San Jose Rep's GOD OF CARNAGE Begins Previews Tonight; Full Cast Info

The Bay Area premiere of San Jose Rep's God of Carnage begins previews tonight. This winner of the 2009 Tony Award® for Best Play was written by Yasmina Reza and translated by Christopher Hampton. The production runs from March 22 to April 15, 2012, with Opening Night on Wednesday, March 28 at 7:30 pm.

"Sticks and stones can break my bones..." Two sets of parents try to put their best foot forward to deal with the aftermath of a playground altercation between their sons. But any attempt at having a civilized conversation quickly devolves into a hysterical night of name calling, finger-pointing and throwing things. The men gang up on the women, the women gang up on the men, and what begins as a calm, rational debate among adults becomes a journey into the heart of human chaos and savage instinct.

God of Carnage (a co-production with Arizona Theatre Company) is a hilariously harrowing look at the minefield of modern marriage.

"We have four fearless actors who are going to take us along on this very wild comic ride. As the audience watches these two 'highly civilized' couples devolve into practically Neanderthal behavior over a simple dispute, we are reminded how very close to the caveman we may all still be," said San Jose Rep Artistic Director Rick Lombardo, who is director for this production.

Regularly priced tickets for God of Carnage range from $29 to $74 with student tickets priced from from $10 to $37. Seniors and teachers receive $6 off the ticket price. Tickets are available at the San Jose Rep Box Office at 101 Paseo de San Antonio or can be purchased online at www.SJRep.com or by calling 408.367.7255. Approx. Performance Run Time: 90 minutes with no intermission.

Cast and Creative Team

Amy Resnick (VERONICA NOVAK) returns to San Jose Rep after previously appearing in Splitting Infinity. Ms. Resnick toured nationally in The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later and appeared off-Broadway in The Death of Frank. Here in the Bay Area, she has appeared in Body Awareness, Collapse, The Old Neighborhood (Aurora Theatre Company); She Stoops to Comedy, Dead Man's Cell Phone (SF Playhouse); Third, Yellow Face (Theatreworks); The Laramie Project (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Orson's Shadow (Marin Theatre Company); Why We Have a Body, House of Yes (Magic Theatre). Ms. Resnick is a company member at B Street Theatre where she has appeared in Hidden In This Picture (starring with Timothy Busfield and written by Aaron Sorkin), The Clean House, Around the World in 80 Days, and Talley's Folly. Ms. Resnick's television appearances include Back to the Streets of San Francisco, St. Elsewhere, Picket Fences, Law & Order, Paper Chase, Midnight Caller, and Paper Dolls. On film, she has been seen in Haiku Tunnel, The Californians, and Love & Taxes.

BOB SORENSON (Michael Novak) is appearing on the San Jose Rep stage for the first time. At Arizona Theatre Company he appeared in I Am My Own Wife, Fully Committed, 'ART', Scapin, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Actors Theatre Phoenix credits include The Arizona Project, Henry V, Illuminati, and Putting It Together. He recently played Malvolio for Southwest Shakespeare Company. For Phoenix Theatre, he has appeared in Annie; Mister Roberts; I Do, I Do; Rumors; and Play It Again, Sam, among others. Mr. Sorenson's directing credits include More Fun Than Bowling, It Had To Be You, The Bug, Rounding Third, and The Complete History of America for Actors Theatre of Phoenix; Steel Magnolias for Phoenix Theatre; Personals and Six Women With Brain Death for Theatre League; and Social Security, The Gift Horse, the female version of The Odd Couple, and I'm Not Rappaport for Arizona Jewish Theatre Company. His television credits include HBO's Boardwalk Empire and the recurring role of Dr. Stephen Kurt on NBC's Law & Order.

Joey Parsons (ANNETTE RALEIGH) is appearing on the San Jose Rep stage for the first time. Her off-Broadway credits include The Misanthrope, Wittenberg (Pearl Theatre), A Little Journey (Mint Theatre), and Secrets of a Soccer Mom (Snapple Theater). Other credits include Fifty Words and the world premiere of the one woman show Dear Sara Jane (Contemporary American Theater Festival); Rabbit Hole (Pittsburgh Public); Dead Man's Cell Phone (Hartford TheaterWorks); The Shape of Things (The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis); The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Tempest, Two Gentlemen of Verona, As You Like It, and Richard III (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival); and Comedy of Errors and Measure for Measure (Yale Repertory Theatre). She has appeared on Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Third Watch, Deadline, Guiding Light, and in the film Lightning Jack. Joey is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. She thanks her family, blood and chosen.

Benjamin Evett (ALAN RALEIGH) is appearing on the San Jose Rep stage for the first time. He is founding artistic director of the Actors' Shakespeare Project in Boston, where he played Hamlet, Coriolanus, Petruchio, Edmund, and Caliban. At the New Repertory Theatre, he performed in Cherry Docs (Danny), Opus (Dorian), and Quills (Coulmier), among others. He was a member of the Resident Company at American Repertory Theater from 1993 to 2003, where he performed in over 50 productions, including Waiting for Godot (Lucky), Phaedra (Hippolyte), The Tempest (Ariel), The Bacchae (Pentheus), and Six Characters in Search of an Author (The Son). He has also performed at Huntington Theatre Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Hartford Stage, Missouri Repertory Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Cleveland Play House, and others. Internationally, he has performed at La Biennale di Venezia, the Festival d'Automne in Paris, Taiwan's National Theatre, and the Moscow Art Theatre.

