BEFORE I LEAVE YOU Electronic Press Kit

ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT

Table of Contents: Before I Leave You Press Release ................................................................................................................................................2 Useful Links.........................................................................................................................................................................................7 Photo Library..................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Boston Globe Feature: “Ready to Stick Around” ..................................................................................................................10 Selections from Spotlight ............................................................................................................................................................. 13 Captors Press Release ...................................................................................................................................................................16

Contact: Rebecca Curtiss, Communication Manager 617 273 1537  rcurtiss@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu Coming up next: Captors Press Performances begin Friday, November 18, 8pm Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 16, 2011 CONTACT: Rebecca Curtiss, rcurtiss@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu / 617 273 1537 PHOTOS: huntingtontheatre.org/news/photolibrary.aspx (see instructions at the bottom of this release)

HUNTINGTON PREMIERES PLAY BY CAMBRIDGE BASED 72-YEAR OLD HUNTINGTON PLAYWRITING FELLOW ROSANNA YAMAGIWA ALFARO WHAT:

Huntington Theatre Company premieres Before I Leave You, a love story for grownups about second chances, by Cambridge-based Huntington Playwriting Fellow Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro.

WHEN:

October 14 – November 13, 2011 Evenings: Tues. – Thurs. at 7:30pm; Fri. – Sat. at 8pm; Select Sun. at 7pm Matinees: Select Wed., Sat., Sun. at 2pm Days and times vary; see complete schedule at end of release.

Opening/Press Night: Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 7pm RSVP online at huntingtontheatre.org/news

WHERE:

Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont Street, Boston – South End

TICKETS: Single tickets start at $25 and subscriptions are on sale:  online at huntingtontheatre.org;  by phone at 617 266 0800, or  in person at the BU Theatre Box Office, 264 Huntington Ave. or the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA Box Office, 527 Tremont St. in Boston’s South End. $5 off: seniors $10 off: subscribers and BU community (faculty/staff/alumni) $25 “35 Below” tickets for patrons 35 years old and younger (valid ID required) $15 student and military tickets (BOSTON) – Huntington Theatre Company continues its 30th Anniversary Season with Before I Leave You, a new play by Cambridge-based 72-year-old Huntington Playwriting Fellow Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro. This is the first major regional production for Alfaro, who writes of Cambridge, MA and the “sixty-something” demographic from intimate and extensive experience. Acclaimed Off Broadway director Jonathan Silverstein (The Temperamentals) helms the production.

Before I Leave You tells the story of four longtime friends in Harvard Square. Emily (Kippy Goldfarb), a painter, is surrounded by change. Koji (Glenn Kubota), her husband of forty years, suddenly embraces his Asian roots. Jeremy (Ross Bickell) is at work on a novel but interrupted by a health scare. Trish (Karen MacDonald), Jeremy’s sister and an out-of-work realtor, further complicates his life by moving in. Emily’s son Peter (Alexis Camins) prepares to move out and make empty nesters of his parents. When one of the old friends jumps at an expected chance for happiness, the others face crisis and opportunity in this moving new comedy.

The play’s action takes place in and around Harvard Square at locations that will be familiar to local audiences; the friends dine together regularly at the Royal East, a Chinese restaurant located between Cambridge’s Central and Kendall Squares.

“We aging playwrights make up a huge part of the theatre audience,” says Alfaro. “We have a distinct point of view.

We travel more slowly, but we’ve seen a lot. There is a certain urgency to our writing. I have lived in Harvard Square for 45 years and have been a playwright for 30, so it was time to write a Cambridge comedy about four friends on the cusp of old age.”

Alfaro joins an accomplished and acclaimed group of Huntington Playwriting Fellows to be produced by the Huntington including Lydia R. Diamond (Stick Fly, opening on Broadway this fall), Ronan Noone (The Atheist, Brendan), Melinda Lopez (Sonia Flew), Sinan Ünel (Cry of the Reed), Rebecca Maggor (Shakespeare’s Actresses in America), Kirsten Greenidge (The Luck of the Irish – upcoming), and Ryan Landry (Psyched).

