[NEohioPAL] World Premiere of Thornton Wilder's Heaven's My Destination
Lisa Craig
lcraig at clevelandplayhouse.com
Mon Mar 30 11:52:15 PDT 2009
World Premiere of Thornton Wilder's Heaven's My Destination
Michael Bloom to Direct Adaptation by Award-Winning Playwright Lee Blessing
April 24 - May 17, 2009
Opening Night / Media Night: April 29, 2009
Cleveland, OH (March 30, 2009) - The Cleveland Play House Artistic Director
Michael Bloom announces the world premiere production of Thornton Wilder's
novel Heaven's My Destination, adapted by award-winning playwright Lee
Blessing. The play is the centerpiece of the fourth annual FusionFest, a
multidisciplinary performing arts festival. Thornton Wilder's Heaven's My
Destination begins in the Drury Theatre at The Cleveland Play House on
Friday, April 24 and runs through Sunday, May 17, 2009. Tickets are on sale
now at The Cleveland Play House box office by calling 216.795.7000 ext 4 or
online at www.clevelandplayhouse.com. Heaven's My Destination is presented
in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and commissioned by
The Play House expressly for FusionFest with support from The Roe Green
Foundation.
"Heaven's My Destination signals The Play House's rededication to new work
by America's most important playwrights. I am thrilled that our first major
Play House commission in years is awarded to Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award
nominee Lee Blessing," says Cleveland Play House Artistic Director Michael
Bloom.
ABOUT THE PLAY and PLAYWRIGHT
With the help of an "Access to Artistic Excellence" grant from the National
Endowment for the Arts and a grant from the Green Foundation, The Play House
commissioned Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-nominee Lee Blessing to adapt one of
Thornton Wilder's greatest-but unsung-novels, Heaven's My Destination. It's
a "Baptist Don Quixote," as Wilder himself described it, the comic tale of a
young man named George Brush who travels the middle of the country selling
textbooks and saving souls. Set in the Great Depression in banks, smoking
cars, bawdy houses, and campgrounds, this tale of religion and tolerance
could hardly be more relevant.
Lee Blessing is an American playwright who has written over 25 plays. He was
born in Minneapolis, the son of a salesman, and was educated at Reed College
and received his Masters in Poetry and Playwriting from The University of
Iowa. Blessing's work was first produced at the
<http://www.answers.com/topic/actors-theatre-of-louisville> Actors Theatre
of Louisville in 1982 and many of his subsequent scripts would premiere and
find success regionally. His most notable plays include A Walk in the Woods
(1988), dealing with the friendship that develops between an American and a
Russian diplomat; Eleemosynary (1988), about three generations of
independent women; and Cobb (2000), which explored the many facets of
baseball legend Ty Cobb. He currently heads the graduate playwriting program
at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.
A BRUSH WITH HEAVEN: THORNTON WILDER AND THE AMERICAN SPIRIT DURING THE
DEPRESSION
A symposium will take place on April 26, 2009 at 4:30pm in the Drury Theatre
at The Cleveland Play House. Free and open to the public, "A Brush With
Heaven" gives audience members an insightful look at the play, the life of
Thornton Wilder, and the inspiration behind his novel. Cleveland Play House
Artistic Director Michael Bloom will moderate a panel discussion with Tappan
Wilder, nephew of Thornton Wilder; Lee Blessing, playwright; and Clayton
Koppes, Professor of History, Oberlin College.
Tappan Wilder is Thornton Wilder's nephew and literary executor, and the
manager of his literary and dramatic properties. He is also involved with
the literary legacies of Thornton's three sisters and older brother. Mr.
Wilder is a graduate of Yale College and holds an M.A. in American History
from the University of Wisconsin and a Master of Philosophy in American
Studies from Yale.
Clayton Koppes teaches courses in United States history from 1900 to the
present. He specializes in political history, film history, and foreign
policy. He is the author of two books, Hollywood Goes to War: How Politics,
Profits, and Propaganda Shaped World War II Movies (Free Press, 1987),
coauthored with Gregory D. Black, and JPL: A History of the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (Yale University Press, 1982). He is at work on The Code: The
Paradoxical History of Movie Censorship in America. The author of many
scholarly articles, he has held fellowships from the National Endowment for
the Humanities. A founding member of Oberlin's Environmental Studies
Program, he is a past president of the American Society for Environmental
History.
For biographical information on playwright Lee Blessing and moderator
Michael Bloom, please refer to the play's Creative Team section later in
this release.
