Rapture, Blister, Burn
- Written by Gina Gionfriddo
- Directed by Peter DuBois
A 2009 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Becky Shaw (Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival; Second Stage Theatre; Almeida Theatre in London). Her other plays include After Ashley (ATL’s Humana Festival; Vineyard Theatre); U.S. Drag (in New York by Clubbed Thumb and the stageFARM); and the one-acts Squalor and America’s Got Tragedy (the stageFARM). She has received an Obie Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, an Outer Critics Circle Award, the Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights and an American Theatre Critics Association/Steinberg citation. She has written for the television dramas “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Cold Case,” “Borgia,” and “House of Cards” (upcoming from Netflix). She has contributed essays on rock music to the literary journal The Believer and short fiction to Canteen. Currently she is working on a new play commission from Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. (As of August 2010)
Playwrights Horizons debut. West End/London: All New People. Almeida Theatre: Becky Shaw. Roundabout Theatre Company: Sons of the Prophet. Second Stage: Becky Shaw, Trust, All New People. LAByrinth Theater Company/ Public Theater: Jack Goes Boating, A View From 151st Street. The Public Theater: Measure for Pleasure, Richard III, Mom How Did You Meet the Beatles, Biro. Also: American Conservatory Theater, Trinity Repertory Company, Humana Festival of New Plays, Manchester Opera House, King’s Theatre Glasgow. Associate Producer, The Public Theater (2003–2005); Resident Director, The Public Theater (2005–2008); Artistic Director, Perseverance Theater Company, Juneau, Alaska (1997-2003). Peter is in his fourth season as the Artistic Director of the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston. Peter’s productions have been on the annual top ten lists of The New York Times, Time Out, Newsday, New York magazine, The New Yorker, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, The Evening Standard and the Improper Bostonian. (As of May 2012)
After grad school, Catherine and Gwen chose polar opposite paths. Catherine built a career as a rockstar academic, while Gwen built a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other’s life, commencing a dangerous game of musical chairs – the prize being Gwen’s husband. With searing insight and trademark wit, this comedy is an unflinching look at gender politics in the wake of 20th century feminist ideals.
Featuring
Amy Brenneman
Beth Dixon
Virginia Kull
Kellie Overbey
Lee Tergesen
Well known to TV audiences as Dr. Violet Turner on “Private Practice,” Judge Amy Gray on “Judging Amy” (three Emmy nominations, three Golden Globe nominations, Screen Actors Guild nomination) and Janice Licalsi on “NYPD Blue” (SAG Award, two Emmy nominations). Film: The Jane Austen Book Club, Nine Lives, Downloading Nancy, 88 Minutes, Heat, Daylight, Your Friends and Neighbors, Fear, Casper, Mother and Child. Theatre: The Learned Ladies (CSC), God’s Heart (LCT), Sincerity Forever (BACA Downtown), A Nervous Smile (Williamstown), title role in Brecht’s St. Joan of the Stockyards (Yale Rep), her own Mouth Wide Open (A.R.T). Graduate: Harvard University, where she co-founded Cornerstone Theater Company, a touring production company that takes classics to small towns, integrating locals with professional actors. (As of May 2012)
Broadway: Major Barbara, Wrong Mountain, The Royal Family (u/s Rosemary Harris). Off-Broadway: Wings, Vieux Carré, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Mary Stuart, Endpapers, Thérèse Raquin, Booth is Back, America Dreaming, Unbound, The Grille Room. Regional: Long Day’s Journey Into Night, On Golden Pond, Three Tall Women, Tartuffe, All My Sons, The Grapes of Wrath, The Glass Menagerie, Vincent in Brixton, The Constant Wife, Fuddy Meers, King Lear, etc. Film and television: Off-Ramp, Ballad of the Sad Café, Dark Tides, “Storm of the Century,” “Queen,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Game Change.” (As of May 2012)
Broadway: Man and Boy, Dividing the Estate, Old Acquaintance. Off-Broadway: Assistance (Playwrights Horizons); Sex Lives of Our Parents (Second Stage); The Orphans’ Home Cycle (Signature Theatre); Dividing the Estate (Primary Stages); Theophilus North, The Breadwinner (Keen Company). Regional: The Orphans’ Home Cycle, Dividing the Estate, To Kill a Mockingbird (Hartford Stage); The Dining Room (Dorset Theatre Festival); A View From the Bridge, Death of a Salesman (Arena Stage); The Tempest (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Our Town (Geva Theatre); A Doll’s House (North Carolina Stage Company). TV: “Boardwalk Empire,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Person of Interest,” “Law & Order: SVU.” Training: Meadows School of the Arts at SMU.