Playwright Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro’s plays include Behind Enemy Lines (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre), Mishima (East West Players), Martha Mitchell (Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Theater Center Philadelphia; Six Figures Theater Co., New York; and others), Barrancas (Magic Theatre), Pablo and Cleopatra (New Theater), Mexico City (The Boston Women on Top Festival), Sailing Down the Amazon (BWTF and JRV Productions), and It Doesn’t Take a Tornado and Amsterdam (La MaMa E.T.C.). She is writer and narrator of Japanese American Women: A Sense of Place, a documentary directed by Leita Hagemann (part of a Smithsonian Institution exhibit and aired by PBS in Seattle).

Seven of her short plays have been in the Boston Theater Marathon, and seven were finalists in the National TenMinute Play Contest. Her plays have been anthologized by Baker’s Plays, Heinemann, Charta Books, Smith and Kraus, and Meriwether Publishing.

Director Jonathan Silverstein’s Off Broadway credits include The Temperamentals (Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble); Lemon Sky and The Dining Room (Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble), Tea and Sympathy, I Never Sang for My Father, and The Hasty Heart (Keen Company, Resident Director); Red Herring (New York International Fringe Festival, Outstanding Direction Award); Indiscretions (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble); Blueprint (Summer Play Festival); The Rats Are Getting Bigger (New York International Fringe Festival); Greater Messapia (Queens Theatre in the Park); and The Train Play (Clubbed Thumb). His regional theatre credits include The Old Globe, Cleveland Play House, Dorset Theatre Festival, and The Theatre at Monmouth. In the Boston area, he has worked at Merrimack Repertory Theatre and Cape Rep Theatre. Mr. Silverstein is a graduate of the MFA directing program at University of California, San Diego, an alumnus of The Drama League Directors Project, and a member of SDC. jonnysilver.com Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois says, “Rosanna’s play tells a beautiful, seldom told middle-age love story unfolding in our own backyard with the freshness and smart sensibility of a young independent filmmaker.”

THE CAST  

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Ross Bickell (To Kill a Mockingbird at the Huntington and The Iceman Cometh and Noises Off on Broadway) plays Jeremy, a college professor working on a novel and dealing with health problems; Alexis Camins (Resurrection at Diverse City/Clurman Theater and Hamlet at New York Classical Theater) plays Peter, Emily and Koji’s 22-year-old son, who is preparing to move in with his girlfriend and her young daughter; Kippy Goldfarb (Wit at Persephone Theatre and Book of Days at The Lyric Stage Company) plays Emily, a painter grappling with her husband’s Asian-American awakening and son’s impending departure; Glenn Kubota (Snow Falling On Cedars at Centerstage and Rosa Loses Her Face at Queens Theatre In The Park/Electric Theatre Company) plays Koji, a theatre professor and director with a newly discovered interest in his Asian heritage; and Karen MacDonald (All My Sons and Bus Stop at the Huntington) plays Trish, Jeremy’s out-of-work sister in search of her next opportunity.

PRODUCTION ARTISTS Scenic design by Allen Moyer (Educating Rita at the Huntington, After Miss Julie and Grey Gardens on Broadway); costume design by Michael Krass (The Rivals and Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the Huntington); lighting design by David Lander (33 Variations and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo on Broadway); sound design by David Remedios (Circle Mirror Transformation and Prelude to a Kiss for the Huntington). Production Stage Manager is Carola Morrone LaCoste (Educating Rita and Vengeance is the Lord’s for the Huntington) and Stage Manager is Ryan Anderson (The Blue Flower at American Repertory Theater).

SPONSORS  Grand Patron: Boston University  30th Anniversary Sponsor: Carol G. Deane  Season Sponsor: J. David Wimberly

ABOUT THE HUNTINGTON Since its founding in 1982, the Huntington Theatre Company has developed into Boston’s leading theatre company.

