Nadia Dajani Joins The Cast Of ACAPULCO

Executive Artistic Director Carson Kievman has announced that NY-based actress, Nadia Dajani and South Florida performers Amy McKenna, Elayne Wilks, Ryan George, Glen Lawrence and Brian McCormack have joined Evan Handler, completing the cast for SoBe Arts upcoming staged readings of ACAPULCO by New York writer Jacquelyn Reingold and directed by Michael Leeds.

"It's 1966, it's Brooklyn, it's Acapulco. Meet Doris, a soon to be divorced New Yorker, her frisky boyfriend who dyes his chest hair, a mysterious woman who's really a man, her penny-pinching liar of a husband, a scheming laundress mother-in-law, and the Whore of Brooklyn. A swinging 1960's kind of comedy with a 2011 point of view." - Jacquelyn Reingold
Tickets are free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Advanced seating reservations are available to donors (at any level) of "The Annual Giving Campaign for SoBe Arts." For more information, or to make a donation, go to sobearts.org

Playing Doris, the quirky, sexy, on edge, soon-to-be ex-wife of Dick is actress Nadia Dajani. For two seasons (1995-1997), she starred as Amanda Moyer in the Fox-TV sitcom, Ned & Stacey. She has had roles in films like "This Is Not a Film", "Flirting With Disaster", Happy Accidents (2000) with Marisa Tomei, "A View From The Top", and the Edward Burns film "Sidewalks of New York". Has starred in numerous television pilots. Series regular on Emily's Reasons Why Not opposite Heather Graham and the Adult Swim cult hit Delocated, as well as successful appearances on Aaron Sorkin projects such as Tina Lake on Sports Night and as the First Lady's Chief of Staff, Lily Mays, on The West Wing. Appeared on "Sex and the City" as Nina Katz, "Ugly Betty", "King of Queens", "Body of Proof" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Stars in the TV movie "The Lost Valentine" alongside Betty White. Has a recurring role on the Showtime series "The Big C". A founding member of Malaparte Theatre Company, whose artistic director was Ethan Hawke. In her first Off-Broadway play, Sophistry, she starred alongside Calista Flockhart, Ethan Hawke and Steve Zahn. Nadia grew up the youngest of four children in Greenwich Village, New York City. An avid baseball fan, Nadia has played in several Celebrity/Legends games for Major League Baseball at the All Star Game. She hosts a baseball comedy web series "Caught Off Base With Nadia".

Playing Candy, Dick's Brooklyn babe girlfriend, is Amy McKenna: Adrienne Arsht Center (Zoetic Stage's South Beach Babylon); SoBe Arts (Twelfth Night); South Beach Comedy Festival (Mad Cat's Shepherd's Pie); and The Promethean Theater (A Report on the Banality of Love). She has worked regionally at the Alley Theatre (Travesties and Angel Street); La Jolla Playhouse (Boy and The Green Bird); and Houston Shakespeare Festival (King Lear and Two Gentleman of Verona). She has also played pushy realtor "Tiffany Ward" on BURN NOTICE. Amy received an MFA in Acting from UCSD and BA in Romance Linguistics from the UW in her native Seattle.

Playing Nettie, Dick's mother, the strong but easily rattled Balabusta, is Elayne Wilks. Examples of Ms. Wilks theater work are Laurel, Soho Rep: Isn't It Romantic, Millbrook Playhouse; Fiddler on the Roof, Actor's Playhouse; Mama's Last Waltz, Coconut Grove Playhouse; Over the River and Thru the Woods, Caldwell Theater. Television: One Life to Live, Law and Order, Burn Notice. Film: The Paper and Regarding Henry. Ms. Wilks received a M.A. in Theater from NYU.

Rounding out the cast is Ryan George, Glen Lawrence and Brian McCormack.

Evan Handler
Photo Credit: Kirk Edwards/Showtime Networks
Playing Dick, the scheming penny-pinching, soon-to-be ex-husband of Doris, is Evan Handler, actor, author, screenwriter, and journalist probably best known as Harry Goldenblatt from the HBO television show (and films) Sex and the City, as well as Charlie Runkle (best friend to David Duchovny's Hank Moody) on Showtime's hit comedy Californication, currently airing its fourth season. Evan's past film and TV credits include leading and featured roles in Ron Howard's film Ransom, the early '80's box office smash Taps, Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and The West Wing; the ABC TV movie The Three Stooges, and the sit-com It's Like, You Know..., as well as memorable guest appearances on Lost, Six Feet Under, Law and Order, and Friends.

Prior to his work in film and television Evan played leading roles in seven Broadway productions - all prior to his thirtieth birthday. Among them were "Six Degrees of Separation"; "I Hate Hamlet"; "Brighton Beach Memoirs"; "Broadway Bound"; and "Master Harold...and the boys". Off-Broadway, Evan appeared in two Donald Margulies world premieres, "Found a Peanut" (NYSF/Public Theater), and "What's Wrong with this Picture?" (Manhattan Theater Club), as well as Jacquelyn Reingold's "String Fever," at Ensemble Studio Theater.

Evan is the author of two books. Time on Fire: My Comedy of Terrors (Little, Brown '96; Henry Holt '97), is Handler's critically acclaimed debut memoir, detailing his unlikely recovery from acute myeloid leukemia in the mid-1980s. It's Only Temporary: The Good News and The Bad News of Being Alive (Riverhead '08), describes the years since the illness, and the surprisingly long and complex journey toward long-delayed gratitude. A regular featured contributor to the Huffington Post, Evan has published articles in O, the Oprah Magazine, Elle, and Mirabella. Evan was also chosen to be one of eight fellows for the 1998 Sundance Institute Screenwriter's Lab. More information about Evan is available at EvanHandler.com.

