Open Fist Theatre to Open THE GOOD THIEF, 3/24

The Open Fist Theatre Company presents THE GOOD THIEF, written by Conor McPherson and directed by Scott Paulin (Foote Notes, St. Nicholas) and starring Michael McGee. Mr. Paulin and Mr. McGee's previous collaboration on the McPherson play St. Nicholas was a critically-acclaimed endeavor at the Stephanie Feury Theatre. THE GOOD THIEF, will preview on St. Patrick's Day - Sunday, March 17 at 7pm; Monday, March 18 at 8pm and will open on Sunday, March 24 at 7pm and runs through Monday, April 29 at the Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.

THE GOOD THIEF by Irish playwright Conor McPherson opening March 24th at The Open Fist Theater reunites director Scott Paulin and award-winning actor Michael McGee from the critically acclaimed 2010 production of McPherson's play for one actor, St. Nicholas. McGee stars in the whirlwind tale of a hard-drinking petty thug from the slums of Dublin whose obsession with the wrong woman nearly gets him killed. Call it Dublin Noir, The Good Thief is edgy and fast-paced, bullet-riddled, rain-soaked, darkly romantic, sardonically funny, and in the end deeply moving. The Good Thief is a rarely performed early masterpiece from one of Ireland's greatest writers.

Conor McPherson (Playwright) was born in Dublin. He was educated at University College Dublin, McPherson began writing his first plays there as a member of UCD Dramsoc, the college's dramatic society, and went on to found Fly by Night Theatre Company which produced several of his plays. He is considered one of the best contemporary Irish playwrights; his plays have attracted good reviews, and have been performed internationally (notably in the West End and on Broadway). The Weir opened at the Royal Court before transferring to the West End and Broadway. It won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play for 1999.

His 2001 play, Port Authority tells of three interwoven lives. The play was first produced by the Gate Theatre of Dublin but premiered at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London in February 2001, before moving to the Gate Theatre in April of that year. The production was directed by McPherson himself. New York's Atlantic Theater Company staged a production of the play in spring of 2008, starring Brian d'Arcy James, and Tony Award winners John Gallagher Jr. and Jim Norton. Says New York Times critic Ben Brantley, "I found myself holding on to what these actors had to say as if I were a 5-year-old at bedtime being introduced to 'The Arabian Nights.'" McPherson also directed his play, Dublin Carol, at the Atlantic Theater Company, New York, in 2003.

His 2004 play Shining City opened at the Royal Court and prompted The Daily Telegraph to describe him as "the finest dramatist of his generation..." A meditation on regret, guilt and confusion, the play is set entirely within the Dublin offices of a psychiatrist who himself has psychological secrets. Whilst much of the play takes the form of monologues delivered by a patient, the everyday stories and subtle poignancy and humour make it a riveting experience. It subsequently opened on Broadway in 2006 and was nominated for two Tony Awards, including Best Play.

In September 2006, to great critical acclaim, McPherson made his National Theatre debut as both author and director with The Seafarer at the Cottesloe auditorium, starring Karl Johnson and Jim Norton, with Ron Cook as their poker-playing, Mephistophelean guest. Jim Norton won an Olivier Award for his performance while McPherson was nominated for both the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Play.

In October 2007 The Seafarer came to Broadway keeping with it most of its creative team, including McPherson as director and both Jim Norton and Conleth Hill in their respective roles (with stage and film actor David Morse taking over as Sharky, and Ciarán Hinds portraying Mr. Lockhart.) The production on Broadway received some rave reviews including such statements as "McPherson is quite possibly the finest playwright of his generation" from Ben Brantley at the New York Times and "Succinct, startling and eerie, and the funniest McPherson play to date" from the Observer. Jim Norton's performance as Richard Harkin in The Seafarer at The National Theatre won the 2007 Best Supporting Actor Laurence Olivier Award, and he picked up a Tony Award in 2008 for Best Featured Actor in a play.

McPherson wrote and directed a stage adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's story The Birds, which opened in September 2009 at the Gate Theatre in Dublin.