Yasmina Reza (PLAYWRIGHT) is a French playwright and novelist, based in Paris, whose works have all been multi-award-winning, critical, and popular international successes, produced worldwide and translated into 35 languages. She has written seven plays (Conversations after a Burial, The Passage of Winter, 'ART', The Unexpected Man, Life X 3, A Spanish Play, God of Carnage, How You Talk the Game) and six novels (Hammerklavier, Une Desolation, Adam Haberberg, Dans la Luge d'Arthur Schopenhauer, Nulle Part and L'Aube, le Soir ou la Nuit. Her films include Le Pique-Nique de Lulu Kreutz, directed by Didier Martiny, and Chicas, written and directed by Ms. Reza herself.

Christopher Hampton (TRANSLATOR) has garnered three Tony Awards®, two Olivier Awards, four Evening Standard Awards, and the New York Theatre Critics Circle Award. Prizes for his film and television work include an Academy Award, two British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards, a Writer's Guild of America Award, the Prix Italian, and a Special Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival. His plays include Treats, Savages, The Philanthropist, Total Eclipse, and When Did You Last See My Mother? Others include 'ART,' Sunset Boulevard, The Talking Cure, Alice's Adventures Under Ground, White Chameleon, Tales from Hollywood, Life X 3, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Unexpected Man, and Conversations after a Burial. His television credits include The Ginger Tree, Hotel du Lac, The History Man, and Able's Will. He wrote the screenplays for Atonement, The Quiet American, The Secret Agent, Mary Reilly, Carrington, Total Eclipse, Dangerous Liaisons, Wolf at the Door, The Good Father, The Honorary Consul, and A Doll's House.

Rick Lombardo (DIRECTOR/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) is in his fourth season as Artistic Director at San Jose Repertory Theatre, where he has directed A Christmas Carol, Spring Awakening, Love in American Times (world premiere), The Dresser, Black Pearl Sings!, The Weir, and As You Like It. He was previously the artistic director for 13 years at the award-winning New Repertory Theatre in Boston and was awarded the Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence from the Boston Theater Critics Association in 2009 for his work there. He is also the recipient of four Elliot Norton Awards and is a nine-time winner of the "IRNE" Award for his productions of The Clean House, Sweeney Todd, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, A Streetcar Named Desire, Ragtime, Waiting for Godot, and The Weir. His world premiere of According to Tip transferred to Boston's theatre district in 2009, and his New Rep production of Bill W. and Dr. Bob enjoyed an extended run off-Broadway in 2007. In the New England area, Mr. Lombardo also directed at Opera Boston, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, and Actors Shakespeare Project, among others. He was previously artistic director of The Players Guild in Ohio, co-director of the theatre program at Fordham University's College at Lincoln Center, as well as founding artistic director of the Stillwater Theatre Company in New York City. Mr. Lombardo is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and lives in San Jose with his wife, actress Rachel Harker, and daughter.

Kent Dorsey (SCENIC DESIGNER) Mr. Dorsey's past San Jose Rep credits include scenery for The Dresser, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Foreigner, The Wind Cries Mary, Enter the Guardsman, The Master Builder, and The Innocents and lighting design for The Wind Cries Mary, Enter the Guardsman, and Closer than Ever. He has designed scenery and/or lighting on over 95 productions for San Diego's The Old Globe and for most of the major resident theatre companies including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, American Conservatory Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Geffen Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, South Coast Repertory, Arizona Theatre Company, A Contemporary Theatre, Cleveland Play House, ALLIANCE THEATRE, and Denver Center Theatre Company. His opera credits include Opera San Jose, San Diego Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, Greensboro Opera, and Virginia Opera.

KISH FINNEGAN (COSTUME DESIGNER) is happy to return to her home town. Raised in San Jose, she now her makes her home in Tucson, Arizona. She previously designed 2 Pianos, 4 Hands and the world premiere of The Kite Runner here at San Jose Rep. She is the resident costume designer for Arizona Theatre Company where her recent design credits include Woody Guthrie's American Song, [title of show], Touch the Names, Tuesdays with Morrie, and Hair; also Go, Dog. Go!, Lyle the Crocodile, Junie B. Jones, Seussical the Musical, and The Neverending Story for Tempe-based Childsplay. Her work has been seen at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Cleveland Play House, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, and Florida Stage. Ms. Finnegan has also designed for California Institute of the Arts, Burbank Repertory, and the Chamber Theatre, where she won a Los Angeles Drama-Logue Award. Her most unusual designs have been for Aquacades in Las Vegas, Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia.

