Penguin Rep Closes Season With Award-Winning DANIEL'S HUSBAND

Penguin Rep Theatre, the award-winning theatre in Stony Point, New York, under the leadership of Artistic Director Joe Brancato and Executive Director Andrew M. Horn, closes its 2016 season with the New York premiere of Daniel's Husband by Michael McKeever from September 23 through October 16, 2016.

In Daniel's Husband, Mitchell and Daniel are the ideal couple, everything but marrieD. Mitchell does not believe in marriage; Daniel does. "When their life together takes a shocking and unexpected turn," says Mr. Brancato, who will stage the production at Penguin Rep, "we learn about the power and pain of love in this breathtaking new play."

Described by The Miami Herald as "beautifully crafted, powerfully realized and emotionally devastating," Daniel's Husband is the winner of this year's Carbonell Award for Best Play.

Mr. Brancato will also direct an upcoming production of Daniel's Husband at Primary Stages at the Cherry Lane Theatre in 2017.

Emmy Award winner Anna Holbrook and Tony Award nominee Lou Liberatore join Matthew Montelongo, Ryan Spahn and Leland Wheeler in the cast.

The production design team includes Brian Prather (scenic designer), Clara Fath (costume designer), Christina Watanabe (lighting designer), William Neal (Sound Designer), and Jean Marie Buccellato (properties designer), with casting by Stephanie Klapper. Michael Palmer is production stage manager.

Performances of Daniel's Husband are scheduled at Penguin Rep's Barn Theatre in historic Stony Point (Rockland County). Penguin's intimate, 108-seat theatre, which is located at 7 Crickettown Road, is converted from an 1880's hay barn, and offers air-conditioning, wheelchair accessible entrance, rest rooms and seating, and plenty of free parking.

Performance days and times are: Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m., with matinees on Saturdays at 4:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. There is also a special weekday matinee on Friday, September 23 at 2:00 p.m.

Official opening is Sunday, September 25 at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets to Daniel's Husband are priced at $43 (including facility fee and service charge). Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more and young people (30 and under).

Penguin's 2016 season featured acclaimed productions of Mark Harelik's The Immigrant, Jonathan Tolins' Buyer & Cellar, and Mark St. Germain's Dancing Lessons.

To order tickets or for further information, visit Penguin Rep's website at www.penguinrep.org or call 845-786-2873.

WHEN

September 23 - October 16

Thursdays @ 7:30 p.m.

Fridays @ 8 p.m.

Saturdays (2 shows) @ 4 p.m. & 8 p.m.

Sunday matinees @ 2 p.m.

FUN STUFF TO REMEMBER

Special weekday matinee Friday, September 23 @ 2 p.m.

Coffee & cake with the actors Sunday, September 25 @ 2 p.m.

Discussion night Friday, September 30 @ 8 p.m.

Tasting (before the show) Saturday, October 1 @ 4 p.m.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Anna Holbrook (Lydia), known for her Emmy Award winning work as Sharlene on Another World, was most recently seen in the world premiere of Natural Life at the Gloria Maddox theatre, NYC. Off Broadway: Hot L Baltimore, The Dolphin Position (Primary Stages). Regional: Crimes of the Heart, Three Viewings (w/Frances Sternhagen), My Fair Lady. Film: I Love Trouble, w/Nick Nolte.

Lou Liberatore (Barry) starred at Penguin Rep in the world premiere of The Wound of Love, directed by Joe Brancato. Broadway: Burn This (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Award Nominations), As Is. London: Burn This. Off Broadway: A Class Act (New World Stages), directed by Christopher Scott, Mr. Toole (Midtown International Theatre Festival), Orpheus Descending, (Bartley/Glezos Prods.), directed by Austin Pendleton, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Masterworks Theatre Co.), Rocket to the Moon (Peccadillo Theatre Co.), Turnabout (Ensemble Studio Theatre), directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Sight Unseen (Manhattan Theatre Club), others.

Matthew Montelongo (Mitchell) has appeared in numerous New York productions including the Broadway revivals of A View from the Bridge and The Ritz. Off Broadway, he has been seen in One Night (Cherry Lane); This Backstage Life (Atlantic Theatre); His Daddy (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Whore (Summer Play Festival); God's Ear (Vineyard Theatre/New Georges); Five Flights (Rattlestick Playwright's Theatre); The Mineola Twins and Arms and the Man (Roundabout Theatre Company); and Tartuffe (Shakespeare in the Park/Public Theatre).

