George Street Playhouse Announces Casting for "Nureyev's Eyes"

George Street Playhouse Brings Ballet & Hollywood Star Rudolf Nureyev and Famed Artist Jamie Wyeth to the Stage in David Rush’s NUREYEV’S EYES

February 2-21, 2016

William Connell to play artist Jamie Wyeth; Bill Dawes to play ballet & Hollywood star Rudolf Nureyev

New Brunswick, NJ -- George Street Playhouse today announced the cast of David Rush’s Nureyev’s Eyes, which runs February 2 through February 21 at the New Brunswick theatre. Bill Dawes will portray Russian defector and star of ballet and screen, Rudolf Nureyev; William Connell will play painter Jamie Wyeth, the son of famed artist Andrew Wyeth and grandson of illustrator N.C. Wyeth. The production will be helmed by George Street Playhouse Resident Artistic Director Michael Mastro.

“I am thrilled to welcome William and Bill to George Street Playhouse,” said Mastro. “Audiences can expect to see these two talented, versatile actors perform with the energy and passion necessary to truly bring these two perfection-seeking artists to life on stage.”

Nureyev’s Eyes – the top prize winner at both Dayton Playhouse’s FutureFest and Firehouse Theatre’s Festival of New American Plays in 2012 -- is a riveting fictional account of the very real interaction between two great artists. Beginning in 1977 and lasting over a period of several years, Wyeth produced hundreds of paintings and drawings of Nureyev. Fighting personal demons and demanding perfection, the two developed a friendship that transcended their differences and lasted until the end of Nureyev’s storied career and too-short life in 1993. Struggling to capture the icon on paper and canvas, Wyeth is not satisfied until an unexpected breakthrough provides new inspiration – opening his eyes to what is right in front of him.

Nureyev was a frequent guest of Wyeth and his wife at their family farm in Chadds Ford, Pa., where the Brandywine River Museum of Art features galleries showcasing works by the Wyeth family. Jamie Wyeth is still very active and appeared at the museum a year ago, in conjunction with a special exhibition of his work.

Connell

Individual tickets, starting at $25, are now on sale, as are 3-play-subscription packages. Contact the George Street Playhouse Box Office at 732-246-7717 or visit www.GSPonline.org for tickets and information. George Street Playhouse is located at 9 Livingston Avenue in heart of New Brunswick’s vibrant downtown dining and entertainment district, steps away from plentiful parking and dining options for every palate and pocketbook.

Opening night, set for Friday, February 5, 2016, is sponsored by by The Merrill G. & Emita E. Hastings Foundation.

William Connell’s New York City credits include A View from the Bridge (2010 Broadway revival); The Coast of Utopia (Lincoln Center); Alphabetical Order (Keen Company). Regionally, he has appeared in One Man, Two Guvnors (Berkeley Rep, South Coast Rep, Pioneer Theatre); Hamlet (Aspen Music Festival); The Hour of Feeling (Humana Festival); The Winslow Boy and The Mousetrap (Rep Theatre of St. Louis), The 39 Steps (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival); Bell, Book and Candle (San Francisco Playhouse); and The Importance of Being Earnest (Gulfshore Playhouse), among others. His film and television appearances include Manhattan Love Story, MA, Smash, Not Fade Away, Gossip Girl, Law & Order, and Guiding Light.

Dawes

Bill Dawes is a three-time Broadway veteran, most recently appearing as Mickey Mantle in Bronx Bombers. He has appeared in a dozen off-Broadway productions, and many more at esteemed regional theatres like Williamstown, Ford's Theatre and Dallas Theatre Center. His television credits include Law & Order, Criminal Minds, Damages, The Following, Royal Pains, Sex and the City, and many more. His fifth lead role in a feature film will be in the award-winning Before the Sun Explodes. As a comic, Bill has performed all over the world, including tours of Iraq and Afghanistan with the USO, and has his own channel of comedy videos at http://www.laughfactory.com/BillDawes and on YouTube.

David Rush has written plays produced at such theaters as American Stage, Stage Left, Mark Taper Forum, GeVa Theater, and Manhattan Theater Club, among others. His work has won or placed in national contests and has earned a variety of awards, including several Chicago Jeffs, a Los Angeles Drama Logue and two Midwest Emmies. He has received Illinois Arts Council grants and was a writer in residence at the Inge Center in 2010. His books, A Student Guide to Play Analysis and Building Your Play, are used by many colleges and universities.

Michael Mastro will be directing his third mainstage production at George Street, after previously helming The Fabulous Lipitones in 2014 and The Subject Was Roses with Stephanie Zimbalist in 2011. He also directed a celebrity play reading of Matt Hoverman’s Thrillsville with a cast featuring Edie Falco, Richard Kind and Grant Shaud at GSP in late 2015. He has also appeared on stage at George Street in such productions as The Sunshine Boys, The Pillowman, The Fox on the Fairway and Inspecting Carol. Last season, he directed Ingmar Bergman’s Nora at Delaware Theatre Company and he appeared in Ayckbourn’s The Things We Do For Love at the Westport Country Playhouse. In recent years, he has helmed several NYC celebrity play readings to benefit various nonprofits, working with actors like Zachary Quinto, Bernadette Peters, Jean Smart, Beau Bridges, Michael McKean, Stockard Channing, Melissa Leo, Laura Benanti, Cynthia Nixon, John Slattery and Cecily Strong. He served as associate director of the recent first national tour of West Side Story, helmed by GSP Artistic Director David Saint, and has directed many new American one-acts for several NYC theatre companies. As an actor, he works regularly on and off Broadway, regionally, and in film and TV, where he is currently recurring on Law and Order: SVU. Member: Actors Equity, SAG-AFTRA, SDC, Naked Angels, The Actors Center.

The set has been designed by Alexis Distler, who was an assistant on Broadway’s Act One, which earned a Tony Award for Best Scenic Design. The creative team also includes costume designer Esther Arroyo, lighting designer Christopher Bailey, and sound designer/original music composer Scott Killian – all of whom were part of the 2013 world premiere production of Joe DiPietro’s Clever Little Lies with Marlo Thomas at George Street Playhouse as well as the current off-Broadway production of that show at New York City’s Westside Theatre.

About George Street Playhouse
In the 42 years since its founding, George Street Playhouse has become a nationally recognized theatre, presenting an acclaimed mainstage season while providing an artistic home for established and emerging theatre artists. Its leadership consists of Artistic Director David Saint, Resident Artistic Director Michael Mastro and Managing Director Kelly Ryman. Founded in 1974, the Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway – recent productions include the Outer Critics’ Circle Best Musical Award-winner The Toxic Avenger; the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League nominated production of The Spitfire Grill; and the recent Broadway hit and Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn, which was developed at GSP during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays. In 2015, George Street Playhouse has been represented by two productions in New York: the recent Broadway production of It Shoulda Been You, and Joe DiPietro’s Clever Little Lies, which opened off-Broadway in October. Both shows received their premieres at the Playhouse. In addition to its mainstage season, GSP’s Touring Educational Theatre features three issue-oriented productions that are seen by more than 40,000 students annually. George Street Playhouse programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Nureyev’s Eyes
by David Rush
directed by Michael Mastro
with William Connell and Bill Dawes

February 2 – 21, 2016

Opening night, sponsored by The Merrill G. & Emita E. Hastings Foundation:
Friday, February 5, 2016

George Street Playhouse
9 Livingston Avenue • New Brunswick
Box Office 732-246-7717 • www.GSPonline.org

Heartbreak and Humor

by Anthony Stoeckert


Michael Mastro was performing in West Side Story on Broadway last year when he talked about directing with fellow actor Peter Maloney. Mr. Mastro had directed a few one-act plays and was looking to make the jump to a full-length production, and Mr. Maloney asked what play he’d like to direct first.

”I said something where the scenery doesn’t move with a fairly small cast,” Mr. Mastro says. “Something like — I literally said this — something like ‘The Subject Was Roses’ or ‘You Can’t Take it With You.’”

Two hours later, he ran into David Saint — the Artistic Director at George Street Playhouse and the associate director of West Side Story — in the green room of the Palace Theatre. ”David was visiting to watch the show and take notes,” Mr. Mastro says, “And he said, ‘Do you know the play ‘The Subject Was Roses?’” ”I said, ‘Yes.’” ”He said, ‘I have it in my season and I had scheduled myself to direct it but I realized that’s not going be possible and I was wondering if you’d be interested.’ And I said yes right there and then.”

That moment of serendipity led to the run of Frank Gilroy’s 1964 play at George Street through March 6. Mastro is making his full-length directorial debut at the New Brunswick theater, after acting in three plays there. Working at George Street is a bit different from his last directing gig, which involved rehearsals in his living room and buying props himself at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

”Suddenly I’m at a beautiful live performance theater with a staff of people who have fantastic attitudes, fantastic work ethics,” he says. “To sit at a production meeting with 10 people around the table who are all ready to support me in seeing through this vision of Frank Gilroy’s beautiful play is like a dream come true.” He also calls his cast a dream.

Stephanie Zimbalist — best known for playing Laura Holt on Remington Steele in the 1980s — plays Nettie Cleary, who’s in a troubled marriage with John (Lee Sellars). Nettie and John’s son Timmy (Chris Wendelken) has returned home from World War II, and the family’s arguments lead to significant, painful truths being shared. ”My first take on it was that it’s a family dysfunction piece,” says Ms. Zimbalist. “It’s coming home from the war, it’s a coming-of-age piece for the young man coming home from World War II and all the accouterment thereof. And it’s a piece about how families function and don’t function.” Depsite its pedigree (it won the Pulitzer, the Tony and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award), The Subject Was Roses has never had a Broadway revival and has been, in Mr. Mastro’s words, “sitting on the shelf.”

The director adds that it’s the kind of play that offers various points of view for different audience members. ”People who know people in the armed forces are going to see one play,” Mr. Mastro says. “I think people who are feeling that they’re stuck in marriages that are stale and troubled are going to see another play. I think young people who feel caught between their two parents and caught at home, somehow unable to get out, are going to see another play. I think it’s all those plays.” But for all of those interpretations, he keeps coming back to one word. ”I think that ultimately it’s a play about forgiveness and the power of forgiveness and its power to allow people to move forward,” he says. “There are people who need forgiveness in the play, there are people who need to forgive in the play, I think everybody has a bit of both.

But it’s a word that kept coming up for me as I was preparing to direct the play.” As much as the play explores some honest, painful emotions, Mr. Mastro says it has a healthy sense of humor. ”This may be a family that’s troubled, but like any family, they would like things to be good, everybody wants things to be better,” he says. “There’s a wonderful sense of humor and love of humor, love of music, so it will be very rich that way. It’s not a constant harangue of screaming and yelling, not at all.” It’s also a play that is sparking discussion.

George Street has chosen it for its program where subscribers read the play and talk about it (a sort of play book club). ”The conversations about the play go on for hours, they have to shove people out the door because people want to talk about this play,” Mr. Mastro says. “They see something of their family in this play. I think everybody, young and old, will see something of themselves in this play.”
Read the complete article at centraljersey.com