Preview for the Comedy Theater Show “You Can’t Take It With You” at the Geffen Playhouse (3/05)
GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS
KAUFMAN AND HART’S
PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING COMEDY
YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU
AWARD WINNING HELMER CHRISTOPHER HART DIRECTS HIS FATHER’S PLAY IN CELEBRATION OF MOSS HART’S 100TH BIRTHDAY
The Geffen Playhouse Production Stars Tony Award-Winner Roy Dotrice, Tony Abatemarco, Tim Chiou, Magda Harout, Alexandra James, Dagney Kerr, Michael Laskin, Michael Loeffelholz, Jeff Marlow,
Chris L. McKenna, Brendan O’Donnell, Ethan Phillips, Emmy Nominated Actress Christina Pickles,
Darryl Alan Reed, Carla Renata, Lisa Richards, Conrad John Schuck and Spencer Wilson
April 12-May 22, 2005
LOS ANGELES, CA – March 17, 2005 – Geffen Playhouse Producing Director Gilbert Cates proudly announces the Geffen Playhouse production of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU. Directed by Christopher Hart, this classic American comedy focuses on one of the most irrepressible and eclectic families ever created for the stage. The Geffen Playhouse production of YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU is being presented in celebration of Moss Hart’s centennial birthday and stars Tony Abatemarco, Tim Chiou, Tony Award-winner Roy Dotrice, Magda Harout, Alexandra James, Dagney Kerr, Michael Laskin, Michael Loeffelholz, Jeff Marlow, Chris L. McKenna, Brendan O’Donnell, Ethan Phillips, Emmy nominated-actress Christina Pickles, Darryl Alan Reed, Carla Renata, Lisa Richards, Conrad John Schuck and Spencer Wilson. YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU begins in previews at the Brentwood Theatre on April 12, 2005 and runs through May 22, with an official press opening on Wednesday, April 20, 2005.
“The Geffen Playhouse production of You Can’t Take It With You comes at a time when nothing could be more fitting than a great, human comedy. It’s just what the doctor ordered,†said Cates. “This play truly epitomizes the American experience and we couldn’t have asked for a more meaningful director in Christopher Hart. His life experiences and deep understanding of his father’s work bring the words on the pages to life for Geffen audiences in a way no other director could.â€
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Headed by Grandpa Vanderhof, the Sycamores of Manhattan are a completely uninhibited family of lunatics whose members simultaneously manufacture fireworks in the basement, distribute left-wing propaganda in homemade candy, practice ballet in the living room, hunt snakes, play the xylophone, attend commencement ceremonies, operate amateur printing presses, and turn out play after play on a typewriter that was delivered to their home by mistake. One exception to this wildly unconventional family group is Alice, the single “normal†member of the Sycamore family. When Alice and her conservative, wealthy boyfriend Tony become engaged, their families meet for dinner where the only thing louder than the fireworks exploding in the basement is the laughter roaring from the audience.
YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU opened on Broadway in 1936 to instant critical and popular acclaim where it ran for 837 performances. The New York Times called the play Kaufman and Hart’s “most thoroughly ingratiating comedy.†In 1937, YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The film rights were then purchased for what was, at the time, an unprecedented sum of $200,000. Directed by Frank Capra, the film won the 1938 Academy Award for Best Picture. YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU was revived on Broadway in 1965 and again in 1983. Ellis Rabb directed both revival productions.
The cast of YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU features (in alphabetical order) Ovation Award-winner Tony Abatemarco (A Perfect Wedding, Kirk Douglas Theatre; The Mystery Of Irma Vep), Tim Chiou (Fertilizing Eggy, 2100 Square Feet Theater) Tony Award-winner Roy Dotrice (A Moon for the Misbegotten, Walter Kerr Theatre; A Life, Morosco Theatre); Magda Harout (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Pasadena Playhouse; Nine Armenians, Mark Taper Forum), Alexandra James (The Memory of Water, A.C.T.), Dagney Kerr (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Michael Laskin (Richard Nixon in The Basement Tapes, Top of the Gate Theatre), Michael Loeffelholz (Absolution, Steppenwolf Theatre), Jeff Marlow (Around the World in 80 Days, Colony Theatre), Chris McKenna (The Opposite Sex, In and Out), Brendan O’Donnell (Sight & Sound Theaters), Ethan Phillips (My Favorite Year, Vivian Beaumont Theatre; Green Card), Emmy-nominated actress Christina Pickles (Friends; Cloud Nine, LA Theatre Works), Darryl Alan Reed (Dinah Was, International City Theatre; Sweet and Lowdown), Carla Renata (The Lion King, Pantages Theatre; According to Jim), Lisa Richards (Friends Like These, Arkansas Repertory Theatre; Henry Jaglom’s Eating), Conrad John Schuck (Pippin, REPRISE; M*A*S*H), and Spencer Wilson (Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story).
