Mark Rylance to Return to Guthrie in NICE FISH as Co-Writer, Star & Director; Full Season Announced!

Guthrie Director Joe Dowling today announced 11 mainstage productions of the theater's 2012-2013 season. The theater's 50th season and seventh on the Mississippi River looks ahead to a vital future with highlights including three new commissioned plays and works that deal vigorously with themes of war, race and politics through history and contemporary times.

The 2012-2013 Guthrie subscription season includes 10 productions, beginning with the previously announced celebration of the prolific and multifaceted Christopher Hampton. The celebration commences on the Wurtele Thrust Stage with Tales from Hollywood (September 15 – October 27, 2012), the historically based, sharp-witted story of German intellectual émigrés such as Bertolt Brecht and Thomas Mann who escaped the Nazi regime and found an uncertain new life in America, which will be directed by Ethan McSweeny (A View from the Bridge). The Hampton celebration will also feature the new Appomattox (September 29 – November 11, 2012), a wide-ranging work of historical scope encompassing the Civil War and Civil Rights eras of American history, directed by David Esbjornson (The Great Gatsby).

Christopher Bayes (actor, Guthrie: The Tempest, King Lear, Marat/Sade; director at Intiman Theater, Court Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre) will direct Carlo Goldoni's commedia dell'arte masterpiece The Servant of Two Masters (December 1, 2012 – January 20, 2013), a physical comedy about the wily Truffaldino and his schemes to fill his pockets and stomach, on the proscenium stage. Of the 2010 production of The Servant of Two Masters at Yale Repertory Theatre directed by Bayes and featuring Theatre de la Jeune Lune veteran Steven Epp (who will reprise his role as Truffaldino at the Guthrie), the Washington Post called it "as delightful and delicious a farce as you're likely to see."

The Guthrie subscription season continues on the thrust in 2013 with the first-ever Guthrie production of Eugene O'Neill's American classic Long Day's Journey into Night (January 12 – February 23, 2013), directed by Joe Dowling and featuring actors Helen Carey and Peter Michael Goetz. O'Neill's shattering story of a single night in the home of the Tyrone family, riven with betrayal, accusation, addiction and delusion will reunite Carey, Dowling and Goetz after lauded productions of Arthur Miller's All My Sons in 2002 and Death of a Salesman in 2004. Of Carey's performance as Mary Cavan Tyrone in the current Arena Stage production of the play, Peter Marks of the Washington Post wrote, "Degree by furtive degree, Carey provides as meticulously detailed a portrait of this anguishing character as I've ever encountered." Added the Washingtonian, "Goetz brings a comical brio and a mildness to the senior Tyrone, playing him not as a villain but as a selfish man who sees his own flaws."

The proscenium opens in 2013 with Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities (February 9 – March 24, 2013), directed by Peter Rothstein. Called "the best new play on Broadway" by the New York Times, its story of a homecoming fraught with memories of a tragic family event debuted at New York's Lincoln Center Theater and won the 2011 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play.

Britain's all-male company Propeller will perform Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Obie-winner The Taming of the Shrew (February 27 – April 6, 2013) in repertory on the thrust stage, directed by Edward Hall as part of the Guthrie's WorldStage Series. Noted for their wit, muscularity and vitality, Propeller has been termed "thrillingly fresh" and "sharp, contemporary and urgent" in the British press, and will deliver Shakespeare's two comedies of mistaken identities, transformations and deception.

Mark Rylance will return to the Guthrie on the proscenium stage, having won two Best Actor Tony Awards (for Boeing Boeing and Jerusalem) since his piercing work in the titular role in 2008's Peer Gynt, with Nice Fish (April 6 - May 18, 2013). Co-written by Rylance and poet Louis Jenkins, based on THE BOOK OF poetry by Jenkins and directed by Rylance with Claire van Kampen, Nice Fish begins with two men ice fishing on a frozen lake and proceeds into the realm of the mythic, with a taciturn giant on a snowmobile and the last blizzard of the season about to begin.

The Guthrie will then present playwright Crispin Whittell's (A Christmas Carol) world premiere The Primrose Path (April 27 – June 15, 2013) on the thrust stage. Based on the novel Home of the Gentry by Ivan Turgenev, Primrose Path will be directed by Olivier, Tony and Emmy-award winning actor Roger Rees (Peter and the Starcatcher, currently on Broadway); the story of a member of the 19th-century Russian gentry who returns to his neglected country estate after escaping his adulterous wife in Paris, this drama explores the tensions between wishing for a simpler life amid the complications of the self and the inescapable past.

