The Call
- Written by Tanya Barfield
- Directed by Leigh Silverman
Tanya Barfield’s plays include Of Equal Measure (Center Theatre Group), Blue Door (Playwrights Horizons, South Coast Repertory, Seattle Repertory, Berkeley Repertory and additional theaters), Dent, The Quick, The Houdini Act and 121º West. She wrote the book for the Theatreworks/USA children’s musical: Civil War: The First Black Regiment. Tanya was a recipient of the 2003 Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, 2005 Honorable Mention for the Kesselring Prize for Drama, a 2006 Lark Play Development/NYSCA grant, and she has been twice been a Finalist for the Princess Grace Award. She has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, Center Theatre Group, South Coast Repertory, Primary Stages and Geva Theatre Center. She is a member of New Dramatists and the Dramatists Guild Council. (As of January 2013)
Photo by Zack DeZon
Broadway: David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish; Lisa Kron’s Well. Recent world premieres: The Madrid (MTC); No Place to Go (Public Theater); In the Wake (Center Theatre Group/Berkeley Repertory Theatre and The Public Theater, Obie Award, Lortel nomination); Chinglish (Goodman Theater, Jeff nomination; West Coast/Hong Kong tour); Go Back to Where You Are (Playwrights Horizons, Obie Award); From Up Here (MTC, Drama Desk nomination); Yellow Face (Center Theatre Group/The Public Theater); Coraline (MCC/True Love); Blue Door (Playwrights Horizons); Hunting and Gathering (Primary Stages); Beebo Brinker Chronicles (Hourglass Group/37 Arts); Creature (New Georges/P73); Well (The Public Theater; Huntington Theatre; ACT); Oedipus at Palm Springs (NYTW); also Golden Child (Signature Theatre) and Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Second Stage Theatre); and many regional productions. West End: Wit. She is currently directing Tanya Barfield's The Call for Playwrights Horizons and Primary Stages. (As of March 2013)
When Annie and Peter decide to adopt, they come to set their sights on a child from Africa. But when the reality of this choice sinks in, it opens a well of uncertainty that speaks to their very identity as White Americans. Politically-charged and tack-sharp, The Call is a startling portrait of cultural divide, casting global issues into the heart of an American home.
Co-produced with Primary Stages.
Featuring
Kelly AuCoin
PeterKerry Butler
AnnieEisa Davis
RebeccaCrystal A. Dickinson
DreaRussell G. Jones
AlemuBROADWAY: Julius Caesar. NAT'L TOUR: Copenhagen. OFF-BROADWAY: Radiance (LAByrinth Theater Company), Happy Now? and Boy (Primary Stages), Jailbait (Cherry Lane), Some Men (Second Stage), The Fifth Column (Mint), The Ladies of the Corridor (13th Street Playhouse). TV: "27 East" (pilot), "Untitled Jersey City Project" (FX miniseries), "Blue Bloods," "Body of Proof," "Law & Order: CI," "Gossip Girl," "White Collar," "The Good Wife," "Kings," "Without A Trace," "Third Watch," "Waterfront," "The Sopranos," "Law & Order," "Good God" (Comedy Central miniseries). FILM: The Music Never Stopped, Julie & Julia, The Kingdom, Serial, A Perfect Fit, A Perfect Murder, and the soon-to-be-released The Word and Burma. REGIONAL: Blood And Gifts and A Dram Of Drummhicit (La Jolla Playhouse), Happy Now? (Yale Rep), Finks (NYS&F), The Real Thing and Born Yesterday (Syracuse Stage), Melissa Arctic (Folger), Arcadia (TheatreVirginia), Quills (Florida Stage), Oregon Shakespeare Festival acting company.
On the faculty of the Einhorn School Of Performing Arts at Primary Stages (ESPA), and a member of the Actors Center Workshop Company.
Love to the phenomenal Carolyn Hall.
BROADWAY: Gore Vidal's The Best Man, Catch Me If You Can, Rock of Ages, Xanadu (Tony nomination), Little Shop of Horrors, Hairspray, Beauty the Beast. TV & FILM: "White Collar," "Blue Bloods," "30 Rock," "Rescue Me," Borough of Kings. (As of Jan 2013).
PH: This. BROADWAY: Passing Strange. OFF-BROADWAY: Passing Strange (Public); The Violet Hour (MTC); June and Jean In Concert (Public, Signature). TV & FILM: "Hart of Dixie," "Smash," "Mercy," "Damages," The Stare, In the Family, Welcome to the Rileys. (As of Jan 2013).