Christopher Hart is a Tony Award-nominated writer, director and producer. His productions have won more than 50 Backstage West/Dramalogue Awards and numerous Ovation Awards, Los Angeles Times Critics’ Choice Awards, and LA Weekly Theatre Awards. Hart and his creative team have designed a Vanderhof/Sycamore home that promises to be as wily and unconventional as the family that inhabits it. The creative team for YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU includes Oscar-nominated designer Jean-Pierre Dorléac (Costume Design), Craig Pierce (Lighting Design), Gary Randall (Scenic Design), Jonathan Burke (Sound Design), and Jill Gold (Production Stage Manager).
Tickets for YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU are currently on sale and can be purchased in person at the Geffen Playhouse box office at the Brentwood Theatre, online at www.geffenplayhouse.com, or by phone at (310) 208-5454. Single ticket prices for YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU range from $30 to $40 for preview performances (April 12-19), and $30 to $52 during the regular run (April 21-May 22). The Geffen Playhouse is located at the Brentwood Theatre at 11301 Wilshire Boulevard, building 211 on the campus of the Veterans Administration in Brentwood. The performance schedule is Tuesdays—Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 4:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.; and Sundays at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.
YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU BIOGRAPHIES
George S. Kaufman (1889-1961) and Moss Hart (1904-1961) (Playwrights) shared a 10-year collaboration in the 1930s that produced a string of wildly successful American stage classics including Once in a Lifetime (1930), Merrily We Roll Along (1934), I’d Rather Be Right (1937), The Fabulous Invalid (1938), The American Way (1939), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939), and George Washington Slept Here (1940). While each made important contributions to American theater individually, Kaufman and Hart are best known for the successful and influential comedies they wrote together.
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Christopher Hart (Director) began his career as a theatrical producer in New York City, where he earned two Tony Award nominations for Song And Dance (the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical starring Bernadette Peters) and Athol Fugard’s Blood Knot. His productions have won more than 50 Backstage West/Dramalogue Awards, as well as numerous Ovation Awards, Los Angeles Times Critics’ Choice Awards, and LA Weekly Theatre Awards. He has also been nominated for his work as a director from the Los Angeles Drama Critic Circle. For television, Hart directed for the HBO series, Tales From The Crypt.
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Tony Abatemarco (DePinna) has worked in theatre, film, and television as an actor, director, and writer for more than 30 years. He recently appeared in Charles Mee’s A Perfect Wedding at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (directed by Gordon Davidson) and Ladies of the Camellias at The Colony. In 2004, he performed at The European Cultural Centre in Delphi, Greece in Sophocles’ Electra. His one-man show, Cologne, or the Ways Evil Enters the World, received critical acclaim off-Broadway and in Los Angeles. Abatemarco won an Ovation Award for his performance in Charles Ludlam’s The Mystery Of Irma Vep. He has performed at New York’s Public Theatre, the Cherry Lane, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Arena Stage, the ICA in London, Santa Fe Stages, and Theatre Grévin in Paris. Abatemarco’s feature film roles include A Day Without A Mexican, I Am Sam, Clockstoppers, Town & Country, Auggie Rose, Sacrifice (HBO), and All Over The Guy. He has guest starred on nearly three-dozen television shows, including The L Word, Frazier, Profiler, and E.R. He received two NEA Fellowships and was a founding director of The Accident Theater and the Night House in Los Angeles. Abatemarco directed Julie Harris in William Luce’s Lucifer’s Child both on Broadway and for A&E Television. He was the first artistic director of Jacques D’Amboise’s National Dance Institute in Los Angeles.
