A Noise Within Presents THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, 4/17-5/22

A Noise Within (ANW) concludes its 2009-10 season with celebrated Irish playwright John Millington Synge's THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD directed by Co-Founder/Co-Artistic Director Geoff Elliott, which opens Saturday, April 17 and closes Saturday, May 22, 2010 (previews begin Saturday, April 10). The once controversial play - which sparked riots during and after its debut in Dublin in 1907, was booed in New York four years later, and resulted in the arrest of the Philadelphia cast on charges of staging an immoral performance - has since been recognized as a masterpiece.

Synge, one of Ireland's most beloved playwrights, weaves a multi-colored, prism-like romantic tale set in the remote bogs of Ireland's wild Mayo Coast. Simultaneously haunting and hilarious, Playboy is considered his crowning achievement. The cast includes Elliott (Old Mahon), Michael A. Newcomer (Christopher Mahon), Lindsay Gould (Margaret Flaherty [Pegeen Mike]), Apollo Dukakis (Michael James Flaherty), Brian Hostenske (Shawn Keogh) and Jill Hill (Widow Quinn).

Describing Playboy as Shakespearean in scope, Elliott says, "It's a hilarious comedy, but it's also moving, sad and tragic. Celebrating language, it's beautifully written by providing a prism effect - when you turn it one way, you see something, and when you turn it another way, it's completely different. A universal story of survival, it is also a love story, focusing on the everyday life of the characters who face a situation with incredibly high stakes."

Elliott notes that at the time it was written, the conflict and tensions between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland were extremely high and for an actor to say anything on stage detrimental to the Irish character was bound to cause trouble. "On opening night," Elliott says, "people in the audience were screaming at each other in the first act. Fights were breaking out in the second act, and by the time they got to the third act, riots started.

Playboy was described by Synge contemporary William Butler Yeats as "picturesque, poetical, fantastical, a masterpiece of style and of music, the supreme work of our dialect theatre."

A Noise Within was founded in 1992 by Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and quickly established itself as one of the nation's leading theatre companies. It continues to maintain its celebrated status as the only year-round classical repertory company in Southern California, attracting fiercely loyal audiences and high praise from the media for its productions of great works of world drama and also as a leading regional force in arts education. Since its inception, the company has presented more than 120 plays from the classics of world literature, each season producing plays from authors ranging from Shakespeare and Molière to Ibsen, O'Neill and Shaw to Miller and Williams. The theatre's consistent dedication to quality has been rewarded with more than two-dozen Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards as well as numerous LA Weekly and Back Stage Garland awards. Past highlights include a collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Hollywood Bowl. ANW's next chapter provides the long-awaited opportunity to sink deep and lasting roots when it moves in 2011 from its long-time leased base in Glendale to a spectacular, permanent 35,000 square-foot home in Pasadena. The mixed-use development is located in the historic Stuart Pharmaceutical building at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue. The facility is designed to expand A Noise Within's artistic possibilities, offer a greater scope of educational opportunities, meet ticket demand and allow the company to expand its role as a leader in the presentation and preservation of classical theatre.

Single Tickets are $44 (Friday and Saturday evenings, Sunday matinees); $40 (Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings, Saturday matinees); and $30 (previews). Groups (10 or more) are $25, or $30 on Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees; School Groups (10 or more) are $16, or $20 on Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees.

A NOISE WITHIN is located at 234 South Brand Boulevard, Glendale, CA 91204. To purchase tickets or for a full season brochure, call 818-240-0910 x1 or visit www.ANoiseWithin.org.

GEOFF ELLIOTT (Director, Old Mahon), co-founder and co-artistic director of A Noise Within with his wife, Julia Rodriguez- Elliott, has co-produced close to 100 productions and directed/co-directed more than 40 for the company, including this season's Richard III and Noises Off. Elliott has also performed major roles for some of the leading regional theatres in America, including The American Conservatory Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Arizona Theatre Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and California Shakespeare Festival. He has received three Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle awards and more than a dozen other awards for acting. His Shakespearean roles include Iago in Othello, Theseus/Oberon in a Midsummer Night's Dream, Coriolanus, Richard in King Richard III and Hamlet. He has also performed leading roles in classic plays by such authors as O'Neill, Miller, Ibsen, Rostand, Wilde and Williams. Last season, he directed Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and appeared in ANW's productions of Neil Bartlett's adaptation of Oliver Twist and Anouilh's The Rehearsal. Elliott holds a BFA from the University of Florida and an MFA from The American Conservatory Theatre.

