TACT's ABUNDANCE Begins Tonight Off-Broadway

TACT/The Actors Company Theatre presents Abundance, the 1990 play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart). An epic tale of friendship set against the backdrop of the sweeping American West, Abundance will be directed by TACT Co-Artistic Director Jenn Thompson, who directed last season's production of William Inge's Natural Affection. Performances begin at Theatre Row's Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street - between 9th & 10th Avenues) tonight, February 17, 2015. Opening night is set for Sunday, March 1 at 6:00pm. Performances will continue through March 28, 2015.

In Abundance, the breathtaking tall tale of Bess and Macon, two mail-order brides are lured to the plains of Wyoming by the promise of new beginnings. As wild and unpredictable as the untamed West itself, this fierce and funny adventure spans a 25-year journey, unearthing along the way the dark underside of American mythology and the unbreakable bonds of female friendship.

The cast will include TACT Company Members Kelly McAndrew (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - B'way), Tracy Middendorf (Ah, Wilderness! - LCT), Jeff Talbott (Sly Fox - B'way) and Guest Artists Todd Lawson (Summer and Smoke - B'way), and Ted Koch (The Pillowman - B'way).

The creative team is comprised of Wilson Chin (sets), Tracy Christensen (costumes), Philip Rosenberg (lights), and Toby Algya(sound). Erin Gioia Albrecht is Production Stage Manager and Kelly Burns is Assistant Stage Manager.

Abundance is the first play by Beth Henley not set in the Deep South. Its world premiere was produced at South Coast Repertory in spring 1989 then moved east for its Off Broadway bow at Manhattan Theatre Club. Tess Harper and Amanda Plummer portrayed the roles of Macon and Bess, respectively. It opened on October 4, 1990 and closed on November 25, 1990 after playing a total of 52 performances. It's most recent staging was presented at Hartford Stage in a production directed by Ms. Thompson. It received three Connecticut Critics Circle Award nominations, including one for Outstanding Director of a Play. TACT's production will be the first time that the play has been seen in New York in 25 years.

Abundance will play the following performance schedule: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 & 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 - $59.25 and are available by visiting www.telecharge.com or calling (212) 239-6200. Tickets are also available at the Theatre Row box office (410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues) between 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. daily. To learn about the benefits of TACT membership, visit www.tactnyc.org or call (212) 645-8228.

TACT/The Actors Company Theatre (Scott Alan Evans & Jenn Thompson, Co-Artistic Directors) reveals, reclaims and reimagines great plays of literary merit, creating an intimate experience for its audience by focusing on the text and the actor's ability to bring it to life.

TACT's celebrated company of actors was drawn together in 1992 by a love of the literature of the theatre. Since that time, they have grown to become a true ensemble: a group that has developed a common vocabulary and a technique based on their specific artistic vision and collective body of work. TACT Company Members, whose cumulative experience includes scores of significant roles on and off Broadway, in the country's finest regional theatres, and in many films and television shows, have received Emmy, Obie, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards, in addition to several Tony nominations.

TACT has enjoyed a run of successful productions since it first made its move from its "in-concert" style performances to fully-staged productions in the 2006/07 season. Since that time TACT has become a celebrated presence Off-Broadway with their presentations of such diverse and critically-acclaimed works as Tennessee Williams' TheEccentricities of a Nightingale, (included in The New York Times "Top 10 Theatre Picks for 2008"), David Storey's Home, Edward Bond's The Sea, Sir Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce, Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy, Sidney Howard's The Late Christopher Bean, John Cecil Holm and George Abbott's Three Men on a Horse, T.S Eliot's The Cocktail Party (included in the Wall Street Journal's "Best of 2010" list), the 2012 Drama Desk-nominated production of Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers, Anita Loos' Happy Birthday, Brian Friel's Lovers, William Inge's Natural Affection, Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy and Frank Marcus' The Killing of Sister George.

