Posts Tagged Keely Wolter

Introducing the Company of THE HUMANS

By Rachel Wandrei on August 29, 2022 / Featured, News, News Alert, Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT
Rachel Wandrei |wandrei@parksquaretheatre.org
Emily Halstead | halstead@parksquaretheatre.org

A FRESH PERSPECTIVE ON FAMILY IN THE HUMANS

Saint Paul, MN. August 25, 2022: Park Square Theatre’s 2022-2023 Season opens with the Tony Award-winning comedy-drama THE HUMANS (September 14 – Oct 9, 2022) by Stephen Karam, directed by Lily Tung Crystal. A one-act performed in real time, the play takes place as three generations gather for Thanksgiving at the new apartment of one of the children. Blisteringly funny but with a dark underside, Karam offers a stunning portrayal of a family navigating the challenges of everyday life.

Audiences are likely to come away commenting about how they relate to one or all of the family members. “This play is deeply and delightfully about family,” shares director Lily Tung Crystal. “What I love about THE HUMANS is that it fully captures the joy, humor, and dysfunction of family in all its nuances. The characters are doing the best they can to get through this one Thanksgiving dinner and everything else life throws at them–the trauma of 9/11, economic hardship, health challenges, broken relationships, old age, the effects of a hurricane. No one is perfect, but no one is a villain either, and somehow their love for one another helps bind them together, for better or worse.”

After premiering in Chicago in 2014, THE HUMANS opened on Broadway in 2016 where it became a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Play, but Tung Crystal is busy thinking about how to interpret it for a Minnesota audience in 2022. “There are a lot of Asian adoptees around the country, but particularly in Minnesota, and portraying a family of White parents with Korean adoptee daughters seemed to make a lot of sense. In fact, that choice has opened up many new ways to think about the play, which the audiences here in the Twin Cities will understand and resonate with. People often have a monolithic perception of what it means to be an ‘American family,’ but we are approaching this show with a 2022 lens, embracing a blend of different ethnicities, backgrounds, and beliefs, rather than the ‘traditional’ family construct. Portraying the family in this way allows us to embrace all the diversity that family can be.”

Three generations will by played by John Middleton* and Charity Jones* as parents Erik and Deirdre Blake, Laura Anderson* and Dexieng “Dae” Yang as their daughters, Aimee and Brigid, Angela Timberman* as grandmother Fiona “Momo” Blake, and Darrick Mosley* as Brigid’s boyfriend, Richard. Lori Constable, Gary David Keast, James Rodriguez, and Janet Scanlon will understudy.

Examining human relationships and the bonds that tie people together is a through-line in the Park Square 2022-2023 Season. Executive Director Mark Ferraro-Hauck notes that THE HUMANS and BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY (at Park Square May 24- June 18, 2023) both specifically portray American family life. “A large part of the USA’s contribution to theatre is the exploration of family,” says Ferraro-Hauck. “It is really important to recognize that these two plays are in the same vein. While the central storytelling is told with different voices and comes from different lived experiences, they both show us ways in which our lives are bound together through the common experiences of family life.”

Ferraro-Hauck also appreciates the deft hand in which Karam crafts the play. “What is amazing about THE HUMANS is how it weaves its way through both the best and worst of family experience but does so without judgment. It embraces us as flawed beings trying to make community and family together. It allows us to laugh at it, get angry, and cry over it simultaneously.” Who hasn’t felt that way after a holiday spent with their own family?

The production team for THE HUMANS includes Roshni Desai (Assistant Director), Erik Paulson (Set Designer), Matthew LeFebvreᐩ (Costume Designer), Katharine Horowitz (Sound Designer), Karin Olson (Lighting Designer), John Novak (Properties Designer), Katie Bradley (Dramaturge), Andrea Moriarity (Wigs Designer), Isabella Dawis (Music Director), Shae Palic (Intimacy Director), Keely Wolter (Dialect Coach), Lyndsey R. Harter* (Stage Manager), and Em Friedman (Assistant Stage Manager).
* Member, Actors’ Equity Association, ᐩ Member, USA Union 829

CALENDAR INFORMATION:

THE HUMANS

Park Square’s Proscenium Stage

Previews: September 14, 15

Opening Night: September 16

Regular Run: September 16–October 9

Audio Description: September 23

Pay-As-You’re-Able: September 25

ASL: September 25

Open Captioning: October 7, 8, 9

Post-Show Discussions: September 25, 29

TICKET PRICES: Previews: $27-$37. Regular Run: $40-$55. Pay-As-You’re-Able on Sunday, Sept 25. Discounts are available for students and educators, seniors, military personnel, those under age 30, and groups of 10 or more. Tickets are on sale by phone at 651.291.7005, (12 noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Friday), or online at parksquaretheatre.org. #pstHumans

PHOTOS: As available, production photos will be posted at: PST The Humans_FOR PRESS.

