The Lay Of The Land At The Public Is ''Lots Of Laughs!'' (Pittsburgh Press)
Lee Grant, director of The Lay Of The Land, with (left) actors Greg Mullavey and Lisa Richards and playwright Mel Shapiro.
Marital bliss collides hilariously with mid• die age In long time Pittsburgher Mel Shapiro ' s new comedy The Lay Of The Land, 1990 winner of the Kesselring Prize for Playwriting, at the Publ i c Theater now through May 19. No stranger to playwriting Shapiro who is best known to Public fans as the director of Hay Fever, Orphans, Eleanor, and Speed-The-Plow, won a 1985 Los Angeles Drama-Logue Award for his play The Price Of Admission and a Tony Award with John Gu are for the libretto of the 1972 Broadway ~it musical Two Gentleme!" of Verona. The world premiere of The Lay Of The Land brought Oscar and two-time Emmywinning actress Lee Grant to Pittsburgh to direct stage and television veterans Greg Mullavey and Lisa Richards in the roles of troubled middle-aged couple Harvey and M.J. Dankworth. In the offices of their respective psychiatrists, who are never seen, Harvey and M.J. work through a bizarre series of events that are triggered when Harvey, a pre-Soviet literature professor, enters an absurdly obsessive affair with one of his students. His obsession revives the careless youth in him, endangering not only his marriage but his chances attenure. Meanwhile, M .J., a documentary filmmaker !who hasn't been able to complete a film in ]years, suffers from a psychosomatic rash
that worsens with her suspicions that Harvey is cheating on her Her determination to discover the truth leads her to hire private eye Carmine Ficcone, the kind of sexy Italian who " seduces the door knob when he opens a door." Both obsess ion and suspicion are taken to comical extremes as husband and wife grapple to overcome the crisis and begin again.
Lay Of The Land director Lee Grant was last in Pittsburgh when she directed the TV movie No Place Like Home starring Jeff Daniels and Christine Lahti, which won the Silver Prize at the 1989 Cannes International Television Festival. An accomplished actress whose credits include an Oscar for Shampoo and an Emmy for Peyton Place, Grant has also established herself as a notable stage and film director. Her formidable directing credits include Nobody's Childfor CBS, which starred Marlo Thomas and won Grant the Directors Guild Award, and Down And Out In America for HBO which won the 1987 Oscar tor Best Documentary Feature. For the theater, Grant staged Vaclav Havel's A Private View at the New York Shakespeare Festival , winning a New York Drama Critics Circle Award nomination for Best Director. Greg Mullavey, who stars as the affaircrazed Harvey, is widely remembered as Tom Hartman in the television series Mary Continued on page 2
formance
John Henry Red"tood, loved by Pittsburgh audiences for his portrayal of Troy in August Wilson's Fences and Seth in Joe Turner's Come And Gone, returns to the Public in the role of playwright for the world premiere of his award-winning drama, A Sunbeam, May 30 through July 7 A Sunbeam will star film , stage and television vet• eran Mary Alice, who won the 1987 Best Featured Actress Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her portrayal of Rose in the Broadway Fences. Joining Redwood and Mary Alice are director Claude Purdy, set designer Jim Sandefur and lighting designer Phil Monat - the same team that put together the smash hit productions of Fences and Joe Turner's Come And Gone and this season's The Night Of The Iguana.
A Sunbeam is the poignant story of Sol Gilchrist, a 39-year old mentally handicapped black man who knows only the unflinching love of his mother Celia and the protective circle with which she has tried to surround him. Sol, institutionalized for most of his life, lives for his cigar box of photographs and his mother's Wednesday and
Sunbeam
Sunday visits. As he grows older, his parents, Celia in particular are faced with a nearly insurmountable problem - who will be responsible for this enormous, gentle manchild when his parents can no longer watch over him?
Mary Alice portrays Celia, the devoted mother who has never given up hoping that someday, some way, Sol can be healed. Mary Alice broke ground as the matriarch of the first black family featured in a daytime drama , NBC's Another World. (The series ' head writer was Corinne Jacker, who adapted both the 1989 production of Hedda Gabler and next season's Three Sisters for the Public.)
