Richard Dreyfuss Stars in RELATIVITY, Starting Tonight at TheaterWorks

TheaterWorks presents RELATIVITY, a new play by Mark St. Germain directed by Rob Ruggiero. RELATIVITY is the first show of TheaterWorks 31st Season and will run tonight, October 7, through November 13, 2016.

Academy award winner Richard Dreyfuss stars as Albert Einstein with Christa Scott-Reed and Lori Wilner making their TheaterWorks debuts.

Rob said, "This cast is terrific. Richard, Christa and Lori are formidable talents. I couldn't be more excited to work with this gifted trio. And though our audiences know and love playwright Mark St Germain's work this is the first time I've had the pleasure to direct one of his plays."

RELATIVITY is a new play by Mark St Germain. Mark brings historical characters to life on stage with depth, understanding and great humanity. Beloved and a hero to so many, Einstein was a complicated and driven man. Like Freud's Last Session and Becoming Dr. Ruth, RELATIVITY challenges our preconceived notions of Einstein and ultimately delivers a far more nuanced and humane understanding of the man behind the genius.

In 1902, Albert and Mileva Einstein had a baby daughter. After 1904 she was never seen again. When a young reporter confronts Einstein years later in Princeton, Einstein must face his greatest challenge: his past. RELATIVITY explores the bonds of family and the cost of genius. To be a great man, does one first need to be a good man? From the playwright that brought you FREUD'S LAST SESSION, DANCING LESSONS, and Becoming Dr. Ruth.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Richard Dreyfuss (Einstein) is making his TheaterWorks debut. Richard has been acting in American theatre and films for 45 years. Early in his career, he appeared in television and many notable films including American Graffiti, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Richard won the Oscar for his performance in The Goodbye Girl. And he was nominated for his performance in Mr. Holland's Opus. As a Community Leader, his current focus and passion is to encourage, revive, elevate and enhance the teaching of civics in American Schools. He is the Founder of the non-profit organization www.TheDreyfussInitiative.org. He is a spokesperson on the issue of media informing policy, legislation, and public opinion, both speaking and writing to express his sentiments in favor of privacy, freedom of speech, democracy, and individual accountability. Richard serves on the committee for Education with the American Bar Association, 12 years on the Board of the National Constitution Center, a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served as Senior Research Advisory Member of St. Antony's College, Oxford University.

Christa Scott-Reed (Margaret Harding) is making her TheaterWorks debut. Christa was most recently seen in the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run and two-year National Tour of C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce (Fellowship for Performing Arts). Broadway: The Pitmen Painters. Off Broadway: The Talls (world premiere, Second Stage); Celebration and The Room, The Bald Soprano and the Lesson, 10x20 and10x25 (Atlantic Theater Company); The Freedom of the City (Irish Repertory Theatre); Beasley's Christmas Party (world premiere), PULLMAN CAR HIAWATHA, and Museum (Keen Company); Deathbed (world premiere, McGinn-Cazale); Marion Bridge (Urban Stages); The Voysey Inheritance (Mint Theater Company). Regional: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, Paper Mill Playhouse, Bucks County Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Barrington Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Pioneer Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Denver Center Theatre Company, Cleveland Playhouse and many more. Film & TV: 30 Rock, The Impossibilities, 666 Park Avenue, Eden, Gossip Girl, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Love Life, New Amsterdam, and As the World Turns. christascottreed.com

Lori Wilner (Helen Dukas) is making her TheaterWorks debut. Broadway: Fiddler on the Roof (current and 2004 revival) Beautiful, Domesticated, The Assembled Parties, On a Clear Day....Forever, A Catered Affair, The Diary of Anne Frank, Awake and Sing!, The People in the Picture, Everett Beekin,Those Were the Days. Off-Broadway: Hannah Senesh (Drama Desk nom), Dancing on Nails, Milk and Honey, Yiddish Trojan Women, Hannah 1939. The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolye, The Witch, The Last Survivor, The Dreyfus Affair, Bubbe Meises. Regional: Cabaret, Other Desert Cities (Theatre Aspen), Fiddler on the Roof (Goodspeed), Giant (Signature), Beau Jest (Gulfshore), Brighton Beach Memoirs (Geva), Broadway Bound, Broken Glass (Philadelphia Thea. Co.), The Sisters Rosensweig (Alliance), The Glass Menagerie (N.M.Rep), The Heidi Chronicles (Forum), Lost in Yonkers (Arkansas Rep), Conversations with my Father (Geva), Sweepers (Capital Rep), The Immigrant, Butterfingers Angel (Syracuse Stage), When Something Wonderful Happens (Humana Festival), Farragut North (Shadowland), The Memory of Water, Quilters (WPA) Awards: Drama Desk nom, Goldy, DramaLogue, Charles Bowden.

