Outward Bound Revived For Keen Company's 2004-05 Season

By: BWW News Desk Apr. 07, 2005

Filling the final slot of their 2004/05 season, Keen Company will revive Sutton Vane's 1924 Broadway hit OUTWARD BOUND. Produced in association with Joseph Harrow, and directed by Broadway veteran Robert Kalfin, OUTWARD BOUND begins previews on Tuesday, April 12th for a limited engagement through Sunday, May 8th. Opening Night is Saturday, April 16th at 8:00 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday Saturday at 8:00 PM and Sunday at 2:00 PM. Performances are at Urban Stages (259 West 30th Street , between 7th and 8th Avenues). Tickets are $19 and are available by calling SmartTix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com.

First seen on Broadway in 1924, OUTWARD BOUND was considered one of the most groundbreaking plays of its time. An eerily beautiful fantasy drama brings together a collection of people who embark on a fateful sea voyage, as the passengers try to solve a mystery that effects them all.

OUTWARD BOUND premiered on Broadway at the Ritz Theater (now the Walter Kerr) and starred Alfred Lunt, Eugene Powers and Dudley Digges. It ran for a total of 144 performances. OUTWARD BOUND returned to Broadway in 1938. The hit revival ran for 255 performances at the Playhouse Theater (which was demolished in 1969). The revival was directed by Otto Preminger and starred Vincent Price.

The cast features Joe Delafield, Drew Eliot, Laura Esterman, Wilbur Edwin Henry, Susan Pellegrino, Michael Pemberton, and Clayton Dean Smith.

Sutton Vane, born Vane Sutton-Vane in England/>/> in 1888, was the son of an author and playwright of the same name. He started out professionally as an actor, and might have made his mark in that field if not for the outbreak of the First World War. He joined the British army in 1914, at age 26, and served until he was invalided out due to shell-shock. He turned to writing plays after the Armistice and authored two conventional works that caused little stir. Then came Outward Bound, which was so unusual in its subject matter, as a fantasy-drama, that no producer would go near it. Instead, Vane produced it himself, renting a theater in London/>/>. Outward Bound told of a small, motley group of eight passengers who meet in the lounge of an ocean liner at sea and realize that they have no idea why they are there, or where they are bound. Outward Bound was moved to a large theater in London/>/> and became the biggest hit of the 1923 season. It came to Broadway in 1924, where it was a similarly huge success in a production starring Alfred Lunt, Leslie Howard, Margalo Gillmore, Beryl Mercer, and Dudley Digges (as the Examiner). The play was revived in London during 1928, and filmed in Hollywood during 1930 by Warner Bros. under director Robert Milton, with Howard, Mercer, and Digges repeating their Broadway roles and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Helen Chandler -- who would appear in the 1938 Broadway revival -- Montagu Love, and Alison Skipworth in the cast; the movie, though dated in its technique by today's standards, set Leslie Howard on the path to screen stardom. Outward Bound was the most popular play of its kind. None of Vane's other works, including Time, Gentlemen, Please, Marine Parade, Falling Leaves, Overture, and Man Overboard, ever found the popularity of Outward Bound. The play remained popular with college theater groups into the 1960s, well past Vane's own death in 1963 at age 75, and thanks to television showings of Between Two Worlds, it remained out there in some form before the general public. Outward Bound also served as the unofficial inspiration for the made-for-TV movie Haunts of the Very Rich (1972), directed by Paul Wendkos, and it was still being revived by professional regional theater companies throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century.

Founder of New York/>'s award-winning Chelsea/> Theater/> Center/>, Robert Kalfin (director) has directed plays on Broadway, off-Broadway, on television, in American and Canadian regional theaters, in Europe, the Middle East and as far abroad as Siberia/>. Under his artistic leadership, such Chelsea/>/> productions as Slaveship, Saved, AC/DC, Genet's The Screens, Allen Ginsburg's Kaddish, The Beggar's Opera, Polly, Vanities, and The Contractor introduced major new works to theater audiences. Under Mr. Kalfin's artistic direction, works produced by the Chelsea Theater Center received 5 Tony Awards and 4 Tony Nominations; 21 Obie Awards; 2 Drama Desk Nominations; 5 Outer Critics Circle Awards; 1 Audelco Award and 3 Audelco Award Nominations. Mr. Kalfin's productions on Broadway include Strider, Happy End [with Meryl Streep and Christopher Lloyd], the original production of Yentl [starring Tovah Feldshuh], and as Chelsea Co-Producer of Harold Prince's Candide. He also staged productions of Rashomon and The Mistress of the Inn/> for The Roundabout Theatre Company and directed The Prince of Homburg starring Frank Langella for the PBS's "Great Performances."

American and Canadian productions include over 30 plays and musicals ranging from experimental works to Broadway comedies and the classics for theatres such as The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, The Hartford Stage Company, The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Manitoba Theatre Centre; The Philadelphia Drama Guild; The Citadel; The Walnut Street Theatre; Capital Repertory Theatre and The Coconut Grove Playhouse.

Keen Company's acclaimed design team includes Josh Bradford (lights), Samuel Doerr (sound), Nathan Heverin (set), and Theresa Squire (costumes).

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Outward Bound Revived For Keen Company's 2004-05 Season

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