Amphibian Stage Productions to Host DAEDALUS Staged Reading

Amphibian Stage Productions (Kathleen Culebro, Artistic Director) has announced the creative team for its third developmental staged reading of the 2015 season, Daedalus by David Davalos. The play will be directed by Fort Worth native Illana Stein and feature actors Matt Amendt and Merritt Janson, all known for their recent work on the highly-acclaimed Tamburlaine The Great at Theatre for a New Audience. Also cast are Amphibian favorites Patrick Bynane, Jay Duffer, Lauren Hayden, and Scott Zenreich. Performances are on Sunday, December 6 and Sunday, December 7 at the Berlene T. and Jarrell R. Milburn Theatre at Amphibian Stage Productions. A limited number of patrons are invited to attend the first read-through of the script on December 1 at 7 pm.

Amphibian last produced Mr. Davalos' work with Wittenberg in 2011. Wittenberg has been the recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award, the 2008 Barrymore Award for Outstanding New Play, and the National Theatre Conference?s 2008 Stavis Playwriting Award. Published in both the U.S. and U.K., Wittenberg has been performed off-Broadway and across America, as well as internationally in England, Canada, Germany, and Australia.

About the Play

After suffering a major artistic disappointment in Milan, Leonardo Da Vinci renounces art and instead works briefly as a military engineer for the ruthless leader of the Papal armies (and illegitimate son of the Pope) Cesare Borgia. But after his time with Borgia, he returns to art and creates his masterpiece, the Mona Lisa.? Daedalus?is a fictionalized account of the time in Leonardo?s life when he was struggling with the question of his identity, and with the responsibility that creators bear to and for their creations.

?Davalos has fun playing with the elevated language from a lofty long-ago and bringing it down to earth with humorous catch phrases and cultural allusions that a modern audience can embrace as its own.?

The Los Angeles Times

Daedalus will play two performances, Sunday, December 6 at 2pm and Monday, December 7 at 7pm in Amphibian Stage Productions? Milburn Theatre.

Tickets for Daedalus are $17 for adults, $12 for seniors, and $7 for students. Group discounts are also available for parties of six or more. For tickets and more information, patrons may call 817-923-3012, email boxoffice@amphibianstage.com, or visit amphibianstage.com. The theater is located at 120 S. Main Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76104.

About the Artists

David Davalos (Playwright)- David Davalos was born in Auburn, Alabama in 1965. He grew up in San Antonio, Texas and attended college at the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his BFA in Theatre in 1988. He subsequently enrolled in Ohio University?s Professional Actor Training Program, where he received his MFA in Theatre in 1991. Shortly thereafter, he moved to New York City, where he spent the next 15 years working as an actor, director and writer before relocating to Colorado with his wife Elaine and daughter Delphi. As an actor, his credits include MASTER HAROLD?AND THE BOYS at the Cleveland Play House, HAMLET and DEATH OF A SALESMAN at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, and SEASCAPE, RED HERRING and ROUGH CROSSING at The Public Theatre in Lewiston, Maine, where he also directed MARVIN?S ROOM. Other directing credits include PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE at the University of Hartford, THE IMAGINARY CUCKOLD at the Judith Anderson Theatre in NYC and RICHARD III at the Blue Room Theatre.

Illana Stein (Director)- Illana Stein is a NYC-based director originally from Fort Worth, Texas. NYC credits include: A Midsummer Night?s Dream (Queens Players), The Offering (Network Festival, Awarded Best Play), or what she will (FringeNYC, Overall Excellence in Directing Award), Stop Kiss (Sanguine Theatre Company), The Matthew Portraits (Samuel French OOB Theatre Festival Finalist). She has directed staged readings of Lady Frederick (The Pearl Theatre Company/Pick Your Poison), Rest is Silence (MFA Thesis, Harvard University, A.R.T. Theatre), and The Lady Revealed by Andrew Harris (New Dramatists). Regionally she has worked all over the country including assisting credits at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, Hangar Theatre, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Most recently she was Associate Director on (New York Times Critic?s Pick, Drama Desk nominee for Best Revival) Tamburlaine the Great at Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA), directed by 4-time Olivier winner, Michael Boyd. Upcoming she is Assistant Director on Night is a Room, World Premiere by Naomi Wallace, at Signature Theatre Company directed by Bill Rauch. She returns to TFANA as Associate Director on Pericles directed by Trevor Nunn. Ms. Stein is in the directing company of New York Madness and was a member of the 2012 Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab.

Matt Amendt (Leonardo da Vinci)- Off-Broadway: 'Tis Pity She's A Whore (Red Bull), Tamburlaine Parts 1 and 2, Much Ado Nothing (Theatre for a New Audience) Henry V in the title role (The Acting Company at the New Victory Theater); The Subject Was Roses, The Misanthrope (Pearl Theatre). Matthew appeared at the Guthrie Theater in 12 productions from 2003-13, including the world premiere of The Great Gatsby, and Henry V. His work has been seen at Shakespeare Theatre Co., Syracuse Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Arden Theatre, Westport Country Playhouse, Chautauqua, Great River Shakespeare, and others. He is a 2000 Presidential Scholar in the Arts, has a BFA in Acting from the Guthrie/U of M, is an Ivey Award winner for writing/performing in The Comedian?s Tragedy, and last year won the prestigious Emery Battis Award for Acting from the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC.