Mary Alice's stage credits include playing Rose opposite James Earl Jones in the Broadway production of Fences, and the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of Richard Ill. She appeared in the Academy Award-nominee Awakenings with Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams The Bonfire Of The Vanities with Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis, and the critically acclaimed To Sleep With Anger with Danny Glover. Continued on page 2
Tony Award Winner Mary Alice Stars In John Henry Redwood's A
Mary Alice, shown here with James Earl Jones in her 1987 Tony Award-winning per-
in Broadway's Fences, will star at the Public.
The Lay Of The Land
Continued from page 1
Hartman, Mary Hartman. A veteran comedic actor, he co-starred on Broadway in Bernard Slade's Romantic Comedy opposite Mia Farrow and Anthony Perkins, and in Neil Simon's Rumors opposite Veronica Hamel. Other stage credits include a 1988 DramaLogue Award for his portrayal of Clifford Odets in Names at the Burbank Theatre Guild. A highly sought-after television actor, Mullavey has guest-starred in a string of prime-time hits including Hunter, WIOU, In The Heat Of The Night, Jake And The Fatman and LA Law.
Lisa Richards, who stars as the wildly suspicious M J., recently completed a starring role in the new feature film Eating, which has a c_ast of 38 women and no men. On the New York stage, she was featured in Mourning Becomes Electra with Colleen Dewhurst at Circle in the Square and in the Broadway Sweet Bird Of Youth with Irene Worth and Christopher Walken, a production that was originated by the Public's Producing Director Bill Gardner in Chicago. H~r many featured television appearances include Growing Pains, Hooperman, Falcon Crest and the made-for-TV movies David, Who Will Love My Children? and The Atlanta Child Murders.
The Lay Of The Land reunites costume designer Laura Crow and set designer Karl Eigsti who designed costumes and sets for the Public's musical hit Eleanordirected by Mel Shapiro. Lighting designer Dennis Parichy's recent designs include Penn And Teller: The Refrigerator Tour On Broadway and the Off Broadway hit The Sum Of Us. Elvira DiPaolo
A Sunbeam
Continued from page 1
One of Redwood's goals as a writer is to develop roles for black actresses. "We have to find a way to write plays for these wonderful people," whom he feels are too often neglected. Bringing Mary Alice to the role of Celia combines the powerful talents of one of the country's leading black actresses with the determination and conviction of a devoted mother. Through Celia, Redwood also has a chance to voice many of his own questions. "Why is one person born one way and one another way? I look at myself and I look at them. They (people who are mentally handicapped) will never have life as we know it. Where is that choice made?" Celia believes that in some way she is the cause of Sol's condition and that therefore she must find the cure.
A Sunbeam is also the story of nearly 200,000 mentally handicapped adults living in the United States, a number which is increasing dramatically every year. In a New York Times article entitled, "When The Retarded Grow Old," Tamar Lewin notes that advances in medical care and facilities have created a new problem for families with retarded children. Twenty years ago, a mentally handicapped child had a very short life expectancy. Today, many of those children are living into their 60's and 70's, creating an entirely new population. Not only are their parents no longer capable of caring for them, but coupled with the complications of retardation are the medical and monetary difficulties of the elderly. Writes Lewin, "This generation of retarded adults poses a host of new policy challenges. For many families, planning for permanent care of a retarded adult is emotionally draining, forcing them to face their own mortality."
The plight of Sol Gilchrist is more than a social issue for Redwood, who based the
character of Sol on a next-door neighbor who was his "first best friend."
"I lived with it," said Redwood. "I took Sol around, I played with him, I took him on trains, I took him to Sunday School. I sat next to him, among a class of seven-year-olds, while he sang 'I'll be a Sunbeam.' And one of my biggest regrets is not having been around him more."
Redwood calls his past experiences with the Public Theater some of the "greatest events of my life" and praises the Public's choice in deciding to produce A Sunbeam.
"A lot of theaters didn't want to deal with it, they thought it was too heavy.'' Yet this moving account of a family's struggle to preserve their dignity teaches a powerful lesson about the value of our own lives. "Anything I write I hope will provoke some thought. I'd like to bring about some dialogue about these things. I want people to walk out of the theater thinking." Thinking about the things they have and the things they believe in.
Kym Helbig
The Public Theater's world premiere production of A Sunbeam is funded in part by a grant from the AT&T Foundation.
