Obie and Drama Desk Winner Deirdre O'Connell to Star in TERMINUS

Monk Parrots announce casting for their New York premiere of Gabriel Jason Dean's (Princeton Hodder Fellow, Dramatist's Guild Fellowship, Broadway Blacklist) critically acclaimed play TERMINUS, directed by Lucie Tiberghien (The Other Thing, Don't Go Gentle, Soldier X, Hoodoo Love, The Pavilion). TERMINUS runs from February 17 - March 10, 2018 in a limited engagement at NEXT DOOR at NYTW, located at 83 East 4th Street between Bowery and 2nd Avenue in New York City. Previews begin February 17 for a February 20 opening.

TERMINUS stars Obie and Drama Desk Award winner Deirdre O'Connell (Fulfillment Center at MTC, Cavedweller & Love and Anger at NYTW, "The Affair," "Nurse Jackie"), along with Reynaldo Piniella (The Death of the Last Black Man with Signature Theatre, The Skin of Our Teeth with Theatre for A New Audience, Madeline's Madeline at 2018 Sundance Film Festival, Amazon's "Sneaky Pete"), Clementine Belber (making her Off-Broadway debut, Mark Morris Student Dance Company member), Vanessa R. Butler (A Christmas Carol & Queens for a Year at Hartford Stage), Jessie Dean (Co-Artistic Director of Monk Parrots, Bum: An All-American Opera & After an Earlier Incident at La MaMa), Mat Hostetler (The Royale at Lincoln Center, A Particle of Dread at Signature Theatre, War Horse National tour), Luke Leonard (Co-Artistic Director of Monk Parrots, Kirk Lynn's The Cold Record at Dixon Place) and Shaun Patrick Tubbs (My Mañana Comes with Marin Theatre Co., Chosen at HERE, Crossing America at Kirk Douglas Theatre).

TERMINUS tells the story of Eller, a white matron, and her mixed-race grandson, Jaybo, who live together down by the railroad tracks in rural Georgia. When Eller's mind begins to fade, her violent past in the segregated South haunts her from the very walls of the old family home. And as she descends terrifyingly closer toward a horrifying truth, Jaybo's capacity to love his grandmother is put to the test.

In a lyrical style that blends psychological realism with expressionism, TERMINUS is a family drama that allegorically asks how are white Americans haunted by and continually complicit in the sustained trauma against black Americans. TERMINUS is the second chapter in Dean's The Attapulgus Elegies, a semi-autobiographical collection of plays about the slow fade of an American mill town.

TERMINUS received its world premiere at The VORTEX in Austin, TX in 2016 and ran to critical acclaim, receiving the Austin Critic's Table Award for Best Drama and an unprecedented 11 B. Iden Payne Awards including Outstanding Script and Best Drama. The Austin American-Statesman called it "a great play that's part of an important, groundbreaking cycle of American work that we can only hope will receive the widespread national attention it deserves" and Broadway World described it as "a masterful work of great power and beauty."

The production team includes three-time Emmy Award nominee Paul Brill (Sound Design/Composer), D'Vaughn Agu (Set Design), S. "Stoli" Stolnack (Lighting Design), Ari Fulton (Costume Design), Gabrielle Randle (Dramaturg), Madison Lane (Production Stage Manager), Alex Stone (Production Manager) and Liz and Jon Weiswasser (Co-Producers).

Performances are Fridays - Sundays at 7:30pm with additional shows on Mon, Feb 19 at 7:30pm, Wed, Feb 28 at 7:30pm, Thu, Mar 1 at 7:30pm, Sun, Mar 4 at 1:30pm and Thu, Mar 8 at 7:30pm. Special opening night show on Tue, Feb 20 at 7:30pm. Tickets go on sale January 10, and are $50 (reserved seating) and $35 (general admission). Purchase at https://www.nytw.org/next-door-nytw or by calling 212-460-5475. $25 rush tickets (subject to availability) are available on the day of the show. The running time is approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes including intermission.

Monk Parrots create concept-driven live work through multidisciplinary collaboration ranging from the experimental to the scripted both musically inspired and inspired by the events of the world. They aim to cultivate new audiences for new forms, provide opportunities for artists, and forge uncommon unions that enrich their practice and broaden their relationships with a diverse group of professional artists and community members. For more info visit http://www.MonkParrots.org, Like them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/monkparrots.org, and follow on Twitter (https://twitter.com/monkparrots) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/monkparrots) at @monkparrots.

NEXT DOOR at NYTW provides a home for companies and artists who are producing their own work. Meeting the artists where they are in their process, this initiative provides each project with subsidized resources and space for development and performance in the newly renovated Fourth Street Theatre. As part of an ongoing effort to expand support for artists at every stage of their careers, this series will serve nearly 100 additional artists in the first year alone. The theatre is accessible from the F train to 2nd Ave. or the #6 train to Bleecker St.

ARTIST BIOS

Gabriel Jason Dean's plays include IN BLOOM (NYTW Dartmouth, Kennedy Center Paula Vogel Award, Laurents / Hatcher Award Finalist, Princess Grace Award Runner Up), TERMINUS (Austin Critics Table Award, B. Iden Payne Awards for Best Drama and Original Script), QUALITIES OF STARLIGHT (Broadway Blacklist, Kesselring Nomination, B. Iden Payne Awards for Best Comedy and Original Script), HEARTLAND (NNPN Smith Prize Runner Up) and others. He was recently named a Finalist for the Humanitas Emerging TV Writer Award for his original pilot, "We Belong." He is a recipient of the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton, the Dramatist's Guild Fellowship, an Affiliated Writer at the Playwrights' Center and an alum of The Civilians R&D Group. His plays have been produced or developed at Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre, The Flea, Oregon Shakespeare, The Kennedy Center, Geva Theatre, PlayPenn, Interact, Stage Left, The VORTEX, Theatre [502], Aurora Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, Actor's Express, Source Festival and others. Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop and Associate Artist with Monk Parrots. MFA: UT-Austin Michener Center for Writers. (http://www.gabrieljasondean.net)

Lucie Tiberghien is a director and translator, born in Switzerland and raised in France. She is an Associate Artist with Monk Parrots. Her Off-Broadway credits include The Other Thing by Emily Schwend (Second Stage), Soldier X by Rehana Mirza (Ma-Yi Theater Company), Don't Go Gentle by Stephen Belber (MCC), Blind and The Pavilion by Craig Wright (Rattlestick), Hoodoo Love by Katori Hall (Cherry Lane) and A Small Melodramatic Story and Geometry of Fire by Stephen Belber (LAByrinth, Rattlestick). Her regional credits include Queens For A Year by TD Mitchell (Hartford Stage), Pen/Man/Ship by Christina Anderson (Portland Playhouse and CATF), The Ashes Under Gait City by Christina Anderson (Contemporary American Theater Festival), Blueprints to Freedom by Michael Benjamin Washington (La Jolla Playhouse and Kansas City Rep), Love in Afghanistan by Charles Randolph Wright (Arena Stage, DC), The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar (Milwaukee Rep), Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes (Arden Theater), Blood and Gifts by JT Rogers (La Jolla Playhouse) and Great Falls by Lee Blessing (Humana Festival). Translations into French include Match (Grand Ecart) by Stephen Belber, produced in Paris at Le Théâtre de la Madeleine and Disgraced (Déshonneur) by Ayad Akhtar to be directed by Lucie in Paris in 2018. (https://www.lucietiberghien.com)

Deirdre O'Connell is an Obie and Drama Desk Award winner. Her stage work includes Fulfillment Center (MTC), Cavedweller & Love and Anger (Drama Desk nomination; NYTW), Judy (New Ohio), Little Children Dream of God (Roundabout), By the Water (MTC, Lortel nomination), The Way West (LAByrinth & Steppenwolf), Scarcity (Hill Town Series), Rag and Bone (Rattlestick), A Family For All Occasions (directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman), Thinner Than Water (LAByrinth), The Vandal (The Flea), Magic/Bird (Longacre Theatre), Circle Mirror Transformation (Obie & Drama Desk Awards; Playwrights Horizons), In The Wake (Los Angeles Ovation Award, The Richard Seff Actor's Equity Award, Lucille Lortel nomination; The Public Theater & Mark Taper Forum), In The Blood, The Poor Itch & 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (The Public), Pyretown (Keen Company), Manic Flight Reaction, Spatter Pattern & Moe's Lucky Seven (Playwrights Horizons), End Days (EST), Big Dance Theater's Antigone (CSC), Two Headed (Women's Project), Fugue (Cherry Lane) and Mud (Signature). Her film credits include The Boy Downstairs (Tribeca Film Festival 2017 Selection), Diane, Lez Bomb, Before/During/After, In the Radiant City (Toronto Film Festival 2016 Selection), St. Vincent, Gabriel (Tribeca Film Festival 2014 Selection), The Quitter, Synecdoche, New York, What Happens in Vegas, Imaginary Heroes, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Secondhand Lions, Fearless and Pastime (Independent Spirit Award, Best Supporting Actress nomination). Her television credits include two seasons of Hulu's "The Path," Netflix's upcoming "Friends From College," and recurring roles on "The Affair" and "Nurse Jackie." Deirdre has an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Performance and was a recipient of a Lilly Award.

To post a comment, you must register and login.