Wojewodski to Direct Beckett's ENDGAME at Undermain Theatre

Undermain Theatre presents the fourth and final production of its 26thseason: Samuel Beckett's iconic masterpiece ENDGAME directed by Stan Wojewodski, Jr. presented at Undermain Theatre, 3200 Main Street in Dallas. The production begins performances on Saturday, April 10 and runs through Saturday May 8. This is a rare opportunity to see this seminal work.

ENDGAME is one of the greatest dramas of the modern age blending the absurd vaudeville rhythms of WAITING FOR GODOT with gallows humor as master and servant struggle for power in the last corner of the world. ENDGAME charts a day in the life of a group of decaying survivors in mysteriously hard times, the blind and chair-bound tyrant Hamm, his servant Clov, his parents Nagg and Nell who live in two trash bins and long for sugar-plums and Hamm's sole possession, a toy dog with a missing leg.

The production will be designed by Undermain resident designers: John Arnon (set and costumes) and Steve Woods (lighting).

The cast will feature Fred Curchack as Nag, Laura Jorgensen as Nell, Jonathan Brooks as Clov, and Bruce DuBose as Hamm.

Samuel Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969; his literary output of plays, novels, stories and poetry has earned him an uncontested place as one of the greatest writers of our time. ENDGAME, originally written in French and translated into English by Beckett himself, is considered by many critics to be his greatest single work.

Stan Wojewodski, Jr. is a director of international renown and has been a distinguished artistic director in the American theater for twenty-five years. From 1991-2003, he was Artistic Director of the Yale Repertory Theatre and Dean of the Yale School of Drama. His productions at Yale included the premieres of David Edgar's PENTECOST, Dawn Powell's BIG NIGHT, and Eric Overmyer's FIGARO FIGARO as well as plays by Shakespeare, Marlowe and Shaw. From 1977-1991, he was the artistic director at Baltimore Center Stage where he directed over 40 productions including the American premieres of plays by Edward Bond, Odon von Horvath, Vaclav Havel and Antonio Buero-Vallejo. He has also staged productions at, among many others, The Abbey Theatre in Dublin, the Guthrie Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where he was an associate director. He has served on the board of directors for Theatre Communications Group, Dionysia Festival (Italy) and has been a frequent panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. He is familiar to Dallas audiences for his Dallas Theater Center productions of Ostrovsky's A FAMILY AFFAIR, THE REAL THING by Tom Stoppard, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST and an adaptation of Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Currently a Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at the Meadows School of the Arts, in June he will succeed Cecil O'Neal as chair of the school's theater division.

Fred Curchack (Nagg) has created over seventy-five original theatre works, twenty-six of them solos. His performances have been featured at dozens of interNational Theatre festivals. He has received the Gold Medal at the International Festival of Solo Theatre, the American Theatre Wing Award and Critics' Awards in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas and Austin. He is a recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts International, The Henson Foundation and is a Guggenheim Fellow. Curchack has studied Indian Kathakali, Japanese Noh, Balinese Topeng, choreography with Alwin Nikolais, and he trained with Grotowski's Polish Theater Lab. He has taught theatre at the United Nations International School, N.Y.; Sonoma State University, California; and is currently Professor of Art and Performance at The University of Texas at Dallas. He has created and performed six shows with Laura Jorgensen including THE MENTAL TRAVELER, GOLDEN BUDDHA BEACH, SEXUAL MYTH-STORIES, AN AMERICAN DREAM PLAY, NOH: ANGELS, DEMONS, & DREAMERS, and MILAREPA.

Laura Jorgensen is a mainstay of the bay area theatre scene in California. She has performed Craig Lucas' BLUE WINDOW and RECKLESS, Sam Shepard's A LIE OF THE MIND, Chekhov's, THE CHERRY ORCHARD, Caryl Churchill's MAD FOREST, Shakespeare's A WINTER'S TALE, Beth Henly's, CRIMES OF THE HEART, Christopher Durang's LAUGHING WILD, Peter Shaffer's LETTICE AND LOVAGE, Janusz Glowacki's HUNTING COCKROACHES, Edward Albee's A DELICATE BALANCE and THREE TALL WOMEN, Terrence McNally's A PERFECT GANEST, G.B. Shaw's HEARTBREAK HOUSE, Alan Bennett's TALKING HEADS, Athol Fugard's THE ROAD TO MECCA, Oscar Wilde's THE IDEAL HUSBAND, Sarah Ruhl's, THE CLEAN HOUSE, John O'Keefe's GLAMOUR (premiere) and QUEER THEORY (premiere). She has created and performed five shows with Fred Curchack including THE M ENTAL TRAVELER, GOLDEN BUDDHA BEACH, SEXUAL MYTH-STORIES, AN AMERICAN DREAM PLAY, NOH: ANGELS, DEMONS, and DREAMERS, and MILAREPA.

Jonathan Brooks (Clov) was most recently seen in Undermain Theatre's production of Len Jenkin's PORT TWILIGHT. Other roles at Undermain include Kovrin in THE BLACK MONK by David Rabe, for which he received a Dallas Critics Forum award, and Orpheus in EURYDICE by Sara Ruhl. A company member with Undermain, he also appeared their production of Neil Young'S GREENDALE (ln Dallas and The Ohio Theatre in New York City). Jonathan has recently returned from New York City where he spent the last ten years performing. His previous theatrical shows include Adam in THE COMPLETE WORKS OF William Shakespeare {Abridged}, Kevin in ONCE AROUND THE SUN, Willard in FOOTLOOSE, Tim in SUBURBIA, Death in SCRATCH'S LAST LAMENT and Little Mary Sunshine in CHICAGO.

Bruce DuBose (Hamm) is a founding member and Executive Producer of Undermain Theatre. He is a recipient of numerous awards from the Dallas Critics Forum for his work in performance, sound design and as a playwright. He appeared most recently on the Undermain stage in productions of THE BLACK MONK, and PORT TWILIGHT by Len Jenkin. Last season he directed Sarah Ruhl's EURYDICE at Undermain and wrote the libretto and performed in Neil Young'S GREENDALE. His performances on other stages include his working with director Stan Wojewodski in the Dallas Theater Center production of Ostrovsky's A FAMILY AFFAIR. He also appeared at the Theater Center in productions of ARMS AND THE MAN, THE STERNHEIM PROJECT, ALICE: TALES OF A CURIOUS GIRL and others. Performances in New York include productions of THE INNER CIRCLE by Colin Pink at the Sande Shurin Theatre, GLAMOUR at the Ohio Theatre, A MAN"S BEST FRIEND at Soho Rep. and Undermain's tour of Neil Young's Greendale to the Ice Factory Festival.

For more information, or to order tickets, visit online at www.undermain.org.

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