In the summer of 2013, the Guthrie will present Clybourne Park (June 1 – August 4, 2013) on the proscenium stage. The winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2011 Olivier Award for Best New Play, Bruce Norris' play is a direct response to Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. Dealing with generations of race and class, Clybourne Park was called a "bitingly satiric comedy" by the Los Angeles Times and "dangerous and provocative, but pulverizingly funny" by Variety. The 2012-2013 season concludes on the thrust with Garson Kanin's (renowned for his Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn films Adam's Rib and Pat and Mike) Born Yesterday (July 6 - August 31), in which a corrupt businessman on the rise heads to Washington to influence a senator, but soon realizes that his showgirl Mistress Billie will need polish and education if he's going to get ahead. He hires a newspaperman for the task, but gets more than he bargained for when Billie begins to piece together her boyfriend's business dealings as well as how to exert some influence of her own. Born Yesterday was made into a 1950 film starring Judy Holliday, after Holliday originated the role of Billie on Broadway. John Miller-Stephany (A Streetcar Named Desire, 1776) will direct.

"I'm extremely enthusiastic to announce a season so varied and immediate," said Dowling. "We feel confident that we are continuing to fulfill our mission of enlivening the classics while fostering excellent new work and productions of national relevance. With the Guthrie looking forward to its next 50 years, I'm thrilled by what I see on the road ahead."

Dowling also announced productions that will play in the Dowling Studio next season, including Christopher Hampton's Embers and Youth Without God, An Iliad, a one-actor adaptation of Homer by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare with a translation by Robert Fagles, a continuation of the Guthrie's association with The Acting Company with Shakespeare's As You Like It, and a Mu Performing Arts production of Rick Shiomi's Yellow Fever. Additional productions and all dates and times will be announced at a later date.

In addition to the 10 plays of the subscription season and Studio Productions, Dowling announced that Joe Chvala (Flying Foot Forum) will direct Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (November 13 – December 29, 2012), the perennial favorite that received a new adaptation by Crispin Whittell in 2010 and continues the Guthrie's holiday tradition for the 38th year. J.C. Cutler will play the role of Ebenezer Scrooge for the second time, following last year's acclaimed performance.

TICKET INFORMATION

Ten plays of the 2012-2013 season are available as part of the subscription series at the Guthrie Theater – Tales from Hollywood, Long Day's Journey into Night, Propeller's repertory productions of Twelfth Night or The Taming of the Shrew, The Primrose Path and Born Yesterday on the Wurtele Thrust Stage and Appomattox, The Servant of Two Masters, Other Desert Cities, Nice Fish and Clybourne Park on the McGuire Proscenium Stage. New season subscriptions range in price from $70 to $625 and go on sale June 21. Single tickets for Tales from Hollywood and Appomattox go on sale July 10. Single tickets for A Christmas Carol go on sale September 4. Single tickets for all other shows on the Wurtele Thrust and McGuire Proscenium stages go on sale August 10. Single ticket prices for these shows range from $24 to $85. Discounts are available for students, seniors and children. Single tickets for productions in the Dowling Studio range from $24 to $39 and go on sale August 10.

For more information or to purchase tickets or season subscriptions, call the Guthrie Theater Box Office 612.377.2224 or toll-free 877.44.STAGE, 612.225.6244 (Group Sales) and online at www.guthrietheater.org.

GUTHRIE THEATER 2012-2013 SEASON – PLAY DESCRIPTIONS

On the Wurtele Thrust Stage

September 15 – October 27, 2012
Tales from Hollywood
by Christopher Hampton
directed by Ethan McSweeny
Opening Night: Friday, September 21

Tales from Hollywood depicts the story of German émigré intellectuals in Los Angeles during World War II. This large, sharp-witted ensemble drama follows the careers of Bertolt Brecht, Thomas and Heinrich Mann, and other prominent European writers who fled to Los Angeles during the 1930s and '40s to escape the Third Reich. Hired by the major studios, they set to work writing screenplays but spent much of their time griping about life in exile. The story is narrated by Ödön von Horváth, a real-life Eastern European playwright whom Hampton has fictionalized for the play.

November 13 – December 29, 2012
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
adapted by Crispin Whittell
directed by Joe Chvala
Opening Night: Saturday, November 17

The Guthrie's perennial holiday favorite, which received a new adaptation by Crispin Whittell in 2010, continues the Theater's holiday tradition for the 38th year, telling the story of an old miser who learns real compassion when three ghosts visit him on Christmas Eve. J.C. Cutler returns for a second consecutive year in his acclaimed performance as Ebenezer Scrooge.

