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(RED BANK, NJ) Missed entrances, flubbed and forgotten lines, props that won’t work, and backstage shenanigans: that’s the daily bread of live theater. It’s also the setting for David Mamet’s warm and touching comedy, A Life in the Theatre, being presented in May by Two River Theatre Company. From the author of such modern masterpieces of gritty realism as American Buffalo and Glengarry Glen Ross comes this (for him) unusual play about the roller-coaster relationship between a seasoned actor and a cocky newcomer. As the two actors battle onstage and off, it becomes clear that the play is about much more than theatre; it’s about the hilarity and pathos of life.
Robert is at the end of his career, an old-school actor who’s seen it all, who’s managed to survive and make a living as a stage actor, surely one of the toughest businesses. John, who is just starting out, may be young and less experienced, but he has his life ahead of him, and he seems on the verge of becoming a big star. The two repertory actors share a dressing room, while grappling with the hilarious mishaps that befall the thespian, including jealousy over each other’s success.
Early in his illustrious career, Mamet trod the boards as an actor, providing him with a personal vantage point on the plight of the actors, and of a “life” in the theatre. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Glengarry Glen Ross, Mamet has made his reputation on Broadway (Speed the Plow) and film (The Verdict, The Untouchables, House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, and Wag the Dog, among others). He has written highly acclaimed adaptations of Chekhov’s major plays. A Life in the Theatre, like his film, State and Main, shows us Mamet’s lighter side, offering a wry and affectionate inside view of show business.
The production will be directed by Robert Walsh, who helmed TRTC’s highly-acclaimed and beautiful production of Misalliance in the company’s first season. The cast features Patrick Husted as Robert, the older actor, who played the central character in Arthur Miller’s new play, Resurrection Blues this past fall at The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, created the character of Ezra Pound in the world premiere of Pound of Flesh by Michael Bolus at the Berkshire Theater Festival, and spent a year in the NY Company of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Wit with Kathleen Chalfant. Patrick has appeared in over 150 regional theater productions, films such as Blow with Ray Liotta, Tim Robin’s Cradle Will Rock with Bill Murray, and recently appeared on TV’s Law and Order Special Victims Unit. Erik Singer, playing the younger actor, John, has played the title role in The Hostage (Off-Broadway at the Irish Repertory Theatre), appeared in national tours of Othello and The Taming of the Shrew (playing Iago and Petruchio), and was the voice of Vincent Van Gogh in the recent A&E Biography about Van Gogh and Gauguin.
The play performs May 6 - 23, 2004, at the Algonquin Arts Theatre, 171 Main Street in Manasquan. Regular ticket prices range from $19 to $35, depending on the performance date. Immediately following the performance on Saturday, May 8th, TRTC will host a reception with the cast and director. A special matinee has been added on Wednesday, May 19 at 1:00 p.m. at the discounted price of $19. The audience is invited to meet the cast and participate in a question and answer session after the performances on Wednesday, May 12 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, May 16 at 3:00 p.m.
Through a grant from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, in cooperation with the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, TRTC will hold its first open-captioned performances on Wednesday, May 19 at 1:00 p.m. and on Saturday, May 22 at 4:00 p.m.
For tickets call TRTC’s box office at 732-345-1400, or online at www.trtc.org. Student and youth tickets are available at $12. Senior and group discounts apply. For more information about TRTC’s new Red Bank theater, visit www.trtc.org.
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