HEAVEN'S MY DESTINATION Cast:
KATIE BARRETT (Actor E/ Ensemble) participated in the 2007-2008 Cleveland
Play House FusionFest reading of Heaven's My Destination. She recently
appeared as Leah in the new play Burning, Burning, Burning, Burning at the
Public Theater in New York City for Labyrinth Theatre Company's Barn Series
and originated all of the female roles in the world premiere of In This
Corner at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. Ms. Barrett has performed at
Berkeley Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse (2006 Craig Noel Award for
Theatrical Excellence for her role as Yvette in Mother Courage), Yale
Repertory Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, O'Neill Playwrights Conference,
Arena Stage, The Kennedy Center, Baltimore's CenterStage, Woolly Mammoth
Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre, Berkshire Theatre
Festival, Roundhouse Theatre, Folger Theatre, Naked Angels Lab and HERE Art
Center. Film and television credits include "Law & Order," "Law & Order:
Criminal Intent," HBO's "The Corner," "Pride and Prejudice," Riders and The
Ex.
KAILEY BELL (Actor D/Ensemble) Favorite past roles include Thelma in Trip to
Bountiful and Amy in Little Women, Kansas City Repertory Theatre; Juliet in
Romeo and Juliet, Indiana Repertory Theatre; Linda Daniels and Annie Lawson
in Final Curtain, International Mystery Writers' Festival; Anne Page in The
Merry Wives of Windsor, Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Viola in Twelfth Night,
GreenStick Theatre Company; Rita in Educating Rita and Popova in The Bear,
Wheaton College Summer Shakespeare. Ms. Bell has extensive professional
voiceover credits for short stories and other dramatic recordings,
textbooks, and commercials. She graduated with a Master of Arts in Theater
Performance from Northwestern University.
DIANE DORSEY (Actor F/Ensemble) This year was a language excursion for Ms.
Dorsey beginning with an Oklahoma twang, August: Osage County, Steppenwolf
Theatre Company; shifting to cockney with Cassilis Engagement, ShawChicago;
lilting a brogue, Cripple of Inishmaan, Nebraska Repertory Theatre; and
discovering the tonal colors of Mea Shearim, Jerusalem, in Women's Minyan,
OnStage Israel Festival. Additional Chicago productions include
Transference, Mercury Theatre; Helen, Next Theatre Company; Bleacher Bums,
Royal George Theatre; and Pericles, The Shakespeare Project. Several
favorite roles are the Devil's Mama in Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice, Madison Rep;
Kate in All My Sons, Geffen Playhouse; Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit,
Peninsula Players; and the title role in Mata Hari, Edinburgh Fringe
Festival, Scotland. Selected film and television credits are Road to
Perdition, "Ghost Whisperer," "Roseanne," and "Designing Women." Ms. Dorsey
recently wrote and performed a solo show entitled Kaleidoscope, is an
Affiliate Artist with both Chicago Dramatists and American Theatre Company,
and a 26-year member of Actors' Equity Association.
MICHAEL HALLING (George Brush) recently appeared on Broadway as Gaspard in A
Tale of Two Cities. Other Broadway credits include the 2006 Tony award
winning production of The Pajama Game as Cyrus and standby for Harry
Connick, Jr.; The Boy from Oz, standby for Hugh Jackman; In My Life as Nick;
and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Other New York acting work includes The Streets
of New York as Mark Livingstone, The Irish Repertory Theatre (off-
Broadway); and Candide, standby for the part of Maximillian at the New York
City Opera. National tours include Les Miserables as Enjolras and The Full
Monty as Teddy Slaughter. Selected regional credits are as follows: The Full
Monty as Jerry Lukowski (Kevin Kline Awards Nomination), Stages St. Louis;
Company, Pittsburgh CLO; Carnival, Connecticut Repertory Theatre; Beauty and
the Beast, Atlanta Theater of the Stars; The Mystery of Edwin Drood,
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; Pioneer Theatre Company; North Shore Music
Theatre; The Muny; Ogunquit Playhouse.