Hold This Date!
Friday Evening, Sept. 6, 1991
The First Annual "Season Sizzler" Party to launch the Public Theater's 17th season! Watch for details!
Public forms special events organization
Excitement is in the air about the Public Theater's new volunteer organiz.ation that will assist on an ongoing basis the Public's special fund-raising benefits and related activities.
• • •
Participants have been meeting to plan upcoming events and are in the process of selecting a name for the organiz.ation that will convey the enthusiasm and support the new group is bringing to the Public. If you are interested in becoming a member, please call Marie Mueller, Development Director at 323-8200.
Public to honor John Henry Redwood Residency Donors
On May 20, the Public Theater will host a reception to honor friends of the Public who have provided a residency for John Henry Redwood, the award-winning actor and playwright whose new play, A Sunbeam, will receive its world premiere at the Public this season.
The spotlight will be on Redwood, who starred in the Public's productions of August Wilson's Fences and Joe Turner's Come And Gone, and whose play, inspired by his childhood friendship with a mentally retarded man, received the 1988 McDonald's Literary Achievement Award.
The evening will be highlighted by remarks from Producing Director Bill Gardner and Redwood, who will be on hand to sign commemorative posters which will be given to these special donors. These donors, who have helped make history by supporting the premiere of a new work with the potential for national impact, will be listed prominently on a specially created lobby display and will become part of the historical listing of those who made the project possible. •
Spaces still remain for those who wish to support the residency, which will provide Redwood with travel expenses, housing and a stipend while in Pittsburgh next month to work on the development ofA Sunbeam with designers, the Public's artistic staff, and director Claude Purdy. To participate, send your tax-deductible contribution made payable to the Pittsburgh Public Theater, Committee for Dramatic and Artistic Leadership, Allegheny Square, Pittsburgh, PA 15212-5349.
Greg Mullavey and Lisa Richards in The Lay Of The Land.
PlaywrighUactor John Henry Redwood as Troy in the Public's 1989 hit Fences.
By Eugene O'Neill
WE'VE ALREADY CHOSEN 5 GREAT PLAYS: THE RUSSIAN MASTER'S SECRETS OF THE SOUL!
THREE SISTERS
By Anton Chekhov
Adapted by Corinne Jacker
Stranded in a small town by the death of their father, three sisters long to return to the glamour and excitement of Moscow - the Eden of their childhood and the land of their dreams. With sensitivity, admiration and bittersweet humor, Chekhov transforms their ordinary lives into an extraordinary drama of rebellion and acceptance
THE GREATEST PLAY IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE! HAMLET
By William Shakespeare
The Royal Shakespeare Company's internationally acclaimed director Ron Daniels will stage the first Shakespeare at the Public in 10 years Daniels' 1989 staging of HAMLET for the RSC was hailed by London critics as "Thrilling!" "as fresh and newly revealing as the day it was first seen!"
BROADWAY SMASH HIT MUSICAL
OFF BROADWAY HIT COMEDY BY THE AUTHOR OF THE DINING ROOM!
T E COCKTAIL HOUR
By A.R. Gurney
The author of the Public's hit THE DINING ROOM lets the zingers fly in this richly humorous look at Anglo-Saxon American life. A struggling playwright rattles his staid old-money family members with news that he's written a ploy based on their lives and wants their permission to have it produced.
DEEPLY MOVING CLASSIC BY AMERICXS PREMIER
PLAYWRIGHT!
A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOffEN
By Eugene O'Neill
O'Neil l's self-tormenting James Tyrone, Jr. finds solace one enchanted, moonlit evening in the powerful and healing arms of a robust spinster, Josie Hogan As the two exchange secrets and fears, O'Neill's last complete play "triumphs with humor, poignancy and passion." {Time magazine)
BY THE CREATORS OF THE FANTASTICKS ! I DO! I DO!
Book and Lyrics by Tom Jones
Music by Harvey Schmidt
Based on "The Fourposter" by Jan de Hartog '
A two-year sell-out on Broadway and non-stop hit across the country, this joyful musical comedy is "revolutionary because it's a reassuring, amusing, happy look at marriage!" (New York Post) From wedding night to fiftieth anniversary, this love duet of 20 songs, with dance, is "a delight for all!" (Variety). And seeing a musical up close, in our intimate space, is irresistible!
