Gloucester Stage Company To Present GRAND HORIZONS, Opening This Month

The GLOUCESTER STAGE COMPANY will present the Tony Award-nominated GRAND HORIZONS next in the lineup of its 2022 season. Both funny and poignant, the play is a unique look at love's changeable nature and a powerful argument for the full humanity of women in our culture. Robert Walsh returns to Gloucester Stage to direct this thought-provoking comedy of marital malaise by award-winning playwright Bess Wohl, running from July 29 to August 21.

Bill and Nancy have been happily married for fifty years. They can finish each other's sentences and anticipate each other's every sigh, snore, and sneeze. As their adult children descend on the Grand Horizons senior living community - they are forced to reexamine everything they thought they knew about their parents' happy lives. A powerhouse comedy that explores a family turned upside-down takes an intimate look at love's wild, unpredictable, and enduring nature.

GRAND HORIZONS reunites on the Gloucester Stage the real-life married couple, award-winning actors of film and stage, Paula Plum (Nancy) and Richard Snee (Bill). The accomplished cast also stars Jeremy Beazlie (Ben), June Kfoury (Carla), Cristhian Mancinas-García (Tommy) Greg Maraio (Brian), and Marissa Stewart (Jess).

"Playwright Bess Wohl has captured a situation that will resonate with families in any place and time! The roles we seem destined to be assigned, promulgate, or hope to shed...the hunger to live life to the fullest and how it's never too late to follow or attempt to fulfill your dream...is innate to us all, said Grand Horizon's Director Robert Walsh. "With a truly charming wit, insight and relevance, Grand Horizons will make you laugh out loud and nod in recognition of the foibles and realities of what it means to be a family."

GRAND HORIZONS will run from July 29 through August 21. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm and Saturday and Sunday at 3:00 pm at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Tickets are now on sale and available at GloucesterStage.com.

The production is made possible with generous support from the Greene Foundation. The 2022 Season at Gloucester Stage has been made possible by the Shubert Foundation and the Applied Materials Foundation.

About the Artists:

Bess Wohl (Playwright) Bess Wohl's plays have been produced or developed at theaters around the country, including the Williamstown Theatre Festival, People's Light and Theatre Company, Center Theatre Group, the Contemporary American Theater Festival, the Pioneer Theatre, the Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Northlight Theater, TheaterWorks New Works Festival, The Geffen Playhouse, the Vineyard Arts Project, Ojai Playwright's Conference, the Cape Cod Theatre Project and the New York International Fringe Festival. Her play AMERICAN HERO had its world premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, directed by Leigh Silverman. She also worked on PRETTY FILTHY, an original musical about the adult entertainment industry, in collaboration with the composer/lyricist Michael Friedman and The Civilians. Her other plays include CATS TALK BACK, IN, BARCELONA, and TOUCHED. Her work has been supported by the MacDowell Fellowship, PlayPenn, and the Sewanee Writer's Conference. She is a member of the Ars Nova Play Group, and has been the recipient of new play commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club and Center Theatre Group. She also writes for film and television. She completed an adaptation of the bestselling novel "The Luxe" for Paramount Pictures and has developed original television pilots for Fox, HBO, and USA. Bess is a graduate of Harvard, magna cum laude, where she studied with Seamus Heaney and Jamaica Kincaid, and was awarded the Rona Jaffe Writing Prize and the Tennessee Williams Scholarship. She earned her MFA from the Yale School of Drama, where she was a recipient of the Rebecca West Scholarship. She is originally from Brooklyn, New York, and divides her time between New York and Los Angeles.

Robert Walshº (Director) Gloucester Stage Company directing credits include: Think of Me Tuesday, The 39 Steps, My Station in Life, Cyrano, The Rainmaker, Bank Job, Songs For A New World, The New Electric Ballroom, North Shore Fish, Fighting Over Beverley, The Widow's Blind Date, The Primary English Class, Our Town. Gloucester Stage Company acting credits include: Gloucester Blue, Sins of the Mother, The Subject Was Roses, The Barking Sharks, Two for the Seesaw. Producing Artistic Director, American Stage Festival: Bus Stop, Intimate Exchanges, Jacques Brel..., and Lend Me a Tenor, among others. Artistic Associate: Actors' Shakespeare Project: Richard III, As You Like It, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Coriolanus, Twelfth Night, Measure For Measure. Other productions directed include: Othello (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); Round and Round The Garden, Table Manners, K2, Later Life, Holiday Memories (Merrimack Rep); Rancho Mirage, Race, Speed-The-Plow, True West (New Repertory Theatre); The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, The Goatwoman of Corvis County (Shakespeare & Co.); Misalliance, A Life in the Theatre (Two River Theatre Co.); I Hate Hamlet (StageWest); The Little Foxes (Barter Theatre); and Of Mice and Men (Greater Boston Stage Co.), among others. Roles in recent feature films include: Black Mass, and the upcoming Fourth of July and A Playful Romance. Robert served as Artistic Director of Gloucester Stage from 2015-2021. He also directed the on-field ceremonies for the '99 All-Star Game at Fenway Park. He is on the faculty at Brandeis University.

