FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2010
Media Contact: Sarah Pressler
240.644.1387
press@roundhousetheatre.org
Round House Theatre
presents the Washington, D.C. area premiere of
My Name is Asher Lev
March 17 – April 11, 2010 at Round House Theatre Bethesda
240.644.1100 or roundhousetheatre.org
Tickets priced from $25 to $60
Specially priced $10 & $15 tickets for patrons age 30 & under
“Masterful…beautiful…profound…Everything about director Jeremy Skidmore’s production works at the highest level”
– Philadelphia Inquirer
“Emotional and intelligent…will connect with audiences of even the most disparate faiths” – NBCPhiladelphia.com
(BETHESDA, MD) Round House Theatre continues its 2009/2010 season with the Washington, D.C. area premiere of My Name is Asher Lev, a play by Aaron Posner adapted from the visionary novel by Chaim Potok. Directed by Jeremy Skidmore, My Name is Asher Lev is a co-production with Delaware Theatre Company.
My Name is Asher Lev is sponsored in part by generous support from The Dupler Family as well as an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. My Name is Asher Lev was originally commissioned and produced by the Arden Theatre Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
My Name is Asher Lev runs March 17 – April 11, 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 patrons age 30 and under are available at all performances: $10 Wednesday through Friday and $15 Saturday and Sunday – contact the box office at 240.644.1100 as these specially priced tickets are not available online.
Possessing a prodigious artistic ability, Asher Lev is driven to draw and paint the world he sees and feels. Born into a Hasidic family in post-World War II Brooklyn, his artistic genius threatens to estrange him from both his parents and his community. Asher’s journey is by turns heartbreaking and exultant as he must choose between art and faith.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, in reviewing this co-production’s recent premiere at Delaware Theatre Company, called it, “Masterful…beautiful…profound…Everything about director Jeremy Skidmore’s production works at the highest level…Three muscular actors [have] a keen sense of the characters’ time and the changes these figures witness, spur, or try uneasily to accommodate: Adam Heller in multiple roles as the father, the rabbi, the artist-mentor, and more; Lise Bruneau as the mother, a gallery owner, and an artist’s model; and Alexander Strain as Asher Lev. The endearing Strain has a finely nuanced sense of vulnerability. It becomes his shield, his weapon, even his character’s partner.”
Producing Artistic Director Blake Robison says, “No playwright could be more adept at bringing the novels of Chaim Potok to life onstage than Aaron Posner. His award-winning adaptation of Potok’s The Chosen has been seen at more than 40 regional theatres. His theatrical treatment of My Name is Asher Lev won acclaim from both audiences and critics at its world premiere last year and has attracted interest from producers across the country. We’re thrilled to bring this luminous new play to area audiences at Round House.”
The Author
Chaim Potok (1929–2002) was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants from Poland. Potok’s years in an Orthodox household and schooling through college stood in stark conflict with the world of literature and art that early captured his imagination. Later he found in Conservative Judaism, with its emphasis on historical evolution of Jewish texts, an intellectual home where his love of Judaism and of secular culture could dynamically interact. Upon ordination he served as a US Army chaplain serving 16 months in Korea in the mid-50s with combat medical and engineer battalions. In 1959 Potok and his young family first settled in Philadelphia where he was scholar in residence at Har Zion Temple and pursued a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. He wrote The Chosen in Jerusalem, the same year he wrote his dissertation. In 1967 he became editor-in-chief of the Jewish Publication Society of Philadelphia. He taught writing at Johns Hopkins University and a popular course in philosophy to the Benjamin Franklin Honors Fellows at his alma mater. The Chosen was followed by other famous works such as The Promise, My Name Is Asher Lev and The Gift of Asher Lev. He also wrote plays and children’s literature in addition to non-fiction and short stories.
The Playwright
Aaron Posner is the Artistic Director of Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey and a founder and former Artistic Director of Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre Company. He is a playwright and director who has directed at major regional theatres across the country including Seattle Rep, the Alliance, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, and many more. His produced adaptations include Who Am I This Time? by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., “What Ho, Jeeves” by P.G. Wodehouse, The Brothers K. by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Echoes of the Jazz Age by authors from the ‘20s, Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons, Third & Indiana by Steve Lopez, and Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace (with Scott Greer, Tony Lawton and Michael Hollinger). His adaptation, with Chaim Potok, of The Chosen won the 1999 Barrymore Award for Best New Play in Philadelphia and has now been produced by more than 40 professional theatres. His most recent adaptations include a musical adaptation of Mark Twain’s A Murder, A Mystery & A Marriage (with James Sugg), Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey (Portland Center Stage, spring 2008), and My Name is Asher Lev. He has won Barrymore Awards and Helen Hayes Awards for both playwrighting and directing, and is an Eisenhower Fellow.