Playwrights Horizons: The Savannah Disputation (Lortel nomination) and Betty’s Summer Vacation. Broadway: The Coast of Utopia, Twentieth Century, “QED”, Judgment at Nuremberg, Present Laughter and Buried Child. Numerous Off-Broadway includes most recently Keen Company’s Lemon Sky. Notable film & TV: Sweet and Lowdown, Outbreak, “Unforgettable,” “The Good Wife,” “Law & Order,” “The Job” and “The Stand.” Also a writer, Kellie wrote the screenplay for the film That’s What She Said (directed by Carrie Preston) which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2012 and will be distributed by Phase 4 Films this fall. Plays: Girl Talk, Once Around the Sun and My Wife’s Coat (Samuel French). (As of May 2012)
Last worked with Peter DuBois on Vengeance is the Lord’s at the Huntington Theatre. Other theatre credits include Good Boys and True, The Foreigner, The Exonerated and The Godfather IV. Film credits include Monster, The Forgotten, Wayne’s World, Shaft, Point Break, Helena From the Wedding and Red Tails. Television credits include an ABC pilot called “Penoza,” playing Tobias Beecher on HBO’s “Oz,” HBO’s Emmy Award-winning “Generation Kill,” “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” “House,” “Criminal Minds,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and a recurring role on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.” He will next appear on Showtime’s “The Big C.” (As of May 2012)
Creative Team
Alexander Dodge
Scenic DesignerMimi O'Donnell
Costume DesignerJeff Croiter
Lighting DesignerM.L. Dogg
Sound DesignerLisa Ann Chernoff
Production Stage ManagerJeff Croiter is a New York based lighting designer whose experience includes work on Broadway, off-Broadway, dance, opera, special event, regional theatre, touring productions, TV, film, circus, magic, and restaurant design.
He has received Tony, Hewes, and Bass awards and has been nominated for Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lortel, LA Drama Critics, Ovation, Irne, NAACP, and Audelco awards.
Jeff designed the lighting for Penn & Teller at the Rio in Las Vegas and The Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center and has been the designer for Jennifer Muller The Works since 1996. He is a producer of the animated series, Light Humor, the hit web comedy Submissions Only, and was the producer and co-host of The Sunday Roundtable.
His work has been seen at New York theatres including Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Roundabout, MTC, MCC, Shakespeare in the Park, Signature Theatre, Second Stage, The Public Theatre, The New Group, Playwrights Horizons, The Atlantic, The Vineyard, Primary Stages, Ars Nova, New World Stages, The Westside Theatre, and The Joyce Theatre. Regional theatre credits include The Guthrie Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Barrington Stage, McCarter Theatre, Kennedy Center, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, The Huntington, The Alliance Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, Trinity Rep, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House, and NY Stage and Film.
Photos of (1) Amy Brenneman and Kellie Overbey; (2) Virginia Kull, Beth Dixon, and Amy Brenneman; (3) Amy Brenneman and Lee Tergesen; and (4) Beth Dixon and Amy Brenneman by Carol Rosegg.
CRITIC'S PICK! INTENSELY SMART AND IMMENSELY FUNNY, with sharp-witted dialogue. Under the finely honed direction of Peter DuBois, the cast brings Gina Gionfriddo’s characters to fully felt life. Amy Brenneman exudes a brisk intelligence and a telegenic beauty.
4 STARS. A smart, funny, and lightning-paced look at feminism. The cast is top-to-bottom terrific.
WONDERFUL. It’s about feminism, and it’s fun!