Alley Theatre to Present World Premiere of Theresa Rebeck's FOOL, Begin. Feb. 21, 2014

Alley Theatre has announced that it will produce the premiere of Theresa Rebeck's new play Fool during the 2013-2014 Season, February 21 through March 16, 2014, opening February 26. This production replaces Never The Sinner which will be postponed to a future season.

In Rebeck's new comedy, two kings get together and place a wager on their fools - a jester competition, and the funniest one gets to keep his head. Two evil minions have a lot to say about this, but not as much as the kitchen wench. And what's the queen been up to all night? A dramatical comical farcical tragical play about power, love, laughter and death, set in a medieval kitchen. Recommended for mature audiences due to language.

Fool is the fifth play by Theresa Rebeck to be produced by the Alley, starting with the hugely successful Bad Dates in 2005, which Arts Houston called "dazzling." In 2007 the Alley produced The Scene, called "tightly written, sharply observed, and all too true . . . first-rate social satire" by the Houston Chronicle. The "cunningly crafted suspense comedy" (Houston Chronicle) Mauritius followed in 2009. The Alley Theatre's most recent production of Rebeck's work was the "juicy black comedy" (Variety) What We're Up Against in 2012.

In the past two seasons, Pulitzer Prize nominee Theresa Rebeck's comedies, Seminar and Dead Accounts opened on Broadway. Seminar received rave reviews including: "the funniest show on Broadway" (WOR), "surprising and witty" (Wall Street Journal), "enormously entertaining" (Variety) and "one of Rebeck's best works" (Associated Press). USA Today called Dead Accounts "Rebeck's most robustly entertaining Broadway entry to date, with dialogue that crackles and purrs." Rebeck's writing is described by the NY Daily News as showing "smarts, topicality and zingy dialogue" and the Houston Press writes "Rebeck's dialogue is deliciously rich with wry observations about the current human condition." In addition to writing and producing for Law & Order: Criminal Intent and NYPD Blue, she is the creator of the NBC drama SMASH and one of its executive producers. Her play, The Scene, which the Alley produced in 2007, has been turned into a feature film titled Seducing Charlie Barker in 2010. She was named one of the 150 Fearless Women in the World by Newsweek in 2011.

The Alley's subscription season includes five plays on the Hubbard Stage and three plays on Neuhaus Stage, all produced in the Alley's two-theatre complex at 615 Texas Avenue in downtown Houston.

Photo by Walter McBride

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