Complete Cast and Creative Team Announced for the American Premiere of THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE by Andrew Bovell
Milwaukee Repertory Theater March 5-31, 2019
Complete cast and creative team for the American premiere of Things I Know to be True.
“Articulate, poetic and poignant drama about the family circle”
~ The Telegraph
January 24, 2019 – [Milwaukee] Milwaukee Repertory Theater is pleased to announce the complete cast and creative team for the American premiere of Things I Know to be True by Australian playwright Andrew Bovell in the Quadracci Powerhouse March 5-31, 2019.
Things I Know to be True by Andrew Bovell, who’s Speaking in Tongues was last seen in the Stiemke Studio in the 2010/11 Season, is an innovative and touching new play that looks at the struggles a nuclear family faces to fulfill expectations, establish one’s own identity and deal with personal crises. It had its world premiere in Adelaide, Australia in 2016 before touring the UK to critical acclaim. With the American premiere at The Rep, Bovell rewrote parts of the play, moving the location to a Midwestern town with a typical American family.
The cast features Jordan Baker (Luna Gale, Goodman Theatre) as Fran the Mother, Bill Geisslinger (Native Gardens, Arizona Theater Co.) as Bob the father, and children Kelley Faulkner (Always…Patsy Cline, Milwaukee Rep) as Pip, Zach Fifer (Twelfth Night, Pioneer Theatre Co.) as Ben, Aubyn Heglie (Love’s Labor’s Lost, Carnegie Mellon) as Rosie, and Kevin Kantor (The Legend of Georgia McBride, B Street Theatre) as Mark. Full bios below.
Things I Know to be True is directed by Rep Artistic Director Mark Clements with stage and movement direction by first time collaborator Julia Rhoads. Rhoads is the Artistic Director of Lucky Plush Productions a Chicago based dance company that is a unique hybrid of high-level dance and theater. The full creative team includes set design by Scott Davis (Guards at the Taj, Milwaukee Rep), costume design by Rachel Laritz (One House Over, Milwaukee Rep), lighting design by Jesse Klug (One House Over, Milwaukee Rep), original music and sound design by Joe Cerqua (The Foreigner, Milwaukee Rep), voice and text coaching by Eva Breneman, dramaturgy by Associate Artistic Director Brent Hazelton, and stage management by Rebekah Heusel.
Things I Know to be True is a co-production with Arizona Theatre Company and is part of the John D. Lewis New Play Development Program. Executive Producers are Judy Hansen and Christine and Pat Keyes, as well as Associate Producers Suzy B. Ettinger Foundation, Phoebe Lewis and Catherine and Buddy Robinson. The media sponsor is Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Rep is sponsored in part by The United Performing Arts Fund.
Things I Know to be True runs March 5-31, 2019 in the Quadracci Powerhouse. Opening night is set for Friday, March 8 at 8pm. Purchase tickets at www.MilwaukeeRep.com, by calling the Ticket Office at 414-224-9490 or in person at 108 E. Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee.
Biographies:
Andrew Bovell, Playwright
Andrew is an award-winning writer for theatre, film and television. His AWGIE award-winning play Speaking in Tongues has been seen throughout Australia as well as in Europe and the US (including Milwaukee Rep in 2010/11) and Bovell adapted it for the screen as Lantana. Both the play and screenplay have been published by Currency along with After Dinner, Holy Day, Scenes from a Separation (written with Hannie Rayson), When the Rain Stops Falling and Who’s Afraid of the Working Class?, written with Patricia Cornelius, Melissa Reeves, Christos Tsiolkas and Irene Vela.
Jordan Baker, Fran
She has appeared on Broadway in The Normal Heart at Golden Theatre and Suddenly, Last Summer at Circle in the Square Theatre (Theatre World Award). Off-Broadway credits include Three Tall Women at the Vineyard and Promenade Theaters; Night Sky at the Baruch Performing Arts Center; Is Life Worth Living? at the Mint Theater; and Milk at HERE Arts Center. Other credits include Luna Gale at Goodman Theatre, Native Gardens at Denver Center, Appropriate at the 2013 Humana Festival of New American Plays; The Normal Heart at American Conservatory Theater (Broadway tour); Death of a Salesman at The Old Globe; The Philadelphia Story at The Royal Exchange (London); and Othello at Folger Theatre. Film credits include Life Itself and The David Dance, Another Earth (Sundance Film Festival, winner Alfred P. Sloan Award 2011); Paparazzi; Out of Towners; City Hall; Childless; Escape from L.A.; and Love Potion #9. TV credits include “Person of Interest,” “Cold Case,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Blue Bloods” (CBS); “Ugly Betty,” “Brothers & Sisters,” “The Practice” and “Deception” (ABC); “Medium” (NBC); and “Buffy, The Vampire Slayer” (WB).
