Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs to Present Thornton Wilder's THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH, 2/27-3/9

The Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Programs presents Thornton Wilder's profoundly philosophical and epic comedic-drama, The Skin of Our Teeth, directed by Taibi Magar (Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs '14). Propelling through time and place, the Antrobus family perseveres against an ice age, politics, and world war, only to discover that some things never change. A raw awakening to the depths of human survival, The Skin of our Teeth, exposes the meaning behind faith and the nature behind what it truly means to be a family. Performances run February 27 through March 9 in the Pell Chafee Performance Center, 87 Empire Street, Providence. General admission $12, and $6 for students and seniors. Tickets are on-sale now at the Trinity Rep box office, by phone (401) 351-4242, and online at www.trinityrep.com.

Meet the Antrobus family. Married only 5,000 years, Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus have two wonderfully perfect children, Gladys and Henry; and a melodramatic house-maid, Sabina. This suburban American conformist nuclear family struggles to hold their ground in the face of cataclysmic shifts as they escape one disaster from another. From the Depression to an apocalyptic Ice Age and even a war, The Skin of our Teeth illustrates the ever-changing and tenuous faith in humanity that leads us to question the existence of mankind and the nature of relationships.

"As global warming's sirens ring louder every day, as political sex scandals still flourish, as the nature of a family is hotly debated and our technological isolation abounds, this play is as fresh as ever," explains director Taibi Magar of the1943 Pulitzer Prize winning Drama. "The events in the play could very well happen to us tomorrow."

"Family is both a burden and a gift, and it doesn't shine any brighter than in this play," says Magar. Setting this play apart from other productions, Magar considers her Middle-Eastern American background, exploring the, "Increasingly complex and more silent versions of racism that we are dealing with in this country today."

The cast features third-year MFA acting students Ben Chase (Mr. Antrobus), Alex Curtis (Homer), Catherine Dupont (Ivy), Sherri Eldin (Fortune Teller), Greg Fallick (Telegraph Boy), Ben Grills (Dinosaur), Steven Jaehnert (Moses), Sylvia Kates (Gladys), Tangela Large (Sabina), Mark Larson (Mammoth), Elise LeBreton (Mrs. Antrobus), Zdenko Martin (Henry), Nikki Massoud (Miss M Muse), Ted Moller (Stage Manager), Carisa Anik Platt (Miss T Muse), Matt E. Russell (Mammoth) and Bridget Saracino (Miss E Muse).

Taibi Magar's recent directing credits include Marisol, The Winter's Tale and Small Craft Warnings for the Brown/Trinity MFA Program; co-direction of The Dime Show for Women's Project; On the 5:31 and The Upstart for Rising Phoenix Rep; Rum & Vodka at Faux Real; Kindertransport, The Wake of Jamey Foster, Fran's Bed at NYU Tisch; and Circle Mirror Transformation for Otterbein Summer Theatre. As assistant, she has worked at Trinity Rep, The Public Theater, Alley Theatre, Shakespeare on the Sound and Broadway's production of Exit The King. She was a 2008 Public Theater Shakespeare Lab Directing Fellow, and participated in the TFANA Actors and Directors Project. A Stephen Sondheim Directing Fellow at Brown/Trinity Rep. she will also be a Directing Fellow at Oregon Shakespeare Festival for their production with Stew's new musical Family Album.

The Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Programs provides a three-year professional training program for eighteen students under the auspices of an Ivy League University and Rhode Island's Tony Award-winning theater company. Brown University's Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance is internationally recognized for the quality of its faculty and instruction. Trinity Rep, with its deep tradition of resident artists, provides powerful artistic assets and creates a firm foundation for a new generation of theater artists.

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