Photos: Go Inside Opening Night of Audible Theater's SWING STATE

Audible Theater’s New York premiere of the acclaimed Goodman Theatre production of Swing State, written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Rebecca Gilman (The Glory of Living, Spinning Into Butter, Boy Gets Girl) and directed by Tony Award winner Robert Falls (Death of a Salesman), opened last night.

Check out photos from opening night below!

The production has been extended for one week only, through Saturday, October 28, at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre (18 Minetta Lane, between MacDougal & 6th Avenue – one block south of W. 3rd Street), Audible’s creative home for live performances in New York. Swing State will also be recorded and released on Audible at a later date, extending its reach to millions of listeners around the world.
 
 The original Chicago cast of powerhouses – Mary Beth Fisher (Peg), Kirsten Fitzgerald (Sheriff Kris), Anne E. Thompson (Dani) and Bubba Weiler (Ryan) – reprise their roles in Gilman’s contemporary portrait of America's heartland in a time when it feels like everyone's way of life is in danger of disappearing.
 
Swing State opened at the Goodman Theatre in the Fall of 2022 and marked Rebecca Gilman’s sixth play with Robert Falls; their collaboration spans more than 35 years. Swing State was recently nominated for four 2023 Equity Jeff Awards: Best Production – Play; Best New Work (Rebecca Gilman); Best Director – Play – Large (Robert Falls); and Best Performer in a Principal Role – Play (Mary Beth Fisher).
 
Evenings on the prairie are relatively quiet for Peg, a recently widowed woman in rural Wisconsin who still cooks for two. Which doesn’t go to waste whenever Ryan, a dear friend with a troubled past, pays her a visit. However, after noticing her husband’s toolbox is missing, she places a call to the local authorities—unwittingly setting off a series of events that will forever reverberate through the small community. In a divided country where the lines separating family, friend, and foe have been further blurred in the wake of a global pandemic, Tony Award® winner Robert Falls and Pulitzer Prize finalist Rebecca Gilman masterfully unweave a complex, humanistic yarn.
 
The creative team of Swing State includes Todd Rosenthal (scenic design), Evelyn M. Danner (costume design), Eric Southern (lighting design), Richard Woodbury (original music and sound design), Nick Sandys (fight and intimacy director), Alice Maguire (properties), Patrick Fries (production stage manager), and Lauren Port CSA & Rachael Jimenez CSA (casting). Technical supervision is by Hudson Theatrical Associates’ Sean Gorski with general management by Baseline Theatrical’s Jonathan Whitton.
 
Understudies include Jessica Ervin (u/s Dani), Laura T. Fisher (u/s Peg), Jack Lancaster (u/s Ryan), and Erika Rolfsrud (u/s Sheriff Kris).