Peter Maloney, Johnny Wu and More Set for La Jolla Playhouse's GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS; Full Cast Announced!

La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast and creative team for its upcoming production of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glen Ross, directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley, running September 18 – October 21, 2012 in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

The cast features Peter Maloney (Broadway's West Side Story, Six Degrees of Separation) as "Shelly Levene," Jeff Marlow (Colony Theatre's Around the World in 80 Days) as "James Lingk," Matt MacNelly (NY Fringe Festival's Fourteen Flights) as "Baylen," Manu Narayan (Broadway's Bombay Dreams) as "Richard Roma," Kevin Skousen (Public Theatre's Talk Radio) as "Dave Moss," Ray Anthony Thomas (Broadway's Race) as "George Aaronow" and Johnny Wu (Playhouse's Peter and the Starcatchers, Broadway's Chinglish) as "John Williamson."

The creative team includes: Christopher Ashley, director; Todd Rosenthal, set design; Toni Leslie James (Playhouse's Milk Like Sugar), costume design; David Lander (Playhouse's 33 Variations), lighting design; David Corsello, sound design; Shirley Fishman, dramaturg.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Glengarry Glen Ross is Mamet's scorching play about a group of desperate salesmen in a Chicago real estate office. When a contest is announced to earn the new sales leads, the men resort to manipulation, bribery and even theft to keep their jobs. The Darwinian struggle that ensues is a stinging indictment of a culture that rewards the strong, punishes the weak and values success above all else. Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley brings Mamet to The Playhouse stage for the very first time with this modern masterpiece. The New York Times stated, "Mr. Mamet hears American scheming with an exactitude and delight still unsurpassed by any other dramatist."

"In the nearly 30 years since it first burst upon the scene, Glengarry Glen Ross hasn't lost an ounce of its ferocity, relevance or impact. It's a long-overdue privilege to bring the work of David Mamet to The Playhouse's stage," said Ashley.

Tickets for Glengarry Glen Ross are available online at LaJollaPlayhouse.org or by calling The Playhouse Box Office at (858) 550-1010.

David Mamet is the author of the plays: Race, Keep Your Pantheon, School, November, Romance, Boston Marriage, Faustus, Oleanna, Glengarry Glen Ross (1984 Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle Award), American Buffalo, The Old Neighborhood, A Life in the Theatre, Speed-the-Plow, Edmond, Lakeboat, The Water Engine, The Woods, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Reunion and The Cryptogram (1995 Obie Award). His translations and adaptations include: Faustus and Red River by Pierre Laville; and The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov. His films include: The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Verdict, The Untouchables, House of Games (writer/director), Oleanna (writer/director), Homicide (writer/director), The Spanish Prisoner (writer/ director), Heist (writer/ director), Spartan (writer/director) and Redbelt (writer/director). Mr. Mamet is also the author of: Warm and Cold, a book for children with drawings by Donald Sultan, and two other children's books, Passover and The Duck and the Goat; Writing in Restaurants, Some Freaks, and Make-Believe Town, three volumes of essays; The Hero Pony and The China Man, a book of poems; Three Children's Plays, On Directing Film, The Cabin, and the novels The Village, The Old Religion and Wilson. His most recent books include the acting books, True & False and Three Uses of the Knife. Glengarry Glen Ross was awarded the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play in 2005.

Christopher Ashley has served as Artistic Director at La Jolla Playhouse since October, 2007. During his tenure, he helmed the world premieres of Claudia Shear's Restoration and Arthur Kopit and Anton Dudley's A Dram of Drummhicit, as well as A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the acclaimed musicals Xanadu and Memphis, which went on to Broadway, winning four 2010 Tony Awards including Best Musical. In addition, he spearheaded The Playhouse's Resident Theatre program and oversaw the world premieres of Hands on a Hardbody, Milk Like Sugar, Little Miss Sunshine, Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin, Surf Report, Bonnie & Clyde, Doug Wright's adaptation of Creditors, the Page To Stage workshop of Charlayne Woodard's The Night Watcher, and the West Coast premiere of 33 Variations. Prior to joining The Playhouse, Mr. Ashley directed the Broadway productions of Xanadu (Drama Desk nomination), All Shook Up and The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), as well as the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration productions of Sweeney Todd and Merrily We Roll Along. Other New York credits include: Leap of Faith, Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards), The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla, Regrets Only, Wonder of the World, Bunny Bunny, Communicating Doors, The Night Hank Williams Died, Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award), among others. 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.

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. Founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, The Playhouse 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 hits Jersey Boys and Peter and the Starcatcher, 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, 33 Variations, Memphis and Bonnie & Clyde. 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.

Pictured: Peter Maloney (left) as "Shelly Levene" and Johnny Wu as "John Williamson" in rehearsal for La Jolla Playhouse's production of GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS. Photo by Rebecca Joelson.

 

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