PTC's I HATE HAMLET Begins Today

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the comedy I Hate Hamlet by PAUL RUDNICK, today, March 20 - April 4, 2015. Visiting guest artist ART MANKE directs the production.

Andrew Rally is on the top of the world. He's a big TV star, and has just moved into a ritzy apartment in Manhattan so he can start rehearsals for his New York debut as Hamlet. There's only one problem-he hates Hamlet-and when the ghost of John Barrymore shows up to help him prepare for the role, he's in for the ride of his life.

PAUL RUDNICK plays have been produced on and off Broadway and around the world. Other plays include Valhalla; The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told; Mr. Charles, Currently of Palm Beach; Pride and Joy; The Naked Eye; and Jeffrey for which he won an Obie, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and the John Gassner Playwriting Award. He also wrote the novels Social Disease and I'll Take It, both published by Knopf. His articles and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times.

BEN ROSENBAUM plays television actor Andrew Rally, who is stepping with great ambivalence into the role of Hamlet. This is Rosenbaum's first production with Pioneer Theatre Company. He has performed at The Denver Center Theatre Company, The Guthrie Theater, The Acting Company, Gremlin Theatre, among others. His TV and film credits include When Calls The Heart, HOPE, and Distance Makes.

The ghost of Barrymore is played by J. PAUL BOEHMER. Boehmer has worked on Broadway and extensively in regional theatre. Coinciding with another of his passions, sci-fi, Boehmer has been cast in various roles in many episodes of Star Trek. This will be his third appearance at Pioneer Theatre Company; his previous productions were Copenhagen and Ten Little Indians.

SYBIL LINES plays Andrew's agent, Lillian. Lines' theater credits include the Royal Shakespeare Company for two years alongside Judi Dench, Roger Rees and John Barton, and has also appeared on Broadway in Bedroom Farce with John Lithgow,Waiting in the Wings with Lauren Bacall, Lettice & Lovage with Maggie Smith and Aren't We All with Lynn Redgrave. Her screen credits include The Edge of Night, Hogan Family and Murder She Wrote. Lines returns to PTC after appearing in Lost in Yonkers in 2007.

ALYSSA GAGARIN plays Andrew's girlfriend, Dierdre. Other credits include Ford's Theatre, Goodspeed Theatre, Buck's County Playhouse, Signature Theatre and Shakespeare Theatre Company. Her TV credits include Show Me A Hero (HBO). This is her PTC debut.

TODD CERVERIS play's Andrew's director friend Gary. His broadway credits include South Pacific, and Twentieth Century. He toured nationally in the original touring companies of War Horse, Spring Awakening, and Twelve Angry Men. This is his PTC debut.

Local actress NELL GWYNN plays real estate agent Felicia. She is known locally for her work with the Salt Lake Acting Company, where she has played Gwen in Rapture, Blister, Burn; Margie in Good People; Eunice in The Exit Interview, Veronica in God of Carnage, Ann/Emily in The Persian Quarter and the Angel, and others, in Angels in America. She has also worked with Plan-B and Flying Bobcat locally. Favorite NYC credits include: Candy & Dorothy, Tom Rowan's Kiss & Cry and Counsellor At Law. This is her PTC debut.

Director ART MANKE is a five-time winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and is nationally recognized for his productions of a wide range of classics, musicals and new work. His work has been seen at the Denver Center Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and American Players Theatre among others. Mr. Manke is a co-founder of A Noise Within, L.A.'s acclaimed classical theatre company. A frequent guest lecturer at theatre schools across the country, he also directs for television and is currently writing a new musical about Pearl Bailey, entitled Pearl's in the House.

CHRISTOPHER DUVAL returns to Pioneer Theatre Company as Fight Choreographer, having appeared this season in One Man, Two Guvnors. He has worked throughout the country acting, teaching or guest fight-directing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Syracuse Stage, Dallas Theatre Center, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Orange County, Idaho Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Sacramento Theatre Company, and the Laguna Playhouse. He is on the faculty of the Actor Training Program at the University of Utah.

TOM BUDERWITZ scenic designs this production. He has designed for South Coast Repertory, Center Theatre Group, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, Berkeley Repertory, The Shakespeare Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Denver Center Theatre Company, and more. For television, Buderwitz has designed specials and series for every major broadcast and cable network and has three Emmy Award nominations and an Art Director's Guild Award nomination.

Costume Designer DAVID KAY MICKELSEN and Lighting Designer PAUL MILLER both return to design for this production. Mickelsen has frequently designed costumes for PTC and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Miller most recently designed the lights for last season's A Few Good Men at PTC.

Sound design is by PTC resident designer JOSHUA C. HIGHT. Hight is an established live sound engineer in both London and Salt Lake City. His other projects of note include working with Sommerset House for the 2012 Olympic Games, Of Monsters and Men, Collective Soul, Fallout Boy, Slash, the Psychedelic Furs, Citizen Cope, the Dropkick Murphys, Gogol Bordello, Kate Nash, Easton Corbin, Sevendust and many more.

Hair and makeup design is by PTC resident designer AMANDA FRENCH. French has worked for Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Opera, Egyptian Theatre Company and the University of Texas as Austin.

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