Yale Repertory Theater Presents 'ROUGH CROSSING' 11/28

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents ROUGH CROSSING by Tom Stoppard, from an original play by FERENC MOLNÁR, directed by MARK RUCKER at the University Theatre (222 York Street, New Haven) beginning November 28 through December 20.  Opening Night is Thursday, December 4.

ROUGH CROSSING features choreography by Michele Lynch, musical direction by Erika Schroth, sets by Timothy R. Mackabee, costumes by Luke Brown, lighting by Jesse Belsky, sound by Phillip Owen, dramaturgy by Miriam Felton-Dansky and Walter Byongsok Chon, and stage management by Iris D. O'Brien.

The cast of ROUGH CROSSING includes Sean Dugan, Ashlee Fife, Stephanie Fittro, Jenifer Foote, Shauna Hoskin, Patrick Kerr, John G. Preston, Reg Rogers, Susannah Schulman, Greg Stuhr, Adina Verson, and Adria Vitlar.

ROUGH CROSSING is a tuneful madcap romance by Tom Stoppard, the four-time Tony Award® and Academy Award-winning author of Rock 'n' Roll, The Coast of Utopia, The Real Thing, and Shakespeare in Love.

A brand new musical comedy is about to debut on Broadway, but it doesn't have an ending yet.  Also, the beginning needs a little work.  And the middle is a mess.  Aboard a trans-Atlantic ocean liner, the celebrated playwrights Turai and Gal have their work cut out for them, and only four days to do it.  And to complicate matters, their tongue-tied composer—hopelessly in love with the temperamental leading lady (who's been caught in a compromising position with the leading man)—has tossed his score overboard, and threatens to jump ship himself.  Can they steady the turbulent emotions of the cast and crew—and finish the show—before they dock in New York?

Freely adapted from Ferenc Molnár's Play at the Castle, ROUGH CROSSING is as delightfully delirious as the art form it affectionately lampoons, with original music composed by André Previn.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION

ROUGH CROSSING plays November 28 through December 20 only at the University Theatre, 222 York Street, New Haven, Connecticut.  Opening Night is Thursday, December 4.

The complete performance schedule follows, with Yale Rep's various audience enhancement opportunities noted as applicable:

Friday, November 28                      8:00PM

Saturday, November 29                8:00PM

Monday, December 1                    8:00PM

Tuesday, December 2                    8:00PM

Wednesday, December 3             8:00PM

Thursday, December 4                  8:00PM Opening Night

Friday, December 5                         8:00PM

Saturday, December 6                   2:00PM Talk Back

Saturday, December 6                   8:00PM Grad Night Reception begins at 7PM

Tuesday, December 9                    8:00PM

Wednesday, December 10          2:00PM Senior Reception begins at 1:00PM

Wednesday, December 10          8:00PM

Thursday, December 11                8:00PM Talk Back

Friday, December 12                      8:00PM

Saturday, December 13                 2:00PM Talk Back / Open Captioned Performance

Saturday, December 13                 8:00PM

Tuesday, December 16                  8:00PM

Wednesday, December 17          8:00PM

Thursday, December 18                8:00PM

Friday, December 19                      8:00PM

Saturday, December 20                 2:00PM Audio Described Performance

Saturday, December 20                 8:00PM

 
A variety of ticket packages for Yale Rep's 2008-09 season are now available online at www.yalerep.org, by phone (203) 432-1234, and in person at the Yale Rep Box Office at 1120 Chapel Street (at York Street).

Tickets for ROUGH CROSSING and all 2008-09 productions at Yale Rep are now on sale and range from $35-$65.  Student, senior, and group rates are also available.

MARK RUCKER (Director) previously directed the Yale Repertory Theatre productions of Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, The Imaginary Invalid, Kingdom of Earth, All's Well That Ends Well (with James Bundy), and The Mistakes Madeline Made.  Mr. Rucker is an Associate Artist at South Coast Repertory, where he has directed over 20 productions including world premieres by Richard Greenberg, Christopher Shinn, Annie Weisman, John Glore, and Culture Clash.  Other work includes productions at Arena Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, INTIMAN Theatre, Syracuse Stage, American Conservatory Theatre, Ford's Theater, The Old Globe, California Shakespeare Theater, and The Acting Company.  His first feature film, Die, Mommie, Die!, won a special jury prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.  He is a graduate of UCLA and Yale School of Drama.