BIOGRAPHIES:

LILY TUNG CRYSTAL (she/her) is a director and actor and the artistic director of Theater Mu. She is grateful to be collaborating with such talented and generous artists. In the Twin Cities, she has directed Jiehae Park’s peerless, Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band, and the live film-theater production of Susan Soon He Stanton’s Today Is My Birthday at Mu and Art is a Verb (Harrison Rivers, librettist) at MNOpera. Other shows include David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish and Flower Drum Song at Palo Alto Players, and the world premiere of Leah Nanako Winkler’s Two Mile Hollow at Ferocious Lotus. For all three shows, she was named a Theatre Bay Area Award Finalist for Outstanding Direction. As an actor/singer, Lily has performed at theaters across the country, including Cal Shakes, Crowded Fire, Magic Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, New World Stages, Playwrights’ Center, Portland Center Stage, SF Playhouse, and Syracuse Stage. She is a YBCA 100 honoree, named by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as a “creative pioneer making the provocations that will shape the future of culture.” theatermu.org; lilytungcrystal.com

PARK SQUARE THEATRE. 20 W. Seventh Place, Saint Paul
Ticket Office: 651.291.7005. www.parksquaretheatre.org

# # #

KEEPING UP WITH THE HOLMESES

By Rachel Wandrei on June 9, 2022 / Featured, News, News Alert, Press Release

Park Square’s summer mystery will keep audiences guessing ‘who is the real Sherlock?’

Saint Paul, MN. June 9, 2022: Park Square Theatre’s summer tradition of cozy suspense returns to the Proscenium stage with the regional premiere of Jeffrey Hatcher’s HOLMES AND WATSON (July 12 – August 21, 2022), directed by Michael Evan Haney. Set in a tumultuous period when Holmes is presumed dead, pushed over a waterfall by his archnemesis, the play begins when Dr. Watson receives a telegram from a mental asylum: three patients are all claiming to be the famous detective. Who’s the real detective and who are the imposters? This time it’s up to Watson to unravel the case.

The three patients will be played by Pearce Bunting*, Paul de Cordova*, and Peter Simmons* with Bruce Roach* as Watson and a company of fantastic local talent including Kirby Bennett, Peter Christian Hansen*, and Daniel Petzold*, with understudies William Edson, Jeffrey Goodman, and Anna Olson.

“Is one a Holmes or a Watson?” ponders Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher. “This is the question that came to mind a few years ago when casting another play based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s immortal characters. Their height, weight, voice, features, manner, persona. Many fit the profile, but only one can be the real thing.” The production follows in the footsteps of other popular Holmes adaptations by Hatcher at Park Square, most recently SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ICE PALACE MURDERS (2015) lauded as “peppered with witty ripostes and humorous allusions” (Star Tribune). If Hatcher’s mastery of characterizing the famous resident of 221B Baker Street was ever in question, his catalog also includes the screenplay of “Mr. Holmes.”

How to cast not one but three Holmeses was a thoughtful decision for Director Michael Evan Haney**, who deliberately chose actors who have not played Sherlock before in order to avoid giving the audience any tip offs. (Steve Hendrickson, who has played the sleuth in many Park Square productions, is set to return to the role in 2023 in HOLMES/POIROT, which he co-wrote with Hatcher). ”I’m really looking forward to seeing how audiences respond to this carefully wrought tale,” says Haney. “It reads like part of the Conan Doyle canon and is such a fun ride!” A relative newcomer to Twin Cities stages, Haney brings over 50 years of professional theatre experience to the production, including 15 years as associate artistic director with The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. His 2016 production of Beckett’s HAPPY DAYS at Open Eye Theatre was acclaimed as offering “hope in the face of absurdity” (Star Tribune)

“We are eager to welcome back to the theatre our many summer mystery aficionados, and some new fans, for this exciting new work rooted in a long tradition at Park Square.” says Executive Director Mark Ferraro-Hauck. After being delayed a full two years from its spot in Park Square’s 2020 season, HOLMES AND WATSON promises to be the perfect evening out for mystery buffs, literature lovers, and anyone looking for a cool plot twist on a hot summer night.

