FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 6, 2001
ONE SCORE TO SETTLE. TWO BROTHERS. LOTS OF TOAST.
Casey Biggs and Jack Stehlin to Co-Star in
Sam Shepard’s modern classic comedy, “True West,”
an Odyssey Theatre/Circus Theatricals co-production.
Los Angeles, CA - The Odyssey Theatre and Circus Theatricals begins their 2001 Spring Season collaboration with Sam Shepard’s 1980 comedy True West. The play, which delivers a virtual crash course in sibling rivalry, opens Saturday, March 24th. (Press opening is Friday, March 23rd). In true Actor/Manager fashion, Circus Theatricals Artistic Director Jack Stehlin will direct and play the role of Lee.
“We chose True West because we consider it one of the true ‘modern classics’ of our time,” says Jack Stehlin. Indeed, with his tremendous body of work, Sam Shepard has been considered the “Eugene O’Neill” of his generation.
True West centers on the relationship between two estranged brothers who seem to have little in common: Austin (C.T. Associate Artist Casey Biggs) is an Ivy-League graduate and aspiring Hollywood screenwriter on the cusp of a major deal, and Lee (Stehlin) is a beer-guzzling desert drifter and thief. With their mother off on a tour of Alaska, the battling brothers meet in her California home where tension (and toast) permeates the desert air.
Stehlin and Biggs last appeared on stage together in 1997 in the Los Angeles premiere of David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow at the Odyssey Theatre. The hit ran to sold out houses for 9 months.
In addition to Stehlin and Biggs, the True West cast includes Eve Brenner as Mom and Rob Brownstein as producer Saul Kimmer.
The design team is David Ledger (sets), Younwha Kong (lights), Anya Berger (costumes) and Adam Gascoine (sound). The stage manager is Christina Burck.
The co-production is produced by Odyssey Theatre Artistic Director Ron Sossi, and Circus Theatricals Producing Director Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin.
Tickets, at $19.50 - $23.50, may be purchased at the Odyssey Theatre Box Office, by calling (310) 477-2055, or via the Odyssey Theatre website: http://www.odysseytheatre.com.
ABOUT SAM SHEPARD
Playwright, screenwriter, director and actor, Sam Shepard has written over 45 plays and has won 11 Obie Awards. He won the Pulizer Prize for Drama in 1979 for Buried Child, and an Oscar nomination in 1984 for his part as Chuck Yeager in “The Right Stuff.” Born Samuel Shepard Rogers on November 5, 1943, Shepard (who was known as “Steve”) grew up in Sheridan, Illinois and then Duarte, California. His career as a playwright began in 1964 when the young “Sam Shepard’s” one act plays Cowboys and The Rock Garden were produced by New York’s Theater Genesis. He won his first Obie award in 1967 for his first full-length play La Turista (American Place Theater). He spent several successful season with Off-Off-Broadway groups such as La Mama and Caffe Cino. He was playwright-in-residence at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco where True West was first performed.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR AND THE CAST
Jack Stehlin (Lee, director, Circus Theatricals Artistic Director) most recently played the title role in Hamlet (directed by Casey Biggs) at the Odyssey Theatre in Spring 2000. In Fall, 1999, he directed and played the title role in The Cheats of Scapin, (also at the Odyssey). He appeared opposite Casey Biggs in the LA premiere of Speed-the-Plow at the Odyssey. Other L.A. stage credits include ‘Jim’ in the world premiere of The Job produced by Circus Theatricals at the Hudson Guild Theatre, and Off-Broadway at the WPA, for which he won a Garland Award for his performance. His long list of stage credits span the stages of Los Angeles, Broadway, Off-Broadway, the New York Shakespeare Festival, and many theatres regionally and internationally. His TV/Film credits include a recurring role on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “E.R,” “Judging Amy,” “N.Y.P.D. Blue,” “The Practice,” “Blackout Effect” and the upcoming feature “Purpo$e.” Stehlin founded Circus Theatricals in New York in 1983. The first Circus Theatricals production was Uncle Vanya, with Kevin Spacey. His producing/directing/acting credits include the NYC productions of Danton’s Death (Rapp Arts Center), MacBeth (Classic Stage Company), and the lauded Los Angeles productions of Tartuffe, Twelfth Night, and The Cheats of Scapin. He served as Artistic Director of Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston in 1988-1989. He is an alumnus of John Housseman’s The Acting Company, The O’Neill Playwrights Conference, and The American Repertory Theatre. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School.
