Geva Theatre Center's 47th Season Continues with SLOW FOOD

Geva Theatre Center presents Slow Food, by Wendy MacLeod and directed by Skip Greer, in the Elaine P. Wilson Stage from January 14 through February 9.

Peter and Irene's anniversary celebration in Palm Springs is off to a rocky start, but they are looking forward to a nice meal in a local restaurant. It's just their luck to be served (or not) by a perfectionist waiter who won't bring them their food and has them questioning everything - from their menu selections to the state of their marriage.

Wendy MacLeod's play The House of Yes became an award-winning Miramax film starring Parker Posey. Her other plays include Sin (The Goodman, Second Stage), Schoolgirl Figure (The Goodman Theatre), The Water Children and Juvenilia (Playwrights Horizons), and Things Being What They Are (Seattle Repertory Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre). Her play Find and Sign premiered at the Pioneer Theater in Salt Lake City and her play This Flight Tonight was included in Standing On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays and seen across the country and in New York City at the Minetta Lane. She was the first playwright chosen for The Writers' Room residency at The Arden Theatre in Philadelphia, where she wrote Women in Jeopardy!, which received its premiere production at Geva Theatre Center in 2015. Her prose has appeared in The New York Times, Poetry, Salon, The Rumpus, McSweeney's Internet Tendency and on All Things Considered. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, she is the James E. Michael Playwright-in-Residence at Kenyon College.

Slow Food premiered at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in 2019. In an interview with Kenneth Jones, MacLeod says, "It was inspired by a nightmare waiter we encountered on the first night of a family vacation in Palm Springs. We were trapped there both by circumstance - it was the only restaurant open on the Sunday night of our arrival - and by the fact that my sister-in-law had recommended the restaurant so nobody wanted to insult her choice by declaring the meal a failure."

The cast of Slow Food each make a welcome return to Geva Theatre Center. Stephen Caffrey (Peter) made his Geva debut in Red in 2015. Some other credits include Stage Kiss and Yes, Prime Minister at The Geffen Playhouse; Shrew, M. Butterfly, and Bach at Liepzig at South Coast Rep; Heartbreak House at Berkeley Rep; A Doll's House, The Real Thing, and The Voysey Inheritance at ACT San Francisco; Victoria Musica at Cincinnati Playhouse; Galileo at Cleveland Play House; Restoration Comedy at Seattle Rep, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest at Portland Center Stage; The Miser at Hartford Stage; The Constant Wife at Pasadena Playhouse; The Seafarer and Thirty Six Views at Laguna Playhouse; Bargains at The Old Globe; The Body of Bourne at the Mark Taper Forum; King Lear, Henry IV and The Cripple of Inishmaan at Antaeus; The Scarlet Letter at Classic Stage Co.; What You Get and Expect for NY Theatre Workshop; I Hate Hamlet at Royal George; All's Well that Ends Well at Santa Cruz Shakespeare; Twelfth Night at Shakespeare Centre LA; among others. Film and T.V. credits include NCIS, Seinfeld, All My Children (ABC) (series regular), Tour of Duty (CBS) (Series Regular), Nothing Lasts Forever (NBC), Cinema Verite (HBO), Blowback and Buried Alive (Showtime), Longtime Companion, American Odyssey (ABC) (recurring), Columbo (ABC) Murder She Wrote (CBS), The Profiler (NBC), and Indiana Jones Chronicles, among others. Toni diBuono (Irene) returns to Geva where she played Dierdre Blake in The Humans, Clara in Miracle on South Division Street and Sonia in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Her Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include The Boys from Syracuse, Wonderful Town, Bad Habits, The Truth About Ruth and Forbidden Broadway (for which she received a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award) and recently guest starred in God Friended Me on CBS. Danny Vaccaro (The Waiter) made his Geva debut earlier this season in La Cage aux Folles. Danny was part of the Tony Award-winning production of La Cage aux Folles in 2011. Other New York and tour credits include The Diary of Anne Frank (Otto Frank), Madison Square Garden's Wizard of Oz (Tinman), Streakin' thru the 70s (Tripp), and Nunsense A-men (Sr. Robert Anne). Favorite Regional credits include Time Stands Still (Richard Ehrlich), Lost in Yonkers(Uncle Louie), Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom), The Foreigner (Charlie Baker), The Producers (Roger Debris) and Sweeney Todd (Pirelli). TV credits include Law and Order SVU, Younger, and All My Children.