David Lee CUTHBERT (LIGHTING DESIGNER) returns to San Jose Rep, having most recently designed lighting and media for Love in American Times, Legacy of Light, and Spring Awakening. He previously designed scenery and media for Secret Order and As You Like It, and lighting for The Dresser, Rabbit Hole, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Groundswell, and The Kite Runner, for which he received the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for best lighting of a play. He lit Billy Crystal's Tony Award®-winning 700 Sundays on Broadway and its international tours. Mr. Cuthbert's work has also been seen at Opera San Jose, Arena Stage, South Coast Repertory, Intiman Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, American Repertory Theater, and Arizona Theatre Company. He is the theater arts department chair and a professor of design at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

BRIAN JEROME PETERSON (SOUND DESIGNER) is happy to return to San Jose Rep where he last designed Ain't Misbehavin', Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and 2 Pianos, 4 Hands. Currently, he celebrates his 26th season and 71st sound design for Arizona Theatre Company, where he has designed Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Twelfth Night, Tuesdays with Morrie, Crowns, Macbeth, The Pirates of Penzance, A Streetcar Named Desire, Oh Coward!, Over the Moon, Copenhagen, The Drawer Boy, Much Ado About Nothing, Fully Committed, Proof, The Mystery of Irma Vep (for which he won an ariZoni Award), Loot, The Road to Mecca, and the world premieres of Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, Inventing van Gogh, Rocket Man, Minor Demons, and Simon Grey's The Holy Terror. His designs have been heard in many theaters including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Northlight Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geva Theatre Center, and Childsplay.

BRENT GIBBS (FIGHT DIRECTOR) is a member of the acting/musical theatre faculty at the University of Arizona where he teaches acting and stage combat. He is a certified teacher and fight director with the Society of American Fight Directors. He has gained recognition as an advanced actor/combatant by the Society of British Fight Directors, the Society of American Fight Directors, and Fight Directors Canada. For several summers, he taught stage combat workshops at the InterNational Theatre School Festival held in Amsterdam. In Arizona, Mr. Gibbs garnered an ariZoni Award for his fight direction in the Southwest Shakespeare Company's production of Henry V. This year, he will direct Julius Caesar at the Arizona Repertory Theatre, where he serves as artistic director. Mr. Gibbs is also a member of Actors' Equity Association and Screen Actors Guild.

BRUCE ELSPERGER (CASTING DIRECTOR) is in his 19th season at San Jose Rep, having most recently directed Of Mice and Men for our San Jose Rep on Tour program. Mr. Elsperger has also stage managed San Jose Rep's productions of Making Tracks, The Wind Cries Mary, Love in the Title, Communicating Doors, Old Wicked Songs, and The Lady's Not for Burning, among others. Previously he stage managed for American Conservatory Theater, where his credits include Home, Oleanna, The Duchess of Malfi, Nothing Sacred, Golden Boy, Right Mind, A Christmas Carol, Cyrano de Bergerac, Learned Ladies, and Hecuba. Also he was production stage manager with Seattle's Intiman Theatre and Bathhouse Theater, and Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts Theaterfest in Santa Maria/ Solvang, CA. Onstage, Mr. Elsperger has appeared in San Jose Rep's productions of Anna Christie and Desire Under the Elms. His directorial credits include The Dying Gaul, A Breeze from the Gulf, Bag Lady, A Streetcar Named Desire, and A Tribute to American Musical Theatre. In addition, Mr. Elsperger was resident casting director at New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco for five seasons and has been engaged to cast several independent productions in the Bay Area.

TIMOTHY TOOTHMAN (STAGE MANAGER) has been the artistic associate at Arizona Theatre Company for the past eight seasons and stage manages there frequently, most recently for Daddy Long Legs and this co-production of God of Carnage. He spent five seasons as production stage manager for the Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York and five years as company manager for Sunshine Too, a national touring ensemble of Deaf and hearing actors. Mr. Toothman spent eleven years as a program and grants director for the Maryland State Arts Council and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. He stage managed the National Heritage Awards Program for the National Endowment for the Arts for ten years and was the production stage manager for six seasons at the Vineyard Playhouse on Martha's Vineyard. He has been a member of Actors' Equity Association since 1974.

LAXMI KUMARAN (ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER) is enjoying her seventh season at San Jose Rep. This past summer she had the pleasure of stage managing for California Shakespeare Theater. Before moving to the Bay Area, Ms. Kumaran stage managed in Chicago for a variety of theatres, including Goodman Theatre and the Court Theatre. Some of the directors with whom she has had the pleasure of working include Rick Lombardo, Timothy Near, Richard Seer, John McCluggage, Kirsten Brandt, Barbara Damashek, Jonathan Moscone, Michael Butler, Joel Sass, Robert Falls, Mary Zimmerman, David Ira Goldstein, JoAnne Akalaitis, RoBert Woodruff, Karin Coonrod, Gary Griffin, and David Cromer. Ms. Kumaran has taught stage management classes at San Jose State, Northern Illinois, DePaul, and Northwestern Universities, and currently teaches at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

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