Full Casting Announced for Marans' 'THE TEMPERAMENTALS', Previews Begin 4/30

MAN underdog presents "The Temperamentals" by Jon Marans, Off Broadway at The Barrow Group Studio Theater, 312 West 36 Street 3rd Floor. Previews begin Thursday, April 30, 2009 and the opening is Monday, May 4 at 8:00 pm for the limited engagement. The full cast has been announced and includes Tom Beckett, Thomas Jay Ryan, Matthew Schneck, Michael Urie & Sam Breslin Wright. It is directed by Jonathan Silverstein.

Set & Costume design is by Clint Ramos, lighting by Josh Bradford and Daniel Kluger is the sound designer. Classical composer and vocal coach Aaron Dai is the Musical Consultant. "Temperamental" was a code word for "homosexual" in the early 1950s, part of a created language of secret words that gay men used to communicate. In this underground world, danger was always an underlying presence. But with it, a heady, intoxicating secrecy also hung in the air.

Each of the actors plays one of the original five founding members of the Mattachine Society. The original founding fathers were Harry Hay, Rudi Gernreich, Chuck Rowland, Bob Hull, and Dale Jennings. Thomas Jay Ryan plays Harry Hay; Michael Urie plays Rudi Gernreich; Tom Beckett plays Chuck Rowl, Vincente Minnelli and other roles; Matthew Schneck plays Bob Hull and others; and Sam Breslin Wright plays Dale Jennings and other roles.

"The Temperamentals" tells the story of two men - the communist Harry Hay and the young Viennese refugee and designer Rudi Gernreich, weaving together the personal and political to tell a relatively unknown chapter in gay history. It explores the love between two complex men, while they build the first gay rights organization in the United States pre Stonewall. This is the perilous, unpredictable world these men inhabit as their impossible dream of forming such an unheard of organization becomes a reality. They must navigate their relationship in new and surprising ways. "The Temperamentals" is an intimate portrayal of the men who created history and the epic struggles they overcame. The characters consist of the actual men who founded the Mattachine Society, as well as prominent figures of the time such as Frank Tavener of the House Un-American Committee and the director Vincente Minnelli.

Jon Marans' "Old Wicked Songs" was a 1996 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama, winner of New York Drama League, L.A. Drama Logue Award, and included in Otis Guernsey's Best Plays of 1996-97. Premiering at the Barrow Group, it then transferred to the Promenade Theater and has been produced in over a dozen countries including in London's West End with Bob Hoskins and James Callis. Some other shows are: "A Strange and Separate People"; "Jumping For Joy"; "Legacy of the Dragonslayers", based on Studs Terkel's "Coming of Age" and "Irrationals". Jon and Yuri Sivo were hired by Universal Pictures and Tribeca Films to write a political/war screenplay based on the acclaimed book CHASING THE DRAGON. Robert DeNiro is slated to play the role of Henry Luce.

Jonathan Silverstein recent credits are the acclaimed Off Broadway revivals of "The Dining Room" (Drama Desk nomination; Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble) and "Tea and Sympathy", both for the Keen Company, where he serves as Resident Director. Some other NYC credits include: Cocteau's "Indiscretions", "Red Herring" (New York International Fringe Festival; "Outstanding Direction" award), "The Hasty Heart" to name a few. Some regional credits are: "The Fantasticks", "Urinetown", "Tick, Tick, BOOM!", "Much Ado About Nothing", and "Cymbeline". He has directed at Cleveland Play House, Merrimack Repertory, The Theatre at Monmouth as well as worked at The Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse, The Roundabout Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, Primary Stages, The Signature Theatre, and Playwrights Horizons. www.jonnysilver.com

Performances of the limited Off Broadway engagement of "The Temperamentals" are: Friday - Monday at 8 pm and matinees on Sunday at 4 pm; with special performances on Thursday, April 30 at 8 pm and Saturday, May 2 at 2 pm through May 18. There is no performance Saturday evening 5/2. Tickets are only $18.00. They will be available through Smarttix: online at www.smarttix.com or by phone at (212) 868-4444.

 

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