Bringing together superb local and national talent, the Huntington produces a mix of groundbreaking new works and classics made current. Led by Artistic Director Peter DuBois and Managing Director Michael Maso, the Huntington creates award-winning productions, runs nationally renowned programs in education and new play development, and serves the local theatre community through its operation of the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. The Huntington is in residence at Boston University. For more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org. #

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MEDIA NOTES For interviews and more information, contact Communications Manager Rebecca Curtiss at RCurtiss@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu or 617 273 1537.

PHOTO DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS To download high-resolution (or smaller) photos of Before I Leave You : 1. Visit huntingtontheatre.org/news/photolibrary.aspx 2. Click on a thumbnail, and let the image load in your browser on the Flickr site. Note caption information is displayed below the image.

3. Click the Action button, located above the image on the Flickr site, and select View All Sizes.

4. Select the size you wish to download from the choices listed across the top of the image.

5. Let the image load in your browser, then right-click on it to save to your computer.

PRODUCTION CALENDAR AND RELATED EVENTS

Post-Show Audience Conversations Ongoing Led by members of the Huntington staff. After most Tuesday - Friday, Saturday matinee, and Sunday matinee performances throughout the season. Free with a ticket to the performance.

Humanities Forum Sun. 11/6, following the 2pm performance A post-performance talk exploring the context and significance of Before I Leave You.

Actors Forum Thurs., 11/3 following the 7:30pm performance Wed., 11/9, following the 2pm performance Participating cast members answer questions from the audience.

USEFUL LINKS: BEFORE I LEAVE YOU 

Dramaturgical articles including pieces about local theatre, the evolution of the show, and more: huntingtontheatre.org/season/1112/bily/multimedia.aspx#ARTICLES

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Video interviews with playwright Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro, Peter DuBois, and the cast; excerpts from the production, and more: huntingtontheatre.org/season/1112/bily/multimedia.aspx#VIDEO

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Biographical information about the artists who created and perform in this production: huntingtontheatre.org/season/1112/bily/whos-who.aspx

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High-resolution production photos – available for download: huntingtontheatre.org/news/photo/1112/bily.aspx

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The fall issue of Spotlight, the Huntington’s magazine: huntingtontheatre.org/season/1112/spotlight/index.aspx

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Huntington Theatre Company website: huntingtontheatre.org

PHOTO LIBRARY Before I Leave You

by Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro Directed by Jonathan Silverstein October 14 – November 13, 2011 South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA Availalble at huntingtontheatre.org/news/photo/1112/bily.aspx

Ross Bickell and Kippy Goldfarb in Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro's BEFORE I LEAVE YOU. Now through November 13 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. huntingtontheatre.org. Photo: T. Charles Erickson

Kippy Goldfarb, Glen Kubota, Karen MacDonald, and Ross Bickell in Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro's BEFORE I LEAVE YOU. Now through November 13 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. huntingtontheatre.org. Photo: T. Charles Erickson

Ross Bickell, Alexis Camins, Kippy Goldfarb, Glen Kubota, and Karen MacDonald in Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro's BEFORE I LEAVE YOU. Now through November 13 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. huntingtontheatre.org.

Photo: T. Charles Erickson

Glenn Kubota and Kippy Goldfarb in Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro's BEFORE I LEAVE YOU. Now through November 13 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. huntingtontheatre.org. Photo: T. Charles Erickson

Glenn Kubota and Alexis Camins in Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro's BEFORE I LEAVE YOU. Now through November 13 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. huntingtontheatre.org. Photo: T. Charles Erickson

Glenn Kubota in Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro's BEFORE I LEAVE YOU. Now through November 13 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. huntingtontheatre.org.

Photo: T. Charles Erickson

Karen MacDonald in Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro's BEFORE I LEAVE YOU. Now through November 13 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. huntingtontheatre.org.

Photo: T. Charles Erickson

Ross Bickell in Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro's BEFORE I LEAVE YOU. Now through November 13 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. huntingtontheatre.org.

