Playbill.com - 14/Jun/2010

[Source]
Abraham, Brown, Cerveris, Gleason, Rapp and Spinella Set for Powerhouse Readings
By Thomas Peter
14 Jun 2010

Michael Cerveris

Photo by Joan Marcus

Vassar College and New York Stage & Film's Powerhouse Theater has announced casting for Readings Festival 1, the free event  that will open the theatre company's 26th season (June 25-Aug. 1). Some casting for the Powerhouse Mainstage season has also been announced.

Tony winners Blair Brown, Michael Cerveris, Joanna Gleason and Stephen Spinella, Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham, Oscar nominees Jill Clayburgh and David Strathairn, Rent's Anthony Rapp, Tony nominees Isabel Keating and Maryann Plunkett, and recent Drama Desk winner Santino Fontana are among the actors who will bring to life plays by Richard Nelson, Peter Golub, Stephen Karam, actress-playwright Zoe Kazan and Megyn Mostyn Brown.

The readings will take place June 25-27 in the Susan Stein Shiva Theater on the Vassar campus in Poughkeepsie, NY. A list of the plays to be read and their casts follows:

Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano
A Musical Play
Based upon a screenplay by A. Adabashyan and N. Mikhalkov, and Platonov, a play by Anton Chekhov
Written and directed by Richard Nelson
Music by Peter Golub
Lyrics conceived and adapted by Richard Nelson & Peter Golub
June 25 at 8 PM
The cast will feature Stephen Bogardus, Blair Brown, Michael Cerveris, Jon DeVries, Rebecca Faulkenberry, Barret O'Brien, Maryann Plunkett, Anthony Rapp, Marquis Rodriguez, Andrea Ross, Stephen Spinella, David Strathairn and Michael Winther.

Sons of the Prophet
By Stephen Karam
Directed by Peter DuBois
June 26 at 2 PM
The cast will feature F. Murray Abraham, Dan Bittner, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Santino Fontana, Joanna Gleason, Gideon Glick and Okieriete Onaodowan.

This Thing of Darkness
By Zoe Kazan
Directed by Sam Gold
June 26 at 8 PM
The cast will feature Jill Clayburgh, Michael Countryman, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Josh Hamilton, Sarah Steele and Jeremy Strong.

The Rest of Your Life
By Megan Mostyn-Brown
Directed by Josh Hecht
June 27 at 2 PM
The cast will feature Sarah Nina Hayon, Isabel Keating, Darren Pettie, Simon Pincus and Manda Siegfried.

The Inside Look Series will workshop a series of plays, giving each play a weekend of readings and developmental work. The plays in the series, with casting where available, follow:

Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir
By Keith Bunin
Directed by Mark Rucker
July 1–3
The cast will feature Luke Macfarlane ("Brothers and Sisters").

A Long and Happy Life
By Bekah Brunstetter
Directed by Pippin Parker
July 9–11
"Cass thinks she's finally found happiness -- perfect job, perfect apartment, perfect fiancé -- until a brush with death forces her to reconsider. From Bekah Brunstetter, the award-winning writer of Oohrah!, You May Go Now: A Marriage Play and To Ninevah, comes a play with humor, heart, and a high school step team!"
The cast will feature Cassie Beck, Toccarra Cash, Audrey Esparza, Darren Goldstein, Donnetta Lavinia Grays and Hubert Point-DuJour.

My Life With Men – And Other Animals
By Maria Cassi & Patrick Pacheco
Directed by Peter Schneider
July 16–18
The cast will feature Maria Cassi.

Interviewing the Audience
By Zach Helm
July 23–25
The cast will feature Zach Helm and Powerhouse audience members.
The previously announced Mainstage season will open with We Are Here (June 29-July 11), written by Tracy Thorne, directed by Tony nominee Sheryl Kaller and set to feature Tony winner Adriane Lenox and Tony nominee d'Adre Aziza.

Casting for John Patrick Shanley's Pirate will be announced shortly.

The Martel Musicals series of musical workshops have announced creative teams but not casts. Bonfire Night (July 16-18), with book, music and lyrics by Justin Levine, will be directed by Obie and Drama Desk Award winner Alex Timbers with Kimberly Grigsby serving as musical director.

A revised version of the Alan Jay Lerner-Burton Lane ESP-themed musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever will be "reincarnated and directed" by the previously announced Tony winner Michael Mayer, with Lawrence Yurman as musical director and arranger and JoAnn Hunter as choreographer.

A second Readings Festival (July 29-Aug. 1) will feature works by Eve Ensler, Romulus Linney and Eleanor Cooney, Tony winners Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, Kate Walbert, Patricia Wettig and a screenplay by Tony-nominated actress Jennifer Westfeldt.

Although admission to the Readings Festivals is free, reservations are suggested. Visit the box office or call (845) 437-5599. Reservations are open to subscribers beginning June 18 and to the general public beginning June 22.

For tickets to other productions in the season and for further updates, visit powerhouse.vassar.edu or call (845) 437-7235 or (845) 437-5599.