Rubicon Theatre Co Presents IN ALL HONESTY, Opens 6/2

Rubicon Theatre Company continues its 2009-2010 Season with the World Premiere of IN ALL HONESTY by 18-year-old Santa Barbara playwriting prodigy QUINN SOSNA-SPEAR, starring DAN GUNTHER, Robert LessER, NANCY NUFER AND Carla Tassara. The curtain rises June 2 on this whimsical tale of laughter, love and liberation, helmed by veteran DEVIN SCOTT, for a limited engagement through June 13.

IN ALL HONESTY is a touching, offbeat comedy that reminds us anything is possible. Richard is a British office worker living a sensible, uneventful existence. He is forced to take the tube while his car is in the shop. After missing the first train, he is accosted by Eileen, a strangely charming young woman sitting on a bench. Although he's none- too-certain getting friendly with her is a good idea, they meet each day, and eventually Eileen changes the way Richard thinks about strangers, breakfast, birthdays, manatees, luck and life. This witty story of two idiosyncratic souls is filled with heartwarming insights and lots of laughs.

IN ALL HONESTY is the second of five plays written by QUINN SOSNA-SPEAR, a senior at Dos Pueblos High School in Santa Barbara. SOSNA-SPEAR has had two previous productions presented at Rubicon as part of the company's Young Playwrights' Festival, the first directed by Gioia Marchese and the second by BrIan McDonald. Since then she has won the California Young Playwright's Award, and will have her latest play work-shopped at The Old Globe in San Diego this spring. SOSNA-SPEAR begins USC in the fall as a Screenwriting major.

Spear's vision is in capable hands with Director DEVIN SCOTT, Co-Artistic Director of the Mentor Theatre Company, an organization dedicated to helping young or first-time artists produce their work. He has directed, performed, and produced over 40 productions in both California and New York City, where he attended The Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre and was the founding Co-Artistic Director of the Bridge Theatre Company. Scott currently serves as Vice President of the Santa Barbara Performing Arts League.

Says SCOTT, "IN ALL HONESTY delivers a study of life's little joys, the in-between moments, nuances and gestures that so often lends life its sweetest hues."

"Sosna-Spear's characters are true originals," continues Scott, "and the play offers an authentic slice of life as fate delivers them, without explanation, at respective personal crossroads."

About the Cast:

DAN GUNTHER plays the role of Richard, the lonely pen-pusher who goes unnoticed by his fellow employees. GUNTHER's regional theatre appearances include numerous performances with The Old Globe, the West Coast premiere of A Perfect Ganesh at the Odyssey, Shaw's Misalliance and Sondheim's Assassins, for the L.A. Repertory Company, six productions at Ensemble Theatre in Santa Barbara, and Rubicon productions of Fools, You Can't Take It With You, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Gunther's film work includes starring roles in the Cannes Film Festival award-winner "Denise Calls Up" and the Sundance Film Festival entry "Lewis & Clark & George." He played supporting roles in "Galaxy Quest," "Brother," "American Reunion," "Devil's Pond," "Divorce Chili" and others.

Carla Tassara, who assays the role of the quirky Eileen, began her professional acting career at the age of 16, with a role in James Still's The Secret History of the Future at the Kennedy Center. After a summer studying Shakespeare at RADA in London, Carla spent six years in and around NYC performing in such venues as Manhattan Theatre Club, Classic Stage, The Mint Theatre, HERE Arts Center, and the Blue Heron Theatre. Credits include Irina in Three Sisters at Manhattan Theatre Source, Sally Bowles in Cabaret at The Playhouse Theatre, and Libby in Blue Window with the Bridge Theater Company. Since moving west, Tassara played Jeanette Valmy in Reprise! Theatre's production of No Strings, Chloe in the musical TV pilot "Professor Crunch and the Daffies," and Allegra in the film "Last Call."

NANCY NUFER shows her comic chops in multiple roles in the production, ranging from Eileen's cruel mother, to Richard's cavalier co-worker Karen, to a bored store clerk, to an elderly woman. Nufer has been a company member of Ensemble Theatre Company in Santa Barbara for over 24 seasons. Highlights at ETC include The Fourth Wall, The Underpants, The Country Club and Marvin's Room. She last appeared on the Rubicon stage in the sold-out run of Picasso at the Lapin Agile; other Rubicon productions include Hamlet, All in the Timing and Love Letters.

Robert LessER also takes on a variety of characters in the production. Lesser's credits include Richard III at the New York Shakespeare Festival, The Soft Touch directed by Alan Arkin on Broadway, and work at Yale Rep and Manhattan Theatre Club. In L.A., he appeared at the Odyssey Theatre in Kvetch and God's Country. Lesser's credits at Ensemble Theatre include The Fourth Wall, Proof, Communicating Doors, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, The Weir, Art, An Inspector Calls, Indiscretions, and The Cripple of Inishmaan.

Dates, Prices and Special Performances

IN ALL HONESTY opens at Rubicon Theatre On Saturday, June 5, with previews June 2 at 2:00 p.m and 7:00 p.m., June 3 at 2:00 p.m. and 8;00 p.m., and June 4 at 8:00 p.m. Performances continue through June 13, Wednesdays through Sundays. Ticket prices are $39 to $44, depending on the day of the week. Tickets for students are $25.

"TALKBACKS," where audiences are invited to remain after the show for a facilitated chat with the actors and the artistic staff about the process or the production, are scheduled following the two Wednesday 7:00 p.m. performances of the run (June 2 and 9).

Tickets for IN ALL HONESTY may be purchased in person through the Rubicon Theatre Company BOX OFFICE, located at 1006 E. Main Street (Laurel entrance).

To charge by phone, call (805) 667-2900. Or visit Rubicon on the web at www.rubicontheatre.org. Twenty-four-hour-a-day ticketing is available online, thanks to an Arts Regional Initiative grant from the James Irvine Foundation.

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