Photo: T. Charles Erickson

Kippy Goldfarb and Alexis Camins in Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro's BEFORE I LEAVE YOU. Now through November 13 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. huntingtontheatre.org. Photo: T. Charles Erickson

Playwright Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro. Photo: Paul Marotta

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“A terrific and fearless playwright with an individual and

astute voice.”

— THE HARVARD CRIMSON

In a blink, Emily’s Harvard Square world falls apart. Her husband Koji suddenly embraces his Asian roots. Her friend Jeremy’s work on his novel gets interrupted by a health scare and his sister Trish moving in. Four longtime friends face too much past and too little future in this moving new comedy.

A map of the Harvard Square area

NEW PLAYS, NEW CHAPTERS A CAMBRIDGE PLAYWRIGHT TELLS A STORY OF REDISCOVERY

“Rosanna’s play tells a beautiful, seldom told middle-age love story, unfolding in our own backyard, with the freshness and smart sensibility of a young independent filmmaker.” – PETER DuBOIS A new play can spark from anything – an idea, an evocative image, a single line of text. Cambridge writer Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro’s new play Before I Leave You started with a tumble. “A few years ago, I was preparing paella for guests, lifted up the heavy skillet, and, propelled by unseen forces, tumbled backwards and landed on the kitchen floor,” she says. “For no real reason I felt this was the beginning of the end.”

The play that Alfaro wrote shows few traces of that particular situation, but it captures the moment we intuit that everything could change and that our comfortable, set lives may hold new and unsettling discoveries just around the corner. As Alfaro started to turn her real-life scare into a play, it crystallized around four fictional friends, each with their own particular concerns. Jeremy, a 64-year-old Jewish writer, works on his next great novel; his spike-heeled sister Trish is just out of work as a realtor; his best friend Koji is angling to direct King Lear; Koji’s wife Emily is trying to maintain ties with their increasingly estranged son.

The quartet has been friends for decades, making their careers, raising a child, and meeting often for boisterous conversation at the Royal East, a Chinese restaurant in Central Square. They are satisfied with the consistent pleasures of their routine lives and have accepted the compromises they made years ago.

As Alfaro says of her own Harvard Square life, “I could never consider leaving Cambridge because of my friends. When you’ve lived in a place for so long, you have your friends’ books in your bookcases, their paintings on your

walls. You meet for teas and lunches and dinners. You bump into someone you know every time you run an errand in the Square.”

The possibility of shaking up that long-held balance held real dramatic potential for Alfaro. What if there was a new chapter in our lives, just about to begin? Disrupting the status quo started with a bump in Jeremy’s health, an unexplained shortness of breath. “This is the first time anything like this has happened,” Jeremy says in the play. “It’s funny – when you are young ‘the first time’ means something great, but when you’re our age ‘the first time’ means a heart attack or a stroke.”

Alfaro, in her seventies, views the inner emotional lives of the retired and retiring with a candor and a sense of vigor rarely seen on American stages where characters past a certain age are often relegated to supporting parts.

Alfaro instead puts characters in their sixties front and center, emphasizes their intelligence and sexuality, and isn’t afraid to show them in unsympathetic moments. These qualities make Alfaro a surprising and fresh voice on a field cluttered with “emerging” playwrights in their twenties and thirties.

For those Cantabrigians who know Alfaro, though, she has a particularly personal appeal. “I’m a very good listener and not above stealing my friends’ best lines and putting them in my plays,” she says. “I tell all my friends I’ve based my characters on them so they better come to the show.”

- CHARLES HAUGLAND

LEARN MORE ONLINE VISIT THE LEARN & EXPLORE SECTION OF HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG/BEFOREILEAVEYOU TO LISTEN TO AN INTERVIEW WITH ROSANNA YAMAGIWA ALFARO AND EXPLORE A MAP OF HARVARD SQUARE.

HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

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UNEXPECTED CAMBRIDGE:

AN INTERVIEW WITH ROSANNA YAMAGIWA ALFARO PLAYWRIGHT ROSANNA YAMAGIWA ALFARO HAS BEEN WRITING PLAYS FROM HER HOME IN HARVARD SQUARE FOR OVER FORTY YEARS, A FACT THAT COMES IN HANDY SINCE HER LATEST IS SET THERE. SHE RECENTLY TALKED WITH US ABOUT WRITING, HER TOWN, AND THE SURPRISES IT HOLDS.

