A DOLL'S HOUSE Opens 1/20 at Gamm

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) is pleased to launch the new year with a fresh adaptation of A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen's landmark play for the ages. Following such timeless themes as happiness, self-worth and gender roles down an unexpected path, A Doll's House explodes in one of the most famous climaxes in 19th-century drama, creating sensation and controversy for more than a century.

Gamm Resident Director Fred Sulivan, Jr. (Glengarry Glen Ross, The Glass Menagerie, Much Ado About Nothing) directs a seasoned cast featuring Gamm Resident Actors Jeanine Kane as devoted housewife Nora; Steve Kidd as her dutiful, moralistic husband, Torvald; Gamm Artistic Director Tony Estrella as the blackmailing lawyer, Krogstad; Tom Gleadow as Torvald's best friend, Dr. Rank; and Gamm newcomer Rebecca Gibel as Nora's childhood friend, Mrs. Linde.

A Doll's House runs from January 20 through February 20 at The Gamm Theatre, 172 Exchange St., Pawtucket, RI. Tickets are $30 and $40 (depending on day/time), preview and press performances (Jan. 20-24) only $25. Discounts for subscribers, groups of 10 or more, seniors and students. For tickets call 401-723-4266 or go to gammtheatre.org.

Play Synopsis
A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
It's Christmas Eve and sweet, cheery Nora Helmer, arms brimming with gifts, is reveling in her role as wife and mother until a knock at the door threatens to destroy her doll house of a world forever. Blackmailed for a forgery she committed years ago to save her husband's life, Nora schemes to squelch her secret and the consequences of its revelation to her husband's burgeoning career. As matters spin out of control, she must make a life-changing decision that has shocked and divided audiences for more than a century.
In adapting the Norwegian playwright's Victorian masterpiece and setting it in late-1950s America, Estrella said he hoped to make the domestic issues of everyday people as recognizable to audiences as possible.

"Ibsen's play is unassailable. Its structure is bedrock, its themes universal and the depth and complexity of its humanity anticipates Chekhov and rings as true today as it did over 100 years ago," Estrella said. "Our production brings it forward to a transformative period in American history. In the late 1950's, social strictures began to break and over the next two decades issues of gender, class and race would radically rearrange the national identity. But every social upheaval begins with individuals struggling to break free of illusion--those created by society and the ones we impose on ourselves. This play endures ultimately because it is so powerfully simple: It is one woman's battle to understand her self."
About this Production of A Doll's House

By Henrik Ibsen
Directed by FrEd Sullivan, Jr.
Adapted by Tony Estrella

Set Design by Patrick Lynch
Costume Design by Marilyn Salvatore
Lighting Design by Richard Van Voris
Technical Direction by Dade Veron
Stage Management by Kate Ferdinandi*

CAST
Nora Helmer, Jeanine Kane*
Torvald Helmer, Steve Kidd*
Nils Krogstad, Tony Estrella*
Dr. Rank, Tom Gleadow*
Kristine Linde, Rebecca Gibel*
Helene, Joan Batting
Emmy, Brigid Kane
Tess, Fiona Kane

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Props Master, Katryne Hecht; Dramaturge, Jennifer Madden; Production Assistant, Liam Dailey

CALENDAR OF PERFORMANCES
January
Thursday, Jan. 20, preview performance at 8 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 21, preview performance at 8 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 22, preview performance at 8 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 23, preview performance at 7 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 24, press performance at 7 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 27, regular performance at 8 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 28, regular performance at 8 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 29, regular performance at 8 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 30, matinee performance at 2 p.m.*
Sunday, Jan. 30, regular performance at 7 p.m.
February
Wednesday, Feb. 2, regular performance at 7 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 3, regular performance at 8 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 4, regular performance at 8 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 5, regular performance at 8 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 6, matinee performance at 2 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 10, regular performance at 8 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 11, regular performance at 8 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 12, regular performance at 8 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 13, matinee performance at 2 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 13, regular performance at 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 16, regular performance at 7 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 17, regular performance at 8 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 18, regular performance at 8 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 19, regular performance at 8 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 20, matinee performance at 2 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 20, regular performance at 7 p.m.

*Followed by Shared Sundays discussion with artists & scholars. Show attendance not required. Open to the public at no charge.
About The Gamm Theatre
Founded in 1984 as Alias Stage, the non-profit Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre creates the finest of live theater, engaging the audience intensely in current and recurrent issues of consequence. The Gamm further serves the public with educational outreach programming designed to support the theatrical experience, and help sustain and enhance the intellectual and cultural life of its community. The Gamm is a member of New England Area Theatre (NEAT), a bargaining unit of the Actors Equity Association.

 

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