CHRISTIAN KOHN (Actor B/Ensemble) participated in the 2007-2008 Cleveland
Play House FusionFest reading of Heaven's My Destination and performed the
title role in that season's Play House production of Sherlock Holmes: The
Final Adventure. He was recently seen in Florida Studio Theatre's production
of Opus. Mr. Kohn appeared on Broadway in Hollywood Arms, with Hal Prince
and Carol Burnett; An Ideal Husband; Trailerville; and Last Chance for a
Slow Dance. Regional credits include Death of a Salesman, Alabama
Shakespeare Festival; Of Mice and Men, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park;
Bug, Syracuse Stage; A Christmas Carol, Virginia Stage Company; Death of a
Salesman, Geva Theatre; Phaedra, Fisher Center for the Performing Arts; Bus
Stop, The Turn of the Screw, and The Lion in Winter, Fulton Opera House;
Hollywood Arms, The Gift Horse, and Among the Thugs, Goodman Theatre; David
Copperfield and Sideman, Steppenwolf Theatre Company; The Invention of Love,
Piano, Twelfth Night, and Mary Stuart, Court Theatre.
COURTNEY ANNE NELSON (Little Roberts Girl/Elizabeth/Rhoda May Gruber) last
appeared at The Cleveland Play House in the 2007-2008 FusionFest reading of
Heaven's My Destination. She was also part of 2006-2007 FusionFest as Hannah
Greenwold in Solomon's Blade. Recent credits include Jane Eyre as Young
Jane, Kent State University; A Christmas Carol as Skate Girl and Tiny Tim
(for two seasons), Great Lakes Theater Festival; Children of Eden as Young
Abel, Weathervane Playhouse; Music Man as Gracie Shinn, Porthouse Theatre;
Honk as Beaky, Mercury Summer Stock; and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat in the Children's Choir, Fairmount Performing Arts Camp (FPAC).
Courtney studies theater at the Beck Center for the Arts, and attends FPAC
in the summer. Other interests include piano and dance. Later this summer,
Courtney can be seen in Annie Get Your Gun playing the role of Tessie at
Porthouse Theatre. Courtney is 10 years old and in the fifth grade.
JUSTIN TATUM (Actor A/Ensemble) was recently seen at The Cleveland Play
House as Pete in the Theater for Children Series' production of Bunnicula.
He also played Frid in A Little Night Music for Opera Cleveland. Mr. Tatum
worked for two years at Monomoy Theatre, a professional summer stock in
Chatham, Massachusetts and since has worked for several Northeast Ohio area
theaters. Favorite roles include the following: Peter Evans in Bug; Thomas
in Defender of the Faith; Dylan in Griller for Bang and the Clatter Theatre
Company; Travis/Tyler in Goldstar, OH for Cleveland Public Theatre; and Jon
in Tape for Dobama Theatre. Film credits include The Path of the Wind and
Pure Shooter.
JOHN WOODSON (Actor C/Ensemble) was part of the Heaven's My Destination
reading of Cleveland Play House FusionFest 2007-2008 and appeared in The
Play House 2006-2007 mainstage production of Of Mice and Men. He has
performed in over a hundred productions including Medea on Broadway; King
Lear, the Great Lakes Theatre Festival and Roundabout Theatre; King Lear,
New York Shakespeare Festival and Public Theater; Henry V, New York
Shakespeare Festival; Destiny of Me, Lucille Lortel Theatre; and the world
premiere of The Love Suicide of Schofield Barracks, Signature Theatre
Company. Regionally, John has worked for many outstanding theaters including
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Dallas
Theatre Center, Alley Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Williamstown
Theatre Festival, Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Long Wharf Theatre. Mr.
Woodson was Artistic and Executive Director of The Warehouse Theatre in
Greenville, South Carolina from 2002-2006. He is a graduate of the North
Carolina School of the Arts.
HEAVEN'S MY DESTINATION Creative Team:
LEE BLESSING (Playwright) Lee Blessing's play A Walk in the Woods won the
American Theater Critics Award and was nominated for the Tony, Pulitzer and
Olivier Awards. It ran on Broadway, in London's West End, in Moscow, and was
seen on PBS's American Playhouse. Mr. Blessing's off Broadway credits
include A Body of Water (2006 Steinberg/American Theater Critics Award);
Going To St. Ives (Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Play); Thief River
(Drama Desk Nomination, Best Play); Cobb (Drama Desk Nomination, Best
Ensemble); Chesapeake, Down the Road, and Eleemosynary. Signature Theatre
Company's 1993-94 season introduced off Broadway to Blessing's Fortinbras,
Lake Street Extension, Two Rooms, and the world premiere of Patient A.
