St. Louis Actors' Studio to Present CLOSER, NOVEMBER et al in '10-'11 Season

October 2010 will mark the beginning of St. Louis Actors' Studio's fourth season, themed Angels and Demons. This theme will be examined from the minds of some of our favorite plays and playwrights; from lame duck presidents to aging comedy partners - human wants, needs and political relationships bring out the best and worst in us.

Highlights of the season include Joneal Joplin and Whit Reichert starring in "The Sunshine Boys" by Neil Simon and a World Premier One-Act written expressly for the Actors' Studio. "We are very excited about our season, the strong group of actors, directors and designers working with us and our growing relationship with America's premiere playwright, Neil LaBute," says William Roth, Founder and Producing Director. "Bringing great artists from outside our community to collaborate with the those right here in St. Louis will always be our main focus."

The 2010-11 season inlcudes:

 

November

by David Mamet

 

Directed by Bobby Miller

October 8-24, 2010

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m.

David Mamet's new Oval Office satire depicts one day in the life of a beleaguered American commander-in-chief.

It's November in a Presidential election year, and incumbent Charles Smith's chances for reelection are looking grim. Approval ratings are down, his money's running out, and nuclear war might be imminent. Though his staff has thrown in the towel and his wife has begun to prepare for her post-White House life, Chuck isn't ready to give up just yet. Amidst the biggest fight of his political career, the President has to find time to pardon a couple of turkeys - saving them from the slaughter before Thanksgiving - and this simple PR event inspires Smith to risk it all in attempt to win back public support. With Mamet's characteristic no-holds-barred style, November is a scathingly hilarious take on the state of America today and the lengths to which people will go to win.

Cast:

Charles Smith: Alan Knoll*
Archer Brown: John Krewson
Clarice Bernstein: Michelle Hand

A Representative of the National Association of Turkey and Turkey By-products Manufacturers: Chopper Leifheit*

Dwight Grackle: Alan McClintock

 

Rock 'n Roll

by Tom Stoppard

 

Directed by Artistic Director Milt Zoth

November 11-21, 2010

Tuesdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 3 p.m.

Performances at the Des Lee Auditorium, Missouri History Museum in Forest Park.

St. Louis Actors' Studio is proud to again be participating in the Performing Arts Series at the Missouri History Museum for a special two-week engagement of this exciting St. Louis Premiere.

The play is concerned with the significance of rock and roll in the emergence of the democratic movement in Eastern Bloc Czechoslovakia between the Prague Spring of 1968 and the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Taking place in Cambridge, England and in Prague, the play contrasts the attitudes of a young Czech Ph.D student and rock music fan who becomes appalled by the repressive regime in his home country with those of his British Marxist professor who unrepentantly continues to believe in the Soviet ideal. The play takes place over several decades from the late 1960s until 1990, ending with a concert given by The Rolling Stones that year in Prague. Recurrent references are made to a glimpse by one of the main characters of the young Syd Barrett performing Golden Hair. Barrett's physical and mental decline also plays a role in the drama (Barrett in fact died during the play's run). The underground Czech group The Plastic People of the Universe are held up by another character as an ideal of resistance to Communism. The poetry of Sappho is another recurrent motif; its pagan sensualism is implicitly compared with the anarchic erotic force of Rock music. One of the characters, a Czech writer, is named Ferdinand as an homage to Václav Havel. Havel wrote three plays with a protagonist named Ferdinand Van?k, a stand-in for Havel himself. These plays were distributed by samizdat and became a symbol of the resistance. A number of Havel's friends then wrote their own plays with Ferdinand Van?k. Stoppard continues in that tradition.

Cast:

Alice: Rachel Fenton

Jan: Charlie Barron

Max: Jerry Vogel*

Elanor/Esme: Carrie Hegdal

Gillian/Magda: Missy Miller

Diedra: Britni Lombardo

Interrogator/Nigel: Michael Perkins

Milan/Policeman: Kevin Beyer

Lenka: Emily Baker

Candida: Kim Sansone

Ferdinand: Chris Jones

The Piper/Policeman/Stephen: Ben Richie

 

The Sunshine Boys

by Neil Simon

 

Directed by Artistic Director Milt Zoth

Starring Joneal Joplin and Whit Reichert

December 3-19, 2010

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m.

The play focuses on aging Al Lewis and Willy Clark, a one-time vaudevillian team known as "Lewis and Clark" who, over the course of forty-odd years, not only grew to hate each other but never spoke to each other off-stage throughout the final year of their act. The stubborn Clark, who was not ready for retirement, resented the wiser Lewis for breaking up the act when he opted to leave show business. It is now 1972 and CBS is inviting the team to reunite for a special on the history of comedy, with the pair representing the vaudeville era at its best. Clark is convinced by his nephew Ben to revive one of the old routines one last time. Much of the humor is derived from efforts to get the two cantankerous actors into the same room for a rehearsal, their differences of opinion once they reunite, and their shenanigans on the actual broadcast. Neil Simon was inspired by two venerable vaudeville teams. The longevity of "Lewis and Clark" was inspired by Smith and Dale who, unlike their theatrical counterparts, were inseparable lifelong friends. The undercurrent of hostility between "Lewis and Clark" was inspired by the team of Gallagher and Shean, who were successful professionally but argumentative personally.

Cast

Willie: Joneal Joplin*

Al: Whit Reichert*

Ben: William Roth

Voice over/Patient: Eric White

Assistant: James Slover

Nurse: Julie Venegoni

 

Closer

by Patrick Marber

 

Directed by Wayne Salomon

February 11-27, 2011

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m.

 

 

"Have you ever seen a human heart? It looks like a fist wrapped in blood!" That line perfectly sums up Marber's play, which has become something of a contemporary classic since it hit stages in 1997. Closer is a cynic's love story, the tale of four strangers whose lives interweave as they fall in and out of love with each other over the course of years. There's Dan, the obituarist who dreams of becoming a writer; Anna, the photographer who tries not to dream; Alice, the stripper who just wants to be loved; and Larry, the dermatologist who watches it all with a devious eye. It's everything a play should be: observant, amusing, realistic, and above all else, thoughtful. Most animals don't stay with one partner through their entire life, and what are humans but animals? Can we ever truly find our "soulmates," or are we meant to just drift in and out of love throughout our lives? If Marber knows, he doesn't show it. Closer is one great, big, hard-hitting question, spoken by Alice: "Why isn't love enough?"

 

 

Cast:

Anna: Meghan Maguire
Larry: John Pierson *
Dan: Christopher Lawyer
Alice: TBD

Just Desserts

June 3-19, 2011

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m.

A Neil LaBute Festival, An evening of premiere monologues and one-acts including one World Premier written expressly for The St. Louis Actors' Studio.

"A tough-minded writer."- Michael Kuchwara, The Washington Post.

"There is no playwright on the planet these days who is writing better than Neil LaBute...a master." - John Lahr, The New Yorker

"A playwright [with] an unparalleled ear for dialogue."- Jacque Le Sourd, The Journal News

Cast: TBD

*Denotes member of Actors' Equity Association

Unless otherwise noted, shows are performed at The Gaslight Theater, 358 N. Boyle, in the CentrAl West End.

 

 

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