Geffen Playhouse Inaugurates $17 Million Renovated Theater And New Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theater With 10th Anniversary Season

Geffen’s Festival Of American Originals Continues With The 2005-2006 Season Featuring The West Coast Premiere Of Heather Raffo’s Nine Parts Of Desire, Tennessee Williams’ Cat On A Hot Tin Roof Starring John Goodman, The Los Angeles Premiere Of David Mamet’s Boston Marriage, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, And A New Play To Be Announced. The Geffen’s New Addition, The Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theater At The Geffen Playhouse Opens With The World Premiere Production Of My Buddy Bill, Written And Performed By Emmy Award-Winner Rick Cleveland

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) April 1, 2005

Geffen Playhouse Producing Director Gilbert Cates proudly announces the Geffen’s 10th anniversary season, inaugurating the theater’s $17 million renovation, including a brand new 120-seat Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse. The 2005-2006 season, which begins on September 14, 2005 and concludes July 23, 2006, marks the second year in the Geffen’s decade-long Festival of American Originals, a celebration of American theater, offering works that examine and define the American experience. Geffen Playhouse’s 2005-2006 season will begin with the West Coast Premiere of "Nine Parts of Desire", written and performed by Heather Raffo, to be presented at the Brentwood Theatre. The second play of the season, Tennessee Williams’ "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", will star John Goodman, and inaugurates the newly renovated Geffen Playhouse mainstage. Filling out the 2005-2006 season at the Geffen Playhouse will be Arthur Miller’s "All My Sons" to be directed by Geffen Artistic Director Randall Arney, and the Los Angeles Premiere of David Mamet’s "Boston Marriage" to be directed by Mamet. Performance dates for "All My Sons" and "Boston Marriage" are still being determined and will be announced at a later date. A new play will also be announced at a later date for the fifth production of the season.

Cates also announces the world premiere of "My Buddy Bill", written and performed by Emmy Award-winner Rick Cleveland, which will unveil the Geffen Playhouse’s new Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theater. “This beautiful new addition will also serve as a flexible rehearsal space and as a laboratory for developing new works by emerging artists. We consider it an ‘actor’s theater’ where we can stage intimate readings and wonderfully eclectic programming for our audiences,” said Cates. The opening date of "My Buddy Bill" will be announced at a later time.

“This momentous time in Geffen Playhouse history is exemplified by the rich works and gifted artists involved in our 10th anniversary Season,” Cates continued. “We’re delighted to be working with the tremendously talented John Goodman, Heather Raffo, and Rick Cleveland, all making their Geffen Playhouse debuts, and we welcome David Mamet back to our theater. Our 2005-2006 season presents Los Angeles theatergoers with another wonderfully diverse year of classics and contemporary works.”

Geffen playhouse 10th Anniversary Season:

West Coast Premiere of "Nine Parts of Desire"

Written and performed by Heather Raffo

Directed by Joanna Settle

September 6—October 16, 2005

Opening Night September 14, 2005

The Geffen Playhouse’s 10th anniversary season begins with Heather Raffo’s riveting "Nine Parts of Desire", which opened in October 2004 at New York’s Manhattan Ensemble Theater to critical raves, including the New Yorker’s description of the one-woman show as “an example of how art can remake the world.” The play, which will feature the original acclaimed New York actor/director team of Heather Raffo and Joanna Settle, provides a glimpse into what it means to be a woman in the age-old war zone that is Iraq. The New York Times hailed "Nine Parts of Desire" as “powerful,” “impassioned,” and “memorable,” adding that Raffo “inhabits her characters with such compelling vibrancy that they do not entirely disappear when she moves from one to the next.” The Wall Street Journal said, “each character is wholly believable…because Ms. Raffo inhabits each one so fully, both as actor and as author, and because we never feel, not even for a moment, that she is making them tell us what we – or she – want to hear.” The Geffen Playhouse production of the West Coast Premiere of "Nine Parts of Desire" begins in previews at the Brentwood Theatre on September 6, 2005 and runs through October 16, 2005, with an official press opening on September 14.

Heather Raffo collected the stories of the many Iraqi women included in "Nine Parts of Desire" through a series of interviews and experiences. Her father is originally from Iraq, and her mother is American. She has dedicated "Nine Parts of Desire" to the members of her family still living in Baghdad and to the Iraqi women she interviewed. Raffo’s recent acting credits include the role of Sarah Woodruff in the world premiere of The French Lieutenant’s Woman at the Fulton Opera House, Over The River and Through the Woods Off-Broadway, and The Acting Company’s productions of Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Mistress Page) and The Rivals. She has appeared at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in Othello, directed by Jack O’Brien, As You Like It directed by Stephen Wadsworth, Macbeth directed by Nicholas Martin, and A Comedy of Errors, directed by John Rando.

Joanna Settle was recently in residency at the NY Public Theater to develop Shakespeare’s Coriolanus with her company, Division 13 (D13) Productions. She adapted and directed Ionesco’s final work Journeys Among The Dead at HERE Arts Center and worked on the production of the Beckett shorts Act Without Words I, Rockaby, Breath and That Time throughout Brooklyn’s Old American Can Factory. Settle directed Penthesilea by Von Kleist, Cascando and Waiting for Godot by Beckett, and The Dumb Waiter by Pinter at Classic Stage Company, The Trojan Women at Juilliard, and D13’s workshop of The Genet Project, an original work based on the early life and writings of Jean Genet. Settle is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and is currently a third year resident artist at Here Arts Center. In 2000-2002, she received the NEA/TCG Career Development Grant for Directors.

"Nine Parts of Desire" was first performed in August 2003 at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, then moved to the Bush Theatre in London’s Off-West End where The Independent hailed it as one of the five best plays in London. The show was also performed as a reading at The Public Theater as part of its New Work Now festival.

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"

Winner, 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Written by Tennessee Williams

Starring John Goodman

Directed by Geffen Producing Director Gilbert Cates

November 4—December 18, 2005

Opening Night November 16, 2005

Geffen Producing Director Gilbert Cates directs "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", the 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by great American playwright Tennessee Williams. The Geffen Playhouse production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" will star Emmy-nominated actor John Goodman as the fearsome patriarch Big Daddy. This powerful, highly charged play tells the story of Big Daddy Pollitt, an affluent Southerner, and his dysfunctional family, who have gathered at home for his birthday. Unbeknownst to Big Daddy, the family is keeping secrets of the present and the past that threaten to change the hierarchy of this old-fashioned, patriarchal family forever. As in much of Williams’ work, resentments and demons bubble to the surface, in this case creating a party Big Daddy will never forget. The Geffen Playhouse production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" will inaugurate the newly renovated Geffen Playhouse mainstage, opening in previews on November 4, 2005 and running through December 18, 2005, with an official press opening on November 16, sponsored by De Beers, the international diamond retailer.

“"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is in my opinion one of the best plays ever written,” said Cates. “This great American story dealing with honesty and mendacity is evocative and powerful. I am looking forward to working with John Goodman, a uniquely gifted actor, as he brings Big Daddy to life for LA audiences later this year.”

Playwright, poet, and fiction writer, Tennessee Williams left a powerful mark on American theater. He is perhaps best known for his three most popular plays, The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire (for which he won his first Pulitzer Prize), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (for which he won his second Pulitzer Prize). At their best, his twenty-five full-length plays combined lyrical intensity, haunting loneliness, and hypnotic violence. He is widely considered the greatest Southern playwright and one of the greatest playwrights in the history of American drama.

John Goodman may be most familiar to television and movie audiences for his Emmy-nominated role as a different kind of patriarch, the affable Dan Conner on the Roseanne sitcom, but Goodman got his first break starring on Broadway in Loose Ends. An accomplished stage performer, Goodman created the role of the brutish Pap in the 1985 Broadway smash, Big River. His film credits include The Big Easy, King Ralph, The Flintstones, The Babe, and Blues Brothers 2000.

Gilbert Cates, a recipient of the James A. Dolittle Award for Leadership in Los Angeles Theatre, recently directed the Geffen’s world premiere adaptation of Paint Your Wagon. The Geffen Playhouse production of Collected Stories, also directed by Cates, received the 1999 Ovation Award for Best Play. Cates served two terms as President of the Directors Guild of America from 1983 to 1987. In 1989, he received the Guild’s Robert B. Aldrich Award for extraordinary service, and in 1991 he received the DGA’s Honorary Life Membership.

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" was first produced in New York in 1955 under the direction of Elia Kazan. The play was a tremendous commercial success on Broadway, where it ran for 694 performances.

"All My Sons"

Winner, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award

Written by Arthur Miller

Directed by Geffen Artistic Director Randall Arney

Production dates to be determined

The Geffen’s 2005-2006 season continues with American playwright Arthur Miller’s classic "All My Sons". Directed by Geffen Artistic Director Randall Arney, "All My Sons" is a compelling story of love, guilt and the corrupting power of greed. The play examines the morality of a man who places his personal responsibility to his family above his professional responsibility. Performance dates for the Geffen Playhouse production of "All My Sons" are still being determined and will be announced at a later date.

“We are so excited to be able to present this wonderfully warm and meaningful play by Arthur Miller as the Geffen continues its examination of the American experience,” said Arney. “All My Sons is as its core a study of denial, guilt and social responsibility, taking place on the home front during a time of war, making the play particularly resonant at this time in our own American experience. There’s also a great love story and a wonderful sense of nostalgia centered in the volatile caldron of family. The play is an incredible ensemble piece and presents the Geffen with a tremendous opportunity for a dynamic group of actors.”

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller is one of the most frequently produced playwrights in America. From his first theatrical success with "All My Sons" in 1947 to Broken Glass in 1994, his plays continue to energize the stage, explore the shadowy realm of human motivations, and probe the conflicts at the bottom of the American dream. During his supremely influential career, Miller combined social awareness with deep insights into his characters’ personal weaknesses.

"All My Sons", which premiered in 1947 and ran for 328 performances, is widely known as Miller’s first stage success. The play established Miller as a dramatist of much promise and won him the Drama Critics’ Circle Award for the best American play of the season. He later won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and his second Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Death of a Salesman, which opened on Broadway in 1949.

Randall Arney, who last directed the Geffen’s smash hit production of Take Me Out last year, also directed the Geffen productions of I Just Stopped By To See The Man, God’s Man in Texas and The Weir. He is an ensemble member and former artistic director of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre (1987-1995), where he directed numerous plays including The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Death and the Maiden and Curse of the Starving Class. Arney also directed the world premiere of Picasso at the Lapin Agile at Steppenwolf, as well as the subsequent Los Angeles, off-Broadway, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Tokyo productions.

Los Angeles Premiere of "Boston Marriage"

Written and directed by David Mamet

Production dates to be determined

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet directs his own play, "Boston Marriage" at the Geffen Playhouse. Described as a startling modern, wickedly sharp and wildly witty drawing room comedy, "Boston Marriage" is the story of two fashionable upper-class women who are involved in a “Boston marriage,” a term used to describe a romantic bond between two unmarried, financially independent women. The New York Post described "Boston Marriage" as “deliciously wicked...one of the funniest American comedies in years.” Ben Brantley of The New York Times said, “Move aside boys, with your gutter talk and con games and slovenly ways. It’s girls’ night out in Mametville…these ladies are refined…And believe it or not, they talk as pretty as anyone out of Oscar Wilde.” Performance dates for the Geffen Playhouse production of "Boston Marriage" are still being determined and will be announced at a later date.

In addition to "Boston Marriage", David Mamet is the author of the plays The Old Neighborhood, Oleanna, Glengarry Glen Ross (1984 Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award), American Buffalo, A Life In The Theater, Speed The Plow, Edmond Lakeboat, The Water Engine, The Woods, Sexual Perversity In Chicago, Reunion, and The Cryptogram (1995 Obie Award). His translations and adaptations include Red River by Pierre Laville, and Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters, and Uncle Vanya. His films include The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Verdict, The Untouchables, House Of Games (writer/director), Oleanna (writer/director), and Hoffa. Mamet is also the author of Warm and Cold, a book for children with drawings by Donald Sultan; Writing In Restaurants, Some Freaks and Make Believe Town, three volumes of essays; The Hero Pony, a book of poems; Three Children’s Plays, On Directing Film, The Cabin, True And False, and the novel The Village.

"Boston Marriage" had its world premiere in 1999 at American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it was directed by David Mamet and starred his wife, Rebecca Pidgeon, as Claire and Felicity Huffman as Anna. In 2000, "Boston Marriage" was produced at the Donmar Warehouse and then at the New Ambassadors, both in London, England. In 2002, "Boston Marriage" was staged at the Public Theater in New York.

Play 5: A New Play To Be Announced

Production dates to be determined

The 10th anniversary season closes with a new play to be announced at a later date.

World Premiere of "My Buddy Bill"

Written and performed by Rick Cleveland

Production dates to be determined

The new Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse will open for the first time with the world premiere production of "My Buddy Bill", written and performed by Emmy Award-winning writer and executive producer Rick Cleveland. In "My Buddy Bill", Cleveland spills the dirt on his fantastic friendship with Bill Clinton, in which he bounces from touring the White House to playing catch with the First Dog and flying in the President’s jet to Amsterdam. The opening date of this comedy about Cleveland’s unlikely friendship with former President Clinton will be announced at a later time.

Rick Cleveland is a writer and executive producer on the HBO series Six Feet Under. He won an Emmy Award, a Humanitas Award and a Writer’s Guild Award for his work on The West Wing for which he was also a writer and co-producer. He earned his M.F.A. from the Playwrights Workshop at the University of Iowa. His film credits include Jerry & Tom and Runaway Jury. Cleveland is a founding member of Chicago’s American Theater Company a commentator for NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

"My Buddy Bill" will be work-shopped at the Berkshire Theatre Festival this summer.

Tickets And Other Information:

The Geffen Playhouse is located at 10886 Le Conte Avenue in Westwood. The performance schedule is Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 4:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.; and Sundays at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.

Subscriptions to the 2005-2006 season may be purchased online at http://www.geffenplayhouse.com, at the Geffen’s box office located at the Brentwood Theatre, or by calling the box office at (310) 208-5454.

Launched in 1994 as the Westwood Playhouse, the Geffen Playhouse was named in 1995 when entertainment mogul and philanthropist David Geffen first donated $5 million, one of the largest philanthropic donations ever made to an already-constructed theater. In 2002, Geffen and The David Geffen Foundation made another $5 million lead gift for the capital campaign.

The Geffen Playhouse is headed by Producing Director Gilbert Cates, Artistic Director Randall Arney and Managing Director Stephen Eich.

###