Recent world and regional premieres include Great Falls in the Actors
Theatre of Louisville's 2008 Humana Festival (finalist for the 2009
Steinberg/American Theater Critics Award), Lonesome Hollow and Flag Day at
the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, and The Scottish Play at La
Jolla Playhouse. Blessing's work has been produced widely, both here and
abroad, in such venues as the Guthrie Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre Company,
Arena Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, Alliance Theatre, and A Contemporary
Theatre in Seattle, among many others. Mr. Blessing wrote "Cooperstown" for
TNT, which earned him the Humanitas Award. He has received grants from the
National Endowment for the Arts as well as the Guggenheim, Bush, McKnight
and Jerome Foundations. He heads the graduate playwriting program at Mason
Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University and is married to
playwright/television writer Melanie Marnich.
THORNTON WILDER (Author) was an accomplished novelist and playwright whose
works explore the connection between the commonplace and the cosmic
dimensions of human experience. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928 for The
Bridge of San Luis Rey, the second of his seven novels, and received the
Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth
(1943). His hit play The Matchmaker (1939/1954) was adapted as the musical
Hello, Dolly. He also enjoyed enormous success as a teacher, lecturer,
actor, librettist, translator, and adaptor (Wilder worked easily in four
languages). His screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
remains a classic psychological thriller to this day. He served briefly with
the Army in WW I, and with Army Air Force Intelligence in North Africa and
Italy during WW II, completing his service as a Lieutenant Colonel. Wilder's
many honors include the Gold Medal for Fiction from the American Academy of
Arts and Letters, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Book
Committee's Medal for Literature. His fourth novel Heaven's My Destination
(1935) was a best seller in the United States and in Great Britain and has
been translated into ten languages.
MICHAEL BLOOM (Director) is the eighth artistic director of The Cleveland
Play House since the theater's inception in 1915. Recently at The Play House
he directed The Glass Menagerie, Rabbit Hole, Lincolnesque, A Streetcar
Named Desire, and Well. He has directed at many of the country's major
theaters, including American Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, The Old Globe,
South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Manhattan
Theatre Club, Alley Theatre, Alliance Theatre Company, The Cleveland Play
House, Long Wharf Theatre, and the Sundance Playwrights' Institute. His
productions have also been seen throughout Japan and in Tokyo at the Aoyama
Theatre and Theatre Cocoon. For his Manhattan Theatre Club production of
Sight Unseen he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for direction. Other
productions include the American premiere of A Young Lady from Rwanda, Gross
Indecency (the Elliott Norton Award for Directing in 1998), the world
premiere of Dinner with Friends at Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Los
Angeles premieres of The Cryptogram and The Old Neighborhood at the Geffen
Playhouse, Major Barbara and The Philadelphia Story at Kansas City Repertory
Theatre, and the world premiere of Tennessee Williams' Spring Storm. He has
directed premieres by Don DeLillo, David Hare, Arthur Kopit, Neil LaBute,
David Lodge, Donald Margulies, David Mamet, and Wallace Shawn. In Cambridge
he spent a season as associate director at American Repertory Theatre, and
in New York, Mr. Bloom served as a literary manager at Manhattan Theatre
Club. He has taught at New York University, Harvard University, University
of California Los Angeles, University of Texas, and Scripps College. His
articles on theater have appeared in American Theatre Magazine and The New
York Times. His book Thinking Like a Director was published by Farrar,
Straus, & Giroux in 2001.
The design team for Heaven's My Destination includes Russell Parkman (Scenic
Designer), David Kay Mickelsen (Costume Design), Justin Townsend (Lighting
Designer), James C. Swonger (Sound Design), Josh Schmidt (Composer) and
Jerrold Scott (Dialect Coach). The Cleveland Play House's Production Staff
is responsible for the sets, costumes, lighting, props, furniture, scenic
painting, sound, special effects and/or wigs used in this production.
Special Events
. First Friday Tasting Series - Friday, April 24, 2009 - Mingle with
other theatre fans and enjoy drink tastings and complimentary hors d'oeuvres
starting at 6:30pm in our lobbies. Specially priced preview tickets include
this pre-show reception and admittance to the play.
. Symposium: A Brush with Heaven: Thornton Wilder and The American
Spirit During the Depression - Sunday, April 26, 2009 @ 4:30pm, Drury
Theatre. Admission is free.
. Pre-show discussions - Join us 45 minutes before every performance
for a lively discussion with a member of the cast or creative team.
. Playbacks - Wednesday, May 6 and Sunday, May 10, 2009 - Join actors
from the cast for these post-play discussions moderated by a member of the
artistic staff.
. Student Matinees occur at 10:30am on Friday, May 1 and Tuesday, May
12, 2009. Tickets are $10 each, and teacher tickets are complimentary. For
details, call (216) 795-7000, ext. 149 or e-mail
StudentOutreach at clevelandplayhouse.com.