January 12 – February 23, 2013
Long Day's Journey into Night
by Eugene O'Neill
directed by Joe Dowling
Opening Night: Friday, January 18

The trio of Helen Carey, Peter Michael Goetz and director Joe Dowling reunite for the first time since the Guthrie's lauded 2002 production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons. In Eugene O'Neill's shattering American classic, over the course of a single night the tortuous relationships within the Tyrone family are exposed amid themes of betrayal, accusation, addiction and delusion. This will be the first Guthrie production of Long Day's Journey into Night, considered O'Neill's most overtly autobiographical work.

February 27 – April 6, 2013
The Guthrie WorldStage Series presents
Propeller's productions of
Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew
by William Shakespeare
directed by Edward Hall
Opening Night: Friday, March 1

Britain's all-male Propeller company stages Shakespeare with its trademark wit, muscularity and vitality; termed "thrillingly fresh" and "sharp, contemporary and urgent" in the British press, Propeller will perform Shakespeare's two comedies of mistaken identities, transformations and deception in repertory.

World Premiere
April 27 – June 15, 2013
The Primrose Path
by Crispin Whittell
based upon the novel "Home of the Gentry" by Ivan Turgenev
directed by Roger Rees
Opening Night: Friday, May 3

Crispin Whittell's new play depicts a member of the 19th-century Russian gentry who returns to his neglected country estate after escaping his adulterous wife in Paris. While he tries to connect with his native countryside in a simpler life, he is unable to escape the complications within himself and with a past that refuses to be entirely left behind.

July 6 – August 31, 2013
Born Yesterday
by Garson Kanin
directed by John Miller-Stephany
Opening Night: Friday, July 12

When a corrupt businessman on the rise heads to Washington to influence a senator, he soon realizes that his showgirl Mistress Billie will need polish and education if he's going to get ahead. He hires a newspaperman for the task, but gets more than he bargained for when Billie begins to piece together her boyfriend's business dealings as well as how to exert some influence of her own.

On the McGuire Proscenium Stage

September 29 – November 11, 2012
Appomattox
by Christopher Hampton
directed by David Esbjornson
Opening Night: Saturday, October 5

In its first half, Appomattox deals with the final week of the Civil War and the immediate aftermath of the treaty that ended it in 1865. In the second act, it confronts the fact that 100 years later during the Civil Rights era the root cause of the Civil War - racial suppression of African Americans - was still a primary issue that divided the American soul. The play is developed from a libretto written for an opera by Phillip Glass, first presented at the San Francisco Opera House in 2007.

December 1, 2012 – January 20, 2013
The Servant of Two Masters
by Carlo Goldoni
adapted by Constance Congdon
from a translation by Christina Sibul
directed by Christopher Bayes
Opening Night: Friday, December 7

Carlo Goldoni's commedia dell'arte masterpiece is a physical comedy, full of mistaken identities and broken engagements, centering around the wily Truffaldino and his schemes to fill his pockets and his stomach. In the title role is Steven Epp; of the 2010 production of The Servant of Two Masters at Yale Repertory Theatre starring Epp and directed by Bayes, the Washington Post called it "as delightful and delicious a farce as you're likely to see."
.

February 9 – March 24, 2013
Other Desert Cities
by Jon Robin Baitz
directed by Peter Rothstein
Opening Night: Friday, February 15

A woman returns home to Palm Springs after six years away to celebrate Christmas with her parents, brother and aunt. When she announces that she is going to publish a memoir, a tragic and crucial event in the family's history comes to the fore, crossing a line of incendiary defiance. Other Desert Cities asks the question: Can you ever really go home?

World Premiere
April 6 – May 18, 2013
Nice Fish
by Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins
based on THE BOOK OF poetry by Louis Jenkins
directed by Mark Rylance with Claire van Kampen
Opening Night: Friday, April 12

Two men have gone ice fishing on the last day of the season; the ice is melting and the DNR is watching. They are hoping for something essential, immortal, something down there that is pure need, when a construction worker roars across the ice on his snowmobile, spear, dynamite and fancy dress in hand. And the last blizzard of the season is about to begin.

June 1 – August 4, 2013
Clybourne Park
by Bruce Norris
directed by TBD
Opening Night: Friday, June 7

The winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Bruce Norris' play deals with generations of race and class in a response to Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, with the action taking place across a span of a half-century amid the changing fortunes and residents of a neighborhood in Chicago.