Mark St. Germain (Playwright) Mark is excited to be back at TheaterWorks. He has written Freud's Last Session (Off Broadway Alliance Award), Camping with Henry and Tom (Outer Critics Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award) Out of Gas on Lovers Leap, Forgiving Typhoid Mary, (Time Magazine's "Year's Ten Best") Becoming Dr. Ruth, Best of Enemies, Ears on a Beatle, The God Committee and Scott and Hem. With Randy Courts, he has written the musicals The Gifts of the Magi, Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller, winner of an AT&T "New Plays For The Nineties Award" (Lamb's Theater) Jack's Holiday was produced at Playwrights Horizons. Mark's musical, Stand by your Man, The Tammy Wynette Story was created for Nashville's Ryman Theater. With John Markus, he wrote the comedy with music, The Fabulous Lipitones. Mark co-wrote the screenplay for Carroll Ballard's Warner Brothers film, Duma. He directed and co-produced the documentary, My Dog, An Unconditional Love Story. My Dog features Richard Gere, Lynn Redgrave and Glenn Close among many others. Television credits include Writer and Creative Consultant for The Cosby Show, Life Stories and Dick Wolf's Crime and Punishment. Mark wrote the award winning children's book Three Cups. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists, where he was given the Joe A. Callaway Award, a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Writer's Guild East and an Associate Artist at the Barrington Stage Company. He is currently working on an adaptation of John Updike's Gertrude and Claudius for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater.

Rob Ruggiero (Director / Producing Artistic Director) has been a part of TheaterWorks artistic leadership for 23 years. He has directed over 50 shows, including Sex with Strangers, THIRD, Good People, Christmas on the Rocks, Annapurna, The Other Place and Time Stands Still. Rob has earned national recognition for his work on plays and musicals. His Broadway credits include Looped (starring Valerie Harper in a Tony-nominated performance) and High (starring Kathleen Turner). Off-Broadway, he conceived and directed the original musical revue entitled Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn (Nominated for the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle Awards). Rob conceived and directed the world premiere musical portrait of Ella Fitzgerald entitled Ella, which was seen on more than 24 regional theater stages from 2005-2010 before beginning a National Tour. His work has received multiple awards and recognition here in Connecticut, as well as in other cities around the United States. Rob most recently directed La Cage aux Folles, his ninth collaboration with Goodspeed Musicals where he also directed highly successful productions of Fiddler on the Roof (Connecticut Critic's Circle Award for Best Direction), The Most Happy Fella (Connecticut Critic's Circle Award for Best Direction), Carousel (Broadway World Award), Annie Get Your Gun, Camelot, Big River, 1776 and a new adaptation of Show Boat (Connecticut Critic's Circle Award for Best Direction). This new version is now being licensed by the Rogers & Hammerstein Organization. www.robruggiero.com

Brian Prather (Set Design) is excited to return to TheaterWorks after last season's Sex With Strangers. Past TheaterWorks credits include Playing the Assassin, Dancing Lessons, Shakespeare's R&J, and The Exonerated, among others. Recent Off-Broadway: Widower's Houses (TACT/Gingold), A Christmas Carol (St. Clement's), Becoming Dr. Ruth (Westside), The Memory Show (Transport Group), Freud's Last Session (New World Stages), Nymph Errant (Prospect Theater), and The Burnt Part Boys (Playwrights Horizons). International: Chung-mu Art Hall (South Korea). New York and Regional: Rattlestick Theatre, 59E59, Alley Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals, Barrington Stage Co., Virginia Rep., the Broad Stage, Mercury Theatre, Delaware Theatre Co., Shakespeare on the Sound, NewArts, among many others. Joseph Jefferson Award (Chicago) for Set Design, Emmy nomination (New England) for the design of "The Kate" concert series on CT Public Television, Associate Artist at Barrington Stage Co. (MA) and a member of USA Local 829. See Brian's work at www.brianprather.com.