Paula Plum* (Nancy) is a 30-year veteran of Gloucester Stage Company, first appearing in 1990 as Winnie in Happy Days and most recently in Barefoot in the Park. GSC Directing credits include I'm Not Rappaport, Out of Sterno, and The Last Schwartz. Paula is the recipient of seven IRNE awards, 2007, 2017 & 2020 Eliot Norton Award for Outstanding Actress, the 2004 Eliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence, and the 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University. In 2009 she was one of five actors nationwide to receive the Fox Actor Fellowship in association with SpeakEasy Stage. As a founding member of the Actors' Shakespeare Project, Plum has played Cleopatra, Beatrice, Lady Macbeth, and Phèdre and served as their Interim Artistic Director in 2018. She has appeared regionally at the Lyric Stage, The American Repertory Theatre, the New Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Repertory, the Huntington Theatre, Gloucester Stage Company, and Elm Shakespeare. Film credits include: Mermaids, Malice, Next Stop Wonderland, and Irrational Man directed by Woody Allen. Upcoming films include: About Fate with Emma Roberts and Fourth of July written and directed by Louis C.K. Television: Science Court (three seasons ABC) and co-creator and star of The Dick & Paula Celebrity Special for FX. From 2003 through 2019, Paula served as Artistic Director of WGBH's A Christmas Celtic Sojourn featuring Brian O'Donovan. Ms. Plum is a cum laude graduate of Boston University and has studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, the Dell'Arte Institute, and École Phillipe Gaulier, Paris. She has been published in American Theatre magazine and is married to actor Richard Snee. Paula is a professional acting coach. Last year she was appointed the 2020/2021 Monan Professor of Theater Arts at Boston College and is currently the Interim Artistic Director of Gloucester Stage Company.

Richard Snee* (Bill) Gloucester Stage credits include: Auld Lang Syne, Table Manners, Living Together, Round and Round the Garden. Regional include: Othello (American Repertory Theatre); Present Laughter, Sisters Rosensweig (Huntington Theatre Company); Uncle Vanya, Boy Gets Girl, Something in the Air, A Christmas Carol (Merrimack Repertory Theatre). Richard has been a member of the Boston company of Shear Madness since 1987 and is a founding member of the Actors' Shakespeare Project, and has appeared in several of their productions including Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Cherry Orchard, Richard III, and Comedy of Errors. He has also performed at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, SpeakEasy Stage Company, the Nora Theatre Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, the Wilbur Theater, Hasty Pudding Theatricals, and a lot of other places over the last thirty years. His film credits include Gone, Baby, Gone; The Company Men; My Best Friend's Girl; Never Met Picasso; Treading Water; Mr. North; and Teacakes or Cannoli. Richard's television credits include voicing characters for several animated series including Science Court; Dr. Katz; Home Movies; and Hey, Monie! Richard and his wife, Paula Plum, helped create and starred in the FX network's animated series, The Dick and Paula Celebrity Special. She was "Paula." He was "The Dick."

Jeremy Beazlie* (Ben) grew up in New Albany, Indiana, learning and performing classical theatre, making independent movies and playing in rock bands. His credits include, George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (Rhinoleap), Steve Enloe in The Radiant Abyss (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Kennedy Center) Lee in True West (Walden Theatre), Ingram Frizer in Murdering Marlowe (Access Theatre). Film/TV credits include WTC View, The Gamekillers(MTV) and Whoopi (NBC) He lives in New York City and is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts.

June Kfoury (Carla) has appeared in a variety of plays, musicals, and operas in Greater Boston, and in summer stock in Central Massachusetts. Recent roles include The Inheritence (Clairee in Steel Magnolias; Gingy in ​Love, Loss, and What I Wore (Hub Theatre of Boston); the Douglas in Henry IV (Praxis Stage); Sir Edward Clarke in Gross Indecency, Bev/Kathy in ​Clybourne Park, ​Julienne Tessman in ​Hedda Gabler, General Cartwright in​ Guys and Dolls​ (The Longwood Players); Nurse in Romeo and Juliet (Happy Medium); Marie Cote in Reflections of a Rock Lobster ​(Boston Children's Theatre); and Sister Irene in ​Sister Act (NextDoor Theater).

Cristhian Mancinas-García (Tommy) Man of Lamacha (New Repertory Theatre) was his debut performance. His favorite credits include Evita (Regatta Players); Rock of Ages (Marblehead Little Theatre); Melancholy Play (The Umbrella); The Wild Party (Moonbox Productions); and Picasso at the Lapin Agile (The Wellesley Players). Cristhian was born and raised in Durango, Mexico and currently resides in Boston, MA. Upcoming projects include Romeo and Juliet (The Underlings Theatre Co.).

Greg Maraio* (Brian) Regional credits include: Significant Other [IRNE nomination]; Casa Valentina [IRNE and Elliot Norton nominations]; and Necessary Monsters (SpeakEasy Stage), The Arboretum Experience (ART); Finish Line (Boston Theater Company); The Book Club Play, Brawler [IRNE nomination], Faithless (Boston Playwrights' Theatre); Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Nora Theatre); Wolf Play, Colossal, Splendor, The Good Negro, Mr. Marmalade, The Gibson Girl, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Company One). Greg will also be joining the cast of the World Premiere of Pru Payne by Steven Drukman at the Arizona Theatre Company in 2023. He received is BFA at Lesley University.

Marissa Stewart* (Jess) is an actor and teaching artist from sunny San Antonio, Texas and currently living in Manhattan, NY. Her familial roots are in the Caribbean islands of Curaçao and Carriacou. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Theatre Studies with an associated study in Psychology from the University of Evansville as well as a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the American Repertory Theater Institute at Harvard University. Marissa recently joined The Acting Company of Blk Girls Luv The Bard for a Fall Virtual Reading series of the Play On! Shakespeare commissioned plays Comedy of Errors, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet.

ºMember Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) Union

*Member Actors Equity Association (AEA) Union

To post a comment, you must register and login.