Rattlestick Playwrights Theater’s 18th season will take you from the deepest part of south Texas to the furthest reaches of the afterlife. Join us for six imaginative, daring works by Adam Rapp, Jon Fosse, Jesse Eisenberg, Jonathan Tolins, Mando Alvarado, and Jessica Dickey.
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The Rattlestick 2012-13 season includes:
THROUGH THE YELLOW HOUR
Written and Directed by Adam Rapp
September 13 – October 28
At Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
The United States has been attacked. Men are being castrated, women enumerated. Ellen has been in hiding for 52 days, subsisting on very little, hoping against hope for her husband to return. As the world around her falls further into senseless chaos, she takes an unlikely action, one that just might signal a new beginning.
Adam Rapp is an award-winning playwright and director whose work has been produced at the American Repertory Theatre, Atlantic, Barrow Street Theatre, Edge Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Rattlestick, Steppenwolf, and more. He was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and Obie Award winner for his play Red Light Winter. Past works at Rattlestick include Finer Noble Gases, American Sligo, and The Hallway Trilogy.
A SUMMER DAY
Written by Jon Fosse
Translated and directed by Sarah Cameron Sunde
October 10 – November 25
At the Cherry Lane Theatre
A man goes out on the water everyday. He’ll be back soon. But I feel so anxious. It’s probably nothing.
Set in an idyllic, but isolated old house overlooking the water, and in two different times, A Summer Day captures the dilemma of love in the moment, as well as a distant memory. Fosse’s poetic, haunting, everyday language reminds us of potential in every moment and the suspense of being alive.
Jon Fosse is widely considered one of the world’s greatest contemporary playwrights. A contemporary equivalent to Ibsen in his time. Fosse’s works have been translated into more than 40 languages, and his 30+ plays have been performed in more than 750 productions around the world. His plays includes And never we’ll be parted, Someone is going to come, Night sings its songs, deathvariations, Sa ka la, and I am the wind. Among his many prestigious honors, Fosse was made a chevalier in 2007, awarded the International Ibsen Award in 2010, and is the third artist since 1922 to have been granted the Grotten – the honorary artistic residence on the grounds of the Royal Palace in Oslo. Fosse’s work has been described by the New York Times as “fierce poetic simplicity” Fosse won the International Ibsen Award in 2012.
THE REVISIONIST
Written by Jesse Eisenberg; Directed by Kip Fagan
February 15 – March 31
At the Cherry Lane Theatre
David arrives in Poland with a crippling case of writer’s block and a desire to be left alone. His 75-year-old second cousin Maria welcomes him with a fervent need to connect with her distant American family. As their tenuous relationship develops, she reveals details about her complicated post-war past that test their ideas of what it means to be a family.
Jesse Eisenberg most recently wrote and starred in Rattlestick’s Asuncion at the Cherry Lane Theatre, for which he was nominated for a Drama League Award. He has appeared in the films The Social Network (Oscar nomination), Zombieland, Adventureland (BAFTA nomination), The Squid and the Whale, and Roger Dodger. He is also a contributing writer for McSweeney’s and his humor essays have appeared in Harper’s and The New York Times.
BUYER & CELLAR
Written by Jonathan Tolins; Directed by Stephen Brackett
March 20 – May 4
At Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
Alex More has a story to tell. A struggling actor in L.A., Alex takes a job working in the basement of a beloved megastar. One day, the Lady Herself comes downstairs to play. It feels like real bonding in the basement, but will their relationship ever make it upstairs? Buyer & Cellar is an outrageous comedy about the price of fame, the cost of things, and the oddest of odd jobs.
Jonathan Tolins’ plays include The Twilight of the Golds (Booth Theater), If Memory Serves (Promenade Theater), The Last Sunday in June (Rattlestick and Century Center), and Secrets of the Trade (Primary Stages). Jon co-wrote the films The Twilight of the Golds and Martian Child. He was a consulting producer on the recent CBS comedy Partners and was a co-producer on the first season of Queer As Folk on Showtime. He has written for the Academy Awards and the Tony Awards, and co-wrote Bette Midler’s Divine Miss Millennium Tour and The Showgirl Must Go On in Las Vegas.BASILICA
Written by Mando Alvarado; directed by Jerry Ruiz
May 1 – June 9
At the Cherry Lane Theatre
In South Texas, two things loom large—the Catholic Church and Texas pride—and Joe Garza, a strong, hard-working man, embodies one more than the other. But when he learns that Gilbert Gonzalez has returned as the new pastor at the basilica, Joe’s confronted with the choices he made in life and questions the past the only way he knows how—with anger, pride, and a biting tongue.
Mando Alvarado is an award winning playwright/screenwriter. His plays A King of Infinite Stage and Sangre were produced by NYC SummerStage and he wrote the book for the bilingual musical A Yellow Brick Road that premiered at the Lortel for TheaterWorks USA. His first feature film, Cruzando, which he co-wrote and co-directed is available on DVD and was distributed by Vanguard Cinema. Alvarado’s play Post No Bills was produced by Rattlestick.
CHARLES IVES TAKE ME HOME
Written by Jessica Dickey; Directed by Daniella Topol
May 29 – June 29
At Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
When a father’s love of music clashes with his daughter’s passion for basketball, modernist composer Charles Ives is the perfect referee. Charles Ives Take Me Home is a comedic and poignant story of dissonance, defense, and devotion.
Jessica Dickey received a Susan Blackburn Prize nomination for Charles Ives Take Me Home. She made her playwriting debut with her hit one-woman show The Amish Project, which premiered at the New York International Fringe Festival. The Amish Project has since been produced at the Cherry Lane Theatre, Rattlestick, the American Theater Company (Chicago), the City Theatre (Pittsburgh), and internationally. Her newest play, Row After Row, has a scheduled production in Tucson next spring.
