Third Rail Rep to Stage THE REALISTIC JONESES, 10/23-11/14

Third Rail Repertory Theatre will stage THE REALISTIC JONESES by Will Eno, directed by Rebecca Lingafelter* and featuring Dana Green, Michael O'Connell*, Darius Pierce*, and Kerry Ryan*. The production runs Oct 23 - Nov 14, 2015, Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2pm at the Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave. Portland, OR 97214. Tickets available by phone at 503-235-1101 or online at thirdrailrep.org. Prices: Single tickets $24 - $47 (plus online service fees). Admission included for Third Rail Members (monthly fee of $29.33).

Meet Jennifer and Bob. They're the Joneses. Meet Pony and John. They're also the Joneses. They're next door neighbors and keeping up with them can feel awfully familiar. Two couples, in identical houses, sharing much more than the same last name. As their lives intertwine with irrevocable consequences, they must choose between their idyllic fantasies and disappointing realities. Will Eno's uniquely humorous and heartfelt take on the existential dilemmas of modern American life is as wonderful, weird, and moving as you would expect from this master wordsmith.

The Playwright: Will Eno recently made his Broadway debut with the critically acclaimed new play, The Realistic Joneses. Eno received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theatre Award. His plays The Open House and Title and Deed premiered at the Pershing Square Signature Center in 2014 and 2012 respectively. The Realistic Joneses also premiered in the spring of 2012, at the Yale Repertory Theater. Both 2012 plays were named in a short list of Best Plays in the New York Times. His critically acclaimed play Middletown(Horton Foote Prize for Promising New American Play, 2010) received its premiere in winter 2010 at the Vineyard Theatre, and was then produced at Steppenwolf Theatre. His collection of short plays entitled Oh, The Humanity and other exclamations premiered at The Flea Theater in 2007 starring Marisa Tomei and Brian Hutchison. Eno's internationally heralded play Thom Pain (based on nothing) had a successful year long run at the DR2 in New York, after a sold out run at the 2004 International Edinburgh Festival, where it won all the major awards, and then transferred to the Soho Theatre in London. The play is now being produced across the United States, as well as Brazil, Italy, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Israel, Mexico and other countries.Thom Pain (based on nothing) was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Eno's play The Flu Season received the 2004 Oppenheimer Award for the best debut production in New York by an American playwright. His play Gnit, an adaptation of Ibsen's Peer Gynt, premiered at the Actor's Theatre of Louisville, in the Humana Festival, in the spring of 2013.

The Director: Rebecca Lingafelter is a performer, director, and educator based in Portland, OR. She received her MFA from Columbia University in 2005, where she studied with Anne Bogart, Andrei Serban and Kristin Linklater. In New York she performed at Classic Stage Company, PS122, The Ontological Hysteric Incubator, HERE Arts Center, The Bushwick Starr, The Chocolate Factory, Judson Church, Vortex Theatre Company, Target Margin Theatre, and The Metropolitan Opera. She has performed internationally in Korea, Germany, Italy, England and Budapest, Hungary. In 2008 she was lead-artist for PL115's six-month residency with Mabou Mines mentored by Ruth Maleczech. Rebecca is currently an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Lewis and Clark College where she teaches and directs. In addition she has taught at The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Art, The Public Theater, Classic Stage Company, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Portland Actors Conservatory. She is a founding member of Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble with whom she has performed in R3, Song of the Dodo, The Three Sisters, and Drunken Horse Tavern. Favorite performances with Third Rail include Collapse, Sweet and Sad, and Belleville. The Realistic Joneses marks her directorial debut with Third Rail. Other local credits include work with Profile Theatre, Boom Arts, and a Guest Star role on Leverage. She is proudly married to her brilliant husband (and fellow Company Member) Mark Valadez. They share a small cottage in SE Portland with their dog, Harriet.

About Third Rail Repertory Theatre: Third Rail is an artist-driven theatre company whose vitality is defined by its audience's sharp appetite for groundbreaking, innovative work. We promote new plays while exploring the edges of theatrical style. Third Rail exists to provide a home for artists and theatergoers alike, offering a range of experiences to be shared by the audience and the community.

More information about Third Rail can be found at thirdrailrep.org.

* Denotes Third Rail Company Member

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