Tovah Feldshuh to Lead Bay Street Theater's THE PROMPTER; Full Cast and Creative

By: Apr. 04, 2019
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Tovah Feldshuh to Lead Bay Street Theater's THE PROMPTER; Full Cast and Creative

Bay Street Theater is pleased to announce the cast and creative team for the first show of the 2019 Mainstage Season. The World Premiere of THE PROMPTER (May 28- June 16) a new comedy by Wade Dooley; will be directed by Scott Schwartz, Bay Street Theater's Artistic Director. It will star Tovah Feldshuh (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Walking Dead, Golda's Balcony) and Wade Dooley (Jersey Boys). Single tickets are on sale now for Patrons and subscribers. Single tickets go on sale to the public on Tuesday, April 9. Subscriptions for all three 2019 Mainstage productions are also available. Call the Box Office at 631-725-9500; open Tuesday - Saturday; 11 am - 5 pm or an hour before show time; or log on to baystreet.org.

THE PROMPTER was part of the last year's Title Wave @ Bay Street: The 5th Annual New Works Festival. "This play was a big hit at last year's festival, and due to popular demand we are thrilled to now offer our audience the world premiere production of this delightful new comedy about the making of a Broadway show," says Scott Schwartz. "I first worked with Tovah on Golda's Balcony, which became the longest-running one-woman show in Broadway history, and I am thrilled to be reunited with her and to continue my journey with Wade as we bring The Prompter to life this summer."

THE PROMPTER is a new comedy about veteran actress Irene Young (Tovah Feldshuh), who, after a forty-year absence, is returning to the Broadway stage. But now, she can't do it alone; so, the production hires a young actor Wade (Wade Dooley) to be her prompter. But, this isn't her story, it's his. Based on real events, THE PROMPTER is a funny, heartfelt, untold, behind-the-scenes look at Broadway through the eyes of a young dreamer.

The creative team includes Kevin Depinet (Set Design), Mike Billings (Lighting Design), Tracy Christensen (Costume Design), Jon Weston (Sound Design), J. Jared Janas (Wig, Hair and Makeup Design), Andrew Diaz (Props Design), Denise Yaney (Stage Manager) and Binder Casting (Casting).

Tovah Feldshuh (Irene Young) is a 6-time Tony & Emmy nominee and the winner of 4 Drama Desks, 4 Outer Critic Circle, 2 Dramalogues, The Theatre World, Obie, Lucille Lortel and Helen Hayes Award for Best Actress. Among her many Broadway credits, Tovah starred in William Gibson's Golda's Balcony which was directed by Scott Schwartz and became the longest running one woman show in Broadway history. She also starred in Scott Schwartz's acclaimed production of Arsenic & Old Lace at the Dallas Theater Center opposite Betty Buckley. Her latest role on Broadway was for Stephen Schwartz, in the Tony-winning Broadway revival of Pippin as Grandma Berthe singing the show-stopping "No Time at All" while simultaneously doing a full out trapeze act. Her latest television series includes The Walking Dead and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. She was awarded three honorary doctorates and has received the Israel Peace Medal and Eleanor Roosevelt Humanities Award. Ms. Feldshuh is the proud wife of attorney Andrew Harris Levy and the mother of Brandon married to Jami, Amanda married to Joel and Gramee to Rafael Levi Ryzowy. www.tovahfeldshuh.com and @tovahfeld

Wade Dooley (Playwright) is a writer/actor living in Jackson Heights, Queens. He also plays the character Wade in THE PROMPTER. Some favorite writing credits include Broadway Bares: Rock Hard, On Demand, and Strip U with co-writer Hunter Bell, Stars in the Alley with host Tituss Burgess, The Diary of a Dancer (Best Solo Show 2010 DC Fringe Fest). Wade is an alumnus of Running Deer Theatre Lab, Goodspeed's Johnny Mercer Writers Colony, Finger Lake's Musical Theatre Festival's The PiTCH. As an actor, some favorite credits include Film: The Last Five Years. Theatre: NEWSical The Musical, The Awesome 80s Prom, La Cage Aux Folles, The Roar of the Greasepaint-The Smell of the Crowd. Tour: Jersey Boys, The Trip to Bountiful, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Wade is represented by Ben Izzo at Abrams Artists Agency. He is a graduate of Bradley University.