Casey Biggs (Austin, Circus Theatricals Associate Artist) last appeared at the Odyssey in the Los Angeles premiere of David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow. His long list of theatre credits include Prides Crossing Eric Overmyer’s Dark Rapture, and Exception and the Rule (all at the Lincoln Center), Twelfth Night (directed by Michael Langham), The Country Wife (Garland Wright, dir.) and Dubliners (Paul Walker, dir.) among others. He has received five Helen Hayes award nominations for his work at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC., where his credits include The Odyssey, Long Days Journey into Nght, Summer and Smoke, and the premiere of the musical version of It’s a Wonderful Life. Other credits include A Streetcar Named Desire (opposite Dixie Carter) and Marc Antony in Julius Caesar at the Marc Taper Forum. As a director, Casey directed Jack Stehlin in Hamlet last year at the Odyssey Theatre, and the award-winning Hedda Gabler (for Circus Theatricals at The Hudson Guild), As a director he has also worked with Lynn Redgrave and Stacy Keach. TV/Film credits include “Dragonfly” with Kevin Costner, “Broken Arrow,” “Auggie Rose,” “The Pelican Brief,” four seasons of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Legacy,” “Giddeon’s Crossing,” and “X-Files.” He is a founding member of Dearknows theatre company in NYC and LA’s Interact. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School.
Eve Brenner(Mom) appeared as a teenager Off-Broadway, in Summer Stock, and toured the world with Soldier Shows. Her Los Angeles Theatre credits include over forty plays, including the award-winning Mary Barnes (Odyssey), The Rivals (Interact), Hedda Gabler (directed by Casey Biggs for Circus Theatricals at the Hudson Guild), Best Wishes (Gnu), I Never Sang for my Father (Megaw) The Model Apartment (LATC),and The Triumph of Maeve (Theatre East). She has appeared in over 50 film and TV shows, including “Star Trek: Next Generation”, “Just Shoot Me,” “Chicago Hope,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” ‘Sisters,” “The Rockford Files,” “The Second Civil War,” and “The Great Mouse Detective.”
Rob Brownstein (Saul Kimmer), last worked with Circus Theatricals when he directed Peer Gynt (which he co-adapted with Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin). His stage credits include: The Big Knife (Hollywood Court), The Normal Heart and Splitsville (both at Interact Theatre), Bunker Reveries and Of Mice and Men (both at Roundabout Theatre, NYC), Hamlet (Judith Anderson Theatre) and Cyrano de Bergerac (w/Frank Langella) at the Williamstown Theater Festival. Film/TV credits include: “Purpo$e,” “Very Bad Things,” “Bean,” “Hard Time - Hostage Hotel,” “Chicago Hope,” and “Movie Surfers.”
ABOUT THE ODYSSEY THEATRE & CIRCUS THEATRICALS
The Odyssey Theatre
Founded in 1969 by Artistic Director Ron Sossi, the Odyssey is recognized nationally and internationally as Los Angeles` flagship innovation-oriented theatre and presenter of international work.
Both critically and in public perception, the Odyssey is considered one of Los Angeles` most important theatres at any level producing such acclaimed productions as Mary Barnes, Kvetch, Awake & Sing, Chicago Conspiracy Trial, Edmond, McCarthy, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Tracers, Master Class, Speed-the-Plow and a larger body of work by Bertolt Brecht. The Odyssey has sent a number of its original productions to New York, Chicago, other American cities, and Europe.
Circus Theatricals
Circus Theatricals was founded in New York by Jack Stehlin in 1983. The first of many productions was Uncle Vanya (with Kevin Spacey), followed by celebrated productions of Danton’s Death at the RAPP Arts Center, and MacBeth at the Classic Stage Company (CSC). In Los Angeles, Jack Stehlin met and partnered with Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin (also known as Jeannine Welles) at Circus Theatricals (the couple married two years later).
Together, they have produced over 28 plays, including the world premiere of Shem Bitterman’s The Job, which garnered critics choice LA Times, three Garland Awards, Three LA Weekly Nominations , and won the LA Drama Critics Circle Ted Schmit Award for ‘World Premiere of an Outstanding New Play.’ The Circus Theatricals production of The Job subsequently enjoyed a critically successful run Off-Broadway at the acclaimed WPA Theatre.
A Theatrical Odyssey
In June, 1999, Circus Theatricals began a two year residency at The Odyssey Theatre, where they have co-produced along with Ron Sossi and The Odyssey Theatre The Cheats of Scapin and Hamlet. Recently, The Odyssey Theatre and Circus Theatricals extended their relationship for another three years.
TICKET AND SCHEDULE INFORMATION
True West opens Saturday, March 24. (Press Opening Friday, March 23). Performances for True West are scheduled for Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8PM, and Sundays at 7PM. Matinee performances on Sundays March 24, April 22, and May 6 at 2PM (no 7PM shows on Matinee days). Preview performances are on March 21 and 22. Tickets are $19.50 through $23.50; opening night tickets ate $26.00 and previews are $15.00. Tickets are $12.00 for audience members under age 25; senior rush is $5.00 off regular ticket price. There is no performance Wednesday, March 28. Closes May 13. Reservations: 310.477-2055 or http://www.odysseytheatre.com
The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd, WLA, CA 90025, one block north of Olympic Blvd. There is wheelchair access.
For more information, please contact Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin at: jwiz@circustheatricals.com
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