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RUBICON THEATRE COMPANY presents William Inge's "BUS STOP" - OPENS FEBRUARY 23!
RUBICON THEATRE COMPANY presents William Inge's "BUS STOP" - OPENS FEBRUARY 23!
02/04/2008 (02:36 PM)
ATTN: ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS, REVIEWERS AND CALENDAR LISTINGS EDITORS
Rubicon Theatre Company presents Pulitzer Prize-winner William Inge’s BUS STOP Directed by Brian McDonald
“…two people, really in love, must give up something of themselves.” February 4, 2008…Ventura, CA… Rubicon Theatre Company continues its 10th Anniversary Season February 21st with Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winner William Inge’s BUS STOP, directed by Brian McDonald. The cast will feature Ojai resident John Bennett Perry as Virgil, Broadway (Thoroughly Modern Millie) and West End (Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Woman in White) star Angela Christian as Cherie, and Rubicon new-comer Jason Chanos as Bo. This American classic, written in the 1950’s, takes place one late night when a blizzard traps a hodge-podge of characters in Grace’s Diner. However, Inge infuses this seemingly simple scene of the American mid-West with great warmth and tenderness. The ordinary folk of BUS STOP are deeply sympathetic as they struggle with their individual loves, longings, and loneliness. There’s Bo, a smitten cowboy whose desires have led him to kidnap the girl of his dreams; Virgil, the old ranch hand who tries to keep his young protégé in check; Cherie, a fragile young chanteuse who can’t decide what type of a love she wants (but she doubts it’s Bo’s); Elma, a naive and precocious young waitress who’d like a little romance herself; Grace, owner of the diner and widow who has some needs that remain unfulfilled; Carl, the amiable bus driver with an eye for Grace; Dr. Lyman, an alcoholic professor with a penchant for young girls; and Will, the sheriff who manages to be a source of wisdom and keep everyone in line. This panoply of humanity has delighted audiences for over 50 years. The show premiered on Broadway in 1955 with Elaine Stritch in the role of Grace for which she earned her first Tony nomination. At that time, theatre critic William Hawkes wrote of the play, “…it has the same irresistible glow about it that makes a fire magnetic to people coming in out of the cold.” The movie with Marilyn Monroe as Cherie followed in 1956, and a stage revival with Mary-Louise Parker as Cherie and Billy Crudup as Bo played at Circle in the Square in 1996. Regarding that production, New York Times theatre critic Vincent Canby wrote that, “BUS STOP… discovers the fresh and the particular within characters who can too easily be seen as archetypes of humdrum Americana.” Says Rubicon Producing Artistic Director Karyl Lynn Burns, “We included Bus Stop in this 10th anniversary season because it is such a fulfilling depiction and celebration of humanity – with all its struggles and hardships, ups and downs, it is still joyful. We wanted that joy to resonate throughout the season.” BUS STOP premieres at Rubicon February 21, 2008, has its opening gala February 23, 2008 and runs through March 16th, 2008. Tickets are available via the Rubicon box office at (805) 667-2900 or online at _www.rubicontheatre.org_ (http://www.rubicontheatre.org/) . About the Creative Team BRIAN McDONALD, directs his second mainstage production at Rubicon, following the 2002 production of Forever Plaid. Brian is a B.F.A. graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music, Dance and Theatre. He currently manages Rubicon's education programs and has taught after-school, weekend and summer classes for the past five years. Brian is Founding Director of Rubicon's Jack Oakie Summer Musical Theatre Camp and Summer Acting Intensive, and in that capacity helmed productions of Once on this Island, Bye, Bye Birdie, Our Town, Schoolhouse Rock, Jr. and others. As an actor, he has appeared in Rubicon's productions of Man of La Mancha and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other appearances include MTG's Saturday Night, Edward II directed by Michael Michetti (LA Weekly Award for Best