A NUMBER Press Release

CARYL CHURCHILL’S SCIENTIFIC THRILLER, A NUMBER, OPENS REC ROOM ARTS 2023 SEASON OF PLAYS IN DOWNTOWN HOUSTON

HOUSTON, TX (January 24, 2023) — Rec Room Arts (Artistic Director Matt Hune, Associate Artistic Director Sophia Watt, Managing Director Stefan Azizi) announces the opening of A NUMBER by Caryl Churchill. Preview performances begin on February 2, 2023 with an official press opening night on Saturday, February 4, 2023. The production is directed by James Black (Alley Theatre) and will feature performances by Shawn Hamilton (The Royale, Alley Theatre) and Philip Kershaw (Rec Room Writer). The production is the first in the 2023 season.

A NUMBER is a psychological thriller that blends scientific speculation with a stunning portrait of the relationship between fathers and sons. Every parent makes mistakes. Salter makes a number of them. Now 35 years later, his only child realizes he’s not alone. Caryl Churchill’s play is a powerful, unpredictable and devastating drama about what it costs to start over.

A NUMBER will feature production design by Stefan Azizi and sound design by Robert Leslie Meek Emma Bacon and Jessica Casanova are the production stage managers.

All Rec Room artists and staff have been fully vaccinated and take part in weekly COVID testing. It is recommended that all patrons receive a complete COVID-19 vaccination regimen at least 14 days prior to entering the theater. Boosters are also encouraged for those eligible under CDC guidelines. Masks are not required in our building. All policies are subject to change and are dependent on CDC guidance. For complete health and safety protocols, visit Safe Return.

The Green Room Bar at Rec Room is open on show-nights beginning at 6:00 p.m. and closes at midnight.

Caryl Churchill Playwright

Shawn Hamilton Salter

James Black Director

Philip Kershaw

Michael Black, B1, B2

A NUMBER

BIOS

CARYL CHURCHILL (Playwright) was born on 3 September 1938 in London and grew up in the Lake District and in Montreal. She was educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Downstairs, her first play written while she was still at university, was first staged in 1958 and won an award at the Sunday Times National Union of Students Drama Festival. Caryl Churchill’s plays include: Owners, Traps, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Cloud 9, Top Girls, Fen, Serious Money, Ice Cream, Mad Forest, The Skriker, Blue Heart, This is a Chair, Far Away, A Number, Drunk Enough To Say I Love You?, Seven Jewish Children, Love & Information, Here We Go and Escaped Alone. Music theater includes Lives of the Great Poisoners and Hotel, both with Orlando Gough. Caryl has also written for radio and television.

JAMES BLACK (Director) is thrilled to be making his Rec Room directorial debut with A Number. He spent 31 years at the Alley Theatre, where as actor and occasional director, he was involved in over 125 productions. As an actor he appeared in Moon for the Misbegotten (James Tyrone), The Seafarer (Sharkey), You Can’t Take it With You (Martin Vanderhof), All My Sons (Joe Keller), Peter Pan (Capt Hook/Mr Darling), Harvey (Elwood P Dowd), Freud’s Last Session (Sigmund Freud), A Christmas Carol (Scrooge), Our Town (Stage Manager), The Crucible (John Proctor), Angels in America (Roy Cohn), After the Fall (Quentin), View From the Bridge (Eddie Carbone), among many others. When the Alley Theater and the National Theater of London’s joint production of Not About Nightingales traveled to New York, he received a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut and a Drama Desk nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of Butch O’Fallon. At the Alley he directed Amerikin (world premiere), Good People, A Christmas Carol, An Act of God, Saint Nicholas, Clybourne Park, A Behanding in Spokane, Doubt, Death on the Nile, Glengarry Glen Ross, Deathtrap, Black Coffee, Dial “M” for Murder, Our Lady of 121st Street, The Foreigner, The Unexpected Guest, Of Mice and Men, and As Bees in Honey Drown. Other directing credits include Gloria at 4th Wall Theater and Apollo 8 (world premiere) for AD Players.

