Champlin, Pawk, Etc. Set for Dark at the Top of the Stairs

Transport Group Artistic Director Jack Cummings III has announced that performances of the official 50th anniversary production of William Inge's The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, will begin Friday, March 30 at 8pm at the Connelly Theatre, 220 East 4 Street. The production, which is directed by Mr. Cummings, is scheduled to open Thursday, April 5, at 8pm.

The cast of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs features Patrick Boll, Donna Lynne Champlin, Paul Iacono, Liz Mamana, Colby Minifie, Tony Award winner Michele Pawk, Jay Potter, Jack Tartaglia, and Matt Yeager.

Set in a small Oklahoma town in the early 1920's, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs tells the story of a middle class family torn apart by economic forces, social upheaval, violence, and sexual trauma.

The play centers on Rubin Flood, who after losing his job as a traveling salesman for a harness manufacturer, finds himself pulled in several directions at once—looking for new employment while trying to deal at once with a wife who shuns intimacy and mistakes his joblessness for stinginess; a shy teenage daughter preparing for her first dance; and an introverted son who runs to his mother instead of confronting local bullies.

Inge's last major play and his most autobiographical, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs opened on Broadway in 1957 in a production directed by Elia Kazan that starred Pat Hingle, Eileen Heckart, and Teresa Wright. It was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Play, earned rave notices, and ran for well over a year—468 performances.

One of the great American playwrights of the mid-century, William Inge was born in Independence, Kansas in 1913. His plays include Come Back, Little Sheba; Bus Stop; and Picnic, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. All three were adapted into major motion pictures, as was The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. Inge's film work includes the screenplay for Splendor in the Grass, which was directed by Elia Kazan, for which he won the 1961 Academy Award for best original screenplay. Inge committed suicide in 1973.

Transport Group has previously presented plays by Inge. In 2003, its second production, Requiem for William, was an evening of seven of his seldom produced plays, which featured a cast of 26 as well as original songs.

The scenic design for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs is by Sandra Goldmark; costume design is by Shana Albery; lighting design is by R. Lee Kennedy; sound design is by Seth Guterman. Casting is by Nora Brennan Casting. The production stage manager is Wendy Patten.

Founded in 2001, Transport Group is a not-for-profit theatre company that develops and produces work by American playwrights and composers with the aim of exploring the American conscience in the 20th and 21st centuries. Transport Group presented its premiere production in 2002: Thornton Wilder's Our Town, which featured older actors in the roles of Emily and George and a twelve-year-old girl as the Stage Manager. Its second production, Requiem for William, an evening of seven seldom produced plays by William Inge, that featured a cast of 26 as well as original songs, premiered in 2003. In 2004 the company presented the first New York revival of Michael John LaChiusa's First Lady Suite, which received rave reviews, played to sold-out houses, and earned two Drama Desk Award nominations including outstanding revival of a musical. Recent productions include the world premiere of the musical The Audience, which featured a cast of 46 actors and earned three Drama Desk Award nominations, including outstanding musical; Normal, a new musical about a mother's battle to save her daughter from anorexia; cul-de-sac, a new play by Tony Award nominee John Cariani; and the first New York revival of Tad Mosel's Pulitzer Prize play, All the Way Home.

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs plays Wednesday through Monday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm, and Sunday at 3pm through Saturday, April 21, at the Connelly Theatre, 220 East 4th Street, between Avenues A & B (6 to Astor Place, W/N to 8th Street or F/V to Second Avenue). Tickets are $20 and are available at www.theatremania.com or by phoning (212) 352-3101. For more information about Transport Group and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, visit www.transportgroup.org.