[NEohioPAL] "Breaking the Code" in Akron

[Jan Harcar]

Weathervane Playhouse's 'Breaking the Code' Examines the Enigmatic World War II Codebreaker Alan Turing and his Tragic Downfall 

 

Tony-winner Michael Rupert Directs Weathervane Ensemble
 

Weathervane Playhouse's 2010-2011 Founders Theater season continues with the intriguing historical drama Breaking the Code - live on stage from Oct. 7 to 24, 2010. 

 

Breaking the Code examines the incredible life and tragic downfall of British mathematician Alan Turing, whose intricate code-breaking work during World Ward II played a major role in enabling Allied forces to foresee German maneuvers.

 

Weathervane Playhouse welcomes Tony Award-winning actor Michael Rupert as the guest director of Breaking the Code. Rupert is the inaugural guest director in the Playhouse's new Brennan Guest Director program, which is sponsored by Akron philanthropist Ann Amer Brennan.

 

Breaking the Code is a biographical drama about a man who broke many codes throughout his life. The play's focus is on Alan Turing, who was born in London, England in 1923. An eccentric genius and cryptographer, Turing cracked the complex German "Enigma" cipher (or "code") during World War II. Turing's covert operation for the British government directly aided the Allied victory over the Axis powers.

 

During the war years, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, which was Britain's secret codebreaking agency. Since his work was classified as top secret for years after the war, no one knew how much was owed to him when he was put on trial for breaking another code - the code against homosexuality, which was illegal at that time in Britain.

 

Turing was criminally charged with "gross indecency" and was sentenced in 1952 to undergo estrogen hormone treatments. (Homosexuality was not decriminalized in England until 1967.)

 

On June 8, 1954, Turing's cleaning woman discovered his lifeless body. An investigation by British authorities determined Turing's death to be a suicide by cyanide poisoning, but many other people (including Turing's mother) insisted that his death was accidental. Following a popular Internet campaign to clear Turing's name, the then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered an official public apology on behalf of the British government in September 2009 for Turing's treatment by authorities in the post-war years.

 

Playwright Hugh Whitemore's Breaking the Code is about Turing as a person, what happened to him, and the lasting impact of his life.

 

Breaking the Code is sponsored by the Gay Community Endowment Fund of Akron Community Foundation in memory of Paul A. Daum. The proceeds from a benefit performance (Thursday, Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m.) will be shared among the following groups and organizations: CANAPI (the merged organization formed between Community AIDS Network and the Akron Pride Center), Violet's Cupboard (an Akron agency serving people with HIV and/or AIDS), PFLAG Akron (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), Fusion magazine (a Kent State University student-produced publication addressing sexual-minority issues) and Weathervane Playhouse (the producer of Breaking the Code).  

 

 

The Breaking the Code Cast and their Ohio Hometowns
 

Richard Worswick (of Bath Township) . Alan Turing

 

Robert Branch (of Grafton) . Mick Ross

 

Harriet DeVeto (of Akron) . Sara Turing

 

Gabe Riazi (of Akron) .Ron Miller

 

Alex Cikra (of Hartville) . Dilwyn Knox

 

Tom Stephan (of Stow) . John Smith

 

Jennifer Klika (of Cuyahoga Falls) . Pat Green

 

Nicholas Varricchio (of Mentor) . Christopher Morcom and Nikos

 

 

 

About the Show's Director 
 

MICHAEL RUPERT - a three-time Tony Award-nominee and Tony Award-winner (for Best Supporting Actor in Musical for the 1986 revival of Sweet Charity) - is directing Weathervane Playhouse's production of Breaking the Code. As an actor, his Broadway credits include Legally Blonde, Ragtime, Falsettos (Tony nomination), City of Angels, Mail, Sweet Charity (Tony Award, Drama Desk Award), Pippin, The Happy Time (Tony nomination). His off-Broadway performance credits include Elegies and Putting It Together. As a composer, his works include Mail (L.A. Drama Critics nomination) and 3 Guys Naked from the Waist Down (Drama Desk nomination). 