Michele Lynch (Choreographer) Broadway credits include The Coast of Utopia (choreographer), Hairspray (associate choreographer), The Full Monty (associate choreographer), Urinetown (assistant choreographer), and Victor/Victoria (performer).  Michele recently won the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for her choreography in Happy Days, the Musical at Goodspeed Musicals, which just launched a National Tour.  Other new musicals and plays include Little House on the Prairie (Guthrie Theater); Idaho, Go-Go Beach (New York Musical Theatre Festival); 13 (Mark Taper Forum, Garland Award); Pride and Prejudice (Asolo Repertory Theatre, directed by Mark Rucker); Leading Ladies (Ford's Theatre, directed by Mark Rucker); Breakfast at Tiffany's (The Muny); and Empire (Stamford Center).  Her film credits include the choreography for Camp for IFC Films.

ERIKA SCHROTH (Musical Director) is pleased to return to Yale Rep, where she has been part of the musical teams for Comedy on the Bridge and Brundibar, All's Well That Ends Well, and a recent workshop of Meanwhile on the Other Side of Mt. Vesuvius.  Her other theatre credits include musical direction for productions of  Quilters and The Apple Tree, and acting roles in The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Six Degrees of Separation, and To Whom It May Concern.   An active performer, teacher, and musical director, she has performed as a solo and collaborative artist across the US and Europe; has taught piano at Wesleyan University since 2004; and spent several summers playing and teaching on the faculty at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.  In 2007 she was a guest artist at the Stamford International Music Festival in the UK to much acclaim.  Upcoming appearances include recitals in Texas and at New York's Merkin Concert Hall with cellist Jeffrey Lastrapes.

Timothy R. Mackabee (Scenic Designer) New York credits include Single Black Female (The Duke on 42nd Street); Tell Out My Soul and Vrooommm! (Summer Play Festival); Trout Stanley (Culture Project); Gorilla Man (P.S. 122); Those Who Can, Do (Clubbed Thumb); The King Is Dead (Abingdon Theatre Company); Between Worlds (Blue Heron Theatre); Usher, Mello-llama, Armless (New York International Fringe Festival); A for Adultery, and The House of Bernarda Alba (Prospect Theater Company).  Dance: Doug Varone's Alchemy (The Joyce Theatre); Raw, Beyond the Red (National Tour), and Seed all for Cedar Lake Dance.  Regional theatre: The Story (Philadelphia Theatre Company), No Child… (Weston Playhouse), Curse of the Starving Class (University of Rochester).  Associate/assistant designer on Broadway for Cymbeline, Heartbreak House, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Color Purple, Ring of Fire, and Off-Broadway: [title of show.]  Film and television: Margot at the Wedding, The Today Show, and Football Night in America.  Training: North Carolina School of the Arts; Yale School of Drama, MFA expected 2009. timothymackabeedesign.com

Luke Brown (Costume Designer) Past credits include I Have Loved Strangers (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Gorilla Man (Boston Theatre Works), and Tom Jones (The Shakespearean Theater of Maine).  He has designed various productions at Tufts University, Yale School of Drama, and Yale Cabaret.  He has also had various production roles on many film and television projects throughout New England: most recently as assistant costume designer for the PBS educational miniseries We Shall Remain (WGBH, Boston).  Luke is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama.

Jesse Belsky (Lighting Designer) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include the 2008 Carlotta Festival of New Plays, Baal, and Venus.  His other credits include Bone Songs, Bill Clinton Goes to the Bathroom, The Illusion, A Number, In the Cypher, An Evening of Cabaret, In the Meantime (Yale Cabaret); Plane Crazy (2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival); Dear Maudie (78th St. Theater Lab); and Clocks & Whistles (Origin Theater Co); and he has served as assistant lighting designer for productions on and off Broadway as well as television.  A graduate of Duke University, his work with The Best has been seen at numerous venues around New York City and in Brisbane, Australia.

PHILLIP OWEN (Sound Designer) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he designed sound for last season's I Am a Superhero and The Ghost Sonata.  His other credits include The Donny Hathaway Story, In the Cypher, Bone Songs (Yale Cabaret); Vaudeville Vanya (St. Idiot Collective); Americamisfit (Salvage Vanguard); and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mary Moody Northern Theatre).  He has worked for the transient theatre company TENT on Oh, Sweet Captain and KG: Life in a Tin Can in Portland, Maine.  For several years he worked professionally as an actor, most notably for Blue Raincoat Theatre Company in Sligo, Ireland.  He recently played Phil, the Dad in Be Aggressive at Yale Cabaret.