Kelley Faulkner, Pip
Milwaukee Rep favorites: Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Curley’s Wife in Of Mice and Men, Mollie in The Mousetrap, Nurse Kelly in Harvey, Brooke in Noises Off, Evelyn Nesbit in Ragtime, Sally Bowles in Cabaret and the title role in Always…Patsy Cline. Other work: Optimist Shakespeare, Arizona Theatre Company, TheatreFest, Walnut Street Theatre, Fireside Theatre and the New York City Opera. BFA in Acting from Montclair State University. Kelley is a native New Yorker by way of Philadelphia and now happily resides in Milwaukee. She is a proud member and national council member of Actors Equity Association. www.KelleyFaulkner.com
Zach Fifer, Ben
Fifer’s favorite credits include Twelfth Night (Pioneer Theatre Co.), If on a Winter’s Night… (TheatreHusband/TheatreWife Co.), Lord of the Flies (dir. Caden Manson), and Steubenville (dir. Eleanor Bishop). Carnegie Mellon University BFA. IG: zachfife
Bill Geisslinger, Bob
As an acting company member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) for 25 years, he participated in more than 70 productions including most recently August: Osage County, the world premiere of Ghost Light by Tony Taccone and as assistant director of A Streetcar Named Desire. His other credits include the world premiere of Continental Divide by David Edgar (OSF, Berkeley Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, in the UK at Birmingham Rep and the Barbican Center in London) and the world premiere of X’s and O’s by KJ Sanchez (Berkeley Rep, Baltimore CenterStage). He also has performed at The Old Globe Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Intiman Theatre, Denver Theatre Company, Virginia Stage Company, Mechanic Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre and Portland Center Stage. Geisslinger’s film and Television credits include “Grimm,” “Cheers,” “St. Elsewhere,” “News Radio,” “Nowhere Man,” Dead by Sunset, A Thousand Hero’s, Imaginary Crimes and “American Playhouse: The Skin of Our Teeth.”
Aubyn Heglie, Rosie
Recently graduated with a BFA from Carnegie Mellon where she co-founded the Bellwether Project, a politically minded theater and film company that she writes, acts and directs with. Her past CMU credits include: Rosaline in Love’s Labor’s Lost, Jo in Boom, Rosa Malek in A Bright Room Called Day.
Kevin Kantor, Mark
Kevin (They/Them) is a non-binary actor, director and performance poet. Selected Regional: Macbeth (Actors Theatre of Louisville, dir. Les Waters) The Legend of Georgia McBride (B Street Theatre and Hippodrome Theatre) Othello, Twelfth Night, Sense & Sensibility (Island Shakespeare Festival), And Humbaba Came From… by Jen Silverman (Iowa New Play Festival). As a poet, Kevin’s writing has been featured in Button Poetry, Teen Vogue, and The Huffington Post, with over 17 million online views. Kevin was featured alongside Lady Gaga during her 2016 Oscars performance & worked as a content supervisor & contributor on John Ridley‘s ABC drama American Crime. Their collections include Endowing Vegetables With Too Much Meaning and Please Come Off-Book. Kevin is an alumnus of the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Professional Training Company.@Kevin_Kantor
About Milwaukee Repertory Theater
Milwaukee Rep is the largest performing arts organization in Wisconsin in terms of audiences served and one of the largest professional theaters in the country. Each year, The Rep welcomes up to 275,000 people at nearly 700 performances of 15 productions ranging from compelling dramas, powerful classics, new plays and full-scale musicals in its three unique performance venues – the Quadracci Powerhouse, Stiemke Studio and Stackner Cabaret. Now in its 65th Season, The Rep has gained a national reputation as an incubator of new work, an agent of community change and a forward-thinking provider of vital arts education programs. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Mark Clements and Executive Director Chad Bauman, Milwaukee Repertory Theater ignites positive change in the cultural, social, and economic vitality of its community by creating world-class theater experiences that entertain, provoke, and inspire meaningful dialogue among an audience representative of Milwaukee’s rich diversity.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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