Coast premiere), Elizabeth Meriwether's The Mistakes Madeline Made (Naked Angels, world premiere), new plays by Adam Rapp, Schultz, and Meriwether as part of SPIN (Cherry Lane), Lewis Black and Rusty Magee's The Czar of Rock and Roll (Joe's Pub), his own adaptations of Ubu Roi and Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Williamstown), and the 2009 TFI Sloan staged readings for the Tribeca Film Festival. He has developed new works by: Carly Mensch (Playwrights Horizons), Rajiv Joseph (Vineyard), Lucy Thurber (MCC), Molly Smith Metzler (MTC), Steven Levenson (LCT3), Zayd Dorn (Naked Angels), David West Read (Roundabout), Annie Baker, Beau Willimon, Liz Flahive (all at Ars Nova) and many others. Five seasons at the Williamstown Theater Festival, including the 2003 Boris Sagal and 2002 Bill Foeller Fellowships. Recipient of the 2008 Claire Tow Award for Emerging Artists.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos