La Jolla Playhouse Announces Van der Pol, Ahlin, et al. for A DRAM OF DRUMMHICIT

La Jolla Playhouse presents A Dram of Drummhicit, by Arthur Kopit and Anton Dudley, directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley, running in the Mandell Weiss Theatre May 17 - June 12 (media night: Sunday, May 22 at 7:00 pm). Tickets for A Dram of Drummhicit are available at The Playhouse Box Office: (858) 550-1010 or online at LaJollaPlayhouse.org.

The cast features Kelly AuCoin (Broadway's Julius Caesar) as "Mackenzie Stewart," John Ahlin (Broadway's Waiting for Godot, Journey's End) as "Angus MacLeod," Ron Choularton (Playhouse's Peter and the Starcatchers) as "Minister," Joseph Culliton (Broadway's The Best Man, South Pacific revival) as "Harry Morgan," Murphy Guyer (Broadway's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) as "Robert Bruce," Lucas Hall (TFANA's The Merchant of Venice; Old Globe's Hamlet) as "Charles Pearse," Alan Mandell (Playhouse's Restoration) as "William Ross," Kathryn Meisle (Playhouse's Creditors) as "Felicity Oliphant," Larry Paulson (several seasons at Oregon Shakespeare Festival) as "Reverend Hagglehorne," UCSD M.F.A. student Daniel Rubiano as "Little Nick" and Anneliese Van Der Pol (Broadway's Beauty and the Beast; TV's That's So Raven) as "Fiona MacLeod." The ensemble includes UCSD M.F.A. students Natalie Birriel, Gabriel Lawrence, Jenni Putney, Megan Robinson and Taylor Shurte.

The creative team includes: Christopher Ashley, Director; David Zinn (Playhouse's Notes from Underground, Surf Report, Xanadu, among others), Scenic Design; David C. Woolard (Playhouse's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Restoration, among many others), Costume Design; Philip Rosenberg, Lighting Design; John Gromada (Playhouse's Surf Report, Unusual Acts of Devotion), Composer/Sound Design; Gabriel Greene, Dramaturg.

In A Dram of Drummhicit, an American entrepreneur has found the perfect Scottish island on which to build his new golf course. But as secrets - and bodies - are unearthed, the true nature of the island wreaks comic havoc in this new supernatural comedy by the author of Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad and the book for the Tony-winning musical Nine.

"I have been an admirer of Arthur Kopit's work for decades, and it is a pleasure and a privilege to kick off The Playhouse's 2011/12 season with his and Anton Dudley's new work," said Ashley. "This funny and mysterious play shows what happens when modern American commercialism runs headlong into a Scottish island steeped in Celtic mythology."

BIOGRAPHIES
Christopher Ashley (Director) has served as La Jolla Playhouse's Artistic Director since October, 2007. During his tenure, he has directed A Midsummer Night's Dream, the world premiere of Claudia Shear's Restoration and the musicals Xanadu and Memphis (which subsequently transferred to Broadway and took home the 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical). He also spearheaded The Playhouse's Resident Theatre program and was instrumental in developing The Edge series. Prior to joining The Playhouse, Ashley directed the Broadway productions of Xanadu, All Shook Up and The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations). Off-Broadway credits: Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards), Regrets Only, The Night Hank Williams Died, Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award), among others. Regional: Sweeney Todd and Merrily We Roll Along (Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration), They All Laughed and Lucky in the Rain (Goodspeed Musicals) and Without Walls (Mark Taper Forum). He also directed the feature film Jeffrey and the American Playhouse production of Blown Sideways Through Life for PBS. Mr. Ashley is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award, the Drama League Director Fellowship and an NEA/TCG Director Fellowship.

Anton Dudley (Playwright)'s credits include the Off-Broadway productions of Substitution (Soho Playhouse, featuring Jan Maxwell); Getting Home (Second Stage Theatre, directed by David Schweizer); Slag Heap (Cherry Lane Theatre, featuring Vincent Kartheiser). Regional credits include Cold Hard Cash at Williamstown Theatre Festival; Honor and the River (Walnut Street Theatre, Luna Stage, SPF, New York Stage & Film, Manhattan Theatre Club commission); Letters to the End of the World (Theatre Row); Davy & Stu (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Pleaching the Coffin Sisters (Ensemble Studio Theatre); and The Lake's End (Adirondack Theatre Festival). Mr. Dudley's work has been published by Playscripts Inc., Heinemann Press, Paper Theatre, and Vintage. The award-winning film of Davy & Stu is distributed on Strand Releasing's Boys Life 6.

Arthur Kopit (Playwright) is the author of: Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad; Indians (Tony nominee, Finalist for Pulitzer Prize); Wings (Tony nominee, Finalist for Pulitzer Prize); a new translation of Ibsen's Ghosts; the book for the musical Nine (score by Maury Yeston; Tony Award for Best Musical, 1982; Tony Award for Best Musical revival, 2003); End of the World, with Symposium to Follow; the book for the musical Phantom (score by Maury Yeston); the book for the musical High Society (score by Cole Porter, additional lyrics by Susan Birkenhead); Road to Nirvana; BecauseHeCan (originally entitled Y2K); Chad Curtiss, Lost Again, and numerous one act plays. His current projects include Discovery of America, a play based on the journals of the Spanish conquistador, Cabeza de Vaca; a new musical, Eureka!, about crazy inventors at the turn of the century (music by Mark Bennett); and three new plays, Secrets of the Rich, The Incurables and A Dram of Drummhicit, the latter written with Anton Dudley. Mr. Kopit has taught playwriting in the Graduate Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU, Yale School of Drama, Yale College, Wesleyan University, University of Wisconsin, Columbia, Harvard and Princeton. Mr. Kopit is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Dramatists Guild Council, and The Lark Play Development Center, where he heads The Playwrights' Workshop.

The nationally acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including the currently running, Tony Award-winning musicals Memphis and Jersey Boys, as well as Big River, The Who's Tommy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Farnsworth Invention and 33 Variations. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-Art Theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre. La Jolla Playhouse is led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg.

 

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