FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 14, 2010
Media Contact: Sarah Pressler
240.644.1387
press@roundhousetheatre.org
Round House Theatre
presents the Washington, D.C. area premiere of
Mark Brown’s stage adaptation of Jules Verne’s
Around the World
in 80 Days
May 5 ‑ 30, 2010 at Round House Theatre Bethesda
240.644.1100 or roundhousetheatre.org
Tickets priced from $25 to $60
Specially priced $10 & $15 tickets for kids and patrons age 30 & under
(BETHESDA, MD) Round House Theatre concludes its 2009/2010 season with Around the World in 80 Days, a play by Mark Brown adapted from the visionary, classic adventure story by Jules Verne.
Around the World in 80 Days is sponsored in part by generous support from Pasternak & Fidis and Jean Carlson & Michael Beriss.
Around the World in 80 Days runs May 5 ‑ 30, 2010 at Round House Theatre Bethesda, 4545 East-West Highway. Tickets are $25 – $60 and may be purchased by phone at 240.644.1100, online at roundhousetheatre.org, or at the Round House box office in Bethesda. Groups of 10 or more should call 240.644.1387.
Specially priced tickets for kids and all patrons age 30 and under are available at each performance: $10 Wednesday through Friday and $15 Saturday and Sunday – contact the box office at 240.644.1100 as the specially priced tickets are not available online.
Five actors use lightning fast costume changes to play all 39 characters in a madcap comedy that’s been called “Monty Python meets Jules Verne.” In 1872, Phileas Fogg wagers that he can circle the globe in just 80 days. With his fortune on the line, Fogg and his valet use rail, steamer, and elephant as they race through India, Asia, and America and face one adventure after another. This delightful adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic story is fun for the entire family.
In a review of the recent Off-Broadway production of Mark Brown’s adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days, The New York Times wrote that the play’s “unabashedly theatrical…smart enough to make sophisticated adults laugh out loud and shamelessly silly enough to keep children interested and entertained.”
Producing Artistic Director Blake Robison says, “I am thrilled to have so many of my favorite actors here bringing this production to life. With the imaginative production elements and versatility of the actors, 80 Days celebrates the particular magic of theatrical storytelling. “
The Playwright
Mark Brown is an award-winning writer. His musical China – The Whole Enchilada was named Outstanding Musical of the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival. His play Around the World in 80 Days has literally been produced around the world, from Off-Broadway, NYC to Baridhara Dhaka, Bangladesh. For the decade 2001-2010 Around the World in 80 Days is the 7th most produced play in the United States. Awards for 80 Days include six Acclaim Awards, two Lillie Stoates Awards, two Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, four Shellie Awards, five Sarasota Magazine Theater Award nominations and two Los Angeles Ovation Award Nominations. Mark’s play The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge has been called “a sequel worthy of Dickens’ approval,” “a worthy new entry into the holiday canon,” and is the number one selling show in the Taproot Theatre’s history. His adaptation of The Little Prince (Co-written with Paul Kiernen) set box office records at the Hippodrome Theatre and the Orlando Theatre Project. His play Poe: Deep Into That Darkness Peering (Co-written with Mark Rector) hasn’t won a thing but is a darn good play and should be produced more often.
Mark received his acting training at the American Conservatory Theatre, and has appeared in theatres across the country, including the Tony Award winning companies, South Coast Repertory, the McCarter Theatre (Company member: five years), and the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Films include Out of Sight (with George Clooney), Holy Man (with Eddie Murphy and Jeff Goldblum) and Amy’s O (Winner Best Film: Santa Barbara Film Festival). Notable TV credits include the Emmy Award winning series From the Earth to the Moon (with Tom Hanks), House, Ally McBeal, Providence, Diagnosis Murder, and countless commercials and made-for-TV films. His song “Bring Me Back Home”, which he wrote and performed, appears in the film “The Dig”. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, daughter, and dog and dreams of living in a chateau in France.