Ticket Information
Tickets for Heaven's My Destination range from $42 to $64, with discounts
available for groups of ten or more, for senior citizens aged 60 and over,
and for military reservists and their families. Tickets are $10 for all
students under the age of 25. A limited number of $10 rush tickets go on
sale 90 minutes before curtain and remain on sale until 30 minutes before
curtain, based on availability. The Cleveland Play House is located at 85th
and Euclid Ave. next door to the Cleveland Clinic near University Circle.
The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to
supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the
arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education.
Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal
government, the Arts Endowment is the largest annual national funder of the
arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner
cities, and military bases.
Founded in 1915, The Cleveland Play House is the first permanently
established professional theatre in the United States. More than 12 million
people have attended over 1,300 productions at The Play House - including
more than 130 American and/or World Premieres. Today, under the leadership
of Artistic Director Michael Bloom and Managing Director Kevin Moore, The
Cleveland Play House is an artist-driven theatre that serves the Greater
Cleveland community by holding true to its mission: To produce plays of the
highest professional standards that inspire, stimulate, and entertain our
diverse audiences, to conduct training and educational programs that enhance
the quality of life for those we serve and help to insure the future of
theatre.
The Cleveland Play House is funded through the generosity of Cuyahoga County
residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, and The Ohio Arts Council which
helps to fund The Cleveland Play House with state tax dollars to encourage
economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all
Ohioans.
# # #
FACT SHEET
What: Heaven's My Destination by Lee Blessing, based on
the comic novel by Thornton Wilder
Where: Drury Theatre, The Cleveland Play House, 8500 Euclid
Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio
When: Preview Performances: Fri. Apr
24, Sat. Apr 25, Sun. Apr 26, Tue. Apr 28, 2009
Opening Night:
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Final Performance:
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Who: Cast
Actor E/Ensemble...................................................... Katie
Barrett
Actor D/Ensemble......................................................
Kailey Bell
Actor F/Ensemble...................................................... Diane
Dorsey
George Brush.............................................................
Michael Halling
Actor B/Ensemble......................................................
Christian Kohn
Little Roberts Girl/Elizabeth/Rhoda........................ Courtney Anne
Nelson
Actor A/Ensemble.......................................................
Justin Tatum
Actor C/Ensemble...................................................... John
Woodson
Creative Team
Adaptor:
Lee Blessing
Director:
Michael Bloom
Scenic Designer:
Russell Parkman
Costume Design: David
Kay Mickelsen
Lighting Design:
Justin Townsend
Resident Sound Designer: James C.
Swonger
Composer:
Josh Schmidt
Dialect Coach:
Jerrold Scott
Times: Tuesday-Saturday Evenings
8:00 pm
Saturday Matinee 3:00
pm
Sunday Matinee 2:00
pm
Weekday Matinee 1:30
pm, Thu, May 7, 2009
Early Curtain
7:00pm, Tue, May 12, 2009
Special Events:
. First Friday Tasting Series - Friday, April 24, 2009 - Mingle with
other theatre fans and enjoy drink tastings and complimentary hors d'oeuvres
starting at 6:30pm in our lobbies. Specially priced preview tickets include
this pre-show reception and admittance to the play.
. Symposium: A Brush with Heaven: Thornton Wilder and The American
Spirit During the Depression - Sunday, April 26, 2009 @ 4:30pm, Drury
Theatre. Admission is free.
. Playbacks - Wednesday, May 6 and Sunday, May 10, 2009 - Join
actors from the cast for these post-play discussions moderated by a member
of the artistic staff.
. Student Matinees occur at 10:30am on Friday, May 1 and Tuesday,
May 12, 2009. Tickets are $10 each, and teacher tickets are complimentary.
For details, call (216) 795-7000, ext. 149 or e-mail
StudentOutreach at clevelandplayhouse.com.
Prices: Regular ticket prices range from $42 to $64, with
discounts available for groups of ten or more, for senior citizens aged 60
and over, and for military reservists and their families. Tickets are $10
for all students under the age of 25. A limited number of $10 rush tickets
go on sale 90 minutes before curtain and remain on sale until 30 minutes
before curtain, based on availability.
For Single Tickets: Call (216) 795-7000, ext. 4, or visit
www.clevelandplayhouse.com <http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com/> ; groups
call ext. 180.
Lisa Craig
Public Relations Manager
Cleveland Play House
8500 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland OH 44106
Phone (216) 795-7000 x236
FAX (216) 795-7005
Seeing is Believing! www.clevelandplayhouse.com
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