Artists Rep Launches 2016/17 Season with Award-Winning Play TREVOR

Artists Repertory Theatre begins its 2016/17 season with TREVOR, a tragicomedy from Orange Is the New Black writer, Nick Jones. The play features John San Nicolas as the chimp, Trevor, and Sarah Lucht as his "mom," Sandra. This is the first play of seven in Artists Rep's 34th season.

The star of this hilarious and heart-wrenching new comedy is Trevor, a 200-pound chimp intent on reviving his showbiz career. He worked with Morgan Fairchild, for crying out loud! He lives with his human "mom" - just a regular family, trying to get by in spite of neighbors who simply can't understand. Swinging between reality and fantasy, TREVOR takes aim at the nature of humanity and the lies we tell ourselves.

Inspired by a true story, TREVOR is a tragicomedy about a formerly "famous" chimp, Trevor, who has been adopted into a human family. When the story takes place he has lived in middle-class America with his human "mom" for 11 years. He is a high-functioning chimp with a big personality, who drives the family car and hopes to get back into show business.

"In TREVOR, playwright Nick Jones engages his audience in an act of shared imagination as we seek to understand what a chimpanzee might be going through by endowing him with human emotions, fantasies, ambitions and frustrations," said Artistic Director Dámaso Rodriguez, who is directing the play. "TREVOR exemplifies the kind of storytelling experience that can only be achieved in the theatre: a bold marriage of comedy and tragedy, absurdity and realism that leaves the audience with food for thought and discussion long after the final scene fades out."

"...explore the comedy, own the tragedy" - Nick Jones from his staging notes in the script.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Nick Jones is a performer and writer for theater, television and film. He is the author of the critically acclaimed play TREVOR, about a has-been show chimp and the woman who loves him. The Los Angeles Premiere of TREVOR, starring Jimmi Simpson and Laurie Metcalf, won the 2015 Ovation Award for Playwriting, as well as the LA Drama Critics Circle Award. Prior to this, Nick premiered 2 plays at Lincoln Center/LCT3: VERITE, starring Anna Camp; and THE COWARD, with Jeremy Strong and Kristen Schaal, which was nominated for 4 Lortel Awards (winning 2). His show JOLLYSHIP THE WHIZ-BANG at Ars Nova, a puppet rock musical about pirates in which he also starred as a performer, premiered at Ars Nova in 2008, subsequently revived for the Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater in 2010. He was a writer and producer on the first 4 seasons of the Netflix original series ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, and is currently working on the upcoming series GLOW, about 80s women's wrestling. He is also developing a musical comedy series based on his play THE SPORTING LIFE with co-writer Rachel Shukert for Showtime, and an adaptation of THE COWARD for FX.

TREVOR
By Nick Jones
Directed by Dámaso Rodriguez~

CAST

Trevor | John San Nicolas*^ (GRAND CONCOURSE, THE LIAR, THE MOTHERFUCKER WITH THE HAT)
Sandra Morris | Sarah Lucht*^ (THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH, TEN CHIMNEYS)

Ashley | Vonessa Martin* (HUNTER GATHERERS+ & BACK OF THE THROAT/Furious Theatre, GRIMM)

Jim | Jason Glick* (EXILES, CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION, END OF SEX/Theatre Vertigo)

Oliver |Michael Mendelson*^ (MOTHERS AND SONS, THE PRICE, TRIBES, BLITHE SPIRIT)
P.A./Jerry | Joseph Gibson* (WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT..., HANDS UP/Red Door Project)
Morgan Fairchild: Jana Lee Hamblin* (PORTLANDIA, GRIMM, LEVERAGE, E.R., THE WEST WING)

+ award-winning performance

CREATIVE TEAM

Susan Gratch Scenic Designer
Gregory Pulver^ Costume Designer

Kristeen Willis Crosser^ Lighting Designer
Rodolfo Ortega^ Sound Designer

Sarah Kindler Props Master

Mary McDonald-Lewis^ Voice & Text Director

Luan Schooler Dramaturg

Jonathan Cole Resident Fight Choreographer
Michelle Jazuk*^ Resident Stage Manager

D Westerholm* Assistant Stage Manager
Esther McFaden+ Production Assistant

Dave Petersen Board Op
Dot Hearn ASL Coach

* Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers

^ Artists Rep Resident Artist
+ Equity Membership Candidate
~Stage Directors and Choreographers Society

