TIME STANDS STILL, RED, & More Set for Performance Network Theatre Season

Ann Arbor's professional theatre turns 30 next year, and as the award-winning troupe wraps up its 29th season with record-breaking attendance, PNT announces its long-awaited 30th anniversary season. Comprised of seven of the most lauded contemporary plays in American theatre, the momentous season runs from September 23, 2011 to September 2, 2012 and features a whopping 186 performances. With three Tony Best Play/Musical winners, two Tony Best Play nominees, two Pulitzer Prize winning playwrights, and a World Premiere that has already won a prestigious New Play award, it is an award-winning and diverse season, with shows ranging from a rambunctious musical to an erotically charged drama, high-energy physical comedy, a lightly lyrical period piece and even a comic epic of the old Wild West.

In a bit of a licensing coup, the theatre has not only secured the performance rights to the 2009 Tony award winner for Best Play "God of Carnage," by Yasmina Reza, but is the exclusive rights holder in Michigan to all of the 2010 Best Play Tony Contenders, including the winner of that award, "Red," by John Logan. "It's a very TONY season!" says Artistic Director David Wolber, "we are thrilled to have snagged Broadway's best to bring to our very own Michigan audiences."

Executive Director Carla Milarch said "Since Performance Network went Equity half its lifetime ago, no other single characteristic has defined our efforts more than our unflagging pursuit of artistic excellence. We have spent decades developing our production techniques and building relationships with the top theatre artists in Michigan. The result has been consistently fine theatre that our audiences tell us lives up to shows they have seen across the country, even rivaling New York and London productions. This season, David and his team have surpassed themselves again, selecting quite possibly the seven best, most well-written shows we've ever produced. Each and every one of them lives up to this momentous year."

PERFORMANCE NETWORK'S 2011 - 2012 SEASON:
"Time Stands Still" by Donald Margulies
MICHIGAN PREMIERE, 2010 Tony nominee for Best Play!
September 23, 2011 through October 23, 2011
When Sarah, an award-winning photojournalist, returns from Iraq after being injured in a bombing, her hunger to return to harm's way causes a rift in her relationship with her long-time partner James. When her ex-boyfriend editor shows up with a much younger girlfriend and an offer for a cushy job at home in New York, she must decide whether to return to the front lines or opt for a "normal" life. Filled with insightful humor about the often difficult choices modern couples face, it is a thoughtful and funny look at Americans abroad and at home.

When "Time Stands Still" premiered in February 2009 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, Margulies stated that the meaning of the play was "to capture a sense of the way we live now, to dramatize the things that thinking, feeling, moral people are thinking about and struggle with." In January 2010, it opened on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in a Manhattan Theatre Club production, with Laura Linney, Brian d'Arcy James, Eric Bogosian and Alicia Silverstone. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times said "Donald Margulies' finest play since the Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Dinner With Friends', ‘Time Stands Still' crackles with bright wit and intelligence." It earned two Tony nominations, for Best Play, and Best Actress. The PNT production will be directed by Kate Peckham and will star Suzi Regan ("The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead.")

"Ain't Misbehavin'" by Richard Maltby Jr. & Murray Horowitz
TONY-AWARD WINNING MUSICAL COMEDY!
November 10, 2011 through January 1, 2012
The prodigious comic and musical soul of 1930s Harlem lives on in this rollicking, swinging, finger-snapping revue that is still considered one of Broadway's best. The inimitable Thomas "Fats" Waller rose to international fame during the Golden Age of the Cotton Club, honky tonk dives along Lenox Avenue, rent parties, stride piano players and that jumpin' new beat, Swing. Not quite a biography, "Ain't Misbehavin'" evokes the delightful humor and infectious energy of this American original as a versatile cast struts and sings the songs he made famous.

"What whistles, hoots, throws off sparks and moves at about 180 miles an hour, even though it is continually stopped? Ain't Misbehavin'" said The New York Times. Ain't Misbehavin' opened on Broadway in May 1978 at the Longacre Theatre, later moving to the Plymouth and then the Belasco before finally completing its 1604-performance run on February 21, 1982. The original cast featured Nell Carter, André DeShields, Armelia McQueen, Ken Page, and Charlayne Woodard. It was nominated for five Tony awards and won for Best Musical, best Featured Actress in a musical and Best Direction of a Musical. It was also nominated for five Drama Desk awards and won for both Outstanding Actor and Actress in a Musical. The PNT production will be directed by Tim Rhoze ("Fences," "K2," "The Piano Lesson") and will feature James Bowen, ("K2," "Fences") Sean Blake, K Edmonds, Diviin Huff ("Little Shop of Horrors," "The Piano Lesson") and Kron Moore.