 ABOUT THE CAST
Sean Dugan (Adam) has appeared in the Off-Broadway productions of The English Channel (Abingdon Theatre Company); Perfect Harmony (The Essentials/Clurman Theatre); BFF (DR2 Theatre); Valhalla, Flesh and Blood (New York Theatre Workshop); Corpus Christi (Manhattan Theatre Club); and Shakespeare's R & J (John Houseman Theatre).  His regional credits include The Cry of the Reed (Huntington Theatre Company); The English Channel (Vineyard Playhouse); The Four of Us (The Old Globe); Spring Forward, Fall Back (Theater J, Vineyard Playhouse); Three Sisters, Enrico Four, Antigone, The Doctor's Dilemma, Loot, Richard II, The Idiots Karamazov, The Cripple of Inishmaan (American Repertory Theatre); As You Like It, Rags, More Musical Magic, and Babes in Arms (Hope Summer Repertory).  Film and television: Gigantic, Trust the Man, Company Man, Overnight Sensation, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Beat, and Oz.

Ashlee Fife (Lady of the Chorus) is making her Yale Rep debut.  Her New York credits include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Broadway), Follies (Encores!), The Merry Widow starring Placido Domingo (understudy, The Metropolitan Opera), and she was a Radio City Music Hall Rockette for seven years.  National Tours: The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Some Like It Hot with Tony Curtis.  Other theatre credits include A Shot in the Dark (Midtown International Theatre Festival), The Day Before Spring (Musicals in Mufti), It's a Wonderful Life (Theatre Under the Stars, Houston), Damn Yankees (Carousel Dinner Theatre), She Loves Me (The Arena Stage), and 42nd Street (The Mountain Playhouse).

Stephanie Fittro (Lady of the Chorus) is making her Yale Rep debut.  Most recently she was seen on Broadway as Kate/Chutney in Legally Blonde.  Other New York credits include The Merry Widow (The Metropolitan Opera), Hair (Encores!), Peace Man (Jazz At Lincoln Center), and Jesus and Mandy directed by David Drake (Theater for the New City).  National Tour credits include the Tony Award-winning shows Hairspray, directed by Jack O'Brien; and Carousel, directed by Nicholas Hytner.  Regional credits: West Side Story directed by Alan Johnson (Theater of the Stars, Atlanta; Theatre Under the Stars, Houston) and Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (Paper Mill Playhouse, North Shore Music Theatre).  Last year, Ms. Fittro appeared with Chita Rivera, Alan Johnson, and other original cast members of West Side Story in a 50th Anniversary Tribute choreographed for the annual Gypsy of The Year Competition.

Jenifer Foote (Lady of the Chorus) is making her Yale Rep debut.  Her Broadway credits include Val in A Chorus Line, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Frank Wildhorn's Dracula, and Annie Get Your Gun.  She has toured the country with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as Jolene Oaks and The Wizard of Oz.  Other stage credits include Follies (Encores!), Sinatra (Radio City Music Hall), Broadway: 3 Generations (The Kennedy Center), the Actors Fund concerts of Hair and On the Twentieth Century, the Mack and Mabel Tribute Concert to Jerry Herman (Lincoln Center), and two years as a Radio City Rockette.  Film and television credits include the Warner Bros. animated feature The King and I and A Capitol Fourth (tap feature with Tony Danza) on PBS. She is a proud graduate of University of California-Irvine.

Shauna Hoskin (Lady of the Chorus), originally from Edmonton, Canada, received a certificate in dance from The Ailey School.   She appeared in the Broadway production of The Producers for four years, as well as in the National Tour and the film version.  She just returned from a year in Paris where she studied at the Sorbonne by day and performed at the Lido de Paris by night.

Patrick Kerr (Dvornichek) received his MFA from Yale School of Drama and appeared in the Yale Rep productions of Phaedre and Hippolytus, A Child's Tale, and The Winter's Tale.  New York stage credits include The Ritz (Roundabout Theatre Company), Jeffrey (Minetta Lane Theatre), The Devils (New York Theatre Workshop), The Warrior Ant (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and Romeo and Juliet (Theatre for a New Audience).  Regional credits include productions at the Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Mark Taper Forum, Pasadena Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, INTIMAN Theatre, Magic Theatre, Guthrie Theater, George Street Playhouse, Portland Stage, CENTERSTAGE, Ford's Theatre, and The Acting Company.  Film and television: Domino, George Lucas in Love, Ed, Stuart Saves His Family, Jeffrey, On the Lot, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Frasier (Screen Actors Guild Award), The New Adventures of Old Christine, and CSI, among many others.  He is the recipient of the Bay Area Critics, Santa Barbara Independent, Dean Goodman, and Garland Awards, as well as two Ovation Award nominations.