SHAWN HAMILTON (Salter) is pleased to be returning to Rec Room and very happy to once again be working with the inestimable James Black. He was last seen at Rec Room in The Royale directed by Brandon Weinbrenner as Wynton, the Taciturn boxing manager of Jay the sport Johnson. He has been a member of the Alley Theatre’s resident acting company for the last 2 years where he worked with James Black on the world premiere of Chisa Hutchison’s Amerikin as Gerald Lamott. Other Alley credits include Brucie in Sweat and Winston Smith in 1984, both directed by Rob Melrose, and Martin Luther King in All The Way and The Great Society. He has performed at numerous regional theatres including Yale Rep, Baltimore’s Center Stage, California Shakespeare Theater, and The Guthrie Theatre where he was a company member for many years and played Soap Head Church in the Bluest Eye directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz and Oscar Wolf in Royal Family directed by Rachel Chavkin. He has done a first National tour of Little House On The Prairie the musical directed by Francesca Zambello and appeared with Woody Harrelson in the film “Wilson.” He won the Houston Press award for Best Actor in 2014 for his portrayal of Simon in Stages Theatre’s production of Whipping Man. Shawn is working at Rec Room by special agreement with the Alley Theatre. He is a proud member of Actors Equity and SAG/AFTRA, a proud graduate of Thomas Jefferson elementary, Lanier Junior High, HSPVA, The University of North Texas, Circle in the Square, and the Yale School of Drama; a proud son of Kashmere Gardens, and a proud father of Shelby Brown.

PHILIP KERSHAW (Michael Black, Bernard 1, Bernard 2) graduated with his MFA from the University of Houston’s Professional Actor Training Program after earning his undergraduate degrees at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has appeared in local productions for Theatre Under the Stars, A.D. Players, the Houston Shakespeare Festival, Unity Theatre, Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. and The Ensemble Theatre. He has also worked regionally at Peterborough Players, NC Stage Company, Adventure Theatre MTC, The Wheel Theatre Company and Round House Theatre. Last year, he developed his new play Fellowship as a member of the Rec Room Writer’s Group.

A NUMBER

TICKETS AND INFORMATION

Single tickets are now on sale and range from $5 - $40. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at https://www.recroomarts.org/a-number.

A NUMBER begins performances on Thursday February 2 and will run through Saturday February 25, with an official press opening on Saturday, February 4.

The performance schedule is Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

All performances are downtown at Rec Rom, 100 Jackson Street 130C, Houston, TX 77002

ABOUT REC ROOM ARTS

Rec Room Arts is a non-profit theater organization whose mission is to develop innovative performances by emerging and established artists in order to energize a new generation of audiences for the arts. Rec Room Arts is interested in providing unique and enjoyable experiences through theater that enhance the cultural imagination and social wellbeing of Houston. Rec Room believes in the theatrical examination of individual experiences and operates under the principles that theater shapes behaviors, patterns, and the collective unconscious. Furthermore, Rec Room believes in the importance of making the overall experience of going to the theater pleasurable. Therefore, audiences are invited to arrive early and stay late to socialize in our bar.

Matt

FACT SHEET

A NUMBER

Written by Caryl Churchill

Directed by James Black

Opening Press Night: Saturday, February 4, 2023 | Closing: February 25, 2023 Wednesdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $5 - $40 Rec Room, 100 Jackson Street, Houston, TX 77002 Website: www.recroomarts.org Phone: 713-588-9403

Every parent makes mistakes. But what if you could fix them? Redo the moment? Would you? A psychological thriller that blends scientific speculation with a stunning portrait of the relationship between fathers and sons. Caryl Churchill’s A Number is a powerful, unpredictable and devastating play that delves into the morality of genetic experiments, the essence of paternal love and the debate of nature versus nurture. Over multiple meetings Salter reconnects with his sons, grappling over the lies and truths of their shared and uncanny past.

Full-resolution images and photo credits available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zdwjwVWRRu_Dj2i37XiMmv5P9AZgzvbP?usp=sharing

Hune is Artistic Director/Co-founder; Stefan Azizi is Executive Director; Sophia Watt is Associate Artistic Director.