Slow Food is directed by Skip Greer, who also serves as Artist in Residence and Director of Education at Geva Theatre Center. His directing credits at Geva include Hard Cell, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Red, The Mountaintop, Last Gas; A Midsummer Night's Dream (co-director); Freud's Last Session; On Golden Pond; Over the Tavern; Almost, Maine; the world premiere of The House in Hydesville; Doubt; American Buffalo; Inherit the Wind; Key West; Death of a Salesman; Lobby Hero; Below the Belt; The Weir; Women Who Steal; Beast on the Moon; Triumph of Love and Geometric Digression of the Species. Skip was the Co-Producer for Journey to the Son: A Celebration of Son House in 2015. He directed King Lear at Shakespeare Santa Cruz for their 25th anniversary. Other regional directing credits include Indiana Repertory Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Studio Arena Theatre, Cape Playhouse, White Heron Theatre, Totem Pole Playhouse, State Theatre of Austin, and Gary Marshall's Falcon Theatre, where he directed Golf with Alan Shepard starring Jack Klugman and Charles Durning. Mr. Greer has also been an actor at Geva appearing in The Humans (Erik Blake)To Kill a Mockingbird (Atticus Finch), Clybourne Park (Russ, Dan),You Can't Take It With You (Paul Sycamore), Superior Donuts (Arthur),The Music Man, (Mayor Shinn) Evie's Waltz (Clay), Our Town (the Stage Manager), Hamlet (Ghost/Player King), 1776 (John Hancock), House and Garden(Giles), Art (Serge), Twelve Angry Men (Juror #1), A Girl's Life (Ken), Every Good Boy Deserves Favor (Alexander), The Illusion (Alcandre), Picasso at the Lapine Agile (Sagot) and State of the Union (Spike McManus).

The creative team for Slow Food includes Robert Koharchik (scenic design), Sarafina Bush (costume design), Derek Madonia (lighting design), Dan Roach (sound design), and Francisca Da Silviera (dramaturg).

The 2019-2020 Season is sponsored by ESL Federal Credit Union. The Honorary Season Producer is Dr. Dawn Lipson. Slow Food is produced with support from Associate Producers Gray Locey CPA, P.C.; Madeline's Catering and Media Sponsors News 8 and WDKX 100.5 The Drive.

Slow Food begins previews on January 14, opens January 18 and runs through February 9.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Previews: Tuesday, January 14 @ 7:30pm

Wednesday, January 15 @ 7:30pm

Thursday, January 16 @ 7:30pm

Friday, January 17 @ 8pm

Saturday, January 18 @ 2pm (Open Captioned Performance)

Opening: Saturday, January 19 @ 8pm

Performances: Sunday, January 20 @ 2pm and 7pm

Tuesday, January 21 @ 6pm

Wednesday, January 22 @ 7:30pm

Thursday, January 23 @ 7:30pm

Friday, January 24 @ 8pm

Saturday, January 25 @ 3pm and 8pm

Sunday, January 26 @ 2pm and 7pm

Tuesday, January 28 @ 7:30pm

Wednesday, January 29 @ 7:30pm

Thursday, January 30 @ 7:30pm

Friday, January 31 @ 8pm

Saturday, February 1 @ 3pm and 8pm

Sunday, February 2 @ 2pm (Audio Described Performance) and 7pm

Tuesday, February 4 @ 7:30pm

Wednesday, February 5 @ 2pm and 7:30pm (Open Captioned Performances)

Thursday, February 6 @ 7:30pm (Sign Interpreted Performance)

Friday, February 7 @ 8pm

Saturday, February 8 @ 3pm and 8pm

Sunday, February 9 @ 2pm (Sunday Salon)

Ticket Prices: Tickets start at $25.

Reservations: (585) 232-GEVA (4382), Website: www.gevatheatre.org

Location: Geva Theatre Center, 75 Woodbury Blvd, Rochester, NY 14607

* Partial support for open captioning provided by Theatre Development Fund.

Founded in 1972, Geva Theatre Center is a not-for-profit theatre company dedicated to creating and producing professional theatre productions, programs and services of a national standard. As Rochester's flagship professional theatre, Geva is the most attended regional theatre in New York State, and one of the 25 most subscribed in the country, serving up to 160,000 patrons annually, including 20,000 students.

Geva operates two venues - the 516-seat Elaine P. Wilson Stage and the 180-seat Ron & Donna Fielding Stage. As one of the country's leading theatre companies and a member of the national League of Resident Theatres, Geva produces a varied contemporary repertoire from musicals to world premieres celebrating the rich tapestry of our diverse community. The theatre draws upon the talents of some of the country's top actors, directors, designers and writers who are shaping the American Theatre scene.

Geva Theatre Center offers a wide variety of educational, outreach and literary programs, nurturing audiences and artists alike. Since 1995, the organization has been under the artistic direction of Mark Cuddy.

For more information: GevaTheatre.org

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