Roz White and Doug Brown to Face Off in THE GIN GAME at MetroStage

Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin has announced that the 1978 Pulitzer Prize winning play The Gin Game, by D. L. Coburn, and directed by Thomas W. Jones II, will be in performance at MetroStage February 2-March 12 and feature Roz White and Doug Brown.

The roles of Fonsia Dorsey and Weller Martin have been played by many famous acting pairs beginning, of course, with the Broadway production in 1977 with Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn (receiving 4 Tony nominations and with Ms. Tandy winning the Tony Award for Best Actress), a Broadway revival in 1997 starring Julie Harris and Charles Durning (3 more Tony noms), and, most recently, in 2015 on Broadway in the John Golden Theatre (the very same theatre where it had originated 38 years earlier), and starring Cicely Tyson and James Earl Jones. The Gin Game is clearly a perfect vehicle for acting pairs, and we are very pleased to be showcasing DC actors and MetroStage favorites Roz White and Doug Brown in these iconic roles.

Director Thomas W. Jones II has been associated with MetroStage since 2001 and is also a playwright, lyricist, and choreographer. At MetroStage he has written and directed Harlem Rose, Three Sistahs, Two Queens One Castle, Bricktop, Cool Papa's Party, Pearl Bailey...by request, Ladies Swing the Blues, Bessie' Blues, Shake Loose, Uprising, and Blackberry Daze, as well as directing Gee's Bend for which he received a Helen Hayes nomination.

Roz White returns to MetroStage having been seen here most recently in Uprising, Shake Loose and Black Pearl Sings. At MetroStage she has also appeared in Bricktop, Two Queens, One Castle, Cool Papa's Party, Pearl Bailey...by request, Glimpses of the Moon, Josephine Tonight, Ladies Swing the Blues, Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady of Song, and Bessie's Blues. She received a Helen Hayes nomination for her role in Gee's Bend (Lead Actress and Ensemble). She has also appeared on our stage as Mamie Till in Anne and Emmett, a role she toured to Indianapolis, Chicago and NYC. She graduated from Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Howard University and currently teaches at Ellington.

Doug Brown appeared at MetroStage in the original production and the revival of Athol Fugard's The Island, the US premiere of Mooi Street Moves, by another South African playwright Paul Slabolepszy, and, most recently, in Uprising where he played opposite Roz White. Recently he has also been seen in August Wilson's Two Trains Running at Round House and Jitney at Cincinnati Playhouse. Other DC theatres where he has appeared include Folger Theatre, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Theatre J, Ford's, and the Kennedy Center. Other regional theatre credits include Cleveland Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, Actors' Theatre of Louisville, and Syracuse Stage.

Designers include Carl Gudenius and Shuxing Fan, set; Alex Keen, lights; Will Wanger, sound; and Sigrid Johannesdottir, costumes. David Elias is the production stage manager.

Performances are Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8, Saturdays at 3 and 8, Sundays at 3 and 7. Tickets are $55-60 with student and active military and group discounts available. For ticket reservations call the theatre at 703-548-9044 or go online to www.metrostage.org.

For information and group sales call 703-548-9044, or email info@metrostage.org. MetroStage is located at 1201 North Royal St. in North Old Town Alexandria. There is a free parking lot and fine dining nearby. The theatre is handicap accessible.

To post a comment, you must register and login.