BIOS:

Beth Henley (Playwright) was born in Jackson, Mississippi. Her plays have been produced internationally and translated into over ten languages. Crimes of the Heart (The Golden Theatre) and The Wake of Jamey Foster (Eugene O'Neill Theatre) were performed on Broadway. Off-Broadway productions include: The Miss Firecracker Contest, Am I Blue, The Lucky Spot, The Debutante Ball, Abundance, Impossible Marriage, and Family Week. Her play Ridiculous Fraud was produced at McCarter Theatre as well as South Coast Repertory Theatre. Ms. Henley's newest work The Jacksonian premiered at the Geffen Theatre in January 2012 to great acclaim. It most recently premiered Off-Broadway at the New Group in a production directed by Robert Falls with a cast that included Ed Harris, Bill Pullman, Amy Madigan and Glenne Headly. Beth Henley was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play for Crimes of the Heart. Other awards include: American Theatre Wing 1998 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Playwriting; Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist for Crimes of the Heart and Ridiculous Fraud; Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award 2000; New York Stage and Film Honoree, 2007; ATHE Career Achievement Award, 2010. Ms. Henley has the honor of serving as Theatre Arts Presidential Professor at LMU, Los Angeles. She is a member of The Fellowship of Southern Writers, the Dramatist Guild and the Academy of Arts and Science.

Jenn Thompson (Director) has served as a Co-Artistic Director of TACT since 2011, after having been a Company Member since 2002. Her directing credits for TACT include productions of: William Inge's Natural Affection, Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers (2012 Drama Desk Nomination for Best Revival of a Play), Vaclav Havel's The Memorandum, Sidney Howard's The Late Christopher Bean, Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce, Tennessee Williams' The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (New York Times "Top Ten for Theatre Pick, 2008"), as well as Ladies in Retirement, My 3 Angels, Rain and Kind Lady. Other NYC directing credits include the NY premiere of Holly Webber's play Pratfalls (The Abingdon), the world-premiere musical Seeing Stars, (NYMF), Badge by Matthew Schneck (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), The Brilliance Of Bernstein (American Musicals Project) and Big Doolie (FringeNYC). She has developed work at Primary Stages, The Mint, Hartford Stage, The York, Abingdon Theatre Company, The Bridge Theatre and Rattlestick, among others. Recent regional credits include Peter and the Starcatcher (Pioneer Theatre Company), Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike (Denver Center Theatre) Grounded (City Theatre Pittsburgh), Abundance (Hartford Stage - Connecticut Critics Circle nomination for Outstanding Director) The Philadelphia Story (Pioneer Theatre Company), The Syringa Tree (Portland Stage Company), All in the Timing, Barefoot in the Park, Noises Off and Boeing Boeing (Dorset Theatre Festival - where she is a Resident Director), as well as 19 seasons with Connecticut's award-winning River Rep at the Ivoryton Playhouse where she served as Producing Director working on over 50 productions including Damn Yankees, The Heiress, Dinner with Friends and The Foreigner. A 2012 finalist for the SDC's Joe A. Callaway Award for excellence in New York City directing.

Ted Koch (Will) TACT: A Public Education (newTACTics). Broadway: The Pillowman; Death of a Salesman; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. National Tours: Frost/Nixon; Death of a Salesman. Off-Broadway & Regional: The Seagull (Huntington); Scott and Hem (Barrington Stage); Strange Interlude (Shakespeare Theatre); Donnybrook! (Irish Rep.); Born Yesterday, God of Carnage (Pittsburgh Public); Snow Falling on Cedars(Hartford Stage) Meshugah (Naked Angels) Sweet Bird of Youth (Williamstown) True West (Arena Stage, Helen Hayes nomination Best Actor) A Streetcar Named Desire (Buffalo Studio Arena) Whisper House (Old Globe) All's Well (Goodman) Television: The Americans; Person of Interest; The Good Wife; Gossip Girl; The Sopranos; The West Wing; Law & Order; Ed. Films: Cold Souls; Hannibal; Englishman In New York; Love to Leenya; Autumn in New York; Dinner Rush.