ANW resident artist APOLLO DUKAKIS (Michael James Flaherty) is currently also playing the role of Leonato in the company's production of Much Ado About Nothing. He has previously appeared in more than a dozen productions with ANW, including, this season, Selsdon Mowbray in Noises Off and King Edward in Richard III. He has also appeared as Mr. Dimanche/A Poor Person in Don Juan, Brabantio/Gratiano in Othello, Horace Vandergelder in The Matchmaker, Cominius in Coriolanus, Elbow/Barnardine in Measure for Measure, Pantalone in The King Stag, Argan in The Imaginary Invalid, Abbess/2nd Merchant in The Comedy of Errors, The Stage Manager in The Skin of Our Teeth, Dubois in The Misanthrope, Doctor Baugh in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Ragueneau in Cyrano de Bergerac (1998 and 1995), Baptista in Taming of the Shrew, Boss Mangan in Heartbreak House and Shepherd in Oedipus the King. Dukakis co-founded and served as associate artistic director and resident actor at The Whole Theatre in New Jersey from 1973 to 1990. Other credits include Homebody/Kabul at Trinity Repertory Company, Hecuba at American Conservatory Theatre, Nine Armenians at Mark Taper Forum, Anna in the Tropics at Pasadena Playhouse and Palo Alto's TheaterWorks, Pera Palas at Theatre @ Boston Court/Antaeus, which received LA Critics Award-Best Ensemble, Glengarry GLen Ross at Dallas Theatre Center, Lear in King Lear at Shakespeare Santa Monica, Rhinoceros at Antaeus, Shylock in Merchant of Venice at Pacific Repertory Theatre (Carmel), and Old Actor in The Fantasticks at Arizona Theatre Company, and he has worked at Denver Center Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, American Place Theatre, La Mama, George St. Playhouse and Provincetown Playhouse, among others. Active in film and television as well, he has appeared in American Heart, Last Action Hero, Shadow of the Blair Witch, Arrest and Trial, 7th Heaven, Seinfeld, L.A. Law, Life Goes On, Hunter, Dream On and Beauty and the Beast.

LINDSAY GOULD (Margaret Flaherty) is also appearing as Hero in A Noise Within's current production of Much Ado About Nothing, in which she made her company debut. She has performed as Ophelia in Hamlet at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, directed by Terry Hands; Andrea in Cynical Weathers by Doug Post at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, directed by Dennis Zacek, with Tom Amandes; Josie in Iron by Rona Munro at Appletree Theatre, in Highland Park, IL; and Froggy in Blackbird by Adam Rapp at Profiles Theatre, for which she earned a Joseph Jefferson Nomination as Best Lead Actress. She earned a BA in theatre from Northwestern University and also trained at BADA, Oxford University, UK and Steppenwolf West, under Jeff Perry.

JILL HILL (Widow Quin), a long-time resident artist with A Noise Within, most recently played Brenda Blair in the company's production of Noises Off. Her numerous roles with the company include Hortensia in The Rehearsal, Nancy/Ensemble in Neil Bartlett's adaptation of Oliver Twist during the 2008-09 season, Mistress Quickly in Henry IV, Part 1, Hannah Jelkes in The Night of the Iguana, Hermione in The Winter's Tale, Mrs. Purdie in Dear Brutus, Fay in Loot, Deborah in A Touch of the Poet, Queen Rosumund/Anna Stanislas in Ubu Roi, Aline Solness in The Master Builder, Emilia in Othello, Lucienne in A Flea in Her Ear, Mrs. Molloy in The Matchmaker, Virgilia in Coriolanus, Clarice/Smeraldina in The King Stag, First Witch/Lady Macduff in Macbeth, Princess of France in Love's Labour's Lost, Imogen Parrott in Trelawny of the Wells, Estrella in Life is a Dream, Sabina in The Skin of Our Teeth, Mae in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Belle/Charwoman in A Christmas Carol, Bianca in Taming of the Shrew, Geraldine in What the Butler Saw, Teiresias in Oedipus the King, Molly/Mrs. Joe in Great Expectations, Birdie in The Little Foxes and Another Part of the Forest, among others. She has also appeared in productions with American Conservatory Theatre, Nassau Repertory, Kenyon Festival Theatre, The Westbank (NYC), and The Matrix Theatre (LA). Television viewers will recognize her from various soap operas and television guest star roles, and her distinct voice can be heard on such audio books as Gapcreek and The Truest Pleasure by Robert Morgan, produced by John Runnette. She studied at the English Speaking Theatre in Copenhagen and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, earned a BFA from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and is a graduate and company member of The American Conservatory Theatre.