 

The Breaking the Code Backstage Team and their Ohio Hometowns

 

Stage Manager - Martha Kaltenbach (of Akron)

 

Costume Designer - Jasen J. Smith (of Akron)

 

Sound Designer - Ian S. Haberman (of Sharon Center)

 

Properties Co-Designers - Dane C.T. Leasure and Jonathon Hunter (of Akron)

 

Scenic Designer and Lighting Designer - Alan Scott Ferrall (of Cuyahoga Falls)

 

Dialect Coach - Catherine Burke (of Kent)

 

Assistant Technical Director - Kathy Kohl (of Akron)

 

About the Show and its Creators
 

About the Play's Production History
 

Breaking the Code premiered in England on Sept. 15, 1986, at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre (in the Surrey County town of Guildford) under the direction of Clifford Williams. The play then transferred to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London's West End theater district, where it opened Oct. 21, 1986. 

 

With the same director, the play opened on Broadway Nov. 15, 1987, at the Neil Simon Theatre, where it played for 169 performances before closing April 10, 1988. Original London cast members Derek Jacobi (as Alan Turing) and Michael Gough (as Dilwyn Knox) reprised their roles in New York.

 

The New York production received three Tony Award nominations (Jacobi for Best Actor in Play, Gough for Best Featured Best Actor in Play and Williams for Best Direction of a Play) and two Drama Desk Award nominations (Jacobi for Outstanding Actor in a Play and Gough for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play).

 

Lead-actor Jacobi repeated his critically acclaimed role of Alan Turing for a 1996 United Kingdom film version of Breaking the Code, which won a 1998 Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Drama. In America, the film was broadcast on PBS-TV. (In a clever bit of casting, Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter played the role of John Smith in the film version.)

 

About the Playwright
 

HUGH WHITEMORE is an English playwright and screenwriter who was born in Tunbridge Wells in 1936 and was educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. For television, he won an Emmy Award and a Writers Guild of America Award for HBO's The Gathering Storm. His additional TV credits include My House in Umbria, A Dance to the Music of Time, Concealed Enemies, Nixon: The Final Days, Rebecca and Elizabeth R. In addition to Breaking the Code, his stage plays include Stevie, Pack of Lies, and Letter of Resignation. His screenplays include All Creatures Great and Small, Jane Eyre, Utz, and 84 Charing Cross Road. He is a two-time recipient of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award.

 

 

Ticket and Performance Information
 

Breaking the Code plays on the Weathervane Playhouse Founders Theater stage between Oct. 7 and 24, 2010.

 

The low-cost preview performance is Thursday, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m.; the official opening-night performance is Friday, Oct. 8 at 8 p.m.

 

Between Oct. 7 and 24, 2010, performance days and times are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

 

Tickets for the Oct. 7 preview performance only are $15 each. Tickets for performances after Oct. 7 are $21 each. 

 

$19 tickets for seniors and college students are available for Thursday and Sunday performances. Tickets for children ages 17 or younger are $17 at all performances after Oct. 7. Discounts for groups of 12 or larger are also available.

 

The Thursday, Oct. 21 performance (at 7:30 p.m.) is a benefit performance whose proceeds will be shared among the following groups and organizations: CANAPI, Violet's Cupboard, PFLAG Akron, Fusion magazine and Weathervane Playhouse. Normal ticket prices apply for this performance.

 

Breaking the Code is recommended for ages 13 and older. For tickets, call the Weathervane Box Office at (330) 836-2626 or connect online to www.weathervaneplayhouse.com.

 

* * *

 

Weathervane Playhouse and its dedicated volunteers offer vital performing arts resources for the people of Northeastern Ohio. We create exciting and thought-provoking shows with impressive production values. Through educational programs and volunteer opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds, Weathervane serves the theater community, our patrons and our volunteers.

 

The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, education excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

 

Additional 2010-2011 season sponsors

89.7 WSKU-FM

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

OMNOVA Solutions Foundation

Sisler McFawn Foundation

Akron Community Foundation

Kenneth L. Calhoun Charitable Trust

The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation

Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation


Janis Harcar
Director of Advancement
Weathervane Playhouse
330-836-2323 X16
www.weathervaneplayhouse.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20101004/043ff94c/attachment-0003.htm>