GALLERY INSTALLATION
In conversation with the production of TREVOR, the Geezer Gallery presents Reverie, an exhibition highlighting the comedy, tragedy, and magical realism illustrated in the performance through visual representation. Using painting and sculpture, featured artists Denise Sirchie and Devin Bernard explore the fantastical lens of warped detachment from the norm. Bernard's dream-like scapes touch on the struggle of the individual reality and the resulting demise of those around us. In addition, Sirchie's mosaic sculptures connect the concept of masking ourselves with the process of taking on a new view of the world. The Reverie exhibit runs September 3 - October 31, 2016. Photos and more information here.

ABOUT ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATRE
Artists Repertory Theatre's mission is to produce intimate, provocative theatre and provide a home for artists of varied backgrounds to take creative risks. Artists Rep is Portland's premiere mid-size regional theatre company and is led by Artistic Director Dámaso Rodriguez and Managing Director Sarah Horton. Founded in 1982, Artists Repertory Theatre is the longest-running professional theatre company in Portland. Artist Rep became the 72nd member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) in May 2016 and is an Associate Member of the National New Play Network (NNPN).

Artists Rep's 2016/17 season offers a stylistically diverse season of seven imaginative and entertaining plays that grapple with family and the pursuit of happiness. The season features

one World Premiere commissioned by Artists Rep's new play development program Table|Room|Stage, along with five Northwest Premieres (including a musical) by some of the best contemporary playwrights in the country, and one re-imagined classic featuring an all-female cast. The 2016/17 selections emphasize the aesthetic and scope of work Artists Rep has been committed to producing for almost 35 years as Portland's premiere mid-size regional theatre company.

Artists Rep has become a significant presence in American Regional Theatre with a legacy of world, national and regional premieres of provocative new work with the highest standards of stagecraft. The organization is committed to local artists and features a company of Resident Artists, 24 professionals of varied theatre disciplines, who are a driving force behind Artists Rep's creative output and identity.Artists Rep is committed to developing new work through the recently launched new play development program Table|Room|Stage. With T|R|S , Artists Rep strives to empower and support Oregon-based playwrights while also creating a Portland home for writers from around the country to develop their work. Additionally, this program will make a meaningful impact on equity in the arts by mandating opportunities for women writers and writers of color, and cultivating the next generation of theatre- goers by creating work specifically for young people (13 and up). Artists Rep makes a significant impact on the Portland arts community with its ArtsHub, creating space and offering a home to more than eight multidisciplinary arts organizations within its facility.

RESIDENT ARTISTS - Artists Rep productions feature the work of a core group of 24 multidisciplinary theatre professionals. Hailing from around the country, our Resident Artists are nationally renowned and award-winning actors, directors, writers, designers and educators who have chosen to make Portland and Artists Rep their artistic home. Working together and independently, they create inventive and theatrically rich experiences for our audiences while playing a major role in defining Portland's cultural landscape.

TABLE|ROOM|STAGE - Through T|R|S, Artists Rep is committed to becoming an engine for new play development. As a recipient of a $125,000 Oregon Community Foundation Creative Heights grant to establish a robust new play development program, the company is creating opportunities for local and national playwrights to ensure that underrepresented voices are heard on stage. The T|R|S program will commission a total of eight plays by 2017 - at least four of the eight commissions will go to writers of color, at least four will go to women, one play will be written for young adults and one will be the Oregon Play Prize, awarded to an Oregon writer. Artists Rep has extended four of the eight play commissions to Yussef El Guindi, Linda Alper, Larissa Fasthorse and Andrea Stolowitz.

ARTSHUB - Artists Rep is also home to the ArtsHub, serving as a community arts center, where its performance venues and lobbies buzz with creative energy and Portland's arts-loving audiences can gather. Artists Rep offers a home within its facility to a diverse range of artists and arts organizations. They can thrive here with access to affordable administrative, performance and rehearsal space, as well as a myriad of support services. Over the last year, hundreds of performances, events and happenings by Portlanders found a place in Artists Rep's building.

The 2016/17 Artists Repertory Theatre season is presented by Ronni Lacroute/WillaKenzie Estate and David and Christine Vernier with support from The Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation. Other season support comes from the Regional Arts Culture Council, Oregon Community Foundation, Collins Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation and Work for Art.

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