Scott Schwartz (Director) is the Artistic Director of Bay Street Theater. Most recently, he directed the world premiere of the new musical The Prince of Egypt at both TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in California and at Fredericia Teater in Denmark. Previous directing credits at Bay Street include Intimate Apparel starring Kelly McCreary and Conviction starring Sarah Paulson. As a director, he has worked on and off-Broadway, in major regional theaters across the country, and in the UK and Japan. On Broadway, he directed Golda's Balcony and Jane Eyre (co-directed with John Caird). Off-Broadway, he directed Murder for Two, Bat Boy: The Musical (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards, Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical; Drama Desk Award nomination, Outstanding Director of a Musical), tick, tick...BOOM! (OCC, Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical; Drama Desk nomination, Outstanding Director of a Musical), Gigantic (Vineyard), The Foreigner (Roundabout), Rooms: A Rock Romance, Kafka's The Castle (OCC nomination, Outstanding Director of a Play), and No Way to Treat a Lady. At New York City Opera he directed Séance on a Wet Afternoon. The regional theaters he has worked at include ACT, Alley, Alliance Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Dallas Theatre Center, Denver Center, The Geffen, Goodspeed Opera House, La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe, Pasadena Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Signature, Theatre Under the Stars, and Westport Country Playhouse among others. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and a graduate of Harvard University.

Kevin Depinet (Scenic Designer) has worked on productions with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare, Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, Writers Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Chicago Children's Theatre. BROADWAY: associate designer for Of Mice and Men, August: Osage County, TheMotherf**ker with the Hat. REGIONAL: productions with American Players Theatre, McCarter Theatre, The Public Theater, Denver Center Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Arden Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Glimmerglass Festival. INTERNATIONAL: National Theatre of Great Britain and Fredricia Theater Denmark, FILM: scenery for Michael Mann's Public Enemies. EDUCATION: Yale School of Drama. Kevin serves as an adjunct professor of design at DePaul University.

Tracy Christensen (Costume Designer) is delighted to return to Bay Street, having previously designed Quartet and Dissonance. Recent designs: the Broadway revival of Sunset Boulevard starring Glenn Close, Candide at Carnegie Hall with John Lithgow, and Carousel for London's English National Opera. Premieres include All Our Children off Broadway, Anne Page Hates Fun for the American Shakespeare Center, Anne of Green Gables at the Merry Go Round Theater (2018 Syracuse Area Live Theater Award nomination) and Kate Hamill's adaptation of Pride & Prejudice off Broadway. Other projects: Noises Off! (Asolo), Oklahoma (Goodspeed), Mamma Mia! for Great Lakes Theater (2018 Cleveland Critics Circle Award), Sweeney Todd starring Emma Thompson, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill (film for HBO with Audra McDonald), Souvenir (Broadway), Sherwood (Playmakers Repertory), Seussical for TheatreworksUSA (Lucille Lortel nomination), and Hand To God (TheaterWorks Hartford). 10 seasons: Chautauqua Theatre Company. Faculty member at SUNY Purchase for costume design.

MIKE BILLINGS (Lighting Designer) is excited to return to Bay Street, having previously designed: Evita, Intimate Apparel, Death of a Salesman, The Great Gatsby, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, The Scarlet Letter, The New Sincerity, Conviction, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Lend me a Tenor, The Mystery of Irma Vep, My Brilliant Divorce, Tru, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Crucible, The Miracle Worker, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Twelfth Night. Mike has designed the World Premiere of Dreamworks' The Prince of Egypt, at Theatreworks Silicon Valley, and then at Fredericia Theater in Denmark. He's designed for Abingdon Theatre and New York Film Academy in NYC, and regionally at the Laguna Playhouse, Rubicon Theatre, Quintessence Theatre, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, and themed attractions at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Jon Weston (Sound Design) West End: An American in Paris; Thoroughly Modern Millie; RENT (with Steve Kennedy); The Who's TOMMY (with Steve Kennedy). Broadway design credits include: Prince of Broadway; She Loves Me; Amazing Grace; An American in Paris; On the 20th Century; You Can't Take It With You; The Bridges of Madison County; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; 13: The Musical; Les Misérables (2006 revival); The Color Purple; Caroline, or Change; Nine; The Green Bird; Thoroughly Modern Millie; On The Town and Man of La Mancha. Off Broadway and Regional: Paradise Square (Berkeley); Born for This (Cutler Majestic); Grey Gardens, Evita (Bay Street); Grey Gardens (Ahmanson); The Last Five Years (Second Stage); Death Takes a Holiday (Roundabout); Parade (Mark Taper Forum); A Room With A View (Old Globe Theatre); Rooms... A Rock Romance (New World Stages); tick,tick... BOOM! (Jane Street Theatre); Family Guy, Live! (Carnegie Hall).

