Doris to Darlene, a cautionary valentine
- Written by Jordan Harrison
- Directed by Les Waters
Jordan Harrison was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Marjorie Prime, which had its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons after premiering at the Mark Taper Forum. Other plays include Maple and Vine, Log Cabin, and Doris to Darlene (all at Playwrights Horizons), The Amateurs (Vineyard Theatre), The Grown-Up (Humana Festival), Amazons and their Men (Clubbed Thumb), Futura (NAATCO), Act a Lady (Humana Festival), and Finn in the Underworld (Berkeley Rep). He is the recipient of the Horton Foote Prize, the Kesselring Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. TV: Three seasons as writer-producer on the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black,” as well as Netflix’s “GLOW” and AMC’s “Dispatches from Elsewhere.” A print collection of Jordan’s work, Maple and Vine & Other Plays, will be published later this year by TCG.
Les Waters is a Tony nominated and multi Obie Award winning director. Previous PH shows include The Christians and The Thin Place. Most recent NY credits are Dana H (Broadway), Grief Camp (Atlantic Theatre), and the revival of Eurydice (Signature). His work has been seen on Broadway, Off Broadway and many regional theaters.
Photo by Sarah Ruhl.
In the candy-colored 1960s, a biracial schoolgirl named Doris is molded into pop star Darlene by a whiz-kid record producer who culls a top-ten hit out of Wagner’s Liebestod. Rewind to the candy-colored 1860s, where Richard Wagner is writing the melody that will become Darlene’s hit song. Fast-forward to the not-so-candy-colored present, where a teenager obsesses over Darlene’s music – and his music teacher. Three dissonant decades merge into an unlikely harmony in this time-jumping pop fairy tale about the dreams and disasters behind one transcendent song.
Featuring
de'Adre Aziza
David Chandler
Michael Crane
Laura Heisler
Tom Nelis
Tobias Segal
Playwrights Horizons: To Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, Doris to Darlene, Black Sea Follies. Broadway: Death of a Salesman, Lost in Yonkers, American Clock. Off-Broadway: Underneath the Lintel, Slavs!, The Swan, Cellini, Private Jokes and Public Places, Phaedra, Watbanaland, The Peninsula. Regional: Berkeley Rep, Williamstown, Long Wharf, Yale Rep, Guthrie Theater, McCarter, Actors Theatre of Louisville, etc. Film: The Grey Zone, The Undeserved, Hide and Seek. TV: “Death of a Salesman,” “Seinfeld,” “Third Rock from the Sun,” “Law & Order.”
Playwrights Horizons: Kin, Doris to Darlene, People Be Heard. Broadway: Coram Boy. Other Off-Broadway: The Mistakes Madeline Made (Naked Angels), Everything Will Be Different (Soho Rep), A Mother, A Daughter and a Gun (Dodger Stages), Water Music (EST), Somewhere Someplace Else (Clubbed Thumb), The Given (Studio Dante). Regional: Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Williamstown, Humana Festival, Woolly Mammoth, McCarter, Old Globe, The Alley. TV: “The Middle,” “Ugly Betty,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Bones,” “Numbers.”
Creative Team
Takeshi Kata
Scenic DesignerChristal Weatherly
Costume DesignerJane Cox
Lighting DesignerDarron L West
Sound DesignerElizabeth Moreau
Production Stage ManagerPreviously at the Friedman: The American Plan,To Be or Not To Be, The Royal Family, Top Girls, and Time Stands Still. He is a Tony and Obie Award-winning sound designer whose work for theater and dance has been heard in over 500 Productions nationally and internationally, on Broadway and off. His accolades for Sound Design include the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel and AUDELCO Awards. He a two-time Henry Hewes Design Award winner, and a proud recipient of the Princess Grace Award statue.
Photos of (1) Michael Crane, Tobias Segal, Tom Nelis, de'Adre Aziza, Laura Heisler, and David Chandler; (2) de'Adre Aziza and Michael Crane; (3) Laura Heisler and David Chandler; and (4) de'Adre Aziza, Michael Crane, and David Chandler by Joan Marcus.
This time-tripping whimsical new drama by Jordan Harrison has an affectionate, music-loving heart and a human sunburst at its center.
A quirky and enjoyable love letter to music and its seductive power to make us lose ourselves.
Pure entertainment! In the hands of director Les Waters, Harrison’s rapturous chamber opera of a play spins and crackles like a beloved old 78.