PLAYWRITING FELLOWS AT THE HUNTINGTON WHEN DID YOU MOVE TO CAMBRIDGE? I started college at Radcliffe in 1956.

I grew up in Ann Arbor so I’ve always been Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro; fond of living in college towns, not that photo: Paul Marotta

Cambridge is just a college town, but we live in Harvard Square so it feels that way. My husband Gustav and I met here as students in 1958; our two children Anna and Pablo grew up here.

We’ve lived in Berkeley, Stanford, Halifax, Salamanca, and London, but we’ve been in Cambridge 46 years and counting.

WHEN DID YOU START WRITING?

Since 2003, the Huntington Theatre Company has fostered the talent of local Boston-area playwrights at all stages of their careers through the Huntington Playwriting Fellow program. Each year, local playwrights are awarded a two-year residency at the Huntington during which they receive a modest stipend, participate in a writers’ collective with the artistic staff, and receive support through readings and the other resources of the Huntington. The HPF community includes many leaders of the Boston theatre scene whose plays have been produced on the Huntington’s stages and throughout the country. Plays produced at the Huntington by HPFs include:

PLAY PLAYWRIGHT SEASON SONIA FLEW

Melinda Lopez

2004 - 2005

I’ve always liked to write. In many ways, it seems more natural to me than talking.

THE ATHEIST

Ronan Noone

2007 - 2008

BRENDAN

Ronan Noone

2007 - 2008

WHO INFLUENCED YOU? WHO FORGED YOU AS A WRITER?

SHAKESPEARE’S ACTRESSES IN AMERICA

Rebekah Maggor

2007 - 2008

THE CRY OF THE REED

Sinan Ünel

2007 - 2008

STICK FLY

Lydia R. Diamond

2009 - 2010

PSYCHED

Ryan Landry

2010 - 2011

BEFORE I LEAVE YOU

Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro

2011 - 2012

THE LUCK OF THE IRISH

Kirsten Greenidge

2011 - 2012

My parents were a little sad I didn’t go into science, but they weren’t unhappy that I majored in English instead. After all, my father was a professor of Japanese literature. I wish they were still alive to see Before I Leave You at the Huntington. Two of my creative writing teachers at Harvard left their mark – Monroe Engel because of his warmth and encouragement and John Hawkes because he was a strong advocate for bold metaphors and subtle violence. John’s office was always full of cigarette smoke, and his writing class was affectionately called “S Squared,” referring to sex and sadism. I’m sure none of his students has ever quite been able to shake the notion that, in writing, perhaps that was the way to go.

WHAT IS YOUR PROCESS LIKE? ARE YOU EVER BLOCKED? I write in bed in the morning with my papers and books spread out in front of me. I always write first in longhand, which matches the speed of my thoughts. I’ve never been blocked for long. I find most problems can be solved by a nap or a good night’s sleep.

To learn more about the HPF program and the Huntington’s other new work initiatives visit huntingtontheatre.org/newwork.

STICK FLY IS HEADED TO BROADWAY! SEE PAGE 22 FOR MORE INFORMATION.

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES? I play the piano about ten minutes a day. I belong to an Asian-American women’s book club, which is much more about eating and gossiping than reading books. I religiously watch the University of Michigan football games on television.

Zabryna Guevara and Will LeBow in Sonia Flew; photo: T. Charles Erickson

WHAT DON’T MOST BOSTONIANS KNOW ABOUT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD? Most think of Cambridge as a place full of college kids, but it’s the perfect city for the old. Our friends in their sixties and seventies are still painting, playing chamber music, birding, sailing, and kayaking when they’re not traveling to remote corners of the world. I’m afraid I do none of those things, but it makes one think the world is still full of endless possibilities.