J. Jared Janas (Wig, Hair, and Makeup Design) Bay Street: Frost/Nixon, As You Like It, and Big Maybelle. Broadway: Gettin' the Band Back Together, Bandstand, Indecent, Sunset Boulevard, The Visit, The Real Thing, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, Motown, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, All about Me, and Next to Normal. Recent Off-Broadway & Regional: BLKS (MCC), Nantucket Sleighride (Lincoln Center), Alice by Heart (MCC), Jagged Little Pill (A.R.T.), Miss You Like Hell, The Low Road, and Father Comes Home from the War... (Public Theater), The Amateurs (Vineyard Theatre), Jerry Springer the Opera (New Group), and Yours Unfaithfully (Mint Theatre, Drama Desk nomination). Film/TV: Angelica, The Night Before, Madam Secretary, The Good Fight, Six by Sondheim, Scream Queens, Gotham, Mozart in the Jungle, Inside Amy Schumer.

Andrew Diaz (Props Designer) is a Brooklyn-based set and props designer who has previously worked with: Walt Disney Entertainment, The Roundabout Theatre Company, MCC Theatre, The Flea Theatre, The Vineyard Theatre, The Signature Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Carnegie Hall, Classic Stage Company, Primary Stages, The Public, Theater for a New Audience, Cherry Lane Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, as well as numerous productions at Bay Street Theater among others. BFA University Of Arizona School Of Theater Arts.

Denise Yaney (Stage Manager) Bay Street Theater credits include: the 1992 inaugural production of Men's Lives, Death of a Salesman, Fellow Travelers, Evita and Grey Gardens. She also stage-managed the Tony Award winning Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Other credits include: Time Stands Still, The Homecoming, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Redwood Curtain and As Is; The Little Foxes, Good People (MTC); Morning's at Seven (LCT); John Lithgow: Stories by Heart, Major Barbara (Roundabout); Long Day's Journey into Night (ATC); Grey Gardens (The Ahmanson); The Baltimore Waltz (Circle Repertory Company, company member); Kennedy: Bobby's Last Crusade.

Binder Casting (Casting) Chad Eric Murnane, CSA, Mark Brandon, CSA & Justin Bohon, CSA. Founded by Jay Binder, CSA in 1984. Binder has cast over 80 Broadway productions, dozens of National Tours, several off-Broadway shows, workshops and labs, in addition to seasons for over twenty-five regional theatres around the country. Broadway highlights include: Disney's The Lion King (All North American casting), In Transit, Dames at Sea, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Born Yesterday, The Miracle Worker, Finian's Rainbow, Brighton Beach Memoirs, A Chorus Line, Gypsy, The 39 Steps, White Christmas, Is He Dead?, Inherit The Wind, Journey's End, Butley, Virginia Woolf, Sweet Charity, Wonderful Town, Movin' Out, 42nd Street, The Music Man, The Iceman Cometh, ...Charlie Brown, The Sound of Music, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Last Night of Ballyhoo, Chicago, The King and I, Damn Yankees, Lost in Yonkers, Jake's Women, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, The Goodbye Girl, among others. Film/TV highlights: Dreamgirls, Chicago, Nine, Hairspray, Carousel (PBS/NY Phil) and Six by Sondheim (HBO). Encores! At City Center since its inception in 1994. Twelve-time Artios Award winner and the recipient of the Rosie Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. Part of RWS Entertainment Group. www.bindercasting.com

The other two previously announced shows will be the World Premiere of SAFE SPACE, (June 25 - July 21). This new play is by Alan Fox and will be directed by three-time Tony Award Winner Jack O'Brien (All My Sons, Henry IV, Hairspray, The Coast of Utopia). The third show will be a bold new re-envisioning of Irving Berlin's classic musical ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, (July 30 - August 25) with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, book by Dorothy & Herbert Fields. This production will be directed by Sarna Lapine (Sunday in the Park with George, Bay Street's Frost/Nixon). The casts and creative teams will be announced soon. Subscriptions are available by calling the Box Office at 631-725-9500 or online at www.baystreet.org.

The 2019 Mainstage Season is sponsored in part by New York State through the generosity of Assemblyman Fred Thiele and State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle; the New York State Council on The Arts, a State Agency; Town of Southampton; The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; The Shubert Foundation; and fully or partially funded by the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development & Planning. Support for new work comes from The New Directions Fund, Joseph Stein New Musical Fund, Age Focus Medical Management, Twin Forks Pest Control, and Yave Tequila. Previews are sponsored by Peconic Landing. "Pay What You Can" performances are sponsored by Sotheby's International Realty. ANNIE GET YOUR GUN sponsored in part by Baron's Cove. 30 Under 30 tickets sponsored by Corcoran.

For more information or to purchase a 2019 Mainstage Season subscription, log on to www.baystreet.org or call the Box Office at 631-725-9500 Tues.-Sat. 11 am-5 pm or an hour before show time.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is a year-round, not-for-profit professional theater and community cultural center which endeavors to innovate, educate, and entertain a diverse community through the practice of the performing arts. It serves as a social and cultural gathering place, an educational resource, and a home for a community of artists.



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