Alejo Vietti (Costume Design) TheaterWorks: Christmas on the Rocks '13, '14,'15, Venus in Fur, Ella, Woman Before a Glass, and Make Me a Song. New York: Broadway's Allegiance, and Beautiful -The Carole King Musical- (also West End - Olivier Nomination - and national tour), Manhattan Theatre Club, Primary Stages, MCC, Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, Irish Rep, The New Group, Cherry Lane, Rattlestick, Soho Rep, and Ensemble Studio Theatre among others. Selected Regional: Hartford Stage, Alley Theatre, Long Wharf, Old Globe, Guthrie, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Goodspeed, La Jolla Playhouse, Arena Stage, Repertory Theatre of Saint Louis, Paper Mill, Pittsburgh Public, Cleveland Play House, Cincinnati Playhouse, Colorado Ballet, Wolf Trap Opera and Minnesota Opera. Others: Ringling Brothers, Edinburgh Fringe, Donetsk Opera (Ukraine). TDF Irene Sharaff Young Master Award Recipient.

Philip S. Rosenberg (Light Design) Broadway credits include The Elephant Man, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and It's Only a Play. Off Broadway credits include The Ruins of Civilization, The Explorer's Club and Cactus Flower. Regional credits include productions with: Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Ford's Theatre, Guthrie Theater, The Old Globe, TheaterWorks, Huntington Theatre, Portland Stage Company, TACT, Barrington Stage Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, McCarter Theatre, Bay Street Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Dallas Theater Company, Hartford Stage, George Street Playhouse and Westport Country Playhouse.

Michael Miceli (Sound Co Design) TheaterWorks credits include: Third, I'll Eat You Last, Good People, Annapurna, Freud's Last Session, Christmas on the Rocks, The Mountaintop, The SantaLand Diaries 2012, Speech & Debate, and Ella. South Pacific at Asolo Rep; Private Lives, Resurrection, Mahalia: A Gospel Musical, The Devil's Music, Crowns, Ain't Misbehavin', and Floyd & Clea Under the Western Sky at Hartford Stage; Resurrection at Philadelphia Theatre Company; Daddy Long Legs and Emma at Cincinnati Playhouse; Emma at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; and As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, and Macbeth for ArtFarm. He designed sound for Ella, which ran at numerous regional theaters and as a national tour. Michael is partner at Miceli Productions, a photo and video Production Company. www.MiceliProductions.com

Lucas Clopton (Sound Co Design) is making his TheaterWorks debut. New York: Lucky Numbers (Renaissance Theaterworks/Samuel French OOB Festival). Selected Regional: Love Stories (Milwaukee Chamber Theatre), Lucahdora! (First Stage), Stargirl (First Stage), Anataole (First Stage), Talk Radio (Blue Barn), The Who's Tommy (Stray Dog Theatre), Godspell (Lake Dillon Theatre), Altar Boyz (Lake Dillon Theatre), The Fantasticks (Ozark Actor's Theater), The Mousetrap (Ozark Actor's Theatre). In addition to theatrical design Lucas has mixed live sound for a variety of artists including Leo Kottke, Kate Baldwin, Julian Lage, Chris Eldridge (Punch Brothers), Del McCoury, Ellis Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, and Shoshana Bean. Lucas currently serves as the Audio/Video Supervisor at Hartford Stage. Hear Lucas' work at www.lucasclopton.com.

Leah Loukas (Wig Design) Theater Works: Third. Broadway: The Heidi Chronicles, On The Town, A Night with Janis Joplin, Vanya Sonia Masha and Spike, American Idiot, Irena's Vow. Off-Broadway: The Royale (Lincoln Center); The Robber Bridegroom (Roundabout); Barbecue, Fortress of Solitude (The Public Theater); Taming of the Shrew, Love's Labour's Lost, Into the Woods (Shakespeare in the Park Series); Heathers: The Musical; Bare: The Musical; Carrie: The Musical; Tribes; Our Lady of Kibeho (Signature Theatre, NY); Jelly's Last Jam (Signature Theatre, DC), Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage Company), Ever After, The Little Mermaid (Paper Mill Playhouse); Baskerville (Arena Stage and McCarter Theater); Butler (59E59); , The Second Mrs. Wilson, My Paris (Long Wharf Theater). Leah holds a BFA from the University of Cincinnati's CCM (Theater Design and Production/ Makeup and Wig Design).

Celebrating its 31st season, TheaterWorks produces high quality, contemporary theater that is relevant to our audiences, engages a diverse community, and provides insight into the human experience. Founded in 1985, TheaterWorks has produced over 145 plays and presents approximately 225 performances per season. TheaterWorks also owns and manages the historic property at 233 Pearl Street, known as City Arts on Pearl. City Arts provides an affordable home and services to a diverse family of non-profit arts organizations. For more, visit www.theaterworkshartford.org.

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