SEE PAGE 23 FOR SHOW PERFORMANCE CALENDAR AND EVENT LISTINGS HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October, 18, 2011 CONTACT: Rebecca Curtiss, rcurtiss@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu / 617 273 1537 PHOTOS: huntingtontheatre.org/news/photolibrary.aspx (see instructions at the bottom of this release)

TONY AWARD AND PULITZER PRIZE WINNER MICHAEL CRISTOFER TO PLAY EICHMANN IN HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY PREMIERE ABOUT THE ARCHITECT OF THE HOLOCAUST’S THRILLING CAPTURE WHAT Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cristofer appears as Adolf Eichmann in the Huntington Theatre Company’s premiere of Captors, a new play by Evan M. Wiener. Artistic Director Peter DuBois directs.

WHEN November 11 – December 11, 2011 Evenings: Tues. – Thurs. at 7:30pm; Fri. – Sat. at 8pm; Select Sun. at 7pm and Mon. at 7:30pm Matinees: Select Wed., Fri., Sat., and Sun. at 2pm Days and times vary; see complete schedule at end of release.

Press performances begin Friday, November 18, 8pm; RSVP online at huntingtontheatre.org/news

WHERE BU Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston – Avenue of the Arts

TICKETS Single tickets start at $25 and subscriptions are on sale:  online at huntingtontheatre.org;  by phone at 617 266 0800, or  in person at the BU Theatre Box Office, 264 Huntington Ave. and the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA Box Office, 527 Tremont St. in Boston’s South End. $5 off: seniors $10 off: subscribers and BU community (faculty/staff/alumni) $25 “35 Below” tickets for patrons 35 years old and younger (valid ID required) $15 student and military tickets

(BOSTON) –Huntington Theatre Company continues its 30th Anniversary Season with Captors, a new play by Evan M. Wiener (the film Monogamy), directed by Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois. Based on the 1990 memoir Eichmann in My Hands by Peter Z. Malkin and Harry Stein, Captors tells the thrilling, little-known story preceding the trial that introduced the image of “the man in the glass booth” to the world. Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cristofer plays Adolf Eichmann, the world’s most wanted war criminal. Louis Cancelmi plays Mossad agent Peter Malkin.

In 1960 Buenos Aires, covert Israeli agents have just captured the man they believe is Adolf Eichmann. The agents, many personally scarred by the war’s carnage, hold “the architect of the Holocaust” in a safe house for ten days.

Eager to bring him to justice, they must persuade the captive to agree to stand trial for his actions before they can secretly transport him to Israel. Malkin (one of the agents) and Eichmann, the infamous mastermind, compete in a gripping battle of wills.

Captors plays at the Huntington Theatre Company prior to an anticipated New York run. It is produced in association with Michael Weinberger, Jeff Mandel, Tom Heller, and the Kostman Family.

“Evil does not exist in isolation,” Malkin wrote in his memoir, published in 1990 (currently out of print). “It is a product of amorality by consensus. Could it happen again? Who can say? I only know it is a question we must never stop asking.”

“When I read Eichmann in My Hands, I found myself riveted,” says playwright Wiener. “Eichmann’s name has become a kind of cultural shorthand. But the story of those ten days is not familiar, and the prospect of interpreting those events for the stage, with a living, breathing Eichmann sharing space in real time with both his captors and the audience, seemed open to limitless possibilities. I couldn’t be more thrilled that Peter DuBois and the Huntington will be bringing my play to life. For all of Eichmann’s infamy, I’ve found that few have gotten a good close look at the remarkable details of his captivity in Argentina, and it’s an event that only grows in relevance and resonance with each passing day.” This year marks the 50th anniversary of Eichmann’s trial at the Jerusalem District Court, and performances of the play will conclude on December 11, the 50th anniversary of Eichmann’s conviction.

“Evan illuminates a piece of fascinating, little-known history about power, obedience, retribution, and justice,” says DuBois. “This is an incredibly important story, one I’m so glad we will be telling.”

Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962) was a German Nazi who played a major role in facilitating the mass deportation of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps in Eastern Europe during World War II. Gestapo Chief Heinrich Müller is quoted as saying, “If we’d had 50 Eichmanns, we’d have won the war.” After World War II’s end, Eichmann fled to Argentina where he assumed a false identity and worked for Mercedes-Benz until 1960. That same year, he was captured by Mossad officers – all of whom lost family members in or themselves survived the Holocaust – and was spirited away to Israel to stand trial. He was charged with 15 criminal offenses, including crimes against humanity and war crimes.

He was convicted on all counts and was later executed by hanging in 1962. He remains the only person to be sentenced and put to death by the state of Israel. The New York Times calls Eichmann’s story, “One of history’s great manhunts.”

Peter Z. Malkin (1927-2005) was born in Poland and moved to Palestine with his parents in 1933. His older sister Fruma and her family remained in Poland and perished in the Holocaust. As a teenager, Malkin joined the Haganah, an underground army fighting the British for the creation of a Jewish state. Shortly before graduating from high

school, World War II ended and Malkin and his family learned of his sister’s death. Malkin served in the army before joining Mossad, the Israeli secret service. He became a trusted agent and was chosen to travel to Buenos Aires to capture Eichmann. On his mother’s deathbed, Malkin admitted to her his role in Eichmann’s capture, telling her “Fruma was avenged. It was her brother who captured Eichmann.”

ABOUT THE ARTISTS Michael Cristofer (Adolf Eichmann) won the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize for his 1977 play The Shadow Box, which was produced in every major American city and worldwide before its New York run. On Broadway, he has appeared in A View from the Bridge, Hamlet, and The Cherry Orchard and has directed Candida. Off Broadway he appeared in The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, A Body of Water, Trumpery, Romeo and Juliet, and Conjuring an Event. Film and television credits include The Other Woman, An Enemy of the People, “Lincoln,” and “Rubicon.” Other plays he has authored include Breaking Up, Ice, Black Angel, The Lady and the Clarinet, and Amazing Grace. He’s also written screenplays for The Shadow Box directed by Paul Newman, Falling in Love with Meryl Streep and Robert DeNiro, The Witches of Eastwick, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Breaking Up, and Cassanova. His directing credits include Gia (Directors Guild Awards, five Emmy nominations), Body Shots, Original Sin, and Fade Out. He served as artistic advisor and co-artistic director of River Arts Repertory in Woodstock, NY for eight years.

Louis Cancelmi (Peter Z. Malkin) has appeared on Broadway in Vincent in Brixton and Off Broadway in This, The Singing Forest, and The Wooden Breeks. Other New York credits include The Hallway Trilogy (Rattlestick Productions), Blasted (Soho Rep), Peninsula (Soho Rep), Night Sings Its Songs (U.S. premiere), The Nest, Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen, The Vortex, and Sincerity Forever. Regional credits include Death of a Salesman (Arena Stage), Love Lies Bleeding and Until We Find Each Other (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), and The Drawer Boy (Papermill Playhouse). Film and television credits include Stay, Purse Snatcher, The Hitchhiking Game, New Guy, Daughter of Arabia, Eloge de Rien “Third Watch,” and “Law and Order: Criminal Intent”. He studied at Yale University, Acting International (Paris), and the School at Steppenwolf.

Evan M. Wiener (playwright) co-wrote the film Monogamy (released nationally by Oscilloscope Pictures in Spring 2011), for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. He has three other screenplays currently in development: Savage Innocent (with director Larry Clark); The Womb (with Dana Adam Shapiro, for director Gregg Araki and Why Not Productions); and Big Sky (for Big LEO Productions). He has also written for Sony Pictures, First Look Films, and Lee Daniels Entertainment, among others. He is a graduate of Columbia University, where he received the Seymour Brick Memorial Prize for Drama.