Ryan Spahn (Daniel) is an actor and writer who starred Off Broadway in Ike Holter's Exit Strategy at Primary Stages and in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Gloria at Vineyard Theatre. Upcoming: Vineyard Theatre's Gloria (Goodman Theatre) and The School For Lies (Shakespeare Theatre Company). Film: Woven (LA Film Festival premiere, also co-writer), He's Way More Famous Than You (Slamdance Film Festival premiere, also co-writer), and Grantham & Rose (Cleveland Int'l Film Festival premiere, also writer).

LELAND WHEELER (Trip) appeared alongside Judd Nelson and Lindsey Shaw in 1/1, a multimedia indie film that recently premiered in Berlin. Other film & television: We Could Carpool, We Need to Talk about Kevin, Blue Bloods (CBS). Producer of the award winning Heritage Music BluesFest and production manager for live events, theater and orchestra (NYTW, Transport Group, WSO).

Michael McKeeVER (Playwright) has seen his work produced throughout America, Europe and Russia. In April, Daniel's Husband will be presented at Primary Stages in New York City. His other plays include Clark Gable Slept Here, Stuff, 37 Postcards, Suite Surrender, Stuff and Melt, and have been produced at Marin Theatre Company (Marin County), Hudson Stage Company (New York), Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis), Florida Stage (Manalapan), and Zoetic Stage (Miami) among many others. His comedies have played in some of the most prestigious theaters in Europe, including Komödie Dresden (Dresden), Och-Teatr (Warsaw) and Theater in der Josefstadt, Kammerspiele (Vienna). He has been honored with an NEA ResidenCy Grant (New Theatre, Miami) and has been a 3-time finalist for Humana Fest's nationally renowned Heideman Award. He is the recipient of eight Carbonell Awards; four Silver Palm Awards; and three Florida Individual Artist Fellowships. He is also an award-winning actor and designer, and is a founding member of the acclaimed Zoetic Stage in Miami.

Joe Brancato (Director)'s NY credits include The Devil's Music: The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Off Bway Alliance & Audelco Award nominee); Tom Dudzick's Miracle on South Division Street (St. Luke's Theatre); Fall to Earth and Freed (Audelco Award nominee) at 59e59; Tryst (Outer Critics nomination for Best Play); Cobb (Drama Desk winner) produced by Kevin Spacey; From Door To Door at the Westside Theatre; One Shot, One Kill at Primary Stages; Escape from Happiness (starring Marsha Mason), The Big Swing (starring Madeline Kahn, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Marisa Tomei) and Dr. Valentine's Waltz (starring John Turturro, Laura Linney, Gina Gershon, Jane Alexander) at Naked Angels; and Hold the Wedding, produced by Joseph Papp. Regional credits include: Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Canada), Cleveland Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Alley Theatre, Hartford Stage Company, Westport Country Playhouse, Montreal Jazz Festival, Capital Rep, TheaterWorks of Hartford, Cape Playhouse, Passage Theatre and Florida Repertory Theatre.

ABOUT PENGUIN REP THEATRE

Penguin Rep Theatre is a not-for-profit professional Equity theatre in its 39th year of operation. Its home is a century-old barn in Stony Point (Rockland County), New York, which has been converted into a fully equipped, handicapped accessible 108-seat theatre.

Under the leadership of founding artistic director Joe Brancato and executive director Andrew M. Horn, Penguin has grown from a summer theatre to become one of the Hudson Valley's most influential nonprofit cultural institutions.

Since its founding in 1977, Penguin has produced over 150 celebrated shows for more than 400,000 people from the Lower Hudson Valley and beyond, including new works by Lee Blessing, Steven Dietz, Tom Dudzick, Ronald Harwood, Arthur Laurents, Warren Leight, Jon Marans, William Mastrosimone, James Sherman, Elizabeth Swados, Staci Swedeen and Richard Vetere. Many new plays have moved from Stony Point to New York City, across the country and around the world, and from the stage to TV and film.

As The Journal News wrote in 1982: "Somebody forgot to tell artistic director Joe Brancato that he's crazy to use a little barn plunked down in the Rockland County suburbs to experiment with unusual and challenging plays... I hope everybody keeps forgetting to tell him. The region is more the richer for it."

And Mr. Brancato has brought together accomplished professional actors - David Canary, Michael Cullen, Gregg Edelman, Michael Esper, Barbara Feldon, Tovah Feldshuh, Beth Fowler, Deborah Hedwall, Celeste Holm, Richard Kline, Andrew McCarthy, Lizbeth MacKay, Michele Pawk, and Karen Ziemba, among others - to star in new and noteworthy plays.

Penguin Rep Theatre's 2016 season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Penguin Rep also gratefully acknowledges the support of the County of Rockland, the Town of Stony Point, The Shubert Foundation and Cory and Bob Donnalley Charitable Foundation and generous donations from Joseph Grosso, Barry and Helene Lewis, Chase Mishkin and Morton Wolkowitz.

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