Chekhov’s THE SEAGULL

Quintessence Theatre Group proudly announces

RACHEL BRODEUR, JOSH CARPENTER, JANIS DARDARIS,

JAMISON FOREMAN, MARCIA SAUNDERS & WILLIAM ZIELINSKI

in

THE SEAGULL

by ANTON CHEKHOV

In a translation by MIKE POULTON

Aspiring playwright Konstantin Treplev is debuting his new play at his uncle’s country estate with his girlfriend Nina as his leading actress. In attendance are his mother Arkadina, a celebrated actress, and her lover Trigorin, a famous writer. The reception of the play sets off a series of events unleashing passion, romance, and heartbreak.

Challenging notions of structure, comedy, and subtext in theatre, Chekhov’s THE SEAGULL was his first theatrical masterpiece and endures as a testimony to the absurdity of the human condition. Mike Poulton’s recent translation transforms Chekhov into searing English prose for a contemporary audience.

Following her celebrated star turn as Lady Bracknell in Quintessence’s THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, Janis Dardaris* returns to Quintessence as Arkadina. Josh Carpenter* who wowed audiences as The Venetian Twins and lead Quintessence’s HENRY V returns as Trigorin. They will be joined by two Philadelphia favorites: William Zielinski* as Dorn, Marcia Saunders* as Polina, both making their Quintessence debuts.

The ensemble includes Jamison Foreman (Konstantin), Robert Bauer (Sorin), Rachel Brodeur (Nina), Julia Frey (Masha), Alexander Harvey (Medvedenko), Randall McCann (Shamrayev), Lee Cortopassi (Yakov), Bryan Black (as Workman) and Carrie Ryan (as The Maid).

THE SEAGULL runs May 9 – June 3. Performances take place on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm.

A special PAY WHAT YOU CAN preview will be presented on Wednesday, May 9 at 7:00pm.

A discussion on Chekhov with director Alexander Burns will occur before the show on Thursday, May 24.

Post show discussions with the cast will take place on Sunday, May 20 and Wednesday, May 30.

Tickets are $30, $20 for seniors (65 and over), $15 for youth (25 and under). There are $10 industry and student rush tickets available at the box office one hour before the performance. Click here to purchase tickets or call 1.877.238.5596

For information on any of the performances or for information about student matinees please email BoxOffice@QuintessenceTheatre.org.

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THE ENSEMBLE

ROBERT BAUER (Sorin) Philadelphia: founding member of The Drama Group in Germantown (www.thedramagroup.org) where he has acted, directed and designed shows for over 30 years; Hail Mary! (Montgomery Theatre); Our Town (Arden Theatre); Amadeus (Wilma Theatre); Gem of the Ocean (Bushfire); Angels Fall (Simpatico); The Swedish Match (Red Square); As You Like It (Shakespeare in Clark Park).

RACHEL BRODEUR (Nina) Philadelphia: Bye Bye Liver: The Philadelphia Drinking Show (The Pub Theatre); Monday Night Monologues (A Saturday’s Child). Regional: The Tempest (Renaissance Performance Guild); Whose Jest Improv Show (Renaissance Performance Guild). Educational: The Shape of Things, Hamlet: First Quarto, Midwives, Electra the Rock Opera, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, A Murder Is Announced. Commercials: Philadelphia XOXO, Nanticoke Health Care. Training: University of New Hampshire, B.A.Theatre, Dance Minor; Walnut Street Theatre; Almeida Theatre (London, UK).

JOSH CARPENTER* (Trigorin) Quintessence: Henry V, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Venetian Twins, The Merchant of Venice. Philadelphia: Diabolique (Exigent Theatre).  New York: How To Act Around Cops (The Studio at Cherry Lane Theatre); Holiday (Gotham Radio Theatre); Exhaustion (Naked Angels Lab); Taking One for the Team (Target Margin Theater); Radioplay (Manhattan Theatre Source); Tough! (American Theatre of Actors).  Regional: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I Capture the Castle, Henry V, Pride and Prejudice, Richard III, The Cherry Orchard (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); Romeo and Juliet, All’s Well That Ends Well, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, Henry V,  A Christmas Carol (American Shakespeare Center, VA); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (New England Shakespeare Festival). International: The Detectives, Jackie and the Giant (Bear Educational Theatre, Czech Republic).  Training: Northwestern University.

