Geva Presents GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER

Geva Theatre Center presents Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, a funny and poignant stage adaptation of the beloved Academy Award©-winning film. Adapted by Todd Kreidler and based on the screenplay by William Rose, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is directed by Skip Greer and will be performed in the Wilson Stage from February 14 to March 12.

Joanna surprises her liberal, white parents when she brings home John, her African-American fiancé, to meet them. However, she shocks even John by inviting his disapproving parents to dinner. A clash of generations and races ensues when both sets of parents must confront their own unexpected reactions and concerns for their children as their long-held beliefs are put to the test.

American-born William Rose, who wrote the screenplay for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, spent the majority of his life and career in the UK where he wrote the screenplays for Genevieve (1953) and the Ealing Comedies The Maggie (1954) and The Ladykillers (1956). In addition to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, his screenplays for American films included It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966).

2017 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, one of the most iconic films in motion picture history. Directed by Stanley Kramer, the film received eight Academy Award© nominations and won two - including an award for Best Screenplay. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner was also the final onscreen pairing of Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. Tracy died 17 days after filming his final scene for the movie. Todd Kreidler's stage adaptation premiered in Atlanta in 2012 and has subsequently been performed at regional theatres around the country.

Geva's production of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a co-production with Indiana Repertory Theatre. The ensemble cast is a blend of Geva favorites and veteran actors making their Geva debuts. Nora Cole (Broadway productions of Jelly's Last Jam and On the Town) returns to Geva where she appeared in last season's To Kill a Mockingbird and, in previous seasons, Katherine's Colored Lieutenant and Voices of the Spirits in My Soul (both of which she wrote); You Can't Take it With You and Fences. Ms. Cole appears as Mary Prentice. Cleavant Derricks (Tony Award©-winner for Dreamgirls and Tony Award©-nominee for Bob Fosse's Big Deal) appeared at Geva last season for A Journey to the Son - part of Geva's acclaimed festival around the life and work of Son House. Mr. Derricks appears as John Prentice, Sr. Lynda Gravátt (Broadway productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Doubt, King Hedley II and 45 Seconds from Broadway) appeared at Geva in A Raisin in the Sun and The Old Settler and appears in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner as Matilda Binks. Constance Macy, who made her Geva debut in Good People in 2014, appears as Hilary St. George and Brigitt Markusfeld (Geva productions of To Kill a Mockingbird, Stranded on Earth, You Can't Take It With You, Over the Tavern, A Christmas Story and The Weir) is Christina Drayton.

Making their Geva Theatre Center debuts are Mark Goetzinger (ChicaGo Productions of White Embers, October in the Chair and Other Fragile Things) as Monsignor Ryan; Chické Johnson (Broadway production of A Time to Kill) as Dr. John Prentice, Jr., Annie Munch (Steppenwolf's production of Tracy Letts' Mary Page Marlowe) as Joanna Drayton and Craig Spidle (Steppenwolf Theatre's production of The Tempest and Goodman Theatre's Sweet Bird of Youth; TV shows "Chicago P.D.," "Chicago Code," and films The Road to Perdition and The Untouchables) as Matthew Drayton.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is directed by Skip Greer. The design team includes Robert Koharchik (scenic designer), B. Modern (costume designer), Kendall Smith (lighting designer) and Todd Mack Reischman (Sound Designer).

The 2016-2017 Wilson Stage Series is sponsored by ESL Federal Credit Union. The Honorary Wilson Stage Series Sponsor is Dr. Dawn Lipson. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is produced with support from Lead Co-Producer Buckingham Properties; Co-Producer Tasteful Connections; Associate Producer Bond Schoeneck & King and Media Sponsors WDKX and FOX Rochester.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner begins performances February 14 and runs in the Wilson Stage through March 12.

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