Jacquelyn Reingold (playwright) writes for theatre and television. Her plays, which include String Fever (starring Cynthia Nixon and Evan Handler), have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, across the U.S., in London, Belgrade, Berlin, and Hong Kong. For television, Jacquelyn wrote all the Mia episodes for Emmy nominated Gabriel Byrne and Hope Davis in season two of HBO's Peabody Award winning In Treatment. Other TV writing includes: Law and Order Criminal Intent, Miss Match, and Daria. Her awards include: New York Foundation for the Arts in Playwriting, Ensemble Studio Theatre/Sloan Foundation commission, MacDowell Colony Fellowships, and the Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays. Her work has been published in Women Playwrights: The Best Plays, several Best American Short Plays, various Best Monologues, by Samuel French, Vintage Books, and Smith & Kraus. A collection of her one-acts Things Between Us is published by Dramatists Play Service. More information is available at jacquelynreingold.com.

Michael Leeds (director) wrote and directed the Broadway musical, Swinging On A Star that was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Musical. Off-Broadway he directed and choreographed Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah - The Songs of Allan Sherman (starring Tovah Feldshu), for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Director and Best Choreographer. He directed and choreographed A Little Night Music for the Houston Grand Opera starring Frederica von Stade. For film, he has choreographed End of Summer, starring Jacqueline Bisset and Peter Weller and co-wrote The Simian Line, starring William Hurt and Lynn Redgrave. For ten years Mr. Leeds co-directed the Drama League's annual benefit honoring Liza Minnelli, Hal Prince, Rosie O'Donnell and Chita Rivera among others. Last season he directed and choreographed Laffing Matterz at the Broward Center for Performing Arts. He directed A Little Night Music (Carbonell nom. Best Musical), The Glass Menagerie and Come Blow Your Horn for the Broward Stage Door Theatre and most recently Mack And Mabel and Steel Magnolias. Michael just opened The Boys In The Band for The Rising Action Theatre Company.

Carson Kievman (producer) is a skilled composer and stage director. His works have been performed internationally in stage, concert, dance, and museum settings, including the Berkeley Art Museum, the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Florida Philharmonic, and a music-theater retrospective at the Nationaltheater-Mannheim. He is the recipient of numerous international awards and was honored with a Naumberg Fellowship to Princeton University. As a director, Kievman has staged works for The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Nationaltheater Mannheim and the Basel State Theater, among others. A former Composer/Director in residence for The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, Kievman created an opera/music-theater version of Hamlet on commission from the legendary theatrical producer Joseph Papp (Hair, A Chorus Line). It was Mr. Papp's final commissioned work before his passing away in 1991. Kievman's Symphony No. 2 (42), described by Spoleto Today as "one of the most powerful musical experiences I have had in recent times", was released by New Albion Records in 1996 and acclaimed by music writers like Mark Swed, who selected the recording as one of the year's Top 10 Classical CDs (Los Angeles Times).

ART SPEAKS (Pre-Reading open discussion)
"Jacquelyn Reingold -Writing for the Stage and Commercial Television"

Free and Open to the Public
Sunday, January 30 - 6:30pm
Little Stage Theater @ SoBe Arts

Patrons interested in gaining a more complete understanding of Acapulco, by Jacquelyn Reingold and script writing in general, are invited to attend a free pre-event prior to the Sunday night reading of Acapulco: "Art Speaks: Jacquelyn Reingold -Writing for Stage and Commercial Television," featuring a open discussion between Ms. Reingold and Carson Kievman.

Accommodations for Evan Handler, Nadia Dajani and Jacquelyn Reingold generously provided by Riviera South Beach Hotel (The South Beach Group Hotels )

SoBe Institute of the Arts performance season is sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, the Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council and the Mayor and Commissioners of the City of Miami Beach.

About SoBe Institute of the Arts (SoBe Arts): A non-profit arts performance and education 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization located at 2100 Washington Avenue, in the Miami Beach Cultural Arts district. The mission of SoBe Institute of the Arts (SoBe Arts) is to promote excellence, creativity, and accessibility of the arts through performance events and arts instruction of the highest quality, in music and related artistic disciplines. The Institute pursues this dual model of arts education and innovative performances in the heart of the Miami Beach arts district, with the long-term goal of building an independent, high-caliber institute of the arts. The faculty draws upon 25 artists from leading conservatories, ensembles, and performance venues in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Professional artists have opportunities both to teach and to perform, as the Institute provides community-level classes and advanced individual instruction for youth and adults, while organizing a full season of professional productions featuring faculty and visiting artists.

Since its founding five years ago, SoBe Arts has worked to establish the foundation for an intimate and unique arts complex in the adjoining Carl Fisher Clubhouse and Little Stage Theater, located in a park-like setting between the Miami Beach Botanical gardens and the Miami City Ballet. The Clubhouse, built in 1915, is the city's oldest surviving public building and its 2-story atrium is well-suited to chamber music events; the 1937 theater, shuttered for many years, was renovated and opened by SoBe Arts as a black box in January 2010 in partnership with the City of Miami Beach. SoBe Arts is committed to the sustained development of creativity and cultural life in individuals and in the region, advancing the artistic talents of youth and adults and cultivating new audiences for fine arts. Both venues are utilized throughout the year for instruction, including youth arts classes provided without regard to socio-economic status, and are open to the public via diverse free or affordable events, as well as for affordable rental by other organizations.

 

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