Media Contact:
Melissa Hill Grande
Associate Artistic Director and Director of Marketing
mgrande@picttheatre.org
412.561.6000 x203
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PICT produces theatrical event of the 2011 season!
House and Garden is two full-length comedies which are performed at the same time, in two different theatres for two different audiences, but with the SAME CAST!
Pittsburgh, PA – June 9, 2011. Alan Ayckbourn’s comic triumph House & Garden pits actors, directors and crew against the clock! The most clever duo ever written for the stage, House & Garden are two separate comedies that play in the Charity Randall and the Henry Heymann theatres simultaneously…with the SAME CAST! Actors run up and down a backstage stairwell that connects the two theatres, while audience members sit comfortably for two hours in one of the theatres and watch the play which is set in that location.
House is directed by Andrew S. Paul, and Garden is directed by Melissa Hill Grande. The plays can be seen singly, and in no particular order, and play June 23 through July 17. House will be performed in the Charity Randall, and Garden in the Henry Heymann theatre. Lighting design for House is by Christopher Popowich, and lighting design for Garden is by Cindy Limauro. Designing both shows are Gianni Downs (scenic), Jen Sturm and Steve Buechler (costumes), Zach Moore (sound and original music) and Ricardo Vila-Roger (properties).
The plays are both set in the household of Teddy Platt, a wealthy philanderer awaiting a visit from a Tory power-broker who can establish Platt’s political career. Everything that can go wrong on this most important of days is destined to occur, as Platt’s wife refuses to acknowledge his existence, his mistress (and best friend’s wife) becomes increasingly unhinged as he breaks up with her, his daughter is seduced and discarded by the visiting politico, and his head is turned by a glamorous French actress who is the celebrity guest star for the community fete at the bottom of his garden. Further down the social scale, ongoing conflict is coming to a head between the gardener, the housekeeper and her promiscuous daughter, and the couple who’ve come to set up the fete is headed for marital disaster. Boozers and cuckolds, insanity and depravity all come together for one fantastic story told in two hilarious plays. House primarily concerns Teddy’s pursuit of a political career and deteriorating marriage, while Garden primarily concerns the revelation of Teddy and Joanna’s affair to their spouses and children, and preparations for the neighborhood fete.
Martin Giles stars as Teddy Platt, and Helena Ruoti plays his wife Trish. Giles’ PICT credits include Pinter Celebration, What the Butler Saw, Synge Cycle, BeckettFest, Uncle Vanya and The Gigli Concert. Ruoti’s PICT credits include Antony & Cleopatra, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and What the Butler Saw.
PICT 2011 Actor-in-Residence Leo Marks plays the author and politico Gavin Ryng-Mayne. The OBIE award-winning actor was company member in PICT’s extraordinary Pinter Celebration last season, and he has appeared at some of the most respected theatres in the country, including South Coast Repertory, Actors Theater of Louisville, the Old Globe, and Intiman. He is a founding member of New York’s acclaimed Elevator Repair Service.
Beth Hylton and Nike Doukas return to PICT to play respectively Teddy’s jilted mistress Joanna Mace, and a glamorous French film star he becomes enamored of, Lucille Cadeau. Hylton’s credits include productions with Woolly Mammoth, Ford’s Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Delaware Theatre Company, Everyman Theatre, Olney Theater Center, Weston Playhouse, and PlayMakers Rep. Doukas was featured prominently in last season’s Pinter Celebration. She has an MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre and is a regular presence at theatres throughout Southern California including South Coast Rep and The Old Globe in San Diego. House & Garden reunites Hylton and Doukas with Anwen Darcy (Rock ‘n’ Roll) and Mary Rawson (Copenhagen). The four last appeared together in PICT’s 2008 production of Wilde’s An Ideal Husband.
British-born actors Sarah Manton and David Bryan Jackson bring authentic stiff-upper-lip to Ayckbourn’s comedies in their PICT debuts. Manton, a graduate of the Guildford School of Acting, London, plays the feisty young maid Pearl. Her credits include the world premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Coast of Utopia (National Theatre), the role of Baby in the West End production of Dirty Dancing, and the National Theatre production of South Pacific. She was recently seen in the Pittsburgh Public Theatre production of Ayckbourn’s Time of My Life. Jackson plays Giles Mace, Teddy’s best friend and Joanna’s husband. His credits include multiple productions with The Shakespeare Theatre, Folger Theatre, Studio Theatre, and Olney Theatre Center.
