Jimonn Cole, Brandon Gill, Evan Todd to Star in Old Globe's THE RECOMENDATION

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team for the World Premiere of Jonathan Caren's hard-hitting drama, The Recommendation. Directed by Jonathan Munby, The Recommendation will run Jan. 21 – Feb. 26, 2012 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run Jan. 21 – Jan. 25. Opening night is Thursday, Jan. 26 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

The Recommendation is a bold and candid look at modern friendship from an exciting new theatrical voice. Aaron is smart, charming and over-privileged. Iskinder, his new college roommate, comes from a middle-class immigrant family and is under-connected. Soon the best of friends, Aaron takes Iskinder under his wing, sharing his world of favors and fortune. But the safe haven of college only lasts so long. After a chance encounter with an accused felon sets off a chain of events that puts Aaron's life at risk, the two men are forced to rethink the meaning of friendship.

The cast of The Recommendation features Jimonn Cole (Dwight Barnes), Brandon Gill (Iskinder Iudoku) and Evan Todd (Aaron Feldman).

The creative team includes Alexander Dodge (Scenic Design), Linda Cho (Costume Design), Erick Sundquist (Associate Costume Design), Philip S. Rosenberg (Lighting Design), Lindsay Jones (Original Music and Sound Design) and Diana Moser (Stage Manager).

Playwright Jonathan Caren is a recent graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at The Juilliard School. His plays have been featured at Manhattan Theatre Club (Ernst C. Stiefel 7@7 Reading Series), The Ensemble Studio Theatre (Octoberfest), Ars Nova (OUT LOUD, ANT Fest) as well as the Lark Play Development Center, The Flea Theater, Berkshire Playwrights Lab, Elephant Theatre Company and The Old Vic in London. Friends in Transient Places, directed by Evan Cabnet, premiered during The Juilliard School's 2010 Playwrights Festival, and his original drama Catch the Fish, directed by Kristin Hanggi, won Most Outstanding Play in the 2007 New York International Fringe Festival. He is a 2011-12 Dramatist Guild Fellow, the 2011 New York Stage and Film Founder's Award recipient, a participant in the 2011 TS Eliot US/UK Exchange, a member of Partial Comfort Productions, a prime member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, a 2010/11 LeComte du Nouy Prize winner, a Kennedy Center finalist and winner of the Theater Publicus Prize for Dramatic Literature.

Jonathan Munby (Director) recently directed Company (Crucible Theatre), A Number (The Fugard Theatre, Cape Town), 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Winter's Tale (Guthrie Theater), White Devil (Menier Chocolate Factory), The Prince of Homburg and Life is a Dream (Donmar Warehouse), The Dog in the Manger (The Shakespeare Theatre Company, 2010 Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Director), 24-Hour Plays (The Old Vic), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare's Globe), Henry V and Mirandolina (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Canterbury Tales (Royal Shakespeare Company: Stratford, West End and International Tour, including The Kennedy Center), Madness In Valencia (RSC: The Other Place), A Number, The Comedy of Errors and Bird Calls (Crucible Theatre), Nakamitsu (Gate Theatre), Noises Off (Arena Stage), Journeys Among the Dead (Young Vic), Bed Show (Bristol Old Vic), The Anniversary (Garrick Theatre), John Bull's Other Island (Lyric Theatre, Belfast), Tartuffe (also National Tour), The Gentleman from Olmedo, The Venetian Twins, The Triumph of Love and Dancing at Lughnasa (Watermill Theatre), Troilus and Cressida, Love for Love, Festen and The Way of the World (Guildhall School of Music & Drama) and Numb (C venues, Edinburgh Festival Fringe). His recent opera credits include Carmen (Opera Holland Park), Don Giovanni (English Touring Opera) and Sweetness and Badness (Welsh National Opera). He will also direct the forthcoming production of Romeo and Juliet (Akasaka Act Theater, Tokyo).

Jimonn Cole (Dwight Barnes) has appeared in the Off Broadway and National Tour productions of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter directed by Doug Hughes (New York Theatre Workshop), Pudd'nhead Wilson and Taming of the Shrew (The Acting Company), Iphigenia 2.0 directed by Tina Landau (Signature Theatre Company), The Conscientious Objector, Museum, Pullman Car Hiawatha (Drama Desk nomination for Best Revival of a Play) (Keen Company), The Last Black Cowboy written by Cole (New York International Fringe Festival) and The Exonerated directed by Bob Balaban. His regional work includes A Raisin in the Sun (Crossroads Theatre Company), Ruined directed by Liesl Tommy, Twelfth Night directed by Darko Tresnjak, The Merchant of Venice directed by Bill Rauch (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Macbeth (New Jersey Shakespeare Festival), Gem of the Ocean (Arena Stage), Romeo and Juliet directed by Sir Peter Hall (Ahmanson Theatre) and Caliban in The Tempest directed by Garland Wright, Peer Gynt directed by Michael Kahn, The Merry Wives of Windsor directed by Daniel Fish and Roderigo in Othello starring Patrick Stewart (The Shakespeare Theatre Company). His film credits include Spinning Into Butter and The Exonerated.

Brandon Gill (Iskinder Iudoku) recently appeared as Franco Wicks in Superior Donuts (Pittsburgh Public Theater) and in Holler If Ya Hear Me directed by Kenny Leon. He has also appeared as Jim Crow in Neighbors (The Public Theater) and Boy Blue in Cross that River choreographed by Donna McKechnie (New York Musical Theatre Festival '09). Gill's most recent film credits include Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, The Sorcerer's Apprentice with Nicolas Cage and the upcoming horror film Foreclosure with Michael Imperioli and Wendell Pierce. His television credits include "Detroit 1-8-7" and "Are We There Yet?"

Evan Todd (Aaron Feldman) has played Sorin in The Seagull, Lindner in A Raisin in the Sun, Sebastian in The Tempest, Porky in Broadway, Major Holmes in The Secret Garden and Matt Galloway in The Laramie Project. His film and television credits include Vulture Island (NBC), Sydney White (Warner Brothers) and various commercial work.

TICKETS to The Recommendation can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Performances begin on Jan. 21 and continue through Feb. 25. Ticket prices start at $29. Performance times: Previews: Saturday, Jan. 21 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 22 at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 7:00 p.m. and Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 7:00 p.m. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. There is a 2:00 p.m. matinee on Wednesday, Feb. 15 and no matinee performance on Saturday, Feb. 18. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors and groups of 10 or more.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theaters and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for 75 years. Under the direction of Executive Producer Louis G. Spisto, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, which are both part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theater's education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Catered Affair, and the annual holiday musical, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theaters across the country.

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