Griffin Dunne et al. Join Powerhouse Theater's FIRES ARE CONFUSING and THE POWER OF DUFF, July 2012

Vassar & New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater announces casting updates for the season, including Griffin Dunne (After Hours, An American Werewolf in London) and Samantha Mathis (33 Variations, Pump Up the Volume) who join the cast of Fires Are Confusing by Eva Anderson, Will Berson, and Zach Helm, created by Teatro de Facto. Ilana Levine (Jake's Women, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, The Last Night of Ballyhoo) joins Dominic Fumusa, Greg Kinnear, and Jennifer Westfeldt in the cast of the second Mainstage production of The Power of Duff by Stephen Belber, directed by Peter DuBois (7/18-29).

Friday, July 13 – Sunday, July 15.
Inside Look Play Workshops (semi-staged workshops)
In the Susan Stein Shiva Theater
Cost $25

FIRES ARE CONFUSING
By Eva Anderson, Will Berson & Zach Helm
Directed by Zach Helm
Created by Teatro de Facto

From Los Angeles company Teatro de Facto, this highly theatrical piece combines dramatic invention and journalistic research to tell the real-life story of Cameron Todd Willingham. Scheduled for execution in the arson death of his children, Willingham awaits his fate while a scientist recreates his crime, casting shadows over Willingham's conviction, and his community. With Erin Anderson, Michael Braun, Patrick Carroll, Michael Chernus, Griffin Dunne, Wayne Duvall, Joanne Lubeck, Samantha Mathis, Stephanie O'Neill, Danton Stone, Jeremy Webb, and Libby Woodbridge.

Performance dates: July 13, 14, at 8pm; July 15 at 2pm and 7pm
Mainstage (fully staged and designed works-in-progress)
In the Powerhouse Theater
Cost: $35

Wednesday, July 18 – Sunday, July 29

THE POWER OF DUFF
By Stephen Belber
Directed by Peter DuBois

Charles Duff, a news anchor in a mid-market backwater, has an unexpected spiritual awakening on live TV. His prayers, and their answers, change his audience, his family, and his own life forever. Stephen Belber (Tape, Match, Dusk Rings a Bell, Fault Lines) returns to the Powerhouse alongside Peter DuBois (Sons of the Prophet, Becky Shaw, Jack Goes Boating, All New People). The cast includes Desmin Borges, Dominic Fumusa, Neil Huff, Russell G. Jones, Greg Kinnear, Ilana Levine, Ben Platt, and Jennifer Westfeldt.

Performance dates: July 18, 19, 20, 21, 24 (post show discussion), 25, 26, 27, 28 at 8pm; July 21, 22, 28 (post show discussion), 29 at 2pm

[Note that actress Maura Tierney had to withdraw from this production due to a conflicting commitment.]

Matinee subscriptions and single tickets are now available online and at the campus box office. Go to powerhouse.vassar.edu or visit the Powerhouse Theater box office on the Vassar College campus (124 Raymond Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY): (845) 437-5599 or PHTBoxOffice@vassar.edu.

Cafe on the Quad will return to Powerhouse Theater this summer for a very limited run. Mix the pleasure of groundbreaking live theater with mouth-watering global cuisine as Twisted Soul Food Concepts will offer a menu of progressive American small plates (menu available online). Saturdays, July 21 and July 28, from 5:30-8:00pm. For reservations call (845) 454-2770.

Each summer Vassar & New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater presents new plays and musicals in development, many of which go on to reach wider audiences, including Stephen Karam's Sons of the Prophet (Roundabout Theater); Michael Mayer and Peter Parnell's re-imagining of Lerner & Lowe's On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (St James Theater); Seminar by Theresa Rebeck (Golden Theater); Gabriel Kahane & Seth Bockley's new musical February House (The Public Theater); and Storefront Church, John Patrick Shanley's final installment to his "Church and State" trilogy that began with Doubt (Atlantic Theatre Company). Other projects developed at the Powerhouse include the Tony Award-winning Side Man and Tru; the multi-award-winning Doubt; the groundbreaking Broadway musical American Idiot, and A Steady Rain, produced on Broadway in 2009 with Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig.

The result of a unique collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College, the Powerhouse program consists of an eight-week residency on the Vassar campus during which more than 250 professional artists and 40 apprentices live and work together to create new theater works.

New York Stage and Film is the not-for-profit company dedicated to both emerging and established artists in the development of new works for theater and film. Since 1985 New York Stage and Film has played a significant role in the development of new plays, provided a home for a diverse group of artists free from critical and commercial pressures and established itself as a vital cultural institution for residents of the Hudson Valley and the New York metropolitan region. For more information, visit www.newyorkstageandfilm.org/.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1861. Consistently ranked as one of the country's best liberal arts colleges, Vassar is renowned for its long history of curricular innovation, and for the natural and architectural beauty of its campus. More than 50 academic departments and degree programs - from Anthropology to Cognitive Sciences to Urban Studies - encompass the arts, foreign languages, natural sciences, and social services, and combine to offer a curriculum of more than 1,000 courses. Vassar College is sited in New York's beautiful Hudson Valley in Poughkeepsie, NY.

The Powerhouse Theater season at Vassar College strives to make its performances and facilities accessible to all our patrons. If you have questions, would like to request an accommodation or service, or would like to receive additional information about accessibility at Powerhouse Theater, Martel Theater, or the Shiva Theater, please contact us or visit our website: powerhouse.vassar.edu/accessibility. For additional information or if you have questions, need assistance, or an accommodation not mentioned on the website, contact the Powerhouse Theater Program office at (845) 437-5907 or powerhouse@vassar.edu.

Photo courtesy Vassar & New York Stage and Film / Buck Lewis.