"God of Carnage" by Yasmina Reza
TONY AWARD-WINNING COMEDY! MICHIGAN PREMIERE co-production with Jewish Ensemble Theatre
January 12, 2012 through February 19, 2012
Boys will be boys, but adults will be worse! In this 2009 Tony-winner for Best Play, two couples meet at one of their homes to discuss a playground altercation between their young children. Hostility rumbles just under the surface, as their civilizEd Battle of wits and words devolves into a hilariously chaotic evening, where nothing is safe, including the furniture. A tour-de-force for four actors by the author of "Art," this comedy of (bad) manners will change the way you look at polite conversation.

"God of Carnage" opened in the West End at the Gielgud Theatre in March 2008. The Guardian review said "All four actors are excellent and, in Matthew Warchus's deft production, show the thin veneer of bourgeois pretence." After some minor modifications to accommodate an American audience, a Broadway production opened at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in March, 2009, starring Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden. It closed on June 6, 2010 playing 24 previews and 452 regular performances, becoming the third-longest running play of the 2000s (after "The 39 Steps" and "August: Osage County"). It was nominated for six Tony awards and won for Best Play, Best Leading Actress in a Play and Best Direction of a Play. The PNT production will be directed by JET Artistic Director David Magidson and will feature Joey Albright ( "Take Me Out," "It Came From Mars"), Sarab Kamoo ("Sonia Flew," "The War Since Eve"), Phil Powers ("The Drowsy Chaperone") and Suzi Regan ("The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead").

"Dead Man's Shoes" by Joseph Zettelmaier
WORLD PREMIERE co-production with Williamston Theatre
Winner of The Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award
March 8, 2012 through April 8, 2012
From the playwright of the smash hit "It Came From Mars" comes a dastardly comedy, based on real events, but steeped in the tone of a good old fashioned outlaw movie. Injun Bill Picote and Army deserter/hard luck drunk Froggy never were fast friends, and it doesn't look like they're gonna be as they wander the wild west in search of a man responsible for a truly despicable deed. Filled with true grit and dark humor exploring the real cost of revenge, it's a fast-paced and panoramic journey to the dark side of American history.

Joseph Zettelmaier is that rare breed of Michigan's most successful living, resident playwright. Since his first premiere at PNT in 2000 he has had five plays premiered at PNT ("Science Friction," "Fever Dreams," "The Stillness Between Breaths," "Language Lessons" and "It Came From Mars.") He has receieved three nominations from the American Theatre Critics' Association for Best New Play and has been produced across the state and country, including an upcoming Chicago production of his play "All Childish Things." He is regularly produced at Performance Network and Williamston Theatre (both Equity houses) and the Planet Ant in Hamtramck. In 2010, his play "It Came From Mars" won The Edgerton Foundation New American Play award, broke PNT box office records for World Premieres, and garnered an ATCA nomination. With an Edgerton award already secured, "Dead Man's Shoes" looks to be on the road to similar success. The PNT production will be directed by David Wolber and will feature Aral Basil Gribble II ("Man of La Mancha," "The Home Team"), Paul Hopper ("Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol"), Maggie Meyer and Drew Parker ("The Sins of Sor Juana").

"Red" by John Logan
MICHIGAN PREMIERE, WINNER OF SIX TONYS!
April 19, 2012 through May 27, 2012
Born in 1903, in Dvinsk, Latvia, Marcus Rothkowitz (Mark Rothko) went on to join the famed New York school of abstract expressionists, creating a style of paintings called "impenetrable fortresses of color." In this winner of six Tony awards, Rothko and his newly hired assistant Ken work feverishly on Rothko's famous, highly paid 1958 commission to provide a series of murals for the Four Seasons restaurant in Manhattan's Seagram Building. Over the course of the two-year commission, the young apprentice challenges his master, causing Rothko to question what he has become, and whether his greatest achievement might also be his undoing.

"Red" was first produced by the Donmar Warehouse, London in December 2009. The original production was directed by Michael Grandage and featured Alfred Molina as Rothko and Eddie Redmayne as his assistant Ken. The production, and its two leads, transferred to Broadway at the John Golden Theater for a limited engagement from March through June, 2010. It won the 2010 Drama League Award for Distinguished Production of a Play and Molina won the Distinguished Performance Award. It was nominated for seven Tony Awards and won six, for Best Play, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play, Best Direction of a Play, Best Scenic Design of a Play, Best Lighting Design of a Play, and Best Sound Design of a Play. All in all, it received the most wins out of any other theatrical production that season. It also received six Drama Desk nominations and won three: for Outstanding Play, Outstanding Director of a Play and Outstanding Lighting Design. The PNT production will feature Mark Rademacher ("The White Rose," "Circle Mirror Transformation") and Kevin Young ("Next Fall," "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead").