The Cast
Lise Bruneau (Woman) is delighted to return to Round House. Credits include The Book Club Play and Alice at Round House; Legacy of Light at Arena Stage; Ion, Othello, and The Winter’s Tale at the Shakespeare Theatre Company; at Baltimore’s CENTERSTAGE The Murder of Isaac, Blithe Spirit, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, and Mary Stuart; and Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Patience at the Wilma in Philadelphia. Lise has also been known to direct for the upstart theatre company the Taffety Punks; most recently the acclaimed all-girl productions of Measure for Measure and Romeo & Juliet, and Let X and The Devil in His Own Words among others. She has performed in regional theatres across the country, such as The Old Globe, ACT, Seattle Rep, Triad Stage, Berkeley Rep, and A Traveling Jewish Theatre; and for the St. Louis, Alabama, Chicago, Santa Cruz and Oregon Shakespeare Festivals. She has been fortunate to wrestle with such characters as Elizabeth I, Margaret of Anjou, Rosalind, Titania, Eliza Doolittle, Josie in Moon for the Misbegotten, The Angel in Angels in America, both Ruth and Elvira in Blithe Spirit, and the divine Amanda in Private Lives. Lise trained at RADA, and is proud to be a Taffety Punk.
Adam Heller (Man) is making his debut performance with Round House. Broadway: Caroline, or Change; A Class Act; Victor/Victoria; Les Miserables. Off-Broadway: Make Me a Song: the Music of William Finn (New World Stages); Endgame (Irish Rep); Normal (Transport Group); The Immigrant (New World Stages); Merrily We Roll Along (York). Tours: Titanic; Falsettos. Regional: Pseudolus in Forum (Goodspeed); My Name is Asher Lev (Arden); End Days (Vineyard Playhouse); Party Come Here (Williamstown); Caroline, or Change (Arden); Merrily We Roll Along (Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration); Art (Hartford Theaterworks); Dinner With Friends (Coconut Grove Playhouse); No Way to Treat a Lady (Barrington Stage); Ragtime (Sacramento); March of the Falsettos & Falsettoland (Hartford Stage); American Vaudeville (Alley). Film: Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen’s; Isn’t She Great. TV: The Sopranos (penultimate episode); Law & Order (All); Oz; Queens Supreme. Graduate: NYU/ Tisch.
Alexander Strain (Asher) returns to the Round House Theatre stage, where he was previously seen as Ralph in Lord of the Flies. Other performances include Angels in America (Louis, Forum Theatre), The Seagull on 16th Street (Treplev, Theater J), and Caligula (Caligula, Washington Shakespeare Company). He has been nominated for three Helen Hayes Awards for acting and was a 2007 recipient of the Boomerang Fund for Artists grant. He is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where he studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.
The Artistic Team
Jeremy Skidmore (Director) has been based in Washington, D.C. for the last nine years. In that time he served for two years as Producer of the Source Festival, Washington’s original city-wide festival for the arts, and for six years as the Artistic Director of TheatreAlliance where he produced 22 productions in five years that garnered 22 Helen Hayes Award nominations. Elsewhere in the Washington area, he has directed at Signature Theatre, Round House Theatre, Theater J, Olney Theatre Center for the Arts, Everyman Theatre, Catalyst Theater Company, African Continuum Theatre, Rorschach Theatre, Forum Theatre, Keegan Theater, The Hub Theatre, Adventure Theatre, University of Maryland, Catholic University, St. Mary’s College and The National Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. Outside of Washington, Jeremy has directed, produced, or taught all over North Carolina and in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, London, Oslo, Galway, Kilimanjaro, Tokyo, Macau, and Tai Pei. Jeremy is a Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts.
The design team includes scenic designer Tony Cisek, costume designer Ren LaDassor, lighting designer Dan Covey, sound designer and composer Matthew M. Nielson, and stage manager Jennifer Schwartz.
My Name is Asher Lev Performance Calendar, Ticket Information, & Audience Events
My Name is Asher Lev runs from March 17 – April 11, 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.
Due to popular demand, special Tuesday night performances of My Name is Asher Lev have been added on March 30 and April 6. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. on those evenings.
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.
Due to brief nudity, My Name is Asher Lev is recommended for ages 15 & up.
Specially priced tickets for 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. Limit of two tickets per person. Not valid with any other discount or on previously purchased tickets. 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, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 20 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, March 17 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, March 19 at 7:15 p.m.
Director Jeremy Skidmore discusses the production in a pre-performance talk.
Post-Show Talkbacks – Sunday, March 28 and Sunday, April 4
These Sunday matinees feature a post-show talk with members of the cast.
Childcare Matinee – Sunday, March 28 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, March 26 by calling 240.644.1100.
Audio-described performance – Saturday, April 3 at 3pm
Sign-interpreted performance – Saturday, April 10 at 3pm
Special Post-Show Discussion with Adena Potok – Sunday, April 11
With Adena Potok (Chaim Potok’s widow), playwright Aaron Posner, director Jeremy Skidmore, and Producing Artistic Director Blake Robison.
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