Supporting Actor), Sideman at Ensemble Theatre, National Tours of Miss Saigon and Forever Plaid, and work with Denver Center, Theatre Virginia, Lyric Stage, La Mirada Performing Arts Center and the Ahmanson. The design team for BUS STOP reunites several Rubicon veterans: Scenic and Lighting Designer Thomas S. Giamaro (over 15 productions with Rubicon, including The Little Foxes, Rainmaker, Dancing with Lughnasa, Art, Old Wicked Songs, Man of La Mancha, and the Ovation nominated The Diary of Anne Frank); Rubicon’s first Resident Sound Designer David Beaudry (Rubicon’s Night of the Iguana, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Turn of the Screw, The Diary of Anne Frank, Hamlet and You Can’t Take It With You); Emmy® nominated Costume Designer Marcy Froehlich (who designed Rubicon’s Ovation nominated Hamlet as well as “ American Beauty,” “The Miss America Pageant” and Rubicon’s Man of La Mancha, The Importance of Being Earnest, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and Dialect Coach Joel Goldes (Rubicon’s Hamlet, The Diary of Anne Frank as well as “War of the Worlds,” “Bobby,” “Syriana,” “CSI,” “Heroes,” “Without a Trace,” “Lost,” HBO’s “Lackawanna Blues,” “Alias,” and “Dora the Explorer”). Production Stage Manager Linda M. Tross (14 previous productions at Rubicon) leads the team that also includes regular Rubicon favorites Resident Property Designer T. Theresa Scarano and Hair/Make-up Designer Spanky Reynoso. About the Cast Angela Christian and Jason Chanos both make their Rubicon debuts leading the cast of BUS STOP as the pair of young lovers, Cherie and Bo. Angela switches coasts for this production having just finished originating the title role in the off-Broadway play Anais Nin: One of Her Lives. Prior to that she made her West End debut creating the title role in The Woman in White, directed by Trevor Nunn, which she then reprised on Broadway. Also on Broadway, she created the role of Miss Dorothy Brown in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award. She made her Broadway debut as Lily in Richard Nelson's James Joyce's The Dead. Her regional credits include James Joyce's The Dead at the Ahmanson Theatre and the Kennedy Center (as Molly Ivors); Oleanna at the Cleveland Play House; Twelfth Night, Our Town, and Pack of Lies- all at Merrimack Rep., and A Christmas Carol at Syracuse Stage. Her TV credits include “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” Jason is a native of Oklahoma, most recently seen by local theatre audiences in the Ensemble Theatre’s production of The Uneasy Chair in Santa Barbara. Since moving to the West Coast in 2005, he has performed in the award winning production of Ubu Roi and The Tempest at A Noise Within Theatre Company and co-starred on episodes of “Cold Case” and “Numb3rs” for CBS. Prior to 2005, he worked as a regional stage actor the Rocky Mountain and East Coast regions. He won several acting awards for headlining productions of Hamlet and the one-man show Fully Committed. Other award winning credits include The Merchant of Venice (Denver Center Theatre Company); The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Kansas City Repertory); Whale (Coterie Children’s Theatre); and Henry V (Utah Shakespeare Festival). John Bennett Perry, local Ojai resident and film and television veteran, joins the cast as Virgil Blessing, a role which also allows him to display some of his expertise on the guitar. John’s previous Rubicon appearances include Defying Gravity, The Rainmaker, The Little Foxes and Love Letters. His Broadway appearances include Mother Earth, Show Me Where the Good Times Are and Leonard Bernstein’s Mass and off-Broadway, he worked on The Baby Dance with fellow Rubicon favorites Jenny Sullivan, Stephanie Zimbalist and Linda Purl. Other stage credits include, The Waiting Room at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.; Inherit the Wind, Our Town and Guys and Dolls at Williamstown Theatre Festival; and Ad Wars at the Tiffany Theatre in Los Angeles. On film, John has been feature in “George of the Jungle,” “Fools Rush In,” “Independence Day,” and “The Sweetest Thing” with Cameron Diaz and Parker Posey.
