ReGroup Announces Production Season: THUNDER ROCK, BIG NIGHT and More
By: Kelsey Denette Apr. 03, 2012
The ReGroup first full season of productions will present a production of Robert Ardrey's THUNDER ROCK, followed by Claire & Paul Sifton's 1931-, and Dawn Powell's BIG NIGHT in November. Besides these productions, The ReGroup will publish the 2ndvolume in their series of Group Theatre plays and present a staged-reading of Nellise Child's WEEP FOR THE VIRGINS over the summer.
Thunder Rock will be performed at TBG Theatre, 312 W 36th St, May 3rd-13th. For showtimes and ticket info, please visitwww.smarttix.com or call (212) 868-4444. In Thunder Rock, successful author and former Daily News reporter, David Charleston becomes so disturbed by the state of the world; he takes a job as a lighthouse keeper and the sole resident of Thunder Rock Island. When he notices a memorial plaque dedicated to a sailing ship of immigrants which fatally crashed on the island 90 years prior, he starts to imagine how ideal life was in their time. Soon, they begin appearing to him. At first he controls them, until they decide to teach him about the eternal struggles of life.
Though never a hit in America, after The Group Theatre's original 1939 production, the play became a smash hit in Europe. During the WWII London bombings, it was the one play that continued to play in London's West End. It moved from Theatre to Theatre, and audiences sat enraptured with their gas masks in their laps. After the end of WWII, the American government mounted it in the newly freed Germany, and it was cast solely with concentration camp survivors.
Featuring Allie Mulholland, Linda Glick, Emily Ciotti, Maurya Scanlon, Pete McElligott, Shelley Valfer, Timothy Weinert, Mateo Prendergast, Andrew Criss, Daniel Hainsworth, and Jon McCormick. Stage Managed by Carly Bauer. Directed by Nic Davies.Opening night tickets feature a wine reception and a talk-back with the cast and Wendy Smith, author of the definitive book on The Group Theatre, Real Life Drama.
1931- will have its first NY production in 80 years when it opens for a 3 week run on 10/11/12. This tale of mass unemployment and exploitation of the workers seems hauntingly relevant in this age of Occupy Wall Street.
Decades before Mad Men, Dawn Powell dissected the advertising industry in her play BIG NIGHT. This biting satire will be revived beginning Nov 29th.
Founded in 2010, the ReGroup Theatre Co presented an 80th Anniversary Tribute to The Group Theatre last fall in which they performed scenes from all 23 of the Group's plays. They have also presented fully staged readings of the John Howard Lawson's Success Story and Gentlewoman, Sidney Kingsley's Men in White, Paradise Lost by Clifford Odets, Paul Green'sThe House of Connelly, and Mr. Green & Kurt Weill's musical, Johnny Johnson, which was directed by Estelle Parsons. They have also published The "Lost" Group Theatre Plays: Volume I. Their Honorary Board of Advisers consists ofAngelica Page, Ms. Parsons, Austin Pendleton, Molly Regan, Susan Rowland, José Angel Santana, Lois Smith, Wendy Smith and Frances Sternhagen.
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