World Premiere of THE PICKLEBALL WARS Opens At Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater August 11

Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater presents the world premiere of The Pickleball Wars, by Kevin Rice, directed by Daisy Walker. Performances run Tuesdays through Saturdays, August 11 to September 9 at 8 p.m. Preview performances at 7:30 p.m. on August 9 and 10 are discounted and open to the public. 

Newly retired and aspiring to be a writer, Fred Fallon's only relief from his novel — which is shaping up to be the longest book ever written — is his weekly stint as a DJ at the local community radio station. Fred's neighbors add to his creative woes against a backdrop of the sport taking not just the U.S. but the entire world by storm.  Is pickleball just a fun fitness fad, or is something more sinister at play?  Something with geo-political consequences?

Kevin Rice (Playwright) is a co-founder of the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre and the author of ten plays, four of which have been produced at WHAT (Siberian Summer, One Night In The Life Of Denise Ivanovich, Gloves Off: Nabokov vs. Wilson, Oblomov) and at venues as diverse as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Sakha Dramatic Theater in Yakutsk, Russia, and The Belt Theater in NYC.  Kevin was named one of NYTheater.com's Theater Persons of the Year for the 2004 off-off Broadway production of his original satire, Amerikus Rex. His original play, Hopper's Ghosts, has been optioned off-Broadway and was staged at Payomet Performing Arts Center where Kevin has served as Executive Director for sixteen years. His most recent play, Under The Radar, was an audience-interactive play staged at Payomet and starred Robin Bloodworth. 

Robin Bloodworth (Fred Fallon) At WHAT: in the next room, or The Vibrator Play, Boeing, Boeing, Lenin's Embalmers. At The Harbor Stage Company: A Doll's House, The Kritik, Everything is Established, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Weir, The Deer and the Antelope, Buried Child. Other credits: Tiny Beautiful Things (Theatrical Outfit), Hopper's Ghosts (Provincetown Playhouse), Nick's Flamingo Grill, Klondike, (Alliance Theater), Girl Science (Ensemble Studio Theater),

Young, Sexy and Talented? (NY Fringe Festival). Vanity Fair, Time Stands Still, Clybourne Park (Suzi Award winners), Ah, Wilderness! (75 th anniversary revival), Cloud 9 (20 th anniversary revival). TV/Film: Stars Fell Again, Those Who Deserve to Die, Anatomy of the Throat, Halt and Catch Fire, Your Worst Nightmare, Swamp Murders, Necessary Roughness, The Game, Midnight Edition, Talk Show, 12 Ghosts, The MLK Tapes, 13 Tales of Halloween, Annawakee.

Kelly Christopher (Sue Fallon) made her Wellfleet debut last summer in a reading of Brenda Withers' Off Peak at the Harbor Stage Company with her onstage/offstage husband, Robin Bloodworth. Some of her favorite stage experiences include an apprenticeship at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, study at The Neighborhood Playhouse in NYC, and work with PushPush Arts and Working Title Playwrights in Atlanta. 

Dennis Cunningham's (Matty) roots on WHAT stages go back to 1985 when he appeared as Bobby in WHAT's second production, American Buffalo. He has appeared in multiple productions at WHAT over the years, as well as at Cape Rep. He played the role of Ollie in the film Give or Take which is currently streaming on multiple platforms. He has also performed at the Harbor Stage in Wellfleet as Doctor Chebutykin in Chekov's Three Sisters, the role of Jack in The Weir, Dectective Baylen in Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, and most recently as Dodge in the play Buried Child. 

Kathy McCafferty (K.A. Bottoms) Kathy is thrilled to join WHAT for the first time especially having grown up on the South Shore of Massachusetts. Recent favorite roles include Barbara in August: Osage County, Bridget in Thirst and Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire.  Bway/National Tour: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Off-Broadway: Lincoln Center Theater, 59E59th, Origin 1st Irish Festival. Select Regional: Dorset Theatre Festival, Palm Beach Dramaworks, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Huntington Theatre Company, Ahmanson Theatre, , Portland Stage, Arts Center of Coastal Carolina,  Premiere Stages, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Bay Street, Shadowland Stages, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, BCT, and others. TV/ Film: The Gilded Age, Little America, House of Cards, 30 Rock, Law & Order: CI, Law & Order: SVU, Dates Like This, The Onion News.

Daisy Walker (Director) has directed around the country from San Diego to NYC, at theatres such as Berkshire Theatre Group, The Guthrie Theater Lab, La Jolla Playhouse, Keen Company, Classic Stage Company, New Georges, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Payomet PAC, 59 E 59, Adirondack Theatre Festival, The Pool Plays and others. She has directed new work by artists such as Kristoffer Diaz, Julia Jordan, Duncan Sheik, Kevin Rice, Brenda Withers, Eric Lane and Melanie Marnich. Previously, she was Executive Artistic Director of Theater Masters; Assistant Director on Jersey Boys for the Broadway, National Tour, and Regional productions; and served as an Artistic Associate at Classic Stage Company. Other Broadway Assistant Directing credits include Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention, Dracula - The Musical, and Sinatra, His Music, His World, His Way. A Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop.  Her work at WHAT includes Oblomov, One Night in the Life of Denise Ivanovich, Rhinoceros, The Little Dog Laughed, Private Eyes, Stonewall Jackson's House, Ride, Shipwrecked!, Painting Churches and An Act of God.

The Pickleball Wars  

by Kevin Rice

Tickets: $40 with discounts for seniors; students $15; previews $25

When: August 11–September 9, 2023 at 8 p.m.; previews August 9 & 10, 7:30 p.m.

Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater

Outermost Performing Arts Center

2357 State Highway Route 6

Wellfleet MA 02667

(508) 349-9428 | what.org 

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