Brian Hostenske (Shawn Keogh) makes his A Noise Within debut in The Playboy of the Western World. His other theatre credits include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at Centre Theatre Group; Noises Off, The Brand New Kid, and Junie B. Jones at South Coast Repertory; Twelfth Night and The Winter's Tale at Shakespeare Santa Cruz; and Mother Courage at the La Jolla Playhouse. Hostenske earned a BFA from the University of Evansville and an MFA from University of California, San Diego.

Last fall MICHAEL A. NEWCOMER (Christopher Mahon [Christy]) played Raskolnikov in ANW's Crime and Punishment. For his riveting performance in Elizabeth Egloff's epic adaptation of Dostoevsky's The Devil's both at Actor's Express and Portland Center Stage, he was described as "a firebrand-in-exile". Indeed, he says, "I was in corporate exile for a number of years before deciding to leave the predictability of a desk in Atlanta to pursue acting full time." Literally a "Newcomer" to Los Angeles when he made his A Noise Within debut, he has also performed at some of the country's leading regional theaters, including in the role of Tom in The Glass Menagerie at Virginia Stage Company and Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest at Dallas Theatre Center. He also appeared in the premieres of several new plays at A Contemporary Theatre, Portland Center Stage and Actor's Theatre of Louisville. Working in Portland for several years, Newcomer was featured in Nancy Keystone's adaptation of Antigone, as well as in The Merchant of Venice with Hungarian director Robert Afoldi, the world premiere of Peter Gaiten's Flesh and Blood, and The Seagull with director Chris Coleman. Prior to moving to Los Angeles, Newcomer appeared for two seasons at the Shakespeare Festival at The Old Globe in San Diego and performed in The Heiress at South Coast Rep.

CAST & CREW:
Geoff Elliott (Director)

Alicia Bruckman (Honor Blake)
Apollo Dukakis (Michael James Flaherty)
Geoff Elliott (Old Mahon)
Jill Hill (Widow Quin)
Brian Hostenske (Shawn Keogh)
William Dennis Hunt (Philly Cullen)
Rebecca Mason-Wygal (Sara Tansey)
Michael A. Newcomer (Christopher Mahon [Christy])
Lindsay Gould (Margaret Flaherty [Pegeen Mike])
Maxwell Schneller (Peasant)
Caitlyn Tella (Susan Brady)
Tim Venable (Jimmy Farrell)

Nike Doukas (Dialect Coach)
Meghan Kennedy (Stage Manager)
Stephen Gifford (Set Designer)
Soojin Lee (Costume Designer)
Danielle Horn (Costume Assistant)
Ken Booth (Lighting Designer)
Matt Richter (Sound Designer)
Renee Cash (Props)
Rebecca Baillie (Production Manager)
Adam Lillibridge (Technical Director)
Monica Sabedra (Wig/Hair and Makeup Designer)
Erin McKenna (Scenic Artist)

WHEN:
Previews:
Saturday, April 10, 8 pm
Sunday, April 11, 7 pm
Wednesday, April 14, 8 pm
Thursday, April 15, 8 pm
Friday, April 16, 8 pm

Opens:
Saturday, April 17, 8 pm

Runs:
Sunday, April 18, 2 pm
Sunday, April 25, 2 pm
Sunday, April 25, 7 pm
Thursday, April 29, 8 pm
Friday, April 30, 8 pm
Sunday, May 9, 2 pm
Sunday, May 9, 7 pm
Wednesday, May 12, 8 pm
Thursday, May 13, 8 pm
Friday, May 14, 8 pm
Saturday, May 15, 2 pm
Saturday, May 15, 8 pm
Saturday, May 22, 2 pm
Saturday, May 22, 8 pm

WHERE:
A Noise Within
234 South Brand Blvd., Glendale, CA 91204

TICKET PRICES:
$44 (Friday and Saturday evenings, Sunday matinees);
$40 (Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings, Saturday matinees);
$30 (Previews);
Group rates and special rates for school groups available

TICKETS & INFO:
818-240-0910 x1 www.ANoiseWithin.org

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.