AND WE'LL CHOOSE 1 MORE PLAY FROM THESE:
THE PIANO LESSON
By August WIison
We're currently negotiating for the rights to August Wilson's seco nd Pulitzer Prize winner and recent Broadway hit. This jubilant ondJoignont installment in Wilson's Pittsburgh-base chronicle of Block American life resonates with rich verbal lore and the legacy of a 137-year-old piano. "Mesmerizing!" (Associated Press}
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
By John Guare
Contemporary New York is the setting for this brilliant high comedy. Guare's current smash hit is a hilarious and moving attempt to uncover what feelings, ideas and people might still be authentic in a city where the con artist is king "Fast, dense, wildly imaginative, about the manipulative of many persuasions!" (Newsday)
THE SUM OF US
By David Stevens
Audiences seeing this new hit in New York are embracing its father/son love story Set in Australia , o widowed father goes out of his way to understand his son's sexual world, while upsetting other relationships. Hilarious and touching, " a humane vision of decent people struggling to find love " (New York Times)
ITALIAN-AMERICAN RECONCILIATION
By John Patrick Shanley
A charming, upbeat romantic comedy by the Academy Award-winning author of the hit film MOONSTRUCK. In New York's Little Italy, true love does not run smooth when a Puccini-crazed soul tries to woo back his ex-wife with the help of his "Mama's boy" best friend.
WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN
By 1homas Middleton
This 17th century classic exposes the hidden desires of the courts of Florence and the danger of love gone mod. Power, innocence and infidelity mix to creole an intricate web of passion and deceit that erupts into an elaborate spectacle As relationships unravel, betrayer confronts betrayed, and revenge becomes a game
ANOTHER WORLD PREMIERE!
We're talking to some of America's finest actors, directors and playwrights in order to present the best possible choice for on exciting world premiere comedy, drama or musical.
Plays
Fashion Joins the Arts
Box Office Hours Mondays 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
through 10:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
12 noon to 6:30 p.m.
and summer hours may vary.
• Single Ticket Prices
Sun. matinee
Students and senior citizen ½ price discounts are available 30 minutes before curtain time (if the performance is not sold out) with valid identification.
How to Obtain Single Tickets
1. In person at the Box Office.
2. By mail. Enclose payment, note performance desired. Include name, address, telephone number and a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. Mail to: Pittsburgh Public Theater Box Office, Allegheny Square, Pittsburgh, PA 15212-5349.
3 By telephone. You may charge single tickets to your American Express, MasterCard, or Visa accounts by calling the Box Office at (412) 321-9800.
Can't Make It? Too Late to Exchange? Take a Tax Deduction! If you find you are unable to attend a performance and cannot exchange your tickets, you may take a tax deduction for the amount paid for each ticket not used. Just release your tickets for resale by calling the Tax Deduction Line (412) 3219807 as soon as possible, but as late as curtain time on the day of performance.
Following last September's successful FASH ION JOINS THE ARTS, the Joseph Horne Company in partnership with the Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, the Pittsburgh Opera, and the Civic Light Opera will repeat this memorable luncheon/ fashion show benefit on September 10, 11, 12, and 13. • • •
All proceeds from the event will be shared equally among these organizations. You won't want to miss this enjoyable event which will feature gifts, a luscious menu, andashowofthe latest fashions with commentary by Horne's renowned Fashion Director, Jane Vandermade. For ticket and event information call Marie Mueller, Development Director at 3 2 3-82 00.
Lisa Richards and Greg Mullavey star in The Lay Of The Land, Mel Shapiro's award-winning new comedy at the Public Theater now through May 19. In this world premiere-where marital bliss collides hilario~sly with middle age - "Director Lee Grant keeps two talented, appealing actors with a great sense of humor on target!" (Susan H. Smith, Pittsburgh Press). Story on page 1.
Stage, film and television veteran Mary Alice, winner of the 1987 Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in Broadway's Fences, stars in actor/playwright John Henry Redwood's A Sunbeam, a world premiere at the Public May 30 through July 7. In this poignant, award-winning drama, Mary Alice portrays a devoted mother desperately torn between the needs of her grown, mentally retarded son and her husband and troubled marriage. Story on page 1. May.