On television, he was a series regular on “Falcon Crest” and appeared in numberous Movies of the Week. John has guest-starred on “Jag,” “Providence” (recurring), “Diagnosis: Murder,” “Third Rock from the Sun,” “Veronica’s Closet,” “Friends,” and others. After her scene-stealing turn as Mrs. Kirby in Rubicon’s You Can’t Take It With You, Alison Coutts-Jordon returns to Rubicon to play Grace in BUS STOP. For Rubicon Theatre Company’s inaugural season, she played Maude Mix in A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talkin,’ reprising a role she had also played at Ensemble Theatre Company in Santa Barbara. Alison’s long association with Ensemble Theatre has encompassed a variety of roles, including Flora in Humble Boy, Flaminia in Changes of Heart, Honey in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Ruth in The Homecoming, Sally in Lips Together, Teeth Apart, and Regina in Little Foxes. She was awarded a Drama-Logue Award for her performance as Frances Black in Light Up The Sky, and a Santa Barbara Indy Award for her portrayal of Mary in Serenading Louie. Alison played Mrs. Helene Alving in Ghosts for the Santa Barbara City College Theatre Group, as well as Vivian Bearing in Wit, for which she collected her second Santa Barbara Indy Award. She has also worked with Santa Barbara’s Speaking of Stories and in 2007, she directed Five Finger Discount by Emma-Jane Huerta for Dramatic Women’s evening of one acts entitled Women’s Work. A native Texan, Steve Larkin will take on the role of Sheriff Will Masters in BUS STOP. A veteran of over thirty stage productions in the Houston and Austin areas (including King Lear in King Lear and Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Steve moved to Southern California seven years ago and since then has appeared in over fifteen feature films including the recently opened “ Charlie Wilson’s War” and “Hallowed Ground” as well as featured roles on “The George Lopez Show,” “Passions,” “Nick at Nite” and “McBride” with John Laroquette. He recently completed filming on “The 2000 Man” and “The Insides of a Lamb” and was chosen as Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Pierson Playhouse in Pacific Palisades for four years running 2002-2006. He notes that the authoritative role of Sheriff comes easy as he spends his mornings as the assistant principal to an alternative high school. Carl Palmer makes his Rubicon Theatre Company debut as Carl after recently moving to Los Angeles from New York. Previous off-Broadway credits include The Skin Game and Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Mint), Our Town (Transport Group), and the workshop production of Texas Homos (Abingdon).
Regional credits include Richard III (Shakespeare Theatre of Washington, DC), To Kill a Mockingbird and The Trojan Women (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Macbeth, Measure for Measure, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sounding the River (Milwaukee Rep), Art (New American), Chapter Two and The Baby Dance (Schoolhouse Theatre), and various other plays with Barrington Stage, Swine Palace, PCPA Theatrefest, and Arkansas Rep. Film and television credits include “The Sopranos,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Special Victims Unit,” “Ed,” “Third Watch,” “All My Children,” “As The World Turns” and “ The Pelican Brief.” Carl is a graduate of Cal Arts. The cast is rounded out by Rubicon favorites Lauren Patten (The Diary of Anne Frank) and Leonard Kelly Young (You Can’t Take It With You, Hamlet) who play, respectively, the naïve young student and the professor with an interest in young girls. Lauren’s previous credits include Laurie in Ann Husaini's short film “The End of Magic,” Kacie in The Summer Play Festival of New York’s production of Training Wisteria, and the staged readings of the musicals Now, Voyager (Tina) and Teen Witch (Polly). Other roles include Belinda Cratchit in the Goodman Theatre's A Christmas Carol, Rhoda in The Bad Seed and Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird. Leonard appeared last season at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego playing the title role of Titus in Titus Andronicus as well as Brabantio in Othello. He has worked at The Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Geva Theater, Studio Arena Theatre, The Huntington Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Goodman