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| Playwrights Horizons: Halley Feiffer's "The Pain of My Belligerence," directed by Trip Cullman | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 10:10 am EST 02/15/19 | |
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| Playwrights Horizons Presents The Pain of My Belligerence, a World Premiere Production and Playwrights Horizons Commission, Written by Halley Feiffer and Directed by Her Longtime Collaborator Trip Cullman, March 29-May 12 Incisive Dark Comedy Traces a Toxic Relationship Across Three Elections and a Long-Awaited Paradigm Shift Cast Features Halley Feiffer, Vanessa Kai, and Hamish Linklater Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director Tim Sanford, Managing Director Leslie Marcus) presents playwright and performer Halley Feiffer’s blistering dark comedy The Pain of My Belligerence, directed by Trip Cullman, March 29-May 12. Across eight years and three Presidential elections, this play—Feiffer and Cullman’s sixth collaboration—holds the fraught power dynamics of a relationship up against the country’s current tug-of-war of regression and profound awakening regarding gender. Feiffer’s “winsomely vicious” writing (The New York Times) reaches new heights in this world premiere production, a Playwrights Horizons’ Harold and Mimi Steinberg Commission. Cullman’s direction of Feiffer’s work has been praised for evoking “open-wound performances… steered as close to festering as audiences’ stomachs allow” (The New York Times). In The Pain of My Belligerence, Feiffer and Cullman wield the cutting social humor they’ve honed through six years of work together to shed light on how we perpetuate our roles within a patriarchal culture, looking towards the promise of a new paradigm. In her prolific and dynamic career, Feiffer has written plays including Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow (which will be presented at MCC Theater this spring), I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Atlantic, OCC nomination), and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of New York City (MCC, and in which Feiffer later also performed, at the Geffen in Los Angeles). She has written for multiple TV series including Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle” and Showtime’s “Kidding.” She co-wrote and starred in the film He’s Way More Famous Than You, and has appeared on Broadway in the revivals of The Front Page and The House of Blue Leaves, Off-Broadway in productions including Roundabout Theatre Company’s Tigers Be Still (Drama League nomination), on series such as “Mildred Pierce” and “Flight of the Conchords” and films like The Squid and the Whale. In The Pain of My Belligerence, Feiffer plays the brilliant twenty-something Cat, a journalist at the top of her game: tack-sharp and ambitious, and rapidly establishing her place in the field. Cat meets the crass yet charismatic—and married—Guy, played by Hamish Linklater (Broadway: Seminar; Off-Broadway: The Public’s Cymbeline, Much Ado About Nothing, The Winter’s Tale), and the attrition begins. The cast also features Vanessa Kai (Off-Broadway: KPOP at Ars Nova; Second Stage’a Somebody’s Daughter; TV:“Madam Secretary,” “Orange Is the New Black”).The creative team includes Mark Wendland (Scenic Designer), Paloma Young (Costume Designer), Ben Stanton (Lighting Designer), Elisheba Ittoop (Original Music and Sound Designer), and Katie Ailinger (Production Stage Manager). Feiffer began writing the play in the lead-up to the 2016 election, as she noticed the number of men loudly decrying Trump’s misogyny while simultaneously mirroring it. She explains, “I was very interested in the hypocrisy of self-identifying liberals, because I see that hypocrisy in myself too. It goes hand in hand with a lot of profound frustrations common in heterosexual romantic relationships, which I’ve experienced myself—particularly the corrosive effects of toxic masculinity on men and women alike.” Though the play is not autobiographical, Feiffer did write the character of Cat with herself in mind, often beginning from experiences and feelings she’d had and “amplifying them by 1,000.” Feiffer adds, “I remember reading a review of another play of mine that boiled down to, ‘this girl needs therapy.’ And that really made me chuckle darkly—I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, you have no idea how much therapy I’ve had in order to be able to write this!’ I couldn’t have written the play if I hadn’t had decades of therapy as well as so much other help. I wrote this play to explore the shifts that I can make in my own behavior that will free me from the bondage of the toxic effects of patriarchy, because I do believe I have more power than I’d been previously accessing.” Trip Cullman, celebrated director of the Broadway productions of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy and Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, of the Broadway-bound Magic Mike the Musical, and of Off-Broadway productions of plays including Feiffer’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit… and I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard, says, “Halley goes through an experience in her life that she has ethical and political questions about and then works out a really cogent response to it via the art that she writes. Unlike some playwrights who write in extremis like that, Halley in contrast, as a human, is deeply evolved, kind, wise, and I learn from her constantly. You work your whole career to find artistic collaborators that you feel a total kinship with; when Halley and I started working together it was immediately clear to me that we mind-melded in the most extraordinary and exciting way. Every single time we’ve worked together has been an absolute joy and highlight of my career.” About Halley Feiffer (Playwright) Halley Feiffer (Playwright). Playwrights debut. Plays include I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Atlantic, OCC nomination), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York City (MCC), How To Make Friends and Then Kill Them (Rattlestick), and Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow (Williamstown, MCC). Acting credits include A Funny Thing Happened… at the Geffen, Broadway revivals The Front Page and The House of Blue Leaves (Theater World Award), off-Broadway shows like Tigers Be Still (Roundabout, Drama League nomination), and film/TV projects like The Squid and the Whale and He’s Way More Famous Than You, which she co-wrote. TV writing includes “Mozart in the Jungle” (Amazon), “Kidding” (Showtime) and pilots for FX and TNT. About Trip Cullman (Director) Trip Cullman (Director). Playwrights: A Small Fire (Drama Desk nom.), Assistance, The Drunken City. Broadway: Choir Boy, Lobby Hero, Six Degrees of Separation, Significant Other. Off-Broadway: Days of Rage, The Layover, Lonely I’m Not, The Substance of Fire, Some Men, Bachelorette, Swimming in the Shallows (Second Stage); Punk Rock (Obie Award), Yen, A Funny Thing Happened… (MCC); Significant Other (Roundabout); I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Atlantic); Choir Boy, Murder Ballad (MTC); The Hallway Trilogy: Nursing, The Last Sunday in June (Rattlestick); Dog Sees God (Century Center); Roulette (EST); US Drag (stageFARM); and several productions with The Play Company. London: The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh, PA (Tricycle). Select Regional: Geffen, Alliance, Old Globe, South Coast Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Bay Street, Williamstown Theater Festival. About the Cast Halley Feiffer (Cat). Bio above. Vanessa Kai (Yuki). Playwrights debut. Off-Broadway: KPOP (Lortel nomination, Ars Nova/Ma-Yi/Woodshed Collective), Henry VI (National Asian American Theater Company), Somebody’s Daughter (Second Stage), Architecture of Becoming (WP). Select Regional: Top Girls (Huntington), Brownsville Song (B-Side for Tray) (Seattle Repertory Theatre), Far East (Award for Outstanding Debut by the Connecticut Critics Circle, Stamford TheaterWorks). Vanessa has also helped develop new works at New Group, OSF, New Dramatists, and others. Select TV: “New Amsterdam,” “Orange Is the New Black,” “Gotham.” www.vanessakai.com Hamish Linklater (Guy). Playwrights: The Busy World is Hushed, Recent Tragic Events. Broadway: Seminar. Off-Broadway: Much Ado About Nothing, The Comedy of Errors, Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night (The Public). Regional: Henry IV with Tom Hanks. Film: Unicorn Store, The Big Short, Magic in the Moonlight, The Future. TV: “Legion,” “The Newsroom,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” “Fargo.” As a writer: The Whirligig (New Group), The Vandal (Flea) and the pilot “Prince of Motor City” (ABC). About the Creative Team Mark Wendland (Scenic Designer). Playwrights: The Great God Pan, The World Over, Baby Anger. Broadway: Six Degrees of Separation, Significant Other, Heisenberg, If/Then, Merchant of Venice (Tony nom.), Next to Normal (Tony nom.), Talk Radio, An Almost Holy