Shows & Tickets
Tony Award Winner Harriet Harris and Geffen Alum Mia Barron Join the Cast for Final Two Weeks
LOS ANGELES, March 10, 2011 — Tony Award winner Harriet Harris (Thoroughly Modern Millie) and Geffen Playhouse alumna Mia Barron (Farragut North) join Tony nominee Saidah Arrika Ekoluna (Ruined) and actor/activist James Lecesne (The Trevor Project) in the final two weeks of In Mother Words. This is a schedule change from what was previously announced; after its traditional six-week run, the production will now close on Sunday, March 27.
“It has been our honor to present the unique and touching work of some of our finest playwrights and writers,” said Geffen Playhouse Producing Director Gil Cates. “The show found its enthusiastic audience here and we wish In Mother Words the great success we know it will have when it goes to New York in the fall.”
Conceived by Susan Rose and Joan Stein and helmed by acclaimed director Lisa Peterson, this hilarious night of theater includes works by Pulitzer Prize winner Beth Henley, Pulitzer Prize nominee Lisa Loomer, two-