Some Men
05/01/2008 - 05/31/2008
Playwright: Terrence McNally
Director: Kent Gash
About the play
Continuing its 20th Anniversary Season, Actor’s Express is proud to offer the Atlanta Premiere of legendary playwright Terrence McNally’s Some Men, a sweeping comedy-drama that spans nearly a century of gay life in America. This landmark play celebrates all the complexities of the American gay experience. From laughter to tears and from struggle to triumph, Some Men is McNally’s most important and vital work since Love! Valour! Compassion!
Some Men spans the Twentieth Century and into the Twenty-First, looking at gay relationships and how society has influenced their evolution.
Artistic Director Freddie Ashley says, “I am elated to offer Some Men to Atlanta audiences. As playwrights go, you don’t get better than Terrence McNally. His work always offers a delicate blend of humor with something much deeper. Some Men, in my opinion, ranks among his very best work. And in a canon that includes Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class and Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, that’s saying something.”
Ashley continues, “It’s so important when staging work about the gay experience to look at how a particular play intersects with the present moment. Some Men is the perfect play for today in that it looks at where the community has been and where it is today. And the picture it paints is one of triumph and celebration. That kind of validating message is more crucial than ever.”
Helming the Actor’s Express production of Some Men is Kent Gash, Associate Artistic Director of the Alliance Theatre. Gash marks his first return to Actor’s Express since directing the critically acclaimed 2006 World Premiere of Love Jerry by Megan Gogerty. According to Ashley, “One of the first things I did when I became Artistic Director last summer was approach Kent about directing this play. He is simply one of the best directors working today in the American theatre. His sense of visual storytelling is always stunning and he is also a true ‘actor’s director,’ always eliciting the best performances possible from the actors with whom he’s working. I have no doubt that he will deliver a production that will stand as one of the greatest in Actor’s Express history.”
The cast of Some Men features AE vets Doyle Reynolds (I Am My Own Wife), John Benzinger (Octopus, dark play or stories for boys), Steve Emmanuelson (Bent) and Jacob Wood (The Last Sunday in June). Other actors in the cast making their AE Mainstage debut include Don Finney, Will Cobbs, Louis Gregory, Tom Thon and Tim Batten.
The design team includes Korey Washington (scenery), Mike Post (lighting), English Benning (costumes) and Joseph P. Monaghan III (sound).
Some Men premiered at Philadelphia Theatre Company in 2006. It was subsequently produced off-Broadway by Second Stage in 2007.
Cast & Creative - Some Men
Cast
| Tim Batten |
Perry, Padraic, Boy Toy, BJ, Pat, Spencer |
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| John Benzinger |
Paul, Will, Cliff, Michael/Top Dog, Richard |
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| Will Cobbs |
Marcus, The Snake, Alex, Angel Eyes, Seb, Gordon |
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| Steven L. Emanuelson |
Carl, Funeral Director, Xerxes, Joel, Kurt, Gary |
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| Don Finney |
Marty, Camus, Archie, Scoop |
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| Louis Gregory |
Fritz, David Goldman, Mel, Nurse, Jack |
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| Doyle Reynolds |
Bernie, Martin |
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| Tom Thon |
Dr. Aaron, Tommy's Dad, Buffed in Chelsea, Trey, Joseph |
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| Jacob Wood |
Piano Man, Zach, Nick, Dick, Mr. Keys, Lewis |
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Creative
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Photos
Performance times
Preview Performances
Thursday 5/1 – Saturday 5/3 @ 8 p.m.
Gala Opening
Sunday 5/4 @ 5 p.m.
Regular Performances
Wednesdays – Saturdays 5/7 – 5/31 @ 8 p.m.
Sun. 5/11 & 5/25 @ 5 p.m.
Sun. 5/18 @ 2 p.m. |
Ticket pricing
Previews: $11.00
Gala Opening: $35, includes reception
Wed., Thurs., Sun.: Adult (Gen. Admission) $22.00, Student with ID/Senior (60+): $16.00
Fridays: Adult (Gen. Admission) $25.00, Student with ID / Senior (60+): $16.00
Saturdays: Adult $27.00, Student with ID / Senior (60+): $22.00
Groups of 9 or more receive $5 off General Admission per ticket
Purchase Tickets
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About the Playwright
Terrence McNally’s most recent work Deuce recently played on Broadway. His play Some Men premiered last season at Second Stage Theatre. Mr. McNally also recently wrote the books for the musicals Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life and A Man Of No Importance. Recent Broadway credits include the revival of his play The Ritz, the revival of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune and the book for the musical The Full Monty. He won his fourth Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Ragtime (music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens). He is currently working on the book for The Visit with score by John Kander and Fredd Ebb. McNally won the Tony in 1996 for his play Master Class in which Zoe Caldwell created the role of Maria Callas; the 1995 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play as well as the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play for Love! Valour! Compassion!; and the 1993 Tony for his book of the musical Kiss Of The Spiderwoman (music and lyrics by Kander and Ebb). His other plays include Dedication or The Stuff Of Dreams, The Stendhal Syndrome, Crucifixion, Corpus Christi, A Perfect Ganesh, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Lisbon Traviata and It's Only a Play, all of which began at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Earlier stage works include Bad Habits, The Ritz, Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?, Things That Go Bump in the Night, Next and the book for the musical The Rink (music and lyrics by Kander and Ebb). For the Central Park Opera trilogy presented at the New York City Opera in the fall of 1999 he wrote the libretto for The Food of Love, with music by Robert Beaser. The San Francisco Opera presented Dead Man Walking with McNally's libretto and music by Jake Heggie. McNally has written a number of TV scripts, including Andre's Mother for which he won an Emmy Award. He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, a Lucille Lortel Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Dramatists Guild since 1970.
About the Director
Kent Gash is Associate Artistic Director at Alliance Theatre, recipient of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award. At Alliance, he has directed Sophisticated Ladies, Sleuth, Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue, Jelly’s Last Jam (Best Musical, Director and Choreography of 2005-06, Suzi Bass Awards), tick, tick...BOOM!, Five Guys Named Moe, Topdog/Underdog (Best Director 05-06, Elliot Norton Award, I.R.N.E. Award nominee, Best Play, Best Director), King Hedley II, Pacific Overtures (Winner Best Musical 03-04, Elliot Norton Award, Best Musical and Best Director, I.R.N.E. Awards), Shakespeare’s R & J, ... Creve Coeur. Off-Broadway credits include Call the Children Home for Primary Stages; Miss Evers’ Boys and Home for Melting Pot Theatre Company; and Beggar’s Holiday and Josephine’s Song (Co-Librettist) for the York. Regionally, he adapted and directed the World Premiere of Native Son for Intiman Theatre, Crowns at the Denver Center Theatre Company, World Premiere of Love Jerry at Actor’s Express, Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Trinity Rep, Maltz-Jupiter Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre and Hartford Stage. As Associate Artistic Director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, directed and choreographed The Negro of Peter the Great, A Night in Tunisia, Guys and Dolls, Godspell, Troilus and Cressida, Twelfth Night, Beehive! and Five Guys Named Moe. Other productions include Steel Magnolias, The Wild Party, Coriolanus, Private Lives, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Harriet’s Return starring Debbie Allen. Mr. Gash has directed for the Geffen, the Kennedy Center, True Colors Theatre Company, Trinity Rep, ATL, Arizona Theatre Company, Delaware Theatre Company and others. He holds a B.F.A. in Acting (Carnegie-Mellon) and M.F.A. in Directing (UCLA). Mr. Gash serves on the board of the Non-Traditional Casting Project.
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