The production team for HOLMES AND WATSON includes Erik Paulson (Set Designer), Matthew LeFebvreᐩ (Costume Designer), Montana Johnson (Sound Designer), Mary Shabatura (Lighting Designer), Sadie Ward (Properties Designer), Andrea Moriarity (Wig Artisan), Annie Enneking (Fight Director), Keely Wolter (Dialect Coach), Laura Topham* (Stage Manager), and Austin Schoenfelder (Assistant Stage Manager).

* Member, Actors’ Equity Association, ** Member, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, ᐩ Member, USA Union 829

CALENDAR INFORMATION:

HOLMES AND WATSON

Park Square’s Proscenium Stage

Previews: July 12, 13, 14
Opening Night: July 15
Regular Run: July 15 – August 21
Audio Description: July 22
Pay-As-You’re-Able: July 24
ASL: July 24
Open Captioning: August 5, 6, 7
Conversation with Jeffrey Hatcher: July 17
Post-Show Discussion: July 24

TICKET PRICES: Previews: $27-$37. Regular Run: $40-$55. Discounts are available for students and educators, seniors, military personnel, those under age 30, and groups. Tickets are on sale by phone at 651.291.7005, (12 noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday), or online at parksquaretheatre.org. #pstHolmes

BIOGRAPHIES:

Jeffrey Hatcher’s Broadway credits include: NEVER GONNA DANCE (book). Off-Broadway credits include: THREE VIEWINGS and A PICASSO at Manhattan Theatre Club; THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR at Red Bull Theater; SCOTLAND ROAD and THE TURN OF THE SCREW at Primary Stages; LUCKY DUCK (book w/ Bill Russell) at the New Victory Theater; TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE (w/ Mitch Albom) at the Minetta Lane Theatre; MURDER BY POE, THE TURN OF THE SCREW, and A CONNECTICUT YANKEE AT KING ARTHUR’S COURT at the Acting Company; TEN CHIMNEYS at Peccadillo Theater Company; NEDDY at American Place; and FELLOW TRAVELERS at Manhattan Punchline.

Other theatre credits include: COMPLEAT FEMALE STAGE BEAUTY, MRS. MANNERLY, MURDERERS, MERCY OF A STORM, SMASH, ARMADALE, KORCZAK’S CHILDREN, WORK SONG (w/ Eric Simonson), TO FOOL THE EYE, SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SUICIDE CLUB, JEFFREY HATCHER’S HAMLET, THE SCARECROW AND HIS SERVANT, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, THE CRITIC, HOLMES AND WATSON, and others at the Guthrie, the Old Globe, Yale Rep, the Geffen, Seattle Rep, Huntington Theatre Company, the Shakespeare Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Arizona Theatre Company, San Jose Rep, the Empty Space, Indiana Rep, Children’s Theatre Company, History Theatre, Madison Rep, Intiman Theatre, Illusion Theater, Denver Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Rep, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Asolo Repertory Theatre, City Theater, Studio Arena, and dozens more in the US and abroad.

FILM/TV: “Stage Beauty,” “Casanova,” “The Duchess,” “Mr. Holmes,” “The Good Liar,” “Columbo,” “Murder at the Cannes Film Festival,” and “The Mentalist.” GRANTS/AWARDS: NEA, TCG, Lila Wallace Fund, Rosenthal New Play Prize, Frankel Award, Charles MacArthur Fellowship Award, McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Barrymore Award (Best New Play), and the 2013 Ivey Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a member and/or alumnus of the Playwrights’ Center, the Dramatists Guild, the Writers Guild, and New Dramatists.

