Penfold Theatre Company Announces Cast For THEATRE GUILD ON AIR

Penfold Theatre Company in partnership with the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas announce the cast for Theatre Guild on Air running September 5 - October 3, 2021, at the Neill-Cochran House Museum.

Penfold Theatre is hosting a series of live readings, free-of-charge, from the Harry Ransom Center Theatre Guild on the Air Collection. Performed in the live radio show format by local actors and a foley sound artist, audiences will hear the original Broadway broadcasts given new life. All this takes place at Austin's historic Neill-Cochran House Museum, originally an iconic mansion built in the mid-19th century.

"I'm thrilled to kick off our 14th season with this piece, in part because it offers so many entry points for engagement: a showcase of UT's Harry Ransom Center collection, three different stories with three different directors and casts, and a different post-show discussion every weekend around the theme of reimagined classics," said Producing Artistic Director Ryan Crowder. "Also, being at the Neill-Cochran House Museum, the show marks the formal start of our 'Great Plays in Great Places' Series, which will present stories in conversation with unique places across Austin and the region."

Penfold Presents The Theatre Guild on the Air

From 1945 to 1963, listeners across the nation tuned in to The Theatre Guild on the Air. Created by The Theatre Guild, which produced 220 plays on Broadway, The Theatre Guild on the Air broadcast radio retellings of classic and contemporary plays, bringing the Great White Way to Main Street, USA.

After each hour-long reading, Penfold's artistic directors Ryan Crowder and Nathan Jerkins, at times along with Harry Ransom Center curator Eric Colleary, will host a discussion between the audience and artists.

Directed by Marcus McQuirter (Macbeth), Carl Gonzales (This Side of Paradise), and Rosalind Faires (Vanity Fair). Production team also includes Buzz Moran as Sound Designer, Eric Colleary as Dramaturg, Kat Kennedy as Stage Manager and Ryan Crowder as Production Stage Manager.

Macbeth will feature: Nadine Mozon, Yunina Barbour Payne, Chelsea Manasseri, Robin Beltran, and Danielle Kaigler.

This Side of Paradise will feature: Michael Galvan, Cherry Mendoza, Eva McQuade, Adrian Villegas, and Minerva Villa.

Vanity Fair will feature: Crystal Caviel, Valoneecia Tolbert, Nadine Mozon, Kate Taylor, and Indigo Rael.

Theatre Guild on Air

September 5 - October 3, 2021

From 1945 to 1963, The Theatre Guild on the Air brought Broadway plays to the American airwaves. Now from The Theatre Guild on the Air Collection at the Harry Ransom Center of the University of Texas, these radio scripts get new life in a series of live, free readings hosted by Penfold. Performed in a live radio show format by local actors and foley sound artists, audiences will hear the original Broadway broadcasts given new life. Featuring Shakespeare's Macbeth, F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise, and William Thackeray's Vanity Fair. Each series will take place at Austin's historic Neill-Cochran House and will host a post-show discussion with audience and actors.

*Part of the Great Plays in Great Places Series

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Marcus McQuirter

Sunday, September 5 at 6pm

Macbeth follows a Scottish general's rise to power after receiving a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by power and spurred on by his wife, Macbeth's ruthlessness threatens to destroy his nation, those closest to him and even his own sanity. This masterpiece by William Shakespeare is a timeless warning against unchecked ambition.

This Side of Paradise

By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Directed by Carl Gonzales

Sunday, September 19 at 6pm

A brilliant Princeton poet, a World War I veteran and a passionate suitor to the beautiful Rosalind Connage, Amory Blaine's future is bright. But in this probing character study, wealth, social standing, and romance fail the young man, leading him down a painful but revelatory path to self-discovery. This Side of Paradise is the autobiographical, debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald that gave voice to a generation of disillusioned urbanites in the Jazz Age of the 1920s.

Vanity Fair

By William M. Thackeray

Directed by Rosalind Faires

Sunday, October 3 at 6pm

A marvelous, incisive social satire that gleefully exposes the greed and corruption raging in England during the turmoil of the Napoleonic wars by tracing the changing fortunes of the scheming opportunist Becky Sharp, a poor but resourceful anti-heroine determined to reach the heights of society despite her station and her gender. This comic, sexy epic is considered the masterpiece of William Makepiece Thackeray, a friend and contemporary of Charles Dickens. Vanity Fair's subversive attack on the hypocrisy and "dismal roguery" of an avaricious world resonates 150 years later with implications for our own times.

Information Theatre Guild on Air is available at https://www.penfoldtheatre.org/event/theatre-guild-on-the-air/.

Memberships are available now for the 2021-22 season for three shows (A Miracle on 34th Street Classic Radiocast, Amadeus, and A War of the Worlds). Memberships are the best way to receive priority seating, flexibility in scheduling, discounts on additional seating, no fees and more all while supporting the arts and many programs. Memberships are $75. Information about productions and season memberships is available at: https://www.penfoldtheatre.org/on-stage/2021-22-season/.

Single tickets for Theatre Guild on Air are FREE, but reservation needed. Reserve tickets online at https://www.penfoldtheatre.org/event/theatre-guild-on-the-air/.

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