Todd Lawson (Jack) TACT: All the Stars in the Midnight Sky Broadway: Summer and Smoke. Off-Broadway: One Arm; Levittown. National Tour: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Regional: Baltimore Center Stage; Studio Theatre; Pioneer Theatre Co.; Playmakers Rep.; Merrimack Rep; Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; Portland Stage; Vermont Stage; Hudson Stage; Delaware Theatre; John W. Engeman Theatre; Key West Theatre Festival; Bay Street Theatre; The Wilma and The Human Race Theatre Co. Film: Top Floor (SXSW 2013); Sides; Guests of a Nation.

Kelly McAndrew (Macon Hill) TACT: Company Member since 2012/13, 4 productions, most recently French Without Tears. Broadway: Maggie the Cat, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Off Broadway: Almost, Maine (The Transport Group); Still Life (MCC); The Cataract (The Women's Project); Book of Days (Signature Theatre). New York: My California (Here Arts); Greedy (Clubbed Thumb); Topsy Turvey Mouse (Cherry Lane Mentor Project); Trout Stanley (Culture Project); Lyric is Waiting (kef productions). Regional: Grounded (City Theatre, dir. Jenn Thompson); All in the Timing (Dorset, dir. Jenn Thompson); Other Desert Cities (The Guthrie); Good People (Pittsburgh Public); August: Osage County, Alive and Well, Dividing the Estate, Sight Unseen (The Old Globe); Precious Little (City Theatre); ART; Huntington; Cincinnati Playhouse; Denver Center; Shakespeare on the Sound; Arena Stage; Baltimore Centre Stage. Film: When the Moon Was Twice as Big (just completed); Appropriate Behavior (Sundance 2014); In the Family (2011 SPIRIT nomination); Everybody's Fine (with Robert DeNiro);Superheroes; New Guy; Out of the Darkness. Training: UMKC.

Tracy Middendorf (Bess Johnson) TACT: Company Member since 2013/14, 2 productions, most recently Separate Tables; All the Stars in the Midnight Sky. Theatre: Old Times (Shakespeare Theater in DC, dir. Michael Kahn); The Battle of Black and Dog (Yale Rep, dir. Robert Woodruff); Ah, Wilderness! (Lincoln Center, dir. Daniel Sullivan); The Big Knife (Williamstown, dir. Joanne Woodward); The Pavilion(Westport Playhouse); Summer and Smoke and After The Fall (Fountain Theater, LA, Ovation & Drama Critics Circle Awards for best actress). Television: Recurring roles on "Boardwalk Empire," "Lost," "24," "Alias," "The Practice." Film: Just Add Water; The Assassination of Richard Nixon; Boy Wonder; The Art of Losing. Tracy is currently filming a television series for MTV called SCREAM which will begin airing in October of 2015.

Jeff Talbott (Professor Elmore Crome) TACT: Company Member since 2012/13, 6 productions, most recently Public Education (Playwright -newTACTics). Credits include Damsel (2013), Hay Fever (2013) & The Triangle Factory Fire Project (2011). Broadway: Sly Fox; Fortune's Fool. Off-Broadway: Such Good Friends; Home of the Brave. Regional: recent roles include A Christmas Story (Ralph); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Vice Principal Panch); The Odd Couple (Felix); Doubt (Father Flynn); Race (Jack); circle mirror transformation(Schultz); and Frost/Nixon (David Frost); among many others. Film & Television: Julie & Julia; The Blacklist; Orange is the New Black;Boardwalk Empire; The Sopranos; all three Law & Order's; One Life to Live; and As the World Turns. As a writer, his play The Submissionappeared off-Broadway at MCC Theater, winning the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award and the Laurents/Hatcher Award. His plays A Public Education (2014) and All the Stars in the Midnight Sky (2013) were featured in TACT's newTACTics Festival. He has written a musical called Imagine Harry with composer Will Van Dyke, and they are currently working something new. Jeff is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

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