Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Closes A SUMMER DAY Today

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's American premiere of A Summer Day, a play written by Jon Fosse (International Ibsen Award in 2010), and directed and translated by Sarah Cameron Sunde, will end its extended run today, December 8. 

The second production of the company’s 18th season, A Summer Day opened Thursday, October 25, at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street, off Seventh Avenue South).

A man goes out on the water every day. He’ll be back soon. But I feel so anxious. It’s probably nothing. Set in an idyllic, but isolated old house overlooking the water, and in two different times, A Summer Day captures the dilemma of love in the moment, and as a distant memory. Fosse's poetic, haunting, everyday language reminds us of the potential in every moment and the suspense of being alive.

The cast includes Carlo Alban, Karen Allen, McCaleb Burnett, Maren Bush, Pamela Shaw, and Samantha Soule.

The creative team features John McDermott (scenic design), Deb O (costume design), Nicole Pearce (lighting design), Leah Gelpe (sound design), and Andrew Diaz (properties). Katie Fergerson is production stage manager and Sam Horwith is assistant stage manager.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theateris a multi-award-winning company which has produced over sixty world premieres in the past seventeen seasons and was the recipient of the 2007 Ross Wetzsteon Memorial OBIE Award for its work developing new and innovative work. Previous plays include Two Boys in a Bed, Message to Michael, Carpool, Volunteer Man, A Trip to the Beach, Ascendancy, Stuck, Vick’s Boy, The Messenger, Saved or Destroyed, Neil’s Garden, My Special Friend, Faster, Bliss, St. Crispin’s Day, Where We’re Born, Five Flights, Boise, Finer Noble Gases, God Hates The Irish: The Ballad of Armless Johnny, Miss Julie, Acts of Mercy: passion-play, Cagelove, It Goes Without Saying, Dark Matters, Stay, American Sligo, Rag and Bone, War, Geometry of Fire, That Pretty Pretty or The Rape Play, The Amish Project, Killers and Other Family, Post No Bills, Blind, Little Doc, underneathmybed, There Are No More Big Secrets, The Hallway Trilogy, Carson McCullers Talks About Love, The Wood, Asuncion, Horsedreams, Yosemite, Massacre (Sing to Your Children), 3C, the Off-Broadway GLAAD Award-nominated hit The Last Sunday in June, Craig Wright’s The Pavilion (Drama Desk nominee - Outstanding Play of 2005) and Lady (Drama Desk nominee – Outstanding Play of 2008), as well as The Aliens by Annie Baker (2010 Obie Award winner for Best New American Play).

Jon Fosse (Playwright) Jon Fosse is widely considered one of the world's greatest contemporary playwrights; a contemporary equivalent to Ibsen in his time. Fosse's works have been translated into more than 40 languages, and his 30+ plays have been performed in more than 750 productions around the world. His plays include And never we’ll be parted, Someone is going to come, Night sings its songs, deathvariations, Sa ka la, and I am the wind. Among his many prestigious honors, Fosse was made a chevalier in 2007, awarded the International Ibsen Award in 2010, and is the third artist since 1922 to have been granted the Grotten - the honorary artistic residence on the grounds of the Royal Palace in Oslo. Fosse's work has been described by the New York Times as "fierce poetic simplicity."

Sarah Cameron Sunde (Director/Translator) is New York-based director of new plays and creator of interdisciplinary performance work. For Rattlestick, she directed THE AMISH PROJECT by Jessica Dickey which has gone on to productions around the country. A Summer Day marks Sunde’s fourth production of a play by Jon Fosse. She has worked as his director/translator in the U.S. since 2003 and he considers her “his American voice.” Earlier Fosse U.S. premieres: NIGHT SINGS ITS SONGS (2004), DEATHVARIATIONS (2006) and SA KA LA (2008), all produced by Oslo Elsewhere at 45 Bleecker Theater and 59E59. Her translations have been published by PAJ and Words without Borders and she speaks regularly about the art of translation. Other directing work includes U.S. premieres of:THE ASPHALT KISS by Nelson Rodrigues (Brazil’s leading playwright, 59E59), THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL by MArielle Heller (3LD Art & Technology Center), NO PLACE CALLED HOME (3LD, Kennedy Center, Illusion Theater et al), GOOD HEIF (New Georges), WHAT MAY FALL by Peter Gil-Sheridan (Guthrie Studio). Other work includes UNNAMED BROADWAY MUSICAL, THE MUSICAL with Kara Hearn at EFA Project Space and performances with Lydian Junction at Figment, 3LD, BAX and [the end]. Since 2001, Sunde has worked with Susan Bernfield as the Deputy Artistic Director of New Georges. Honors include: American Scandinavian Society Artist Award; Hermitage Foundation Residency; NYtheatre.com Person-of-the-Year Award; Princess Grace Award. With her interdisciplinary contemporary performance group, Lydian Junction, she is currently creating UNTITLED #4. SarahCameronSunde.com / LydianJunction.com

For more about Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, visit www.rattlestick.org.