The Cast
Ethan Bowen (Actor 2) is pleased to return to Round House Theatre where he was last seen as Billy Bones and Squire Trelawney in Treasure Island. Washington area credits include Olney Theatre Center (Peter Pan, Brooklyn Boy, 13 Rue de L’Amour), Shakespeare Theatre (Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar) and Woolly Mammoth Theatre (The Faculty Room). He will next be appearing in New Jerusalem at Theater J. Regional credits include productions at The Joseph Papp Public Theater, The Acting Company, Northern Stage, Clarence Brown Theater, St. Michaels Playhouse. Ethan is an Associate Artist with Vermont Stage Company where he has played numerous roles over the last 15 years most recently Louis de’Rougemont in Shipwrecked!, and Elliot in Opus. He received his MFA from New York University and splits his time between DC and Vermont where he lives with his wife Courtney and dog Otis.
Mitchell Hébert (Actor 5/Phileas Fogg) Previous credits at Round House Theatre, where he is a member of the Artists’ Roundtable, include Eurydice and Crime and Punishment. Local credits include the recently closed hit Clybourne Park at Woolly Mammoth, where he is a long-time company member. Mitchell’s credits at Woolly include The Gigli Concert, Kvetch, and The Clean House. He has performed at many of the DC area’s leading theatres, including Shakespeare Theatre Company, Theatre J, Theatre of the First Amendment, Rep Stage, Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, and Olney Theatre Center, where he directed the critically acclaimed production of Rabbit Hole. He has been nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for his performance in Drawer Boy at Round House and received the Greater Baltimore Theatre Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for Uncle Vanya. Mitchell is on the faculty of the University of Maryland’s Department of Theatre.
James Konicek (Actor 1) most recently performed in As You Like It at the Shakespeare Theatre and Washington Stage Guild’s Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime. Other Washington area productions include the world premier production of King of the Jews at the Olney Theatre Center; Edward II and Tamburlaine the Great, The Shakespeare Theatre; The Internationalist, Studio Theatre; Born Yesterday, Arena Stage; State of the Union, Ford’s Theatre; Romeo & Juliet, Folger Theatre; and multiple productions with The Kennedy Center’s Youth and Family Theatre including Blues Journey, Unleashed, Alice, and Kite on the Wind. In addition to stagework, James is a voice artist, adding his talents to numerous audio books, industrials, and local and national advertisements. He is also a co-founder of The Audible Group, a DC based audio theatre company. James has been recognized by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities with an Artist Fellowship award. He has an MFA from the Old Globe Theatre/USD training program in San Diego.
Sasha Olinick (Actor 3) is pleased to be returning to Round House Theatre after performing in The Book Club Play and A Prayer for Owen Meany. Local credits include: Chasing George Washington with the Kennedy Center Theater For Young Audiences On Tour; God’s Ear at Rep Stage; Jungle Book and Junebug and the Reverend at Imagination Stage; Macbeth with Washington Shakespeare Company; The Memorandum with Forum Theatre; Crime and Punishment and Fathers and Sons with Stanislavsky Theatre Studio; Much Ado About Nothing with the Maryland Shakespeare Festival and Russian National Postal Service at The Studio Theatre. Regional credits include: Trinity Rep, American Shakespeare Center, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, Vermont Stage Company, Ocean State Lyric Opera, and New Century Theatre. Mr. Olinick has an MFA in acting from Trinity Rep Conservatory and teaches acting at Montgomery College, the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art, and with the Educational Theatre Company.