Tim Chiou (Jim) is part of the Propergander Theater Company in Los Angeles. His recent theater credits include A Burning Thing and Fertilizing Eggy at the 2100 Square Feet Theater, and Freakstorm (Lodestone Theater Ensemble) at the Victory Theater.
Roy Dotrice (Martin Vanderhof) began his acting career in a German prisoner-of-war camp in 1942, having been shot down after flying with the Royal Air Force Bomber Command. After the war, Dotrice joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1957 and for nine years performed in all of Shakespeare’s plays with some of the world’s most celebrated actors and directors, including Laurence Olivier, Peter O’Toole and Albert Finney. Dotrice has appeared in 10 Broadway productions, including three one-man shows (Brief Lives, Golden Theatre, 1968; Mister Lincoln, Morosco Theatre, 1980; Brief Lives, Booth Theatre, 1974). Dotrice won the 2000 Tony Award for his performance in Eugene O’Neill’s Moon For The Misbegotten. On television, he was a series regular in Beauty and the Beast, Going to Extremes, Picket Fences, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Madigan Men. His film credits include The Cutting Edge, Scarlet Letter, Amadeus, and Swimming with Sharks. While at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Dotrice introduced the game of baseball into what had been a cricket stronghold. In 1959, he pitched for the theater’s baseball team alongside Olivier, O’Toole, Finney, Paul Robeson, Sam Wanamaker, and Charles Laughton.
Magda Harout (Gay Wellington; Olga Katrina) has received eight theatrical awards, including the Drama-Logue Award, LA Weekly Theatre Award, and Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award. She has starred in Tennessee Williams’ The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore, Suddenly Last Summer, Big Fish, Little Fish, Madwoman of Chaillot, Waltz of the Toreadores, and The Anniversary. Her most recent theatrical appearances were in Les Liaisons Dangereuses and The Kiss at City Hall, both at Pasadena Playhouse. Harout appeared in Nine Armenians at the Mark Taper Forum, which continued on to the Denver Center for Performing Arts. Her television credits include Six Feet Under, Rock Me Baby, Without A Trace, The Agency, and That’s Life with Ellen Burstyn. She also starred in PBS’s Song of The Lark for Masterpiece Theatre. Her film credits include A Wake in Providence, The Elevator with Martin Landau and Martin Sheen, and My Life with Michael Keaton.
Alexandra James (Alice) recently graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, where she studied theater and received an Honor’s Degree in Comparative Literature. While at Berkeley, she played Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire and Orsino in Twelfth Night. James also studied at A.C.T. in San Francisco, where she played the role of Catherine in The Memory of Water. She also participated in a Shakespeare program at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she played the role of Leontes in The Winter’s Tale.
Dagney Kerr (Essie) played Kathy, the demon roommate in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. She has also appeared on Desperate Housewives, Six Feet Under, George Lopez, Bernie Mac and The District. Kerr has scribed several one-person comedies, including Deep Sea Dagney, Hitchhiking To Mars, and the campy cult Christmas musical, Holiday Fever. Her latest musical stage creation, American Fever, is scheduled to debut this summer. Kerr’s film credits include One Man’s Trash, The First $20 Million is Always the Hardest, and Two Weeks Later.
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Michael Laskin (Kolenkhov) is a former member of The Guthrie Theatre Company and has performed at The Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Seattle Rep., The Empty Space Theatre, The L.A. Public Theatre, The Manitoba Theatre Center, and The Mixed Blood Theatre Co., among others. Laskin starred off-Broadway as Richard Nixon in The Basement Tapes, which won a Fringe First Award at The Edinburgh Festival and played at The Roundhouse Theatre in London. He also played Matt Friedman in the Canadian premiere of Talley’s Folly. Laskin’s television credits include Judging Amy, Ally McBeal, Seinfeld, NYPD Blue and LA Law. He has also performed in more than a dozen made-for-television movies, including the mini-series From The Earth To The Moon. Laskin has appeared in more than 20 films, including Eight Men Out, Bounce, Winchell (HBO), and Disclosure. He recently finished filming a role in the upcoming feature film Mini’s First Time with Alec Baldwin and Jeff Goldblum.