"In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play" by Sarah Ruhl
MICHIGAN PREMIERE, 2010 Tony nominee for Best Play
June 14, 2012 through July 15, 2012
Upon the dawn of electricity, the aptly named Dr. Givings has taken to treating his female patients' "hysteria" with vibration therapy. Oblivious to why or how it works, the good doctor administers the treatments behind closed doors, while his young wife is left to listen to the connections being made on the other side. When she breaks into his office to try the device for herself, erotic and emotional chaos is unleashed. Jealousies erupt; passes are clumsily made, kisses exchanged, faces slapped, hearts elated and dashed. This provocative look at gender roles and female sexuality in the Victorian age is sure to be the year's most stimulating comedy.

Sarah Ruhl, considered by many to be American playwrighting's freshest voice, is the recipient of a MacArthur "Genius" award. Ruhl gained widespread recognition for her play "The Clean House" (produced by PNT in 2006), which won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2004 and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2005. In February 2009, "In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)" premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. It opened on Broadway later that year at the Lyceum Theatre (presented by Lincoln Center Theater) in November, which marked Ruhl's Broadway debut. The cast included Laura Benanti, Michael Cerveris, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Maria Dizzia, Thomas Jay Ryan, Wendy Rich Stetson, and Chandler Williams. It was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Play, Best Featured Actress, and Best Costume. The PNT production will be directed by Suzi Regan and will feature John Seibert ("Next Fall," "Christmas Carol'd"), Aphrodite Nikolovski ("The Clean House," "Amadeus"), Laurel Hufano ("Boston Marriage"), Rusty Mewha ("The Baker's Wife"), Patrick Cronin and Mila Govich ("The Clean House," "Sonia Flew).

"Burn This" by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lanford Wilson
August 2, 2012 through September 2, 2012
Considered by many to be an American masterpiece, Lanford Wilson's explosive play is set in 1986 in a dancer's loft in Manhattan, and captures the recklessness of that decade. Pale, a coke-snorting, Jersey restaurant manager, and Anna, an up and coming choreographer, meet when her roommate Robbie, Pale's brother, dies. As their passions ignite, Pale's intense and troubled personality emerges. Menacing, profane, dangerous and yet oddly sensitive, Pale is both terrifying and fascinating. When Anna retreats into her work, he pursues her relentlessly, setting off an inferno of rage and desire that threatens to consume them both. The PNT production will be directed by Ray Schultz.

The extraordinary American playwright Lanford Wilson (April 13, 1937 - March 24, 2011) will be sorely missed. With a career spanning the off-off Broadway scene of Greenwich Village in the 1960s, to later plays produced right here in Michigan at the Purple Rose Theatre, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980, was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame, and in 2004 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His play "Burn This" was commissioned by The Circle Repertory Company, and the off-Broadway production, directed by Marshall W. Mason, opened in February, 1987 at Theatre 890. The cast included Jonathan Hogan, Joan Allen, John Malkovich, and Lou Liberatore. The Broadway production, with the same cast again directed by Mason, opened in October, 1987 at the Plymouth Theatre, where it ran for 437 performances. It was nominated for two Tony awards, and won Best Actress in a Play. Drama Desk Award nominations went to Liberatore and Malkovich.

SUBSCRIPTIONS AND TICKETS:
Seating availability is now open for renewing subscribers and new season ticket buyers, who can guarantee their seats for 5 or 7 shows at a time, at a significant discount. Tickets for some of the shows in PNT's upcoming lineup sold for $100 or more on Broadway. Thanks to the generous support by Performance Network donors of this non-profit theatre, season packages are available for as low as $159.

Season subscriptions are available online at www.performancenetwork.org, where order forms can be downloaded, or by calling 734-663-0681 during box office hours, 11am-6pm, Monday through Thursday.

Single tickets for all seven shows in the season will be available August 15, 2011. Tickets will be available online, over the phone or in person at 120 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor.

Performance Network members may purchase single tickets beginning August 1, two weeks in advance of the single ticket release date.

Performance Network is also changing start times for weekday events in the 11/12 season. All performances that happen on Thursdays will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday performances remain at 8 p.m., Saturday matinees will begin at 3 p.m. and Sunday matinees will begin at 2 p.m.

Founded in 1981, Performance Network Theatre has grown from a fledgling company to Ann Arbor's only resident, professional theatre. The Network reaches 40,000 theatre patrons and children each year through the year-round Professional Series and The Children's Theatre Network. Performance Network also presents the Fireside Festival of New Works and a series of classes on theatre-related topics. The Network provides uncompromising artistic leadership in the region and produces works that engage, challenge and inspire audiences and artists.

 

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