Pioneer Theatre Company Presents Steinbeck’s OF MICE AND MEN, Now thru 11/3

Pioneer Theatre Company presents John Steinbeck's OF MICE AND MEN, tonight, October 19 – November 3, 2012. To buy tickets please visit the website. Performances are scheduled Mondays – Thursdays, 7:30 pm; Fridays and Saturdays, 8:00 pm; Saturday matinees, 2:00 pm. Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre is located at 300 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City

Tickets prices range from $25 - $44 in advance and $5 more when purchased on the day of the show. Kids in grades K – 12 are half price on Mondays and Tuesdays. The Box Office may be reached at 801-581-6961. Open 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information visit www.pioneertheatre.org.

George and Lennie first stepped onto the stage over seventy-five years ago, and have since entered into the American consciousness as mythic characters. Steinbeck's moving and tragic story, taught to generations of American high school students, is a powerful fable about the human impulse to make-and hold onto-spiritual connections with our fellow men.

The all-Equity cast is led by Joe Tapper as George and Mark David Watson as Lennie. Tapper has worked at such prestigious theatres as Huntington Theatre, Yale Repertory, The Shakespeare Theatre, Mabou Mines, Studio 42, The Hangar Theatre and Northern Stage, and appeared in The Edinburgh International Fringe Festival in The Jammer, winner of the Fringe First Award. He has television credits and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. This is Tapper's PTC debut.

Watson's New York credits include END OF DAYS (4th Street Theatre) and LOCAL STORY (Access Theater), and he has appeared regionally at Hartford Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Stonington Opera House, Triad Stage and Colorado Shakespeare Festival. His film and TV credits include The Undying, Law & Order: SVU, Mouse and Bear, Joy Dawned Again and the soon to be released Pretty. This marks his PTC debut.

Bill Cwikowski plays the old ranch hand Candy. Cwikowski is a founding member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City. He has numerous regional and New York City credits along with episodic TV credits and film roles. Most recently he shot an episode of Person of Interest for CBS and an episode of Zero Hour for ABC, and has been singled out for his otherworldly male nurse in an episode of 30 Rock. He lives in Larchmont N.Y. with his playwright wife Kate Long. This is his PTC debut.

Steven Fehr plays gruff ranch hand Carlson. Fehr has also performed at Salt Lake Acting Company, the Old Lyric Repertory Company, the Egyptian Theatre, the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and the Nevada Conservatory Theatre, where he starred with Sally Struthers in Annie. Previous PTC productions include MAN OF LA MANCHA, ANNIE, SUNSET BOULEVARD, WHITE CHRISTMAS, and many others.

Patrick Halley plays Curley, the bullying boss' son who jealously watches his wife's every move. In New York, Halley appeared off-Broadway in THE MISANTHROPE with The Pearl Theatre Company, which received a Lucille Lortel nomination. Recent regional credits include four seasons with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, THE TAMING OF THE SHREW at the Denver Center Theatre Company, New Leaf Theatre, The Hypocrites Theatre Company, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, Oak Park Festival Theatre, and two summers with Door Shakespeare in northern Wisconsin. This is his PTC debut.

Paul Kiernan plays The Boss, ranch owner and father to Curley. Kiernan has appeared at PTC in many productions including as Caliban in THE TEMPEST, THE DIARY OF ANN FRANK, HAMLET and TWELVE ANGRY MEN, to name a few. He has also appeared at Salt Lake Acting Company and with Salt Lake Shakespeare, Pennsylvania Shakespeare, The Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, and many others. His TV and film credits include Disney's Luck of the Irish, The Maldonado Miracle, Ice Spiders and the HBO series From the Earth to the Moon. Kiernan will also choreograph the fights for this production.

Sekou Laidlow plays the crippled black ranch hand, Crooks. Laidlow has performed regionally across the country, with RUNAWAY HOME, Studio Theater D.C., Theatre at Lime Kiln, and in MY CHILDREN! MY AFRICA!, BROKE-OLOGY, ARCHITECTURE OF LOSS, ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and more. Some of his TV/Film credits include The Wire, Law & Order, We Are New York and Pop Foul. A graduate of The Juilliard School's Drama Division, this marks his PTC debut.

Andy Rindlisbach plays the young farm hand Whit. A graduate of the University of Utah's Actor Training Program, Rindlisbach has appeared with Plan-B Theatre Company, Meat & Potato Theatre Company, Salt Lake Acting Company and Salt Lake Shakespeare. Rindlisbach also performed at Kingsbury Hall with Bobby McFerrin. His film and TV credits include Disney's Minutemen and Dadnapped, 17 Miracles and One Good Man. He was recently seen in PTC's productions of The Tempest, The Diary of Anne Frank, Hamlet and others.

S.A. Rogers plays the empathetic ranch hand SliM. Rogers is a recent transplant to SLC from Houston, Texas, where he performed with the Classical Theatre Company in Uncle Vanya and The Triumph of Love. He has performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, in CYRANO DE BERGERAC, RICHARD III, Ma Rainey'S BLACK BOTTOM, KING LEAR, and numerous other productions. Rogers has also recorded a number of audio books including Return Policy, The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher, The End is Now and Strength and Courage for Caregivers. A member of the Advisory Board of the Ashland New Plays Festival, Rogers makes his PTC debut.

Playing the wife of the boss' son is Georgia Warner. Warner has many New York credits, most notably Jill in EQUUS alongside Alec Baldwin, and Pip in MOBY DICK Rehearsed alongside Peter Boyle-both at the John Drew Theatre. Her film credits include Fish with Martha Plimpton, which was directed by David Eigenberg; Narcissism at the Santa Cruz Film Festival, and Inside Out: Portraits of Children, which received the Hollywood Discovery Award. This is her PTC debut.

Additionally, two canine actors join the company. Bridget, owned by Virginia Harris, and Macie, owned by Sherrie Pendleton, will play the part of Candy's dog. Bridget is a former therapy animal. Each dog was chosen through a rigorous local casting call.

Guest artist Mary B. Robinson directs the production. Robinson, currently head of the directing program at Playwrights Horizons' Theatre School at NYU, has directed over fifty plays across the country. In New York she has directed STRING FEVER by Jacqueline Reingold at Ensemble Studio Theatre; THREE VIEWINGS by Jeffrey Hatcher at Manhattan Theatre Club; LEMON SKY by Lanford Wilson (for which she received a Drama Desk Nomination) and MOONCHILDREN by Michael Weller, both at Second Stage; A SHAYNA MAIDEL by Barbara Lebow at Westside Arts; COPPERHEAD by Eric Brogger at the WPA and TWELFTH NIGHT at Theatre for a New Audience. She was the first recipient of the TCG Alan Schneider Directing Award in 1987.

Scenic design is by guest artist James Noone. Noone's New York City credits include Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company and numerous others. Broadway productions include JEKYLL AND HYDE, CLASS ACT, THE PERSIANS, JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG, NIGHT MUST FALL, THE SUNSHINE BOYS, THE GIN GAME, A BRONX TALE, and COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA. His work in opera has been seen at Glimmerglass, NYC Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, and others. For television he designed Sweeney Todd, Candide, Passion, Camelot, Stephen Sondheim's 80th Birthday Concert for PBS, and Company, seen in select movie theaters.

K.L. Alberts designs costumes for this production. Alberts' previous designs at PTC include WHITE CHRISTMAS, 42ND STREET, MISS SAIGON, THE PRODUCERS and LES MISERABLES, among many others. Alberts has also designed for the University of Utah's Babcock Theatre, Salt Lake Acting Company, Meat & Potato Theatre Company, and Ah! Wilderness, Hay Fever, The Matchmaker, Fiddler on the Roof, Great Expectations: A New Musical and Les Misérables for the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

Lighting design is by guest designer Michael Gilliam. Gilliam returns to PTC after designing for NEXT TO NORMAL, RENT, A CHORUS LINE, and others. His Broadway credits include BROOKLYN, BIG RIVER, STAND-UP TRAGEDY. He also designed for the national tours of Brooklyn, Guys and Dolls and Big River.

Hair and makeup design is by PTC resident designer Amanda French; sound design is by PTC resident designer Matthew Tibbs.

Pioneer Theatre Company operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. Pioneer Theatre Company, Utah's only fully professional theatre, performs at Roy W. and Elizabeth E. Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, located on the University of Utah campus at 300 South and 1400 East in Salt Lake City, easily accessible by TRAX light rail. Free parking is also available and the theatre is equipped with an elevator, handicap parking, hearing assistance devices and other easy-access features.

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