Michael Loeffelholz (Ed) recently moved to Los Angeles from Chicago, where he performed in Absolution at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Early and Often and Hellcab at Famous Door Theatre Company, and The Caucasian Chalk Circle and The Gut Girls at Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company. He was co-founder of the Non Prophet Theatre Company where he produced and appeared in productions of David Mamet’s Oleanna and Harold Pinter’s Betrayal. He also appears in the independent feature film Mix Tape.
Jeff Marlow (Henderson) received an Ovation Award nomination for Best Featured Actor for his performance in Around the World in 80 Days at the Colony Theatre. He was also nominated for an LA Weekly Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Adding Machine at Sacred Fools. His other stage credits include Medea at the Theatre @ Boston Court, The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge at the Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Robert Wilson’s Woyzeck at the Freud Playhouse, The Lady’s Not For Burning at Malibu Stage Company, The Merchant of Venice at Will Geer Theatricum, Louis Slotin Sonata at Circle X, and Angels in America at Human Race Theatre Company. On television, he will appear in the upcoming Grey’s Anatomy, and has appeared on Judging Amy and Strong Medicine. His film credits include Astronauts, The Remnant, The Hebrew Hammer (with Adam Goldberg), I See You.Com (with Beau Bridges), and Akeelah and the Bee (with Laurence Fishburne).
Chris L. McKenna (Tony) has been acting since the age of seven. At age 11, he was cast in the daytime series One Life to Live, where he played the role of Joey Buchanan for three years. During this time, he was nominated for a Soap Opera Digest Award and two Young Artist Awards. McKenna’s other television credits include That’s Life, The District, The Practice and That 70’s Show. He was a regular on The Opposite Sex, and appeared in the films King of the Ants, In and Out, and Art School Confidential.
Brendan O’Donnell (The Man) attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York and has spent the last several years performing in numerous shows at Sight & Sound Theaters in Pennsylvania.
Ethan Phillips (Paul) began his acting career on stage. Some of his New York stage credits include My Favorite Year at Lincoln Center, Measure For Measure at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Lips Together Teeth Apart at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, Donut World at Playwrights Horizons, and Modigliani at the Astor Place Theatre. His Los Angeles theater credits include Hamlet at Uprising Theatre, Side Man at Pasadena Playhouse, Lips Together Teeth Apart at Mark Taper Forum, and The Dining Room at Coronet Theatre. On television, Phillips may best be remembered for his role on the hit show Benson. His other television credits include Arrested Development, Oliver Beene, Star Trek: Voyager, LA Law, and Murphy Brown. Phillips has appeared in numerous films, including Bad Santa, The Shadow, Green Card, Lean On Me, and Glory, and will be appearing in the upcoming film The Island. Phillips is also a playwright and an author. His original play, Penguin Blues, has been produced more than 150 times throughout USA and Canada.
Christina Pickles (Mrs. Kirby) has performed on Broadway in Who’s Who in Hell at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Hamlet, War and Peace, The Misanthrope, You Can’t Take It With You, and The School for Scandal at the Lyceum Theatre, and The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Sherlock Holmes, among others. In Los Angeles, Pickles received acclaim for her performances in Cloud Nine, Undiscovered Country and The Letters of Janet Flanner. On television, Pickles is perhaps best known for her sly, subtle digs as Judy Geller, mother of Ross and Monica on Friends, a role for which she received one of many Emmy nominations. She has also appeared in The Division, Legally Blonde, JAG, and Matlock. Her film credits include George of the Jungle 2, The Wedding Singer, Romeo and Juliet and Legends of the Fall.
Darryl Alan Reed (Donald) has performed in two other productions of You Can’t Take It With You, both at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, where he also performed in Inspecting Carol and The Viewing Room. His other notable theatrical appearances include All The Rage, Transformations, and Vivisections From The Blown Mind at The Goodman Theatre, and Dinah Was (at Northlight Theatre in Chicago and recently at the International City Theatre in Long Beach). Reed’s television and film credits include Woody Allen’s Sweet And Lowdown, The American President, NYPD Blue, Bernie Mac, and C.S.I.
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Carla Renata (Rheba) received a NAACP Theatre Award nomination for her performance in the Los Angeles production of The Lion King, in which she played the role of the wise cracking hyena Shenzi. On Broadway, Renata performed in How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (with Matthew Broderick and Megan Mullally) at Richard Rodgers Theatre, The Life at Ethel Barrymore Theatre, and Smokey Joe’s Cafe at Virginia Theatre. She also performed in the first national tour of The Who’s Tommy. Renata’s television credits include Jake in Progress, CSI, Strong Medicine, Bernie Mac, Will & Grace, and a recurring role on According To Jim with Jim Belushi.