Picture, Death of a Salesman. Off-Broadway: Murder Ballad, Beauty of the Father, Iron (MTC); Significant Other (Roundabout); I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Atlantic); Yen, Punk Rock (MCC); A Month in the Country, Richard III, Hamlet (CSC); The Layover, Lonely I’m Not, Boy’s Life (Second Stage); The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide..., Satellites, Fucking A, A Dybbuk, The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet (The Public). Paloma Young (Costume Designer). Playwrights: Fly By Night, This Flat Earth, The Patron Saint of Sea Monsters. Broadway: Peter and the Starcatcher (Tony Award), Natasha, Pierre... (Tony nomination), Bandstand (Drama Desk nomination), Lobby Hero, Time and the Conways. Off-Broadway: Natasha, Pierre…, (Kazino, Lucille Lortel Award); Merrily We Roll Along (Roundabout); Moscow X6 (upcoming), Yen, Permission, Alice By Heart (MCC); Brooklyn Babylon, (BAM); Recall (Colt Coeur). Regional: A.R.T., Dallas Theatre Center, South Coast Repertory, Arena Stage, La Jolla, Old Globe, OSF, Hand2Mouth, Mixed Blood. IG: secondpigeon Ben Stanton (Lighting Designer). Playwrights: Marjorie Prime, The Christians, Your Mother’s Copy of the Kama Sutra, Assistance, After The Revolution, A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick, Three Changes, A Feminine Ending, Essential Self Defense. Broadway: Junk, Six Degrees of Separation, Fully Committed, Deaf West’s Spring Awakening, Fun Home. Off-Broadway: The Low Road (The Public), Beast in the Jungle (Vineyard), This Ain’t No Disco (Atlantic), The Light, Yen, The Nether (MCC), Angels in America (Signature). Concert designs: Beirut, Regina Spektor, St. Vincent, Sufjan Stevens, The National. Ben is a three-time Tony nominee, and an Obie, Lortel, and Ovation Award winner. Elisheba Ittoop (Original Music and Sound Design). Ittoop’s designs and original music have been heard at The Kennedy Center, The Public, MTC, MCC, NTYW, Signature, Guthrie, Steppenwolf, OSF, National Gallery of Art, Soho Rep, Huntington, Denver Center, Two River Theater, WP, Triad Stage, Woolly Mammoth, Arena Stage, Alliance Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, and Cleveland Playhouse. Ittoop was a recipient of the Kenan Fellowship at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and winner of the 2008 USITT Rising Star Award. Education: NYU, North Carolina School of the Arts. www.elishebaittoop.com Stage Management Katie Ailinger (Production Stage Manager). Playwrights: The Thanksgiving Play. Off-Broadway: In The Body of the World (MTC); Nice Fish (St. Ann’s Warehouse); Nixon’s Nixon (MCC); I-Land, Trial By Water (Ma-Yi). Regional: seven seasons with AmericanRepertory Theater, including premiers of Arrabal, Trans Scripts, Notes From The Field, and Eve Ensler’s In the Body of the World; Center Theatre Group;Huntington; Trinity Repertory Company. Education: BFA from Universityof Southern California. All my heart to Efram and Ben. Katelynn Cooper (Assistant Stage Manager). Playwrights debut. Broadway: Matilda, Dear Evan Hansen, Amazing Grace. National Tours: Matilda. Off-Broadway: Clinton: The Musical, Jersey Boys, Classic Stage, MTC, NYMF. TV: “Peter Pan Live!” Regional: Tantrum Theatre, Asolo Rep, Huntington, Williamstown, Goodspeed, Weston Playhouse. BFA Stage Management, Emerson College. About Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is dedicated to cultivating the most important American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, as well as developing and producing their bold new plays and musicals. Tim Sanford became Artistic Director in 1996 and Leslie Marcus has been Managing Director since 1993. Under their decades of leadership, Playwrights builds upon its diverse and renowned body of work, counting 400 writers among its artistic roster. In addition to its onstage work each season, Playwrights’ singular commitment to nurturing American theater artists guides all of the institution’s multifaceted initiatives: our acclaimed New Works Lab, a robust commissioning program, an innovative curriculum at its Theater School, and more. Robert Moss founded Playwrights in 1971 and cemented the mission that continues to guide the institution today. André Bishop served as Artistic Director from 1981-1992. Don Scardino succeeded him and served until 1996. Over its 47-year history, Playwrights has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including six Pulitzer Prizes, 13 Tony Awards, and 39 Obie Awards. |
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