Shattered Globe Theatre today announced the first two productions in its upcoming 24th season.
The first production, “The Whaleship Essex,” (Aug. 29 – October 11, 2014) is written by Shattered Globe Theatre ensemble member Joe Forbrich and directed by Lou Contey (“A View from the Bridge,” “The Manchurian Candidate,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “All My Sons,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”). It will be staged at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont. The production will feature ensemble members Steve Peebles, Angie Shriner, Drew Schad, Kevin Viol, Ben Werling, Joe Wiens and Brad Woodard with Zach Bloomfield, Lionel Gentle, Darren Jones, Josh Nordmark, Bridget Schreiber, Jonathan Stutzman, Alif Muhammad and Antonio Zhiurinskas.
Based on first-hand accounts, the play tells the story of the crew and the ship that inspired Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick,” and its watery graveyard demise on November 20, 1820, when it was sunk by an enraged sperm whale in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. According to statement issued by Shattered Globe today: “In 2008, Joe Forbrich built and sailed his 16-foot sailboat Jenny from Long Island to Martha’s Vineyard to spend the summer apprenticing as a boatbuilder by day, while working by night as an actor at The Vineyard Playhouse. It was on this trip that he first heard the story of the Essex and, blissfully caught between the nautical and theatrical worlds, the idea for his play was born.”
The play premiered last month at the Vineyard Playhouse after a reading at The Players Club and a workshop this spring in New York City.
The troupe’s second production, “The Rose Tattoo,” will be presented Jan. 15-Feb. 28, 2015.
The classic, written by Tennessee Williams, will be directed by Greg Vinkler, and will also be staged at Theater Wit. Ensemble member Eileen Nicolai stars.
A blend of comedy and drama, the Tony Award-winning play (which became an Oscar-winning film in 1955), set in an Italian-American community on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, tells the story of an overprotective Sicilian widow named Serafina who controls every aspect of her daughter, Rosa’s, life. Serafina also hides herself in the hazy memory of the husband she idealized. When an unknown truck driver pulls into town and disturbs this Rosa’s life, the two equally matched and impulsive characters develop an almost operatic relationship and, serenaded by exuberant townspeople, Serafina is finally delivered from her past memories and grief.
A third production will be announced at a later date.
Tickets will go sale at a future date at www.shatteredglobe.org.