The film of his first screenplay, I Went Down, was critically acclaimed and a great commercial success. His first feature film as a director, Saltwater, won the CICAE award for Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival. His second feature film was The Actors, which he wrote and directed.
He is the director and co-writer of The Eclipse, a film which had its world premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. It was picked up for distribution by Magnolia Pictures and was released in US cinemas in Spring 2010.[2] The film subsequently won the Melies D'Argent Award for Best European Film at Sitges in Spain - the world's premier horror and fantasy genre festival. At The 2010 Irish Film and television Awards The Eclipse won the awards for Best Film and Best Screenplay.[3] Ciarán Hinds won the Best Actor Award at the Tribeca Film Festival for his portrayal of Michael Farr.

SCOTT PAULIN (Director) directed his old friend Michael McGee, in the June, 2011 production of Conor McPherson's St. Nicholas at the Stephanie Feury Theatre receiving glowing reviews and earning Michael an LA Weekly Award Nomination in the Solo Performance category.

Scott began his career as a stage actor in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1970s appearing at The Berkeley Repertory Theater, The Magic Theater, The Berkeley Stage, and the Eureka Theater where his performance as Pavlo in The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel received the Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance. Since coming to Los Angeles in 1980 he has worked as an actor and director in film, television and theater. He has directed more than thirty hours of dramatic television and guest starred in more than a hundred episodes of television.

His feature film credits include Cat People, Soldiers Story, Turner and Hooch, Pump Up the Volume, and The Right Stuff. Here at the Open Fist Theatre, where Scott is a proud member, he recently directed the long-running hit production of Foote Notes, two plays about Harrison, Texas by Horton Foote. In recent seasons, he directed Nicholas Kazan's new play, Mademoiselle God at The Ensemble Studio Theater, Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class and Horton Foote's Getting Frankie Married and Afterwards at The Open Fist. The webseries he recently directed, The Mop and Lucky Files is currently garnering awards at festivals nation wide. He plays Jim Beckett on the hit ABC nighttime drama Castle. He is a longtime friend of the Foote family.

MICHAEL McGEE previously appeared at The Open Fist Theatre in Laura Richardson's LIFE ON THIS COUCH. McGee gained his education doing theatre in San Francisco at The StageGroup Theatre under the direction of his mentor, teacher, Wendell Phillips, a Broadway actor who worked with The Group Theatre of the thirties and was an early member of The Actors Studio. At StageGroup McGee appeared in TANGO, THE ADDING MACHINE, HAMLET, LYSISTRATA, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, THE BRIDGE, and other plays. In Los Angeles McGee directed Gorky's THE LOWER DEPTHS on Skid Row, a production that included homeless poets and professional actors. He continued working on Skid Row along with Scott Kelman's Pipeline Theatre developing performance workshops with the homeless. He co-founded and taught a screenwriting workshop for inmates at Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution with writer Matthew Benjamin.

McGee had a starring role in Kevin Keresey's award winning comedic feature film THE RAT THING where he was twice nominated for festival acting awards. He appeared in the 2nd Story Theater production of HARRISON, TEXAS by Horton Foote, whom he had the honor of meeting when Horton was in attendance for one of the shows. That was his first time working with director Scott Paulin whom he had known from old San Francisco theatre days. He worked again with Paulin directing Conor McPherson's, ST. NICHOLAS and the critically acclaimed show received a LA Weekly nomination for BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE. In 2012 he won a LA Weekly Award for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR for his role as The Red Cross Representative in Juan Mayorga's, WAY TO HEAVEN, at the Odyssey Theatre, directed by Ron Sossi. McGee also helped produce and has a recurring role in an award winning web series directed by Paulin THE MOP AND LUCKY FILES which is written and stars Chloe Taylor and Jennifer Erholm.

THE GOOD THIEF features an award-winning design team. The Set Design is by Zack Guiler. The Sound Design is by Peter Carlstedt. THE GOOD THIEF is being produced by Martha Demson.
SCHEDULE AND PRICING

THE GOOD THIEF will preview on St. Patrick's Day - Sunday, March 17 at 7pm; Monday, March 18 at 8pm and will open on Sunday, March 24 at 7pm and runs through Monday, April 29 at the Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.

Performances are Sundays at 7pm and Mondays at 8pm with an added performance on Saturday, April 27 at 2pm. Ticket prices are $15. Students and Seniors- $12. Special group rates available for parties of 10 or more. For information, or to purchase tickets, please visit the website for details at www.openfist.org.

Photo Credit: Michael Tighe

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