The Guthrie Announces Casting For 'A Delicate Balance' 1/10

The Guthrie today announced complete casting for its first-ever staging of A Delicate Balance, Edward Albee's 1966 Pulitzer Prize-winning portrait of upper-upper-middle-class suburban WASP culture. Under the direction of eight-time A Christmas Carol director Gary Gisselman, actors Margaret Daly (Jane Eyre) and Tom Tammi (Richard III, 1965) return for their second Guthrie productions, teaming to play Agnes and Tobias, the dysfunctional suburban couple at the center of Albee's sharp and witty masterpiece. A Delicate Balance begins previews January 10, opens January 16 and plays through March 1, 2009. Single tickets are priced from $24 to $60, with opening night prices ranging from $54 to $70. Tickets are on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE and online at www.guthrietheater.org.

Over the course of a weekend, and with the help of numerous cocktails, Agnes and Tobias try to maintain the "delicate balance" between self-destruction and survival, while providing refuge and a measure of comfort to family and friends in their suburban home. When their adult daughter Julia (ChariTy Jones) returns home after her fourth failed marriage, and two friends Harry (Stephen Yoakam) and Edna (Angela Timberman) move in unexpectedly, many well-masked feelings and opinions are finally vented. Thanks in part to a well-stocked liquor cabinet, and the permanent presence Agnes's alcoholic sister Claire (Candy Buckley), sparks fly and the balance of their family life begins to topple.

In advance of the 1996 production, Albee responded to questions of the show's timelessness, given its 30-year absence from Broadway. "The play does not seem to have dated," he said. "Rather, its points seem clearer now to more people than they were in its lovely first production. No time has passed; the characters have not aged or become strange. The upper-upper middle-class WASP culture has always been just a little bizarre, of course."

Though never previously performed on the Guthrie stage, A Delicate Balance maintains close ties to the theater's original acting company. Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn starred in the 1966 Broadway premiere (their first New York production after leaving the Guthrie in 1965), while George Grizzard, another original acting company member, received a Tony Award for his performance opposite Rosemary Harris and Elaine Stritch in the 1996 revival.

Albee, who was welcomed as the Guthrie's 1999 Global Voices speaker, has won countless awards for his plays, including an Obie Award (The Zoo Story, 1961), Tony Awards for Best Play for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1963), The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (2002) and the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2005; and three Pulitzer Prizes for Drama for A Delicate Balance (1967), Seascape (1975) and Three Tall Women (1994). Previous Guthrie productions of his work include the 2001 staging of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Patrick Stewart and Mercedes Ruehl, and a 1996 Guthrie Lab double-bill which included The Zoo Story.

The artistic team for A Delicate Balance also includes John Arnone (Set Designer), David Kay Mickelsen (Costume Designer), Don Darnutzer (Lighting Designer), Reid Rejsa (Sound Designer), Carla Steen (Dramaturg), Lucinda Holshue (Voice and Dialect Coach), Elizabeth R. MacNally (Stage Manager), Rob Goudy (Assistant Director) and Justin Hossle (Assistant Stage Manager).

About the Guthrie

The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Guthrie is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Led by Director Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie opened their new three-theater home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in June 2006.

The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue), in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets or season subscriptions call the Guthrie Box Office between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily at 612.377.2224 or toll-free 877.44.STAGE. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.guthrietheater.org.

A DELICATE BALANCE

BY Edward Albee
DIRECTED BY GARY GISSELMAN
First preview: January 10, 2009 7:30 p.m.
Opening Night: January 16, 2009 7:30 p.m.
Closing: March 1, 2009 1 p.m.

Location: Guthrie Theater 818 South 2nd Street
Minneapolis, MN 55415

TICKETS: Single tickets priced at $24 - $60, opening night $49 - $70
Guthrie Box Office: 612.377.2224
Greater Minnesota: TOLL FREE 877.44.STAGE

Box Office hours: 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily

Tickets may be purchased online at www.guthrietheater.org.

Performance Schedule: Tuesday through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.

Sundays at 7 p.m.
Matinees on selected Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m.

The Guthrie's production of A Delicate Balance is sponsored by the Tyrone Guthrie Circle and City Pages.