Gulfshore Playhouse To Present David Mamet's Drama RACE

Gulfshore Playhouse to Present David Mamet Drama "Race"

 

Gulfshore Playhouse will present the David Mamet drama Race January 27 through February 12, with a preview performance January 26 at the Norris Center.

 

This hot new Broadway hit follows a law firm taking on a racially-charged case. Two attorneys, one black and one white, are offered a chance to defend a white man charged with a crime against a black woman. A true case of "he said, she said", Race will make you question what you thought, what you heard, and what you think you know. This thought-provoking new play by the master of great dialogue David Mamet is a must-see.

 

David Mamet is a Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright, known for his own distinct style of dialogue aptly referred to as "Mamet speak". Mamet also directed the Broadway production of Race, which premiered December 2009 starring James Spader, David Alan Grier, Kerry Washington, and Richard Thomas. Gulfshore Playhouse first hit the Naples scene with a production of David Mamet's Oleanna in 2006.

 

Founder and Producing Artistic Director Kristen Coury will direct. "I love to direct theatre that makes you think, and with these actors, it is bound to have the audience debating the themes as they walk out of the theatre" says Coury.

 

Fresh off the national tour of The 39 Steps, Eric Hissom will star as Jack Lawson. Other credits from Eric include The Vibrator Play at Woolly Mammoth in Washington DC, The Turn of the Screw at Orlando Shakespeare Theater, directed a production of The 39 Steps at Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota, the world premiere of Ken Ludwig's The Game's Afoot at Cleveland Playhouse, A Moon for the Misbegotten at the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia and August: Osage County. He has an MFA from Florida State University and has performed and/or directed at many other theatres across the country including Actors' Theatre of Louisville, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Meadowbrook, Cape Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Milwaukee Rep, Asolo Rep, and Cape May Stage.

 

Henry Brown will be portrayed by Jefferson A. Russell. Jefferson was most recently seen at Round House Theatre as Captain Beatty in Fahrenheit 451. He also appeared at Round House as Count Orsini-Rosenberg in Amadeus and as Scanlon in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Additional credits include the world premiere of ReGina Taylor's The Trinity River Plays at Dallas Theatre Center and the Goodman Theatre; Clybourne Park at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; The Piano Lesson at Hangar Theatre; Kennedy Center national tours of Harlem, Color Me Dark and Alexander and the Terrible… Very Bad Day!; Blood Knot, A Raisin in the Sun and A Lesson Before Dyingwith African Continuum Theatre; The Tempest at Folger Theatre; Cyranoand Edward II at the Shakespeare Theatre; A Midsummer Night's Dream at NC Shakespeare Festival; The Meeting (Malcolm X), Flyin'West (Frank) and Before It Hits Home (Wendal) at Baltimore's Arena Players as well as several other theaters including Imagination Stage, the Kennedy Center and Rep Stage. TV credits include HBO's The Wire and NBC's Homicide: Life on the Streets.

 

Brent Langdon will play Charles Strickland. Brent is a graduate of the University of Evansville and the University of North Carolina. New York theatre credits include The Europeans at Atlantic Theatre Stage 2 and Couldn't Say at Abingdon Theatre. Regional theatre credits include The Crucible at Hartford Stage, She Stoops To Conquer, Twelfth Night at McCarter Theatre, Richard II at Yale Repertory Theatre and A Streetcar Named Desire and Henry V at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Brent also appeared in Law and Order: Criminal Intent and Conviction.

 

Edena Hines is a recent graduate from New York University's Graduate Acting Program. She was last seen in Donald Margulies' Shipwrecked at the Penguin Repertory Theater in Stony Point, NY. At NYU, Edena was seen in Henry Box Brown (Tony Kushner Musical), Sueno, Romantic Roulette and The Ruby Sunrise. Her other credits include: NYSITP All's Well that Ends Well,Memphis Women and Fried Chicken, Girl Crazy, Pres Du Lune.

 

Gulfshore Playhouse is Naples' first and finest professional theatre company offering a variety of stimulating, thought-provoking and entertaining productions from important classics to Broadway hits and innovative new works. Their shows are conceived and created in-house using a team of professional designers and technicians as well as Equity actors with credits ranging from Broadway shows to film and television. All Gulfshore Playhouse productions are presented exclusively at The Norris Center in Downtown Naples.

 

Gulfshore Playhouse's production of Race will run January 27 through February 12. Tickets start at just $35 and can be purchased by visiting their website at ww.gulfshoreplayhouse.org or by calling the box office at 866-811-4111.