Michael Evan Haney is celebrating his 51st year in the professional theatre. He has directed plays off-Broadway (AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS), internationally in Vienna and Frankfurt (THE SYRINGA TREE) and in regional theatres including Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Open Eye Theatre (Beckett’s HAPPY DAYS), Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and Cincinnati’s Ensemble Theatre. He was the Associate Artistic Director for the Cincinnati Playhouse for fourteen years directing among many others BLACKBIRD, CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, THE CLEAN HOUSE, and A CHRISTMAS CAROL (for 25 years).

He has acted in over 100 plays including on Broadway in Elie Wiesel’s Zalman, at the Moscow Art Theatre in OUR TOWN, in the U.S. premier of Charles Dickens’ NICHOLAS NICKELBY, and in seasons at The Arena Stage, Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, The Missouri Repertory Theatre and others. On screen with his wife, Amy Warner he has appeared with Cate Blanchette in “Carol” and with Mark Ruffalo in “Dark Waters.”

Awards: Best Directing Acclaim Awards in Cincinnati for THE HISTORY OF INVULNERABILITY (a play about Superman and the Holocaust), LOVE SONG and 80 DAYS, an L.A Dramalogue Award for Jeffery Hatcher’s SCOTLAND ROAD, a Kevin Kline Award for SOUVENIR, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the League of Cincinnati Theatres. Member, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

PARK SQUARE THEATRE. 20 W. Seventh Place, Saint Paul
Ticket Office: 651.291.7005. www.parksquaretheatre.org

# # #

AAROOOOO–The Dogs of Baskerville!

By Ting Ting Cheng on June 14, 2018 / News

Mavis the golden-doodle

Imagine pouncing straight at you–out of the dark, murky moors–a monstrous, demonic dog from legend known as the Baskerville hound, described as “a creature from a nightmare, with blazing eyes and dripping jaws” in Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery. Baskerville–the very word elicits a spine-tingling shudder of terror, an urgent need to scream and, at Park Square Theatre from June 15 to August 5, an irrepressible desire to laugh.

Mavis and Keely Wolter

In the spirit of our very fun production of this classic Sherlock Holmes whodunnit, members of the cast, creative team and production department shared photos of their own hair-raising Baskerville dogs:

Beware of Mavis the four-year-old golden-doodle, who’s biggest threats, according to Dialect Coach Keely Wolter, are to sleep directly on top of her legs at night and attack unattended bowls of popcorn (her favorite).

Lilly and Laura Topham

If you’re not already scared silly, meet two-year-old Lilly. A German shepherd/Australian cattle dog mix rescued by Stage Manager Laura Topham, Lilly once scaled a five-feet-high chain link fence in hot pursuit of a rabbit.

Jasmine the boxer mix

Then there’s Jasmine, actor Marika Proctor’s “90% pitbull sweetness,” listed as a boxer mix at the Animal Humane Society. Doesn’t she look eager to–horror of horrors– lick your face?!?!

Actor Eric “Pogi” Sumangil, not a dog-owner himself, is an uncle to his sister’s pugs, Rupert and Lola. Rupert has since passed away but shared with Pogi the Instagram hashtag #Pugsimangot, which is a play on the Filipino word pagsimangot, meaning to frown or look grumpy. He was a bit deaf, very lazy and so mysteriously quiet.

Rupert and Eric “Pogi” Sumangil

Now it’s just Pogi and Lola mugging together. Unlike Rupert, she’s more active and mischievous, hopping up on chairs and eventually the table if no one’s looking, plus getting into things that she knows not to. Oh, and she’s stubborn to boot!

Lola the pug

Last but not least, is the most terrifying of all: honorary dog Ned, who may very well want to scratch my eyes out for deeming him as such. Proud black cat dad, Eli Sherlock (formerly Schlatter), Baskerville’s set designer, may also get slightly scratched up for describing Ned as a “weird and photogenic” cat of no specific breed that was initially found in a train yard and adopted by folks on the Barnum and Bailey circus tour; hence, earning Ned the affectionate moniker “Ned the Circus Cat.”

Ned the Circus Cat

What is the Baskerville hound? Is it even a dog? Is it even real? Or may it merely exist as a part of ourselves, as Holmes himself surmised (“The hound, he said, was deep in all of us, the part of our souls that is dark and troubling . . . .”)?

Presume nothing when you come to see Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville. Sit back and enjoy as you follow the scent with Holmes and Watson. You’re in for a doggone good time! Tickets and information here.