Lisa Richards (Penny) performed on Broadway in Sweet Bird of Youth at the Harkness Theatre opposite Christopher Walken, Mourning Becomes Electra at Circle in the Square Theatre, and Love Suicide at Scholfield Barracks at ANTA Playhouse. She recently starred in Tom Dulack’s Friends Like These (winner of the first Kaufman & Hart Prize for New American Comedy) at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, and All Good Soldiers In The West Wind at The Greenway Court. Richards played Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman at Houston’s Alley Theatre and The Papermill Playhouse with Ralph Waite. She won a Dramalogue Award for her portrayal of Arcadina in The Cornerstone’s Seagull and starred in Lay of the Land (directed by Lee Grant) at the Pittsburgh Public Playhouse. At the Gutherie, Richards played Doll Common in The Alchemist, Therese in Ardele, and Irina in The Three Sisters at The Hartford Stage. At The Theatre Company of Boston, she starred in Dirty Hands, Cocktail Party, Marat Sade and Virginia Woolf. On television, Richards starred in The James Dean Story, and has appeared in Highway to Heaven, Moonlighting, One Life To Live, Where the Heart Is, and Dark Shadows, among others. She also starred in Seasons of the Heart, The Right to Kill, Black Widow, Who Will Love My Children and Atlanta Child Murders. In film, Richards played the star role of Helene in Henry Jaglom’s Eating. Her other movie credits include Rolling Thunder, Heaven Can Wait, and Mr. Mom.
Conrad John Schuck (Mr. Kirby) began his acting career at The Cleveland Play House and over the past 40 years has performed in more than 200 theatrical productions across the United States and Europe. In 1969, while performing at A.C.T. in San Francisco, Schuck was discovered by director Robert Altman who asked him to play the role of Painless in the cult classic film M*A*S*H. He starred in many other Altman films including Brewster McCloud, McCabe, Mrs. Miller, and Thieves Like Us. On television, Schuck appeared on McMillan and Wife opposite Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James for six seasons. His recent film and television credits include Woody Allen’s The Curse of the Jade Scorpion!, the award winning String of the Kite, and NYPD Blue. On Broadway, Schuck played Daddy Warbucks in Annie and he reprised the role in the recent Broadway revival. Most recently he was Buffalo Bill in Annie Get Your Gun with Reba McEntire. His off Broadway credits include The Exonerated and We The People. In Los Angeles, he recently starred in Pippin at REPRISE.
Spencer Wilson (Mac) is a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts West. His regional theater credits include Ragtime at the Henry Ford Theatre and The Music Man at Civic Light Opera, South Bay Cities, A Little Night Music, Death of a Salesman, Bloody Poetry, Automatic Pilot, among others. He toured with Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, in which he played the role of the swaggering Big Bopper, and with The Mikado, in which he played Nanki-Poo.
FINAL PRODUCTION OF GEFFEN’S 2004-2005 SEASON
Jefferson Mays in I Am My Own Wife
June 14-July 10, 2005
Wadsworth Theatre
Written by Doug Wright
Directed by Moisés Kaufman
Winner, 2004 Tony Award for Best Play; Winner, 2004 Tony Award for Best Actor; Winner, 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Winner, 2004 Drama League Award for Best Play; Winner, 2004 Drama Desk Award for Best Play
The New York Times praised Doug Wright’s solo show I Am My Own Wife as “the most stirring new work to appear on Broadway this fall.†The Geffen Playhouse production of this 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner will feature the original acclaimed Broadway actor/director team of Jefferson Mays and Moisés Kaufman. Under the direction of Kaufman, The New York Times lauded Mays’s performance of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a soft-spoken but tenaciously gender-bending biological male, as “thoroughly mesmerizing.†Based on a true story, and inspired by interviews conducted by Wright over several years, I Am My Own Wife swept the 2004 Tony Awards. The Geffen Playhouse production of I Am My Own Wife opens on June 14 and runs through July 10, 2005 at the Wadsworth Theatre.