Theater News

Ashmanskas, Banes, Garber, et al. Set for Huntington’s Present Laughter

Victor Garber
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)
Victor Garber
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)

The full cast and creative team has been announced for the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of Noël Coward’s Present Laughter. The production, to be directed by Nicholas Martin, will run May 18-June 17 and will open officially on May 21.

Joining previously announced star Victor Garber in the role of aging matinee idol Garry Essendine will be Brooks Ashmanskas (Rolland), Lisa Banes (Liz Essendine), Nancy Carroll (Miss Erickson), Alice Duffy (Lady Saltburn), Holley Fain (Daphne Stillington), Pamela Gray (Joanna Lyppiatt), Richard Snee (Henry), and Marc Vietor (Morris Dixon).

The production team includes Alexander Dodge (sets), Maryann Veryheyen (costumes), Rui Rita (lighting), and Drew Levy (sound). Martin is the company’s artistic director.

Earlier this week, the Huntington announced its 2007-2008 slate of shows. The mainstage season will begin with the hit London production of The 39 Steps, adapted by Patrick Barlow from John Buchan’s novel and Alfred Hitchcock’s film (September 14-October 14). The show, to be directed by Maria Aitken, will have a cast of four actors playing more than 150 roles. It is set to open on Broadway sometime next season.

The season will continue with a revival of David Rabe’s Vietnam-era drama Streamers, directed by Scott Ellis (November 9-December 9); Conor McPherson’s drama Shining City, about a troubled man and his equally troubled therapist (March 7-April 6); and the classic musical She Loves Me, with a score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick and a book by Joe Masteroff, based on the Hungarian play Parfumerie (May 16-June 15). That production will be helmed by Martin.

The Huntington’s smaller stage, at the Boston Center for the Arts’ Calderwood Pavilion, will host the world premiere of Ronan Noone’s Brendan, directed by Justin Waldman, about Irish immigrants’ struggles to feel at home in America (October 12-November 11); the late Wendy Wasserstein’s Third, about a liberal college professor who is unnerved by a conservative student (January 4-February 3); and the world premiere of Sinan Unel’s Cry of the Reed, in which a journalist and her colleague find themselves unexpectedly detained by a band of insurgents in a war-torn country (March 28-May 4).

For more information, visit www.huntingtontheatre.org.

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Present Laughter

Closed: June 17, 2007