Patrick Bynane (Vitellozo/Lodovico)- Patrick Bynane is an actor, director and educator who has been working in the DFW area since 2006. Originally from Cleveland, OH, he graduated from LSU with a PhD in Theatre History/Criticism in 2002. He has been program director for drama at Texas Woman's University in Denton since 2012. His most recent appearance on the Amphibian stage was for Not Medea this past spring.

Jay Duffer (Cesare Borgia)- Jay Duffer's past Amphibian credits include roles in Wittenberg, The Nosemaker?s Apprentice and The Mystery of Irma Vep. He directed the comic hit, The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged) at Amphibian several summers ago. New York credits include roles in: Sophie, Totie & Belle (Off-Broadway), A Lesson in Art (Dixon Place in the Bowery), Wild Thing and the original company of Monica Flory?s highly-praised adaptation of The Jungle Book (New Acting Company). Regional credits include roles in: The Odd Couple, South Pacific, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (The Fireside Theatre), Jesus Christ Superstar and Phantom (Beef and Boards), The Tempest (CCP, TN), God of Carnage (FPT, Fort Wayne) and Mark Rothko in Red (HUTC). He has been involved as an actor in new works/script development with Threads Theatre Company, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Source, Kaleidoscope Theatre Company and The Artful Conspirators. He now resides in Indiana where he is Associate Professor of Theatre and Chair of the Theatre Department at Huntington University. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a Bachelor?s of Music Education from Baylor University.

Lauren Hayden (Lucrezia/Primavera)- Lauren Hayden was raised in Dallas, Texas, and graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting. She has also studied at the British American Drama Academy, and The American Theater Wing. New York credits include: Luciana in Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare in the Parking Lot), Morbid Poetry (Incubator Arts Project), Macbeth Part II (Cherry Lane), Iph. (Barrow Group Theater), and The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Hudson Theatre Ensemble). Regionally, Lauren has been seen in Pretty, Smart, Poetic (Westport Country Playhouse), Pride and Prejudice (Dallas Theater Center), Hot Georgia Sunday (Dallas Theater Center), and As You Like It (WaterTower Theater).

Merritt Janson (Lisa/Isabella/Cecilia)- Off-Broadway: Built (59E59 Theaters), Tamburlaine, Parts I and II (Theatre for a New Audience), The Last Will (Abingdon Theatre), House For Sale (Transport Group), Notes From Underground (Theatre for a New Audience). Regional: Yale Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Westport Country Playhouse, Two River Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare & Company, Denver Center Theatre, Wilma Theater, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, and Vineyard Playhouse. Film/TV: Otto and Anna, and Mail Order Wife. Training: MFA, American Repertory Theater at Harvard University.

Lauren Hayden (Lucrezia/Primavera)- Lauren Hayden was raised in Dallas, Texas, and graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting. She has also studied at the British American Drama Academy, and The American Theater Wing. New York credits include: Luciana in Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare in the Parking Lot), Morbid Poetry (Incubator Arts Project), Macbeth Part II (Cherry Lane), Iph. (Barrow Group Theater), and The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Hudson Theatre Ensemble). Regionally, Lauren has been seen in Pretty, Smart, Poetic (Westport Country Playhouse), Pride and Prejudice (Dallas Theater Center), Hot Georgia Sunday (Dallas Theater Center), and As You Like It (WaterTower Theater).

Scott Zenreich (Niccolo Machiavelli/Gonzalo/Baldassare)- Scott Zenreich's past Amphibian credits include The Nosemaker's Apprentice and The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged). He is also Artistic Associate at Amphibian, assistant directed Bank Job, and will direct an original adaptation of Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins. Locally Scott has worked with Casa Manana, Dallas Children's Theater, Wishing Star Productions, WaterTower Theater, and Texas Shakespeare Festival. National regional work includes the Growing Stage, New Century Theater, Mill Mountain Theater, the Majestic Theater, and Olney Theater Center. He is an alumnus of Director's Lab West (Pasadena Playhouse) and DirectorsLabChicago. He earned a BFA in musical theatre from Emerson College.

About Amphibian Stage Productions
Amphibian Stage Productions is a non-profit theatre company founded in 2000 by three alumni of TCU's Department of Theatre who strive to produce innovative and engaging works of theatre that challenge the way we see the world around us. Now in its sixteenth season, Amphibian has produced numerous groundbreaking and challenging plays (some regional premieres, others US or world premieres) that foster a deeper understanding of ourselves as members of the global community. The company is widely recognized for its stylistically and thematically varied scripts.

Committed to nurturing young and diverse audiences, Amphibian has developed a strong internship program, a summer acting workshop for teens, and a dynamic outreach project, Tad-Poles, that is steadily increasing the company?s visibility and following. The group travels to schools and community centers, performing and spreading a message of multicultural collaboration and tolerance.

Amphibian is generously funded by the American Theatre Wing, Amon G. Carter Foundation, Ann L. and Carol Greene Rhodes Charitable Trust, Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, BBVA Compass Bank, Fifth Avenue Foundation, Mary Potishman Lard Trust, Pangburn Foundation, Pier 1 imports, Thomas M., Helen McKee & John P. Ryan Foundation, Sid W. Richardson Foundation, Schubert Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, Virginia Hobbs Charitable Trust, Wells Fargo Bank, William E. Scott Foundation, North Texas Giving Day and the Devonian Society, a group of Amphibian?s devoted donors who are proud to be the force behind nurturing the next generation of artists and audiences.

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