PH: Clybourne Park. BROADWAY: Clybourne Park. OFF-BROADWAY: Born Bad (Soho Rep); Broke-ology (Lincoln Center Theater); Ruined (Manhattan Theatre Club); The First Breeze of Summer (Signature Theatre). TV: "Tyler Perry's House of Payne." (As of Jan. 2013).
OFF-BROADWAY: Marie & Bruce (The New Group); Ruined (MTC, Goodman); A View from 151st Street, The Fairy Tale Project (LAByrinth Theater Company); God, The Crackhouse & The Devil (La Mama). TV & FILM: "Smash," "Law & Order" franchise. (As of January 2013)
Creative Team
Rachel Hauck
Scenic DesignerMatt Frey
Lighting DesignerEmily Rebholz
Costume DesignerJill BC DuBoff
Sound DesginerVanessa Coakley
Production Stage ManagerRachel Hauck is a Tony Award winning scenic designer based in New York City.
Broadway credits include Hadestown, The Avett Brothers’ Swept Away, Doug Wright’s Good Night Oscar, Paula Vogel’s How I Learned To Drive; Heidi Schreck’s What The Constitution Means To Me; and John Leguizamo’s Latin History For Morons. Most recently, she designed the scenery for Cats: The Jellicle Ball; Galileo: A Rock Musical; and the Avett Brothers’ Swept Away on Broadway.
Rachel is honored that her designs have been recognized. She has received the Tony Award for her design of Hadestown, as well as a Tony Nomination and Jeff Award for Good Night Oscar. Rachel is the recipient of Drama Desk, Lortel, Helen Hayes, Audelco and Ovation Nominations. She is extremely honored to have received the Princess Grace Award, Lilly Award, an OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence and the Distinguished Alumni Award from UCLA where Rachel received her BA.
Rachel was the Resident Set Designer at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference for ten years where she worked with more than 70 playwrights. She remains dedicated to new work and new play development.
She is a member of the American Theater Wing Advisory Board, the 1/52 Grant Administration Committee and a co-founder of Design Action. She was an elected leader of her union, USA 829 for 12 years, and has taught at Princeton, Brown, Vassar and Cal Arts.
Playwrights Horizons: The Profane, Rancho Viejo, A Life, Placebo, This, Grand Concourse, The Call, Go Back to Where You Are, She Stoops to Comedy. Other Off-Broadway: Everybody (Signature), All the Ways... (MCC), War (LCT3), Gloria (Vineyard), The Way We Get By (Second Stage), Buzzer (The Public), An Octoroon (Soho Rep., TFANA), Generations (Soho Rep.). Regional: For Peter Pan on her 70th birthday (Humana Festival 2016, Berkeley Rep).
Costume Designer + Stylist: Lover of sharp tailoring, vintage buttons, matching socks and pocket squares, my roof deck in the summer, clog boots in the winter, Franny’s Pizza, Italian white wine and summer fairs.
First Costume Design: Godspell, 1994. Back when you could still find vintage Mickey Mouse t-shirts at the Goodwill in Memphis.
First Broadway Show: During my college tour weekend of NYC: Phantom of The Opera and Sunset Boulevard. Classic Broadway!
First Show to Design Off-Broadway: Gutenberg the Musical!
First Show to Design on Broadway: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.
Places of Inspiration: The NYC Subway, The Duchess County Fair, Paris, Italy, India, Upstate New York–anyplace I’ve ever traveled, my favorite magazine and tobacco shop at the corner of Spring and Lafayette, The Strand, Street Style Blogs and tourists at museums.
Lifelong Goal: To understand people through the observation of what they wear and to help tell their stories through the language of clothing.
NYC based AEA stage manager with 15 years of experience on Broadway, off-Broadway and on national tours.
Playwrights Horizons’ 2012/2013 season productions are generously supported by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
The Call has received generous support from the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation.
Photos by Jeremy Daniel.
CRITIC'S PICK. THOUGHTFUL AND ENGROSSING. Smart, natural, sparkling dialogue by Tanya Barfield, incisively directed by Leigh Silverman. Kerry Butler gives a nuanced and affecting performance.
TOUCHING, INTELLIGENT, TART and GROUNDED. Eisa Davis is simmering and sharp. Kelly AuCoin is innately charming. Russell G. Jones is wonderfully moving. Crystal A. Dickinson is fiercely funny.
RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES. A fine production.