Theatre, Missouri Repertory Theatre, The Worcester Foothill Theater, The Wilma Theater, and the Ensemble Theatre of Santa Barbara. Roles have included George Tessman in Hedda Gabler, Doc Gibbs in Our Town, Marley in Christmas Carol, Dr. Prentice in What the Butler Saw, James in Passion, and Thomas Mendip in The Lady's Not For Burning. Shakespeare credits include Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, Virginia Shakespeare Festival and American Players Theatre, where he played Prospero in The Tempest, Don Armado in Love’s Labors Lost, Kent in King Lear, and Northumberland in Richard II. Leonard spent 13 seasons at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, playing such roles as The Ragpicker in The Mad Woman of Chaillot, Peter Quince in A Midsummer Nights Dream, and DeStogumber in St. Joan. Other work includes various off and off-off Broadway plays, televisions shows, TV movies and features. He recently completed Richard Dutcher's independent film "Evil Angel,” and "Karla," playing Dan Czehowicz with Tess Harper and Laura Prepon. TV shows include “Star Trek,” “Life,” “The Shield,” “Six Feet Under,” “Married with Children,” “Perfect Strangers,” “The Jersey” and “Pros and Cons.” Schedule and Pricing BUS STOP previews Thursday, February 21and Friday, February 22 ($29 per ticket) at 8:00 p.m. and opens Saturday, February 23 at 7:00 p.m. Opening Night Gala tickets are $90 and include a pre-show champagne reception, the opening performance, an after-party at the Pierpont Inn and a tax-deductible donation to Rubicon. Regular performances of BUS STOP continue through March 16 on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. ($29) and 7:00 p.m. ($42), Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ($42), Fridays at 8:00 p.m. ($49), Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. ($42) and 8:00 p.m. ($52) and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. ($42). Seniors ages 65+ and military personnel save $5 per ticket. Equity and student tickets are $20 with ID. Discounts of up to 30% are available for groups of 12 or more, and group organizers receive one free ticket. To purchase single tickets or discounted group tickets, call the Rubicon box office at (805) 667-2900. To purchase tickets online, go to _www.rubicontheatre.org_ (http://www.rubicontheatre.org/) . Special performances include: · Opening Night Gala, Saturday, February 23: Rubicon Theatre hosts a pre-show champagne reception and the Pierpont Inn hosts the after-party with cast, crew and local dignitaries · Talkback Wednesdays, February 27th and March 5th: Rubicon’s Education Outreach Director and director of BUS STOP, Brian McDonald, facilitates a post-show discussion with the actors following the first two 7 p.m. early-bird performances
For a complete performance schedule, visit _www.rubicontheatre.org_ (http://www.rubicontheatre.org/) . All performances are at Rubicon Theatre, an intimate historic church built in the 1920s. The theatre is located at 1006 E. Main Street (the corner of Main and Laurel) in Ventura’s Downtown Cultural District. Show Run BUS STOP opens February 21st and runs through March 16th. Sponsors BUS STOP is sponsored by Hilford Moving and Storage. Co-sponsors are the Law Offices of Bamieh & Erickson and E.J. Harrison & Sons. Rubicon’s 2007-2008 Season, the 10th Anniversary Festival Season is sponsored by Barbara Meister and the Meister Family Foundation and Ann Deal and Fashion Forms. Media sponsors include Time Warner Cable, KEYT, Gold Coast Broadcasting, and Ventura County Star. Location All performances are at Rubicon Theatre, an intimate former church built in the 1920s. The theatre is located at 1006 E. Main Street (the corner of Main and Laurel) in Ventura’s Downtown Cultural District. For Tickets Please call Rubicon Theatre Company’s box office at (805) 667-2900 or visit _www.rubicontheatre.org_ (http://www.rubicontheatre.org) Press Information For interviews with the cast of BUS STOP, to receive photos, or to arrange for press tickets, please contact: Los Angeles: David Elzer/DEMAND PR at (818) 508-1754; email:
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_ (mailto:
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) Ventura and Santa Barbara County: Alyson Schuster at (805) 667-2912 ext. 232; email:
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