A sweeping tale of love and friendship, set against the trials and tragedy of the blacklist of the 1950s, is the basis of Joe Gilford's FINKS, directed by Charlie Stratton, that will receive its world premiere at Vassar and New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater with a cast led by
Josh Radnor (star of CBS's How I Met Your Mother) and Tony Award-nominated
Jennifer Westfeldt (Wonderful Town, Kissing Jessica Stein), July 23 – August 3.
"I deeply admire my parents' courage," said playwright Gilford about the inspiration for his choice to dramatize their story. "I also admired their acting talents. And the thing that I most admired was that despite everything, after years and years of struggle as artists and activists, they truly loved each other and stayed together for 40 years until my father's death."
Gilford remarked that the "intent of the play is to make sure the audience knows how horrible it was to be blacklisted; how tragic and wasteful." He continued, "I wanted to show how arbitrary the HUAC [House Un-American Activities Committee] was in its actions; the absurdity of questioning anyone's political beliefs or their right to free expression and how we have to be vigilant as this continues to happen time and time again."
Josh Radnor will portray Mickey Dobbs, the character based upon
Jack Gilford. Radnor is well-known for playing the central character on the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother." He also is noted for his Broadway debut in The Graduate, as the title character opposite
Kathleen Turner and
Alicia Silverstone, as well as for his work off-Broadway at Vineyard Theater,
Manhattan Theater Club, and Blue Light Theater Company. In Los Angeles, he originated the roles of "Young Sandy" and "Sam" in the Ovation Award-winning world premiere production of
Jon Robin Baitz's The Paris Letter. Radnor, a 1994 alumnus of the Powerhouse Theater Apprentice Program, last performed at the Powerhouse during the 2000 season in
Quincy Long's The Lively Lad directed by
Max Mayer.
The role of Natalie Meltzer, based upon Gilford's mother Madeline, will be performed by actress
Jennifer Westfeldt, who last appeared on Broadway in Wonderful Town, for which she received a Theater World Award, a Drama League Award and was nominated for a 2004 Tony Award. Westfeldt is also known for co-writing, co-producing, and starring as the title character, in the award-winning indie film Kissing Jessica Stein. For her second feature film, Ira & Abby, she served as actress, writer, and producer. Most recently, she starred on two seasons of ABC's Notes From the Underbelly.
Other cast members include
Ned Eisenberg (Awake and Sing, The Green Bird, Titus Andronicus) who will portray Fred Lang, an actor and painter and dear friend of both Dobbs and Meltzer;
Kelly AuCoin (Julius Caesar, Copenhagen) will appear as Bobby Gerard, a choreographer;
John Rothman (Prelude To A Kiss, Some Americans Abroad, Social Security) will take on the role of Rep. Francis Walter, chairman, House Un-American Activities Committee. The cast will also include
Steve Rosen,
Mitchell Greenberg, Nathan Mateus Duszny, and
John Alix.
Joe Gilford's plays including Knockdown, Not Tunisia, In Aisle 4, The End of Our Rope, The Love Museum, and No Fault, have been presented at
Naked Angels Theater Company,
Roundabout Theater Company, Circle Rep Lab, The Westbank Downstairs Theater, and the Todd Mountain Theater Project. Gilford has had a long career producing television documentaries, and is the recipient of a New York Emmy Award in 1997 for his work on WNET's "City Arts" series. He wrote the feature film adaptation of the French science fiction novel Operation Pertica; the pilot of Game, his new digital animation comedy series, is in pre-production.
For
Naked Angels Theater Company, Charlie Stratton directed Love by
Daniel Reitz, 187 by Jose Rivera, What I Meant to Say by
Craig Lucas, and New Hope for the Dead by
John Sayles, as well as pieces by Tessa Blake and Tony Horkins for Naked TV, a joint TV pilot development program between
Naked Angels and Fox TV. In Los Angeles, he was the co-artistic director of The Wilton Project where he directed
Neal Bell's Therese Raquin; Laurie Lathem's Slide; and April Vanoff's A Kink in the Release. Stratton also writes and directs for television and film; his screenplay Formosa Betrayed is currently shooting in Thailand. Finks will mark Stratton's return to Powerhouse, where he last directed
Christopher Kyle's Event Horizon.
Finks scenic design is by
Neil Patel, costume design by
Alix Hester, lighting design by
Jason Lyons, and sound design by
Darron L. West. Robert Marra will serve as movement consultant.
