Peggy Cosgrave & Robert Rutland to Star in White Heron Theatre Company's THE GIN GAME

The White Heron Theatre Company announces the opening of its first play of the 2015 season - the timeless Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Gin Game by D.L. Coburn, running from July 6th through July 22nd at White Heron's 2015 summer home - Nantucket's Dreamland Theater on Water Street.

The production features the acting talents of Equity theatre mainstays Peggy Cosgrave and Robert Rutland. Performances will take place July 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, and 22, all at 7:30 p.m.

When it premiered on Broadway in 1977, The Gin Game starred legendary husband-and-wife acting team Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. The two-person, four-act play was nominated for four Tony Awards, including "Best Play," and went on to win the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Mr. Rutland and Ms. Cosgrave portray lead characters Weller Martin and Fonsia Dorsey, respectively, two senior citizens who spend their days at the seedy nursing home where they live. The two ultimately strike up a friendship and engage in competitive bouts of the card game gin rummy, the results of which become metaphors for their own lives.

Ms. Cosgrave has been a professional actor for more than four decades, having appeared on Broadway in such productions as The Nerd, Born Yesterday, The Shadow Box, and Suddenly Last Summer, as well as numerous Off-Broadway and Regional Theatre productions.

Mr. Rutland "is delighted to be at the White Heron Theatre and sharing the boards again with long-time colleague, Peggy Cosgrave." In 20-plus years of friendship, they have done more than 10 shows together, mostly at Geva Theatre Center, or at the late Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, NY, where Mr. Rutland served as Education Director and Actor-in-Residence for 7 years. Shows performed with Ms. Cosgrave include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, She Stoops To Conquer, Women Who Steal, You Can't Take It With You, How I Learned to Drive, and more. Mr. Rutland has appeared with such regional theatres as Denver Center, BAM, Cincinnati Playhouse, Virginia Stage, and last summer at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA.

"We are excited to bring this engaging and thought-provoking Broadway play to theatre fans on Nantucket," said Lynne Bolton, Co-Artistic Director of White Heron and President of the Nantucket Theatre Institute. "This intelligent and funny play is punctuated with tender moments that relate to our human existence, and is one we know our audience will appreciate."

For more details about The Gin Game, please visit www.whiteherontheatre.org. All tickets and packages are on sale and available for purchase through the company's website or box office at 508-825-5268. To get the latest news about the new theatre, and learn when performances will occur, please follow the White Heron Theatre Company on social media and their newsletter.

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