JANIS DARDARIS* (Arkadina) Quintessence: The Importance of Being Earnest. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Theatre Company; People’s Light; Walnut Street Theatre; Interact; Leaving, Road, Quartet, Escape from Happiness, Orpheus Descending, Spin, The Magic Fire, Scorched, Becky Shaw (Wilma Theatre); Rabbit Hole (Arden Theatre). Regional: McCarter Theatre, Pittsburgh Public, Long Wharf, Cleveland Playhouse, Woolly Mammoth, Kennedy Center, Arizona Theatre, Three Rivers Shakespeare, Actors’ Theatre Louisville’s Humana Festival (originated the role of Susan Slater in Becky Shaw). New York: Playwrights Horizons, New York Classical Theatre, Westbeth, Summer Play Festival on Theatre Row, Breaking Legs with Philip Bosco (also national tour with Danny Aiello). Awards: nominated for 10 Barrymore Awards; 1998 winner of Charlotte Cushman Barrymore for her performance as Josie Hogan in A Moon for the Misbegotten; 2009 winner of Best Supporting Actress in Scorched. Film & Television: THE SIXTH SENSE, PARTY MONSTER, THIRD WATCH, TRIAL BY JURY, LAW AND ORDER, THE SOPRANOS, BLISS, 1967, the lead in SOUNDING directed by Joel Coen, featured role as Grace in CRUZANDO which garnered critical acclaim at independent festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe.

JAMISON FOREMAN (Konstantin) Philadelphia: Fiddler on the Roof, White Christmas, Miss Saigon (Walnut Street Theatre); Tom Sawyer (People’s Light and Theatre); Sweeney Todd (Toby’s Theatre of Columbia); Act a Lady (Azuka Theatre); Voices of Christmas (Theatre Horizon); Terrorism (New City Stage). International Tour: Fame (Phoenix Entertainment).  Jamison also wrote a musical, Realm of the Unreal, that was in the 2009 Philly Fringe Festival.

JULIA FREY (Masha) Philadelphia: Bachelorette (Luna Theater Company);Teen Wolf/TeenWolf Too (Mt. Tremper Arts); Hairspray (RCCL); Double and Small (Philly Fringe); ComedySportz since 2002. New York: Some Editing and Some Theme Music (FringeNYC, NO Fringe). Film: The Exquisite Corpse Project; Between Something and Nothing.  Training: BA from Bard College, advised by JoAnne Akalaitis.

ALEXANDER HARVEY (Medvedenko) Quintessence: Henry V, The Venetian Twins, The Merchant of Venice, Antigone. New York: Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Theatre Row/York Shakespeare Company); Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear (ShakespeareNYC/Vook); Dreams of a Common Housefly (BAX/Upstart Festival); The Merchant of Venice and The Jew of Malta (YSC); King Lear (Balloon Heaven/Producer’s Club); Mrs. Warren’s Profession (Compassion Theater Co.); To Walk In Darkness (Turtle Shell). Regional: Doubt , Hip/Shake, The Red Sun and The Green Moon (Syracuse Stage). UK: The Merchant of Venice w/s (Shakespeare’s Globe); Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Midsummer Night’s Dream (new vic). Training: RADA; The Bristol Old Vic; Syracuse University.

RANDALL MCCANN (Shamrayev) has been working in theater as an actor and director for over thirty-five years. His most recent onstage appearance was as Gordon in Bootless Artworks production of Dead Man’s Cell Phone. Some of his favorite roles include Harry Fatt in Waiting For Lefty, Herb in Mr. Harry, Detective Tupolski in The Pillowman, Mick Dowd in A Skull in Connemara, Morgan in The Drawer Boy, and Victor in The Price. His most recent directing project was South Camden Theatre Company’s production of Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana.

MARCIA SAUNDERS* (Polina)  Philadelphia: six-time Barrymore Award nominee, credits include Walnut Street Theatre, Wilma Theatre, The Arden, Philadelphia Theatre Company, New City Stage, Montgomery Theatre, Pennsylvania Shakespeare, and her home base theater since 1976, People’s Light & Theatre where she earned a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Actress in The Man From Nebraska. Off-Broadway: The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Atlantic Theatre Co).

WILLIAM ZIELINSKI* (Dorn) Philadelphia: Speaking in Tongues (Walnut Studio); The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Shining City (Theatre Exile); One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (People’s Light & Theatre); The Seafarer (Arden Theatre).  Regional: Eventide (Denver Center Theatre). Film and TV: Do NO Harm (NBC), Flikken Maastricht (Dutch TV), Future Weather, The Lovely Bones, Night Catches Us, The Wire (HBO), and Shot In The Heart (HBO).