Bacon, Chernus, Ireland & More Set For Public's IN THE WAKE

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) announced complete casting today for the New York premiere of Lisa Kron's IN THE WAKE, directed by Leigh Silverman. The cast of seven will feature Jenny Bacon, Michael Chernus, Miriam F. Glover, Marin Ireland, Deirdre O'Connell, Susan Pourfar and Danielle Skraastad in this witty, passionate and intellectually charged meditation on love and country. IN THE WAKE will begin previews at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street) on Tuesday, October 19 and continue through Sunday, November 21 with an official press opening on Monday, November 1.

"Lisa Kron has written a brilliant and important new play, and we've assembled a cast to match," said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "In decades to come, when people want to know how Americans lived and thought and loved in the first decade of this millennium, they will turn to In The Wake with joy and wonder."

It's Thanksgiving of 2000 and the presidential election still has not been decided. Ellen insists that her friends and family don't understand how bad The Situation really is. But no one-not her loving partner, Danny, nor the passionate Amy, nor the brutally pragmatic and world-weary Judy-can make Ellen see the blind spot at the center of her own politics and emotional life. A funny, passionate, and ultimately searing new play that illuminates assumptions that lie at the heart of the American character -- and the blind spots that mask us from ourselves.

IN THE WAKE was originally commissioned by Center Theatre Group and received its world premiere in Los Angeles in March 2010.

IN THE WAKE will feature scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Susan Hilferty, lighting and projection design by Alexander V. Nichols, and sound design by Darron L West.

Lisa Kron's (Writer) best-known plays include Well (included in Best Plays of 2004 and produced on Broadway in 2006 in a production that earned two Tony nominations) and 2.5 Minute Ride (Obie, L.A. Drama-Logue, GLAAD Media Award). Honors include Guggenheim, Lortel, Lark and Sundance fellowships, and awards from Creative Capital and the Alpert Foundation. Lisa is a founding member of the Obie and Bessie-Award-winning theatre company The Five Lesbian Brothers. In the works: a new musical with composer Jeanine Tesori, as well as commissioned plays from the Sloan Foundation with Playwrights Horizons and from Drew University. Kron teaches playwriting at Yale School of Drama.

Leigh Silverman (Director) made her Broadway debut directing Kron's Well. Earlier this year she directed the world premiere co-production of In The Wake at Center Theatre Group and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. She has directed more than 15 world premieres including: From Up Here (Manhattan Theatre Club, Drama Desk nomination), Coraline (MCC/True Love), Yellow Face (The Public Theater and Center Theatre Group), Beebo Brinker Chronicles (Hourglass Group/37 Arts), Hunting and Gathering (Primary Stages), Well (The Public Theater, The Huntington Theatre and ACT), Blue Door (Playwrights Horizons and Seattle Repertory Theatre) and Oedipus At Palm Springs (New York Theatre Workshop). Upcoming productions include David Greenspan's Go Back To Where You Are (Playwrights Horizons) and David Henry Hwang's Chinglish (Goodman Theatre and The Public Theater).

Jenny Bacon (Amy) has numerous New York theater credits including The Orphan of Zhao at Lincoln Center Festival, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Omnium Gatherum, Carson McCullers (Historically Inaccurate) at the Julia Miles, Race at Classic Stage, Ivo van Hove's productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and More Stately Mansions at New York Theatre Workshop, and The Arabian Nights at Manhattan Theatre Club. She has been nominated for Jefferson and Helen Hayes Awards as Best Actress.

 

Michael Chernus (Danny) last appeared at The Public in the Public LAB production of The Poor Itch by John Belluso. His New York credits include The Aliens, Rag & Bone, and Finer Noble Gases at Rattlestick, Hunting and Gathering at Primary Stages, Essential Self-Defense at Playwrights Horizons, Mr. Marmalade at Roundabout, and Living Room in Africa at Edge Theater.

 

Miriam F. Glover (Tessa) recently appeared in the West Coast premiere of Danai Gurira's Eclipsed at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Her other credits include St. Joan and the Dancing Sickness at Open Fist Theatre's First Look Festival, a workshop of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Neighbors at the Matrix Theater Company, and numerous productions, including Shakespeare, Shaw, and Brecht, at the University of Southern California.

 

Marin Ireland (Ellen) was most recently seen off-Broadway in The New Group's production of A Lie of The Mind (OCC nomination). She has appeared on Broadway in After Miss Julie and Reasons To Be Pretty (Tony nomination, Theatre World Award). She made her Public Theater debut in the 2005 production of The Ruby Sunrise by Rinne Groff and has appeared off-Broadway in Blasted, Cyclone (Obie), The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, Bad Jazz, The Harlequin Studies, The Triple Happiness, Manuscript, Fighting Words, Savannah Bay, Where We're Born, Sabina, Far Away, and Nocturne.

 

Deirdre O'Connell (Judy) recently appeared off-Broadway in Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation. Her last role at The Public was in John Belluso's The Poor Itch at Public LAB. She has performed at New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, The Play Company, Rattlestick, Signature Theatre, Vital Theatre Company, Lincoln Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Labyrinth, Sundance Theatre Lab, New York Stage and Film, Classic Stage Company and the Keen Company and received two Drama-Logue Awards, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and an Obie for Sustained Excellence of Performance.

Susan Pourfar (Kayla) has appeared at The Public in The Singing Forest and The Poor Itch. She most recently performed off-Broadway in When The Rain Stops Falling at Lincoln Center Theater. Her additional New York appearances include productions at MTC, Second Stage, Atlantic, The Play Company, Rattlestick, and the Century Center for the Performing Arts.

Danielle Skraastad (Laurie) appeared on Broadway in All My Sons. She has also been seen in New York in The Pain and the Itch (Playwrights Horizons), Anon (Atlantic), Carrie (PS 122), Fugue (Cherry Lane), The One That Flutters (Summer Play Festival), A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Continuum Co.), Lascivious Something (Cherry Lane Mentor Project), Cressida Among the Greeks, Red-HairEd Thomas (Ohio Theater), and Save The World (Roundtable Ensemble).

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Executive Director) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 and is now one of the nation's preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals, and productions of classics at its downtown and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day onstage and through extensive outreach and education programs. Each year, over 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at its downtown headquarters, Joe's Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public has won 42 Tony Awards, 151 Obies, 41 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. The Public has brought 54 shows to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk; On the Town; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Elaine Stritch at Liberty; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Well; Passing Strange; the Tony Award-winning revival of Hair; and this fall, the rock musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and the 2010 Shakespeare in the Park production of The Merchant of Venice. www.publictheater.org.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for IN THE WAKE begin at $70 for all performances. Single tickets go on sale on Tuesday, August 31 at (212) 967-7555, www.publictheater.org, or in person at The Public Theater box office; Member tickets are on sale now.

The performance schedule for IN THE WAKE is Tuesdays at 7 p.m.; Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (There is no performance on Saturday, October 23 at 2 p.m.)

The Public Theater has launched the Anniversary Membership Campaign in honor of The Public Theater's 55th Anniversary Season. For an annual tax-deductible donation of $55, patrons can purchase tickets to shows throughout the season for the low member price of $40 or less. A limited number of Anniversary Memberships are on sale now.

The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street. For more information, please visit www.publictheater.org.

 

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