JOHN G. PRESTON (Ivor) made his Yale Rep debut in The Ladies of the Camellias (2004).  Recent credits include Taboos (Off-Broadway); The Constant Wife (Asolo Rep); Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Unexpected Guest (Syracuse Stage); Pure Confidence (The Cincinnati Playhouse); Othello (Georgia Shakespeare); As You Like It (The Public Theater); After Ashley (Denver Center Theatre Company); and The Real Thing (Syracuse Stage).  An Associate Artist and Resident Company Member at Alabama Shakespeare Company, he appeared there in Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King John, As You Like It, Troilus and Cressida, Love's Labours Lost, Arms and the Man, Romeo and Juliet, Henry IV Part I, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Comedy of Errors; and directed MFA productions of Scapin and Triumph of Love.  Also: the Samuel French Short Play Festival winner Feet of Clay (as well as the short film version), the feature film Ready? OK!, Law & Order, and As the World Turns.  BFA, Florida State University; MFA, University of Alabama/Alabama Shakespeare Festival Professional Actor Training Program.

Reg Rogers (Turai) previously appeared in the Yale Rep productions of Largo Desolato, The Beauty Part, Hamlet, Figaro/Figaro, and Landscape of the Body.  His New York credits include The Pain and the Itch by Bruce Norris, Bach at Leipzig by Itamar Moses, Richard Greenberg's Hurrah At Last and The Dazzle (OBIE Award and Lucille Lortel Award), Cellini by John Patrick Shanley, and Holiday (Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations).  Regional theatre credits include the world premieres of The Understudy by Theresa Rebeck, The Injured Party by Richard Greenberg, and Ridiculous Fraud by Beth Henley; as well as Richard III directed by Mark Rucker, Platonov and Uncle Vanya on Lake Lucille, four seasons at Williamstown Theatre Festival, and eight seasons at New York Stage and Film.  Film and Television: I Shot Andy Warhol, Primal Fear, Runaway Bride, I'll Take You There, The Photographer, Analyze That, Igby Goes Down, Lovely by Surprise, Friends, Law & Order, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.  He received his MFA from Yale School of Drama in 1993.

SUSANNAH SCHULMAN (Natasha) made her Yale Rep debut in the 2006 production of All's Well That Ends Well.  Her other credits include  How Shakespeare Won the West (Huntington Theatre);  Bad Dates, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Geva Theatre);  Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Syracuse Stage); Man from Nebraska, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler, On the Mountain, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Dazzle, Nostalgia, Six Degrees of Separation, The Taming of the Shrew (South Coast Repertory); The House of Blue Leaves (Berkeley Repertory Theatre);  Continental Divide (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Rep, the Barbican Theatre in London); Picnic (Marin Theatre Company);  The Joan Rivers Theater Project (Magic Theatre); the national tour of Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile; five seasons at Shakespeare Santa Cruz; and six seasons at California Shakespeare Theater, where she is an Associate Artist.  She lives in New York City.

Greg Stuhr (Gal) Broadway credits include David Mamet's November, opposite Nathan Lane, directed by Joe Mantello; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee directed by James Lapine; and Elaine May's Taller than a Dwarf directed by Alan Arkin.  Greg has enjoyed a long association with playwright Keith Reddin, performing in All the Rage, Can't Let Go, Frame 312, But Not for Me, and Brutality of Fact, at theatres including Primary Stages, Atlantic Theater Company, and South Coast Rep, among others.  Film and television credits include Red with Brian Cox, Beautiful Ohio with William Hurt, New Amsterdam, Law & Order, and Third Watch.  A native of Buffalo, NY, Greg worked extensively with the Irish Classical Theatre alongside members of the famed Abbey Theatre, performing leading roles in Betrayal, A View from the Bridge, and Arms and the Man.  He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon Drama.

ADINA VERSON (Lady of the Chorus) is making her Yale Rep debut.  Her recent credits include The Hot L Baltimore (The Actors Company Theatre), Five Women Wearing the Same Dress (Gene Frankel Theatre), Win Win Power Auction (LaMama ETC), and Big Doolie (New York International Fringe Festival).  Adina was nominated for a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for her role in The Mikado at River Rep Theatre Company, and currently studies at Michael Howard Studios.  She is a graduate of the Chicago Academy for the Arts, and received her BFA at The Boston Conservatory.

ADRIA VITLAR (Lady of the Chorus) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama and is making her Yale Rep debut.  Her theatre credits include A Month in the Country, Peer Gynt, The Ghost Sonata, Camino Real, The Wendy Play (Yale School of Drama); The Three Sisters, or The Dormouse's Tale, Little Shop of Horrors, The Do-Over (Yale Cabaret); as well as national tours of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Mame.

 

ALSO THIS SEASON AT YALE REP
East Coast Premiere
LYDIA
By Octavio Solis
Directed by Juliette Carrillo
February 6-February 28, 2009

World Premiere
Dostoevsky's
NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND
Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
Adapted by Bill Camp and RoBert Woodruff
Directed by RoBert Woodruff
Featuring Bill Camp
March 20-April 11, 2009

Charles S. Dutton in
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
By Arthur Miller
Directed by James Bundy
April 24-May 23, 2009

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