All That Chat - Casting for Paula Vogel's AND BABY MAKES SEVEN at New Ohio Theater, Mar 11-Apr 12

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Casting for Paula Vogel's AND BABY MAKES SEVEN at New Ohio Theater, Mar 11-Apr 12

Posted by:	Official_Press_Release 04:17 pm EST 01/16/14

NEW OHIO THEATRE AND PURPLEMAN THEATER ANNOUNCE CASTING FOR PULITZER PRIZE-WINNER PAULA VOGEL’S AND BABY MAKES SEVEN, DIRECTED BY MARC STUART WEITZ Cast Will Feature Ken Barnett as Peter, Susan Bott as Ruth and Constance Zaytoun as Anna And Baby Makes Seven Written by Paula Vogel Directed by Marc Stuart Weitz March 11–April 12 Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday at 7pm Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8pm Special Saturday Matinee, April 12th at 3pm New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street) $30–$35 ($15 student rush) newohiotheatre.org; 888.596.1027 105 minutes including intermission New Ohio Theatre Artistic Director Robert Lyons in association with Purpleman Theater is pleased to announce casting for Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel’s And Baby Makes Seven. Marc Stuart Weitz will direct ensemble including Ken Barnett (Wonderful Town, Julie Taymor’s The Green Bird) as Peter, Susan Bott (Amy Wilson's The Best of Everything) as Ruth and Constance Zaytoun (Moby Pomerance's Broken Hands) as Anna. And Baby Makes Seven is an uproarious and timely comedy that has not been seen professionally in New York in 20 years. Performances will take place March 11–April 12 at the New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street, between Washington and Greenwich Streets). Critics are welcome as of March 19 for an opening of March 23. Vogel’s And Baby Makes Seven follows the story of Anna and Ruth, a lesbian couple, who enlist their gay friend Peter to help them create a family. But are any of them ready for parenthood? Tensions rise as the three adults prepare for the imminent arrival of their baby—meanwhile matters are made all the more challenging by the persistence of the three imaginary children who already live with them. The lines between fantasy and reality, child and adult, love and madness crisscross through this hysterically funny and deeply touching play about what it means to be a family. Performances of And Baby Makes Seven will take place Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays at 7pm and Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm with a special Saturday matinee on April 12 at 3pm and an ASL interpreted performance on March 25 at 7:00pm. Tickets, priced from $30-35, are available for purchase by visiting newohiotheatre.org or calling 888.596.1027. Group and student tickets will be offered in advance. $15 student rush tickets will be available 30 minutes prior to curtain, cash-only, 2 tickets per ID. Post-show conversations will take place on Wednesdays and will explore themes of the play and Vogel's career: the work of "Paula's children" (the many writers she has taught and mentored); directors explore imaginary children: Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to And Baby Makes Seven; the evolving legal and political landscape for LGBTQ parents; Paula Vogel's construction and imagination of families; and a look at the past and future of LGBTQ life in NYC. Participants include: Gabriel Blau, Adam Bock, Marvin Carlson, Lisa Haas, Pam MacKinnon, Lynn Nottage, Sarah Ruhl, David Savran, Stephanie Schroeder, and Alisa Solomon. Visit hatethebaby.com to learn more. Vogel, whose plays include The Baltimore Waltz (OBIE Award) and How I Learned to Drive (Pulitzer Prize), reflected on the wildly theatrical characters she created in 1984: “I think it will be interesting to see my (imaginary) boys in the 21st century,” said Vogel. “I wrote this play in the 20th century, when I still had the energy to envision a sexual utopia. Now we have dogs…” “Paula imagined this particular non-conventional family a generation ago amidst a very different cultural landscape," said Weitz. “Today, ‘modern families’ are becoming more visible on television, in movies, and on-stage—And Baby Makes Seven was on the bleeding edge of that cultural wave. Decades ago, some audiences were so shocked by two lesbian characters kissing onstage and the unusual make-up of this family that they, perhaps, were unable to focus on the larger story. For me And Baby Makes Seven is really about the question, ‘What do I need to sacrifice to be ready to be a parent?’ That's a question many people wrestle with, and Paula explores it in a way that is funny, edgy, and very honest. I’m so grateful that Paula has allowed us to reintroduce this story to New York audiences after a 20 year absence." The creative team includes Brett J. Banakis (Sets), Sydney Maresca (Costumes), Bradley King (Lights), Ien DeNio (Sound), Lauren Madden (Properties Master), Chris Batstone (Production Manager), Joseph Heaton (Production Stage Manager), Jordan Schildcrout (Dramaturg), and Nicole Golden (Associate Producer). Produced by New Ohio Theatre in association with Purpleman Theater. About the cast Ken Barnett (Peter) has appeared on Broadway in Wonderful Town directed by Kathleen Marshall and in Julie Taymor's The Green Bird. His Off Broadway credits include February House at the Public, Manon/Sandra, La Ronde, Debbie Does Dallas, A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden, and The Whore of Sheridan Square. Regionally, he has played leading roles in plays and musicals at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, Old Globe, Hartford Stage, Geffen Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, the O'Neill, Long Wharf, Delaware Theatre Company, Prince Music Theatre, the Guthrie, and Paper Mill Playhouse. Film work includes Admission, People Like Us, Friends with Kids, Ira and Abby, and Puccini for Beginners; and for television: “Mad Men,” “In Plain Sight,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Entourage,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Monk,” and many commercials. A graduate of Wesleyan University, he has received two Connecticut Critics Circle Acting Awards and a Best Actor Award from NY Fringe Festival. Susan Bott (Ruth) was last heard Off Broadway in Amy Wilson's The Best of Everything (New York Times Critic's Pick) and also in Wilson's Mother Load, voicing multiple character roles. Bott has performed in dozens of comedy clubs with Obie award-winning New George’s sketch group “Kinda Personal” and her own comedy duo "STEVE." She has studied and performed at Upright Citizens Brigade with the likes of Amy Pohler, Seth Morris and Lennon Parham. Bott is known for her television commercials and voice overs. You may have fast forwarded through her best work as Beth, the “dance cleaning” Swiffer lady or the Progresso “soup can talker” or that mom in pajamas who forgot Jack's cereal, to name a few, (BFA in action!). Constance Zaytoun (Anna) performed in the world premiere of Moby Pomerance's Broken Hands. Other New York credits include Why We Have a Body, Seen by the Dog, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, The Piano Men, and Sex Lives of the Superheroes. She has also appeared as the face of several medications, specializing in schizophrenia with negative affect, and was type-cast as a robot woman in The Stepford Wives. With Purpleman Constance has produced the works of Carson Kreitzer, Deb Margolin, and Moby Pomerance. A graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, New York University, and CUNY Graduate Center, Constance has taught acting and theatre classes at NYU, Brooklyn College, Purchase College, and currently at Marymount Manhattan. She has written numerous publications, and with Marc Stuart Weitz, Constance co-authored the introduction, “What is a Good Play? Thoughts Across Centuries,” for The Playwright’s Workout, eds. Michael Bigelow Dixon and Liz Engelman (Smith & Kraus, 2009). She is certified in Fitzmaurice Voicework®. About Paula Vogel Paula Vogel's play, How I Learned to Drive, received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Lortel Prize, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and New York Drama Critics Awards for Best Play, as well as winning her a second OBIE Award. It has been produced all over the world. Other plays include The Long Christmas Ride Home, The Mineola Twins, The Baltimore Waltz, Hot 'N' Throbbing, Desdemona, The Oldest Profession and A Civil War Christmas. In 2004-5 she was the playwright in residence at The Signature Theatre in New York, which produced three of her works. Second Stage produced a revival of How I Learned to Drive directed by Kate Whorisky in 2012, and New York Theatre Workshop produced a new draft of A Civil War Christmas, directed by Tina Landau, in December 2012. She is currently working on an adaptation of Odon Von Horvath’s play Don Juan Comes Home from the War with Blanka Ziska at the Wilma Theatre. With support from the Pew Charitable Trust, she will be interviewing veterans of the Iraq War and offering workshops with veterans and family members throughout the year. Her ongoing project with Rebecca Taichman, The Vengeance Project, has been commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Yale Repertory. Most recent awards include the Theatre Hall of Fame, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dramatists Guild (2011), and the 2010 William Inge Festival Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award. She is most honored to have two awards to emerging playwrights named after her: the Paula Vogel Award, created by the American College Theatre Festival in 2003, and the Paula Vogel Award in Playwriting is given annually by the Vineyard Theatre, since 2007. Ms. Vogel won the 2004 Award for Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the OBIE for Best Play in 1992, the Rhode Island Pell Award in the Arts, the Hull-Warriner Award, The Laura Pels Award, the Pew Charitable Trust Senior Award, a Guggenheim, an AT&T New Plays Award, the Fund for New American Plays, the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center Fellowship, several National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, the McKnight Fellowship, and the Bunting Fellowship from Radcliffe College. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was recently awarded a Thirtini, a most coveted award, from 13P in New York. She has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, the Double UCross Colony as well as Yaddo. Theatre Communications Group has published four books of Ms. Vogel’s work: The Mammary Plays, The Long Christmas Ride Home, A Civil War Christmas, and The Baltimore Waltz and Other Plays (which includes And Baby Makes Seven). She taught for 24 years at Brown University and for five years at the Yale School of Drama where she was the Eugene O’Neill Professor (adjunct) of Playwriting. About Marc Stuart Weitz Marc Stuart Weitz has worked as the Producing Director for the OBIE Award-winning New Ohio Theatre since 2011, having previously produced and directed theater independently in New York City for 13 years. As the Artistic Director of Purpleman Theater, directing credits include world premieres of Population: 8, by Nicholas Gray (2009 NY International Fringe Festival); Time is the Mercy of Eternity, by Deb Margolin (with Six Figures Theater Company); Broken Hands, by Moby Pomerance (2006 FringeNYC Award winner); and Purpleman’s original composition Days and Nights: Page 121, Lines 11 and 12 (2007 NY International Fringe Festival). Marc’s other directing projects include work with Vital Theatre Company, the Rude Mechanicals, and George Street Playhouse, among others. His upcoming work includes a collaboration with award-winning playwright Carson Kreitzer. A graduate of University of Pennsylvania and American Conservatory Theatre, Marc has taught voice and movement workshops at NYU, Purchase College, Marymount Manhattan, the Old Globe, DePauw, among others. With Constance Zaytoun, Marc co-authored the introduction, “What is a Good Play? Thoughts Across Centuries,” for The Playwright’s Workout, eds. Michael Bigelow Dixon and Liz Engelman (Smith & Kraus, 2009). He is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. About New Ohio Theatre New Ohio Theatre, now celebrating its 20th season, serves Manhattan’s most adventurous audiences by developing, curating and presenting the boldest, most innovative work of today’s vast independent theatre community. For 17 years the Ohio Theatre operated in Soho, where it built a widely respected reputation for its strong curatorial eye, presenting many of NYC’s most innovative theatre artists before they became widely known. Artists and companies such as Alex Timbers, David Greenspan, Pig Iron Theater, The Rude Mechs, The Foundry, Clubbed Thumb, and The TEAM all presented early work at the Ohio, and the Ohio received the 2010 OBIE Award for Sustained Achievement. In 2011 the company moved to the West Village and is now in its third season as New Ohio Theatre. Artists, audiences, and press have all made the transfer, and new companies, like The Mad Ones, CollaborationTown, and terraNOVA Collective, are once again achieving critical success. Each season, New Ohio Theatre presents 10 productions as well as its OBIE Award-winning Ice Factory summer festival of new work for over 10,000 audience members. The Archive Residency (in partnership with IRT Theater) awards two companies each year with a two-year residency for the development and presentation of new work. New Ohio Theatre believes the best of New York’s independent theater community, the small artistic ensembles and the daring producing companies who operate without a permanent theatrical home, are actively expanding the boundaries of what theatre is and what it can be. New Ohio Theatre strengthen, nurtures, and promotes this community, providing a professional, high-profile platform for downtown’s most mature, ridiculous, engaging, irreverent, gut-wrenching, frivolous, sophisticated, foolish, and profound theatrical endeavors. About Purpleman Theater Purpleman Theater Company is dedicated to the production of new works and "bruised beauties." Past productions include the world premieres of Time Is the Mercy of Eternity, by Deb Margolin; Population: 8, by Nicholas Gray; Broken Hands (winner of two FringeNYC Awards), by Moby Pomerance; and Days And Nights: page 121, lines 11 & 12, devised by the company. Whether by finding and developing new works by contemporary playwrights, producing innovative productions of established works, or by devising organic pieces, Purpleman seeks to engage with theatre's unique ability to bring people together to bear witness as a community.

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