-By Ting Ting Cheng

A female duo of Holmes and Watson are on the case!

By Rachel Wandrei on May 3, 2018 / Featured, News

The premiere of Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville is witty and fast-paced – with women playing the famous sleuthing duo! Park Square Theatre cherishes its summertime tradition of cozying up audiences with a good mystery. This year’s edition for the company’s 43^rd season – Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: a Sherlock Holmes Mystery – offers a fresh take for Holmes devotees AND a special invitation for those who’ve never spent an evening with the iconic sleuth. McKenna Kelly-Eiding (closing a spectacular run in The Wolves at The Jungle) stars as Sherlock Holmes and Sara Richardson* (last seen at Park Square in The Liar) as Dr. Watson. The remaining 40 characters in this smart send-up of The Hound of the Baskervilles are played by just three actors: Eric “Pogi” Sumangil*; Ricardo Beaird; and Marika Proctor*. Cue the lightning-fast costume changes as wealthy Henry Baskerville is threatened by the fable of a bloodthirsty hound on the moors and the dynamic duo sniff out the culprit.

From Left: Sara Richardson (Dr. Watson) and McKenna Kelly-Eiding (Sherlock Holmes).

Women have been winning over Holmes fans in recent years, from Lucy Liu as Watson in the CBS series Elementary, to Christopher Walsh’s new play Miss Holmes, to Carole Nelson Douglas’ eight acclaimed Irene Adler suspense novels – the first to reinvent a woman from the Holmes “canon” as the protagonist. Director Theo Langason, in his Park Square directing debut, admits that “some Sherlockians will be skeptical of a woman in the role. But, all the things we love about the character – intuition, ingenuity, intelligence – aren’t tied to gender. And when I saw McKenna’s audition, her performance was so grounded – which this script needs since the other actors jump from character to character.”

In many ways, Watson takes center stage as the cataloger and helpmate. Like the character of Archie Goodwin in the two Nero Wolfe mysteries Park Square has commissioned, Watson serves as the “investigator on the ground” while the great detective muses in solitude. “Sara Richardson is so wonderful,” says Langason, “and I’m glad we get to spend so much time with her as Watson in this play.”

Langason relishes the challenges of tweaking audience expectations while staying true to the core of the Holmes story that keeps winning fans generation after generation. “Sherlock is a fascinating character,” he says. “He deserves a role in the pantheon of super heroes. I mean, without Sherlock Holmes, is it possible to have Batman? This show clips along with a very atmospheric, cinematic quality that I think will be really satisfying to both the artists and the audience. Peter Morrow (the sound designer) and I are working hard on where the sound comes from in the auditorium, trying to achieve the sensation you get in a surround-sound movie theatre. I want those ‘howls off the moors’ to give us all the heebee jeebees!”

***

The creative team for the production includes Ashawnti Ford (Assistant Director), Eli Sherlock Schlatter (Set Designer), Mandi Johnson (Costume Designer), Peter Morrow (Sound Designer), Michael Kittel (Light Designer), Sadie Ward, Properties Designer, Annie Enneking (Fight Choreographer), and Keely Wolter (Dialect Coach). Laura Topham* will serve as Stage Manager and Sam Diekman* is the Assistant Stage Manager.

Previews begin Friday, June 15, and continue through Thursday, June 20. June 21 is Opening Night, and the run continues through August 5. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. except for Saturday and Sunday matinees, which begin at 2 p.m. All performances are on the company’s Proscenium Stage in Saint Paul’s historic Hamm Building, 20 W. Seventh Place.

Ticket prices: Previews: $20/$27/$37. Regular Run: $25/$40/$60. Discounts are available for seniors 62+, members of the military, those age 30 and under, groups, and ASL/AD patrons. Tickets are on sale at the Park Square ticket box office, 20 W. Seventh Place, and by phone, 651.291.7005, (12 noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday), or online at parksquaretheatre.org.

*Member, Actors Equity Association

Photo by Petronella J Ytsma.

Posts Tagged Keely Wolter

Introducing the Company of THE HUMANS

KEEPING UP WITH THE HOLMESES

AAROOOOO–The Dogs of Baskerville!

A female duo of Holmes and Watson are on the case!

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