Peter DuBois (director) is the Artistic Director of the Huntington Theatre Company, where he has directed the world premieres of Stephen Karam’s Sons of the Prophet, Bob Glaudini’s Vengeance is the Lord’s, and David Grimm’s The Miracle at Naples, as well as Craig Lucas’ Prelude to a Kiss and Gina Gionfriddo’s Becky Shaw. He most recently directed Sons of the Prophet at Roundabout Theatre Company and Zach Braff’s All Good People at Second Stage Theatre. Next spring, he will direct Gina Gionfriddo’s Rapture, Blister, Burn at Playwrights Horizons. Recent other credits include Paul Weitz’s Trust (Second Stage Theatre) and Becky Shaw (U.K. premiere at London’s Almeida Theatre, Second Stage Theatre, world premiere at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville). Prior to arriving at the Huntington, he served for five years as associate producer and resident director at The Public Theater, preceded by five years as artistic director of the Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska.

In addition to Michael Cristofer (Eichmann) and Louis Cancelmi (Malkin), the cast includes Christopher Burns (Incident at Vichy Off Broadway and A Christmas Story at The Cleveland Playhouse) as Hans, Daniel Eric Gold (Len, Asleep in Vinyl and SubUrbia Off Broadway ) as Cohn, and Ariel Shafir (Scorched at The Wilma Theatre and The Underpants at the Alliance Theatre) as Uzi.

PRODUCTION ARTISTS Scenic design by Beowulf Borritt (Sondheim on Sondheim on Broadway, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Off Broadway); costume design by Bobby Frederick Tilley II (The Shirley, VT Plays festival for the Huntington; Sons of the Prophet Off Broadway and for the Huntington); lighting design by Russell Champa (In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) on Broadway, Eurydice Off Broadway); and sound design by Mutt L. Dogg (Sons of the Prophet for the Huntington and Off Broadway). Production Stage Manager is Marti McIntosh (Observe the Sons of Ulster…, The Blue Demon at the Huntington) and Stage Manager is Kevin Robert Fitzpatrick (Candide and Bus Stop for the Huntington).

SPONSORS  Grand Patron: Boston University  30th Anniversary Sponsor: Carol G. Deane  Season Sponsor: J. David Wimberly  Production Co-Sponsors: Mitchell and Jill Roberts; Dola Stemberg

ABOUT THE HUNTINGTON Since its founding in 1982, the Huntington Theatre Company has developed into Boston’s leading theatre company.

Bringing together superb local and national talent, the Huntington produces a mix of groundbreaking new works and classics made current. Led by Artistic Director Peter DuBois and Managing Director Michael Maso, the Huntington creates award-winning productions, runs nationally renowned programs in education and new play development, and serves the local theatre community through its operation of the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. The Huntington is in residence at Boston University. For more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org. #

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MEDIA NOTES For interviews and more information, contact Communications Manager Rebecca Curtiss at RCurtiss@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu or 617 273 1537.

PHOTO DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS To download high-resolution (or smaller) photos of Before I Leave You : 1. Visit huntingtontheatre.org/news/photolibrary.aspx 2. Click on a thumbnail, and let the image load in your browser on the Flickr site. Note caption information is displayed below the image.

3. Click the Action button, located above the image on the Flickr site, and select View All Sizes.

4. Select the size you wish to download from the choices listed across the top of the image.

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PRODUCTION CALENDAR AND RELATED EVENTS

Post-Show Audience Conversations Ongoing Led by members of the Huntington staff. After most Tuesday - Friday, Saturday matinee, and Sunday matinee performances throughout the season. Free with a ticket to the performance.

Jewish Community Night Wed. 11/16, 7:30pm A special pre-show reception and performance for members of the Jewish community.

Humanities Forum Sun. 12/4, following the 2pm performance A post-performance talk exploring the context and significance of Captors.

Actors Forum Wed., 11/30 following the 2pm performance Wed., 12/1, following the 2pm performance Participating cast members answer questions from the audience.

Student Matinee Performance Thurs., 12/8, 2pm Recommended for grades 8-12. $15 group tickets available by calling 617 273 1558.

Audio-Described Performance Thurs., 12/8, 10am and Sat., 12/10 at 2pm