Tuyet Thi Pham (Actor 4) is happy to be back at Round House after appearing in Treasure Island. Other DC credits include Morgause in The Light of Excalibur at the Kennedy Center, Master Teacher in Liang and the Magic Paintbrush and Sky God in Zomo the Rabbit at Imagination Stage, Linh Meyers in An American Daughter and Bloody Mary’s Assistant in South Pacific at Arena Stage, and Lue Ming in RepStage’s In the Heart of America (Helen Hayes Nomination). She completed an Alaska tour of The Vagina Monologues for Perseverance Theatre in conjunction with V-Day, and spent a season as the Allen Lee Hughes Artistic Fellow at the Living Stage Theatre Company. She can also be found at the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival where she has portrayed Sylvia in Two Gentlemen of Verona, Desdemona in Othello, and Thaisa in Pericles, Prince of Tyre. She would like to dedicate this to her family.
The Artistic Team
Nick Olcott (Director) is a member of the Artists’ Roundtable at the Round House Theatre. Over the past twenty-four years, he has acted in seven RHT productions and directed twelve (most recently The Book Club Play). He is currently serving on the Board of Trustees. Other Washington credits include productions at Imagination Stage, Adventure Theatre, Theater J, Arena Stage, the Kennedy Center Family Theater, Wolf Trap Opera, and the In Series. Regional credits include Opera Cleveland, Boston Lyric Opera, the Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Ash Lawn Opera Festival. With the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists of the Washington National Opera, he recently directed a program of scenes from American operas which played at the Renwick Gallery here in Washington and at La Scala in Milan, Italy. A faculty member of the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland, he will this summer teach at the Saarburg Festival in Germany.
The artistic team includes scenic designer Misha Kachman, costume designer Rosemary Pardee, lighting designer Colin K. Bills, composer and sound designer Matthew M. Nielson, props designer Andrea Moore, assistant director Colin Grube, movement coach Karin Abromaitis, dialect designer and coach Elizabeth Alman, and stage manager Jennifer Schwartz.
Around the World in 80 Days Performance Calendar, Ticket Information, & Audience Events
Around the World in 80 Days runs from May 5 – 30, 2010 at Round House Theatre Bethesda, 4545 East-West Highway. The theatre is one block from the Bethesda station on Metro’s Red Line. Wednesday performances begin at 7:30 pm; Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening performances begin at 8 p.m.; and matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday begin at 3 p.m.
Tickets may be purchased by phone at 240.644.1100, online at roundhousetheatre.org, or in person at the Round House box office in Bethesda. Groups of 10 or more should call 240.644.1387.
Around the World in 80 Days is recommended for ages 8 & up.
Specially priced tickets for kids and patrons age 30 and under are available at each performance: $10 Wednesday through Friday and $15 Saturday and Sunday. Proof of age is required when the tickets are picked up (for people purchasing these tickets who aren’t kids). Limit of two tickets per person. Call 240.644.1100 – these specially priced tickets are not available online.
Round House offers discounts on non-subscription tickets to patrons 65 and older. The price is $40 per ticket (including service charge) for center orchestra or center balcony seating at any performance in Bethesda. Call 240.644.1100 for information.
Pay-What-You-Can performances are on Wednesday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 8 at 3 p.m. Tickets for Pay-What-You-Can performances go on sale in person one hour prior to curtain (cash and exact change only, limit of 2 tickets per person).
Designer Discussion – Wednesday, May 5 at 6:45 p.m.
A pre-show look at the production’s costume, set, lighting, and sound designs from the professionals who make them happen.
Directorially Speaking Discussion – Friday, May 7 at 7:15 p.m.
Director Nick Olcott discusses the production in a pre-performance talk.
Post-Show Talkbacks – Sunday, May 16 and Sunday, May 23
These Sunday matinees feature a post-show talk with members of the cast.
Childcare Matinee – Sunday, May 16 at 3 p.m.
Bring the kids (toilet-trained/ages 3 and up) and leave them in the hands of our well-trained caregivers at this designated Sunday matinee. Reservations for childcare are required in advance and must be made by noon on Friday, May 14 by calling 240.644.1100.
Audio-described performance – Saturday, May 22 at 3pm
Sign-interpreted performance – Saturday, May 29 at 3pm
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