[NEohioPAL] "The Gin Game" opens at Coach House Theatre

[Nancy Cates]

COACH HOUSE THEATRE

Box Office: 330-434-7741

732 W. Exchange Street

Akron, OH 44302

coachhousetheatre.com

 

Join Coach House Theatre for a round of

"The Gin Game"

Sept. 30-Oct. 17, 2010

($12 Preview Performance, Thursday, Sept. 30 only)

 

Akron's Coach House Theatre will open its 2010-11 season with DL Coburn's
"The Gin Game," running Sept. 30-Oct. 17.

 

This charming and intriguing two-person show was a hit on Broadway in 1977
with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. Coach House's production will star
Richard Figge (Barrymore's Ghost) and Jo McGarvey (Who's Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?) 

 

Weller and Fonsia, two elderly residents at a nursing home, begin playing a
series of games of gin rummy, which Fonsia always wins. While playing, they
engage in conversations about their families and their lives in the outside
world. Weller's inability to win a single hand becomes increasingly
frustrating to him, and gradually, each conversation becomes a battle, much
like the ongoing gin games.

 

The Gin Game will be presented  Sept. 30 - Oct. 17. Curtain times are
Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m,
and an added Saturday matinee on Oct. 9 at 2:30 pm. Dinner or Brunch is
available to all theatre patrons prior to every performance at the Akron
Woman's City Club next door. There will be a special $12 preview performance
Thursday, Sept. 30 only, at 8 p.m.  

Tickets are $18. Coach House Theatre is located at 732 W. Exchange Street,
in Akron, next to the Akron Woman's City Club, and at the corner of W.
Exchange and N. Portage Path. Reservations are recommended by calling our
box office at 330-434-7741, or online at www.coachhousetheatre.com.

 

 

The Cast

Weller Martin - RICHARD FIGGE

Fonsia Dorsey - JO MCGARVEY

 

 The Director

Nancy Cates is one of our two Artistic Directors. She directed three hit
shows at Coach House last season: Deathtrap, Leading Ladies and the
critically acclaimed production of Doubt: a Parable. In past seasons she has
directed Steel Magnolias, Barrymore's Ghost, Tonight at 8:30, Driving Miss
Daisy, Oh, Coward!, and Hay Fever. She is also one of the two Artistic
Directors of the Ohio Shakespeare Festival, which performs each summer at
Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, as well as periodically at Coach House and the
Players Guild of Canton.

Nancy is a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SSDC). She
will next direct Noel Coward's Present Laughter at Coach House.

 

The Cast

Richard Figge is an emeritus Professor of German at The College of Wooster.
His acting credits range from Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac and Friar
Lawrence in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, to modern comedy and drama. He
is best known for his performance of David Rintels' one-man play Clarence
Darrow, which he has presented across the country, in Europe and, in 1985,
in Washington D.C. under the patronage of President Reagan. In 2002 he
toured in Jason Miller's one-man play Barrymore's Ghost, in which he
portrayed legendary actor John Barrymore. He also performed that role at
Coach House under Nancy Cates's direction in 2008. He has toured in
productions of Mass Appeal and Love Letters. In 1997, he toured with Vincent
Dowling, portraying President Theodore Roosevelt to Mr. Dowling's John Muir
in Phyllis Webster's new play John and Teddy. In April 1998, he returned to
Wooster to play Prospero in The Tempest. Mr. Figge has experience in film,
and has made radio and television commercials. He has performed in special
broadcasts on public radio and can be heard as the narrator on the CD
Visions of the Souls: The Joshua L. Chamberlain Story. He has narrated Peter
and the Wolf with the Wooster Symphony Orchestra and was a narrator for a
performance of Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale with the Charlottesville (VA)
Symphony.

Jo McGarvey is a well-known actress in the area who has received many
accolades from both Coach House and Weathervane Playhouse. Coach House
Theatre audiences have recognized her with Best Actress Royal Coach Awards
for her performances in Later Life, Collected Stories, A Delicate Balance
and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She last appeared at Weathervane under
Nancy Cates's direction last year in The Last Night of Ballyhoo. Weathervane
has honored her with Chanticleer Awards for Best Actress in Noises Off, Wit,
The Odd Couple (Female Version) and Lost in Yonkers. She also enjoys
baffling those who attend Mysteries by Moushey events. In her private life,
she is a special-education teacher for Cuyahoga Falls Public Schools. Jo and
her husband, Patrick, have three handsome sons: Conor, Ryan and Kevin. 

 

The Playwright

DL Coburn was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1938. He came to prominence in
1977 with The Gin Game, which was his first play. The Gin Game ran on
Broadway for 516 performances and subsequently toured the nation with its
original cast of Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, before going on a tour of
England and Russia. It has since had productions in virtually every country
of the western world, including France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Austria, Romania, Israel, Hungary, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and
South Africa, as well as heralded productions in Australia, Japan and China.
In 1978 the play garnered four Tony nominations and was awarded the Pulitzer
Prize for drama -Information on the author taken from www.thegingame.com.

 

And join Coach House for the rest of our exciting 2010-11 season: 

Present Laughter by Noel Coward, Nov. 26 - Dec. 19

The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie, Jan. 27 - Feb. 20, 2011

Lettice and Lovage by Peter Shaffer, March 24 - April 17, 2011

Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer, May 12 - June 5, 2011

 

Visit us at  <http://www.coachhousetheatre.com/> www.coachhousetheatre.com!

 

 

 

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