Act II Playhouse Presents TIME STANDS STILL 2/14-3/11

Act II Playhouse will present the Philadelphia-area premiere of the Broadway drama Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies, directed by Act II Producing Artistic Director Bud Martin. Aco-production with Delaware Theatre Company, Time Stands Still runs at Act II Playhouse from Feb. 14 - March 11. For tickets and information, call 215-654-0200 or visit www.act2.org.

Time Stands Still tells the story of Sarah and James, a photojournalist and a foreign correspondent trying to find happiness in a world gone crazy. Theirs is a partnership based on telling the toughest stories, and together, making a difference. But when their own story takes a sudden turn, the adventurous couple confronts the prospect of a more conventional life ... and everything changes - in a flash.

Director Bud Martin was a commercial producer during the show's Broadway run during the 2010/11 season. He first saw Time Stands Still at Manhattan Theatre Club in March 2010.

"I have rarely been in the theatre where I felt so transported into the world of the play. I felt like I was peaking in the window of Sarah and James' apartment and listening to some very private conversations of two very vulnerable people dealing with the struggles of building a relationship," Martin said. "It is not often that a new play is so timely, well written and performed - so when I was asked if I would help produce the commercial Broadway transfer of the show, I immediately agreed."

Susan McKey and Kevin Kelly star as Sarah and James. The cast is rounded out by Bruce Graham as Sarah's editor, Richard, and Megan McDermott as Mandy, Richard's new young girlfriend.

Margulies is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Dinner with Friends, Collected Stories, Sight Unseeen,and many other plays. His play Shipwrecked! An Entertainment: The Amazing Adventures of Louis De Rougemont (As Told By Himself) will be produced at People's Light and Theatre Company in Malvern, PA later this season.

The design team for Time Stands Still consists of scenic designer Dirk Durossette, costume designer Brian Strachan, lighting designer James Leitner, and sound designer David O'Connor.

Three preview performances of Time Stands Still will be held Feb. 14-16 at 8 p.m., with tickets discounted to $22. Opening night (press opening) is Friday, Feb. 17 at 8 p.m., and the show runs through Sunday, March 11. Tickets are $27 for all regular Wednesday-Thursday performances, $33 for Friday evenings, Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees, and $36 for opening night, which includes a post-show reception with free food and wine. Discounts are available for students, seniors 65 and older, and groups of 10 or more. For more information, visit www.act2.org or call the Act II Box Office at (215) 654-0200.

CREATIVE TEAM
Bud Martin (Director): Bud is in his fourth season as Producing Artistic Director of Act II Playhouse where he has directed Married Alive, Magnetic North, On Golden Pond, Respect: A Musical Journey of Women, The Story of My Life (Barrymore Award) and Art (Barrymore Nomination). He has directed the national tour of Respect and coproduced the tour of My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish and I'm in Therapy. Most recently he directed Bruce Graham's Any Given Monday Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters. Broadway producing credits: The Story of My Life, 9 to 5, Burn the Floor, La Bete, Time Stands Still (Tony nom.). West End: La Bete, Legally Blonde (Olivier Award) and The Three Musketeers at the Rose Theatre, Kingston. Up next: directing My Fair Lady in April at Act II.

Donald Margulies (Playwright): Donald Margulies received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Dinner With Friends (Actors Theatre of Louisville [KY], South Coast Repertory [Costa Mesa, CA], Variety Arts Theatre [New York], Comedie des Champs-Elysees [Paris], Hampstead Theatre [London]; American Theatre Critics' Association New Play Citation, Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk nominee; a Burns Mantle Best Play). His many plays include Time Stands Still (Geffen Playhouse [Los Angeles], Manhattan Theatre Club/Friedman Theatre, Cort Theatre; nominated for Tony, Outer Critics Circle, and L.A. Ovation Awards; American Theatre Critics' Association New Play Citation, a Burns Mantle Best Play); Shipwrecked! An Entertainment: The Amazing Adventures of Louis De Rougemont (As Told By Himself) (South Coast Repertory, Long Wharf Theatre [New Haven], Geffen Playhouse, Primary Stages [New York]; Outer Critics Circle Award nomination); Brooklyn Boy (South Coast Repertory, Manhattan Theatre Club/Biltmore Theatre, Comedie des Champs- Elysees; American Theatre Critics' Association New Play Award finalist, Outer Critics Circle nominee, a Burns Mantle Best Play); Sight Unseen (South Coast Repertory, Manhattan Theatre Club/Biltmore Theatre [Broadway, 2004], Manhattan Theatre Club/Orpheum Theatre [1992], Comedie des Champs-Elysees; OBIE Award, Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award, Drama Desk nominee, Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Burns Mantle Best Play); Collected Stories (South Coast Repertory, Manhattan Theatre Club [1996], HB Studio/Lucille Lortel Theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket [London]; Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle/Ted Schmitt Awards, L.A. Ovation Award, Drama Desk nominee, Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award finalist, Pulitzer Prize finalist, Drama Desk nominee; MTC/Friedman [Broadway, 2010]); God of Vengeance (based on the Yiddish classic by Sholem Asch), ACT Theatre [Seattle], Williamstown [MA] Theatre Festival; Two Days (Long Wharf Theatre); The Model Apartment (Los Angeles Theatre Center, Primary Stages, La Jolla [CA] Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre; OBIE Award, Drama-Logue Award, Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award finalist, Drama Desk nominee): The Loman Family Picnic (Manhattan Theatre Club [1989, 1993]; Drama Desk nominee; a Burns Mantle Best Play); What's Wrong With This Picture? (Manhattan Theatre Club, Jewish Repertory Theatre [New York], Brooks Atkinson Theatre); Broken Sleep: Three Plays (Williamstown Theatre Festival); July 7, 1994 (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Found A Peanut (Joseph Papp/New York Shakespeare Festival); Pitching To The Star (West Bank Café); Resting Place (Theatre for the New City); Gifted Children, Zimmer and Luna Park (Jewish Repertory Theatre). His plays have been performed at major theatres across the United States and around the world. Theatre Communications Group has published seven volumes of his work. Dinner with Friends was made into an Emmy Award-nominated film for HBO, and Collected Stories was presented on PBS. Currently, he is adapting the novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides into an HBO miniseries. Mr. Margulies has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The New York Foundation for the Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He was the recipient of the 2000 Sidney Kingsley Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Theatre by a playwright. In 2005 he was honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters with an Award in Literature and by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture with its Award in Literary Arts. Mr. Margulies is an alumnus of New Dramatists and serves on the council of The Dramatists Guild of America. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1954, Mr. Margulies now lives with his wife, Lynn Street, a physician, and their son, Miles, in New Haven, Connecticut, where he is an adjunct professor of English and Theatre Studies at Yale University.

Bruce Graham (Richard Ehrlich): Recent roles: Lenny in Any Given Monday (Act II Playhouse) Arthur in Pterodactyls (New City Stage Company) Black Cat Husband in Haunted Poe (Brat Productions) Stranger in Hum (Play Penn) Stu in What We're Up Against (staged reading, Philadelphia Theatre Company). Past roles include Lovborg (Hedda Gabler) Bottom (Midsummer) Allen Felix (Play It Again, Sam) Murray Burns (A Thousand Clowns) and Paul (Company). He has appeared in over fifty staged readings at such theatres as The Wilma Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia Festival Theatre, Hedgerow Theatre, Pittsburgh Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre. As a playwright he is the author of The Philly Fan, Moon Over the Brewery, According to Goldman, and many others. He is a two-time Barrymore winner for Best New Play (Something Intangible and Any Given Monday) and recently won Chicago's Jeff Award for his play The Outgoing Tide, which opens at Philadelphia Theatre Company this March. His newest play, Mr. Hart and MR. Brown, opens this summer at People's Light & Theatre. Films he has written include Dunston Checks In, Anastasia, Steal This Movie The Most Wonderful Time of the Year and Trading Christmas. Graham lives in South Philly and Elkton, Maryland, with Stephanie, Kendall and two beagles.

Kevin Kelly (James Dodd): New York appearances include NYSF/Public Theater (The Brother/Sister Plays, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing), The Acting Company, HERE, Lincoln Center Institute, and 59E59. Other theater includes Adirondack Theatre Festival, Arena Stage, Great Lakes Theater Festival, the Guthrie Theater, O'Neill Theatre Center's National Playwright's Conference, Palm Beach Dramaworks, Peterborough Players, Portland Stage, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Triad Stage, Two River Theater Company. Film/TV appearances includes As the World Turns, All My Children, Guiding Light, One Life to Live, and Law & Order. As an accordionist, appearances include Erin and Her Cello, Zibaldone (directed by Chris Bayes), and particular subway stations around the city. Graduate Acting Program Tisch/NYU.

MEGAN MCDERMOTT (Mandy Bloom): NYC credits include: Natasha in The Three Sisters (The Wild Project), Jessie in The Erpingham Camp (WorkShop Theatre), and Olympia in Big Love (The Wild Project). Regional credits include: The Glass Menagerie, The Importance of Being Earnest, Twelfth Night, Why Marry, Crimes of the Heart, Shakespeare in Hollywood, The Learned Ladies, Amadeus, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, The Bald Soprano, Berkeley Square, Dulcy, and Spring Awakening. She has performed at The Wilma Theater, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, EgoPo Productions, Cheltenham Art Center, The Barnstormers, East Lynne Theater Company, and McCarter Theatre Center. She has training from The Actors Center Studio/NY, The British American Drama Academy, and The Moscow Art Theatre.

SUSAN MCKEY (Sarah Goodwin): Susan has been a theatre artist in the Philadelphia region since 1987. She is thrilled to make her debut at both DTC and Act II with this co-production. Susan is proud to call People's Light and Theatre in Malvern her artistic home, and has appeared in nearly 50 productions there, some favorites being Sabina in The Skin of Our Teeth, Sylvia Stein in End Days, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Huck Finn in Splittin' The Raft, Lillie Langtry in Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, and last season's Emilie du Chatelet in Legacy of Light and Mrs.Solness in The Master Builder. Susan has also worked at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Arden Theatre Company, Lantern Theater Company, Festival Theatre for New Plays, and the Philadelphia Theatre Company, where she appeared in the regional premier of Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo. She is a Barrymore Award winner, avid quilter, teacher, and irrepressible Cape Codder. Susan lives in Elkins Park with her husband, 2 children and 7 hens.

ABOUT ACT II PLAYHOUSE
Act II Playhouse, now in its 13th season of professional theatre in the Philadelphia suburb of Ambler, PA, is committed to creating world-class theatre in a venue whose intimacy draws audiences and actors into dynamic interaction. Act II produces new, classic, and contemporary plays and musicals under the direction of Bud Martin (Producing Artistic Director) and Harriet Power (Associate Artistic Director). 

Time Stands Still
By Donald Margulies
Fact Sheet

Theater:
Act II Playhouse
56 E. Butler Ave.
Ambler, PA 19002

Prices:
Adults: $27-$36
Special discounts are available for subscribers, students, seniors 65+ and groups of 10 or more.

Tickets:
Phone: (215) 654-0200
Online: www.act2.org

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