New Georges (Susan Bernfield, Artistic Director; Sarah Cameron Sunde, Associate Director), the OBIE Award-winning downtown theater company founded in 1992, will present the world premiere of Wendy Weiner's "HILLARY: A Modern Greek Tragedy With a (Somewhat) Happy Ending," directed by Julie Kramer. Mia Barron, last seen on Broadway in Tom Stoppard's Tony Award-winning Best Play The Coast of Utopia, and stage and television's Darren Pettie will head up the eight-member cast as Hillary and Bill Clinton. "HILLARY" will be performed at The Living Theater, 21 Clinton Street (between E. Houston and Stanton Streets). Previews begin Saturday, November 22, and the official Opening Night will be Monday, November 24 at 7:00 p.m. Performances are scheduled to run through Saturday, December 20.
Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love, have been at war since time immemorial. When a young girl named Hillary Rodham devotes herself to Athena alone—spurning romance, makeup, and attractive hairstyles—Aphrodite takes revenge by having her fall in love with a man of mythical charm and appetites:
Bill Clinton. New Georges first presented "HILLARY" at The Public Theater last December in a two-performance workshop presentation.
Wendy Weiner developed "HILLARY" under the mentorship of the Public Theater's
Oskar Eustis. In addition to last season's workshop at the Public, there was a staged reading this past summer in Los Angeles with
Laura Innes (E.R.) playing the role of
Hillary Clinton. Ms. Weiner's four solo pieces: Give Me Shelter (winner of "Best of the Fringe" at both the New York and San Francisco Fringe Festivals), Searching for the '60s, Defying Freud, and Elements of Style were all directed by her Hillary collaborator Julie Kramer. In addition to this production her full-length plays include Great Highway (written with Octavio Solis) and Major Label. Wendy has also had pieces published in the national news and entertainment media.
Julie Kramer was the recipient of a New Georges Special Project Grant to direct a workshop of Wendy Weiner’s Hillary at The Public Theater. Also with New Georges, she directed
Jenny Lyn Bader's None of the Above and the
Dawn Powell adaptation You Should Have Brought Your Mink. She directed and developed Wendy Weiner's Elements of Style, Searching for the 60's, Give Me Shelter and Defying Freud; and Amy Wilson's Mother Load, which had an extended run in at the Sage Theater in New York and is now on national tour. Other credits include None of the Above (The Lion); BabyLove (45 Bleecker/Hourglass Group), which she also directed in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the Uno Festival in Canada and the San Francisco Fringe Festival (Best Solo Performance);
Jenny Lyn Bader's Out of Mind and Rebecca Gilman's Boy Gets Girl for NYU/Strasberg; the musical It's a Hit (New York Fringe); Nixon's Daughters (O'Neill Theater Center); Andrew Secunda's One Woman Show (Upright Citizens Brigade Theater); and three shows for the HBO/Aspen Comedy Festival.
The complete cast for "HILLARY" will be:
Heidi Armbruster (Athena),
Mia Barron (
Hillary Clinton), Victoire Charles (Aphrodite), Jorge Cordova (Male Chorus), Charlie Hudson, III (Male Chorus), Jenny Mercein (Female Chorus),
Darren Pettie (
Bill Clinton), and Josie Whittlesey (Female Chorus).
Heidi Armbruster's New York credits include: Sea of Tranquility at the Atlantic; Tea and Sympathy with the Keen Company; and The Fifth Column and Susan and God with The Mint.
Mia Barron was last seen in L.A. as Corrinna Stroller in
John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves at the newly renovated
Mark Taper Forum. Variety called her performance "priceless." New York theater credits include: The Coast of Utopia and Q.E.D. (both at Lincoln Center);
Stephen Belber's The Geometry of Fire at New York Stage & Film;
Bruce Norris' The Pain and the Itch and
David Greenspan's She Stoops to Comedy (both at
Playwrights Horizons); Jason Grote's 1001 at Baruch Performing Arts Center, and 13P's production of
Winter Miller's The Penetration Play. Victoire Charles was last seen in New York in Creation Production Company's Abandon by Matthew Maguire. Other theater credits include: Meet John Doe at Dodger Stages, Laughing Pictures at The Flea, and Down from the Plantation at The Mint. She has also toured with The Acting Company in The Tempest and Moby Dick Rehearsed. Jorge Cordova was seen most recently in On Island, Summer Shorts at 59E59 Theaters; Q&A: Perception of Dawn at The Brick Theater; and Bottle Rockets for the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. Charlie Hudson, III was last seen in
David Greenspan's Old Comedy at CSC and in Mother Courage for the New York Shakespeare Festival. His regional theater credits include plays at Trinity Rep, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the McCarter Theatre Center. Jenny Mercein has performed in New York City with the Keen Company, Gorilla Rep, and Synapse Productions.
Darren Pettie was last seen on Broadway as Reg Nuttal in
Simon Gray's Butley starring
Nathan Lane. Other New York credits include Neal Bell's Spatter Pattern (Or, How I Got Away With It at
Playwrights Horizons, Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams by Terence McNally, and Hobson's Choice at the Atlantic Theater Company. He has guest starred on many well-known TV series including: Gossip Girl, Without a Trace, Mad Men, Charmed, Line of Fire, CSI, Law & Order: SVU, and has had a recurring role on Crossing Jordan. Josie Whittlesey was last seen Off Broadway in Shockheaded Peter.
The set design will be by
Lauren Helpern (OBIE winner for Bug; American Theatre Wing Hewes Award nominee for None of the Above), the costume design by
Amelia Dombrowski (recent productions: Bomb-itty of Errors at Syracuse Stage and work with New York Classical Theatre), the lighting design by
Graham Kindred (The Rise of Dorothy Hale; None of the Above; Picon Pie), and the sound design by the award-winning Broadway, Off and Off-Off Broadway sound designer Jill BC Du Boff and Joshua Higgason (In Search of Cleo at The Box; None of the Above at The Lion; Billy the Mime: America LoveSexDeath). The production stage manager will be Ryan Raduechel.
New Georges' (www.newgeorges.org) notable productions have included: Jenny Schwartz's God's Ear; Susan Bernfield's Stretch (a fantasia); Sheila Callaghan's Dead City (a winner of the 2007
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize); Deb Margolin's Three Seconds in the Key (winner of the 2005 Kesselring Prize); Lisa D'Amour's Anna Bella Eema;
Jenny Lyn Bader's None of the Above; and
Carson Kreitzer's Self Defense, or death of some salesmen. The company, in addition to producing regular seasons, is a play and artist development organization, providing essential resources and opportunities to a community of venturesome artists.
The complete schedule for "HILLARY" (November 22 through December 20) will be: Wednesdays through Mondays at 8:00 p.m. (Please note: The Opening Night curtain time on Monday, November 24 will be at 7:00 p.m.) There will be one additional performance on Sunday, November 23 at 3:00 p.m. The ticket price will be $20.00. Students and seniors will be $18.00. Monday night performances and Wednesday, November 26 are "pay-what-you-will" at the door only. TDF vouchers will be accepted. The box office number for reservations is 212-868-4444 or
www.smarttix.com. For more information and group rates call 646-336-8077.
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