The acting company also features Jon Farris, Michael Fuller, Tressa Glover, Allison Scarlet Jaye, and Sean Mellott.
House director Andrew S. Paul is the co-founder and artistic director of PICT. Under his leadership, PICT has produced more than fifty main-stage productions and completed two successful international tours. His directing credits for PICT include the 2009 productions of The History Boys and Rock ‘n’Roll. Other PICT directing credits include Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Henry IV, and Julius Caesar; the world premiere of Thomas Kilroy’s Henry (after Pirandello); and David Hare’s Stuff Happens and Via Dolorosa. In 2008, Paul directed and collaborated with Hare on the non-English language premiere of Stuff Happens at the Slaski Teatr in Katowice, Poland.
Garden director Melissa Hill Grande is the associate artistic director and director of marketing for PICT. Her Pittsburgh-area directing credits include “When the Moon Has Set” in PICT’s acclaimed Synge Cycle, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing for Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks, and multiple productions for Phase 3 Productions. She has also directed in Bricolage’s B.U.S. 6, No Name Players’ SWAN Day 2010 and 2011, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater Festival in Black and White, and Pittsburgh PRIDE Theater Festival.
House & Garden play simultaneously June 23rd through July 17. House is in the Charity Randall Theatre and Garden is in the Henry Heymann Theatre. Both theatre spaces are located at the Stephen Foster Memorial, 4301 Forbes Avenue on the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland. Tickets are $20 to $50 and are available by calling ProArtsTickets at 412.394.3353 or online at www.proartstickets.org.
Free preshow discussions are scheduled for Wednesday June 29th and Thursday June 30th at 7 p.m., and a post-show talk-back with the company is scheduled for Sunday, June 25th following the 2 p.m. matinee performance.
For more information, visit the PICT website at www.picttheatre.org.
The Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre was founded in 1996 to diversify the region’s theatrical offerings by providing Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania audiences with high-quality, text-driven, affordable productions of classical theatre and the works of classical and contemporary Irish playwrights and to significantly improve employment opportunities for local talent in all facets of theatrical presentation and production. PICT is a Small Professional Theatre (SPT) affiliated with Actors’ Equity Association, and a constituent member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. PICT is the Professional Theatre in Residence at the University of Pittsburgh and PICT productions at the Charity Randall and Henry Heymann Theatres are presented in cooperation with the University of Pittsburgh – Department of Theatre Arts.
House & Garden FACT SHEET
House & Garden by Alan Ayckbourn
House directed by Andrew S. Paul, in The Charity Randall Theatre
Garden directed by Melissa Hill Grande, in the Henry Heymann Theatre
Both theatres located in the Stephen Foster Memorial, Oakland
4301 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Cast:.Anwen Darcy, Nike Doukas, Jon Farris, Michael Fuller, Martin Giles, Tressa Glover, Beth Hylton, David Bryan Jackson, Allison Scarlet Jaye, Sarah Manton, Leo Marks, Sean Mellott, Mary Rawson, and Helena Ruoti.
Design Team: Gianni Downs (scenic design); Christopher Popowich (House lighting design); Cindy Limauro (Garden lighting design); Jen Sturm and Steve Buechler (costume design); Zach Moore (sound design & original music), Ricardo Vila-Roger (properties)
Performance Dates and Times:
First Week:
Thursday -- Friday, June 23 and 24; 8 p.m. previews
Saturday, June 25; 8 p.m. opening night, followed by reception
Sunday, June 26; 2 p.m. matinee, followed by talk-back
Second Week:
Tuesday, June 28th, 7 p.m. performance
Wednesday – Saturday, June 29 – July 2; 8 p.m. performances*
*pre-performance discussion at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday
Third Week:
Wednesday – Friday, July 6 - 8; 8 p.m. performances
Saturday, July 9; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. performances
Sunday, July 10, 2 p.m. performance
Fourth Week:
Wednesday – Friday, July 13 – 15, 8 p.m. performances
Saturday, July 16, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. performances
Saturday, July 17, 2 p.m. closing performance
Ticket Prices:
Fri. and Sat. nights: $50; Seniors $48
Tues., Wed., Thurs. nights, and Sat. & Sun. matinees $46, Seniors $44
Preview Thurs. and Fri.: $40 for all seats
$20 tickets available for youth under 25, with valid ID
Call ProArtsTickets at 412.394.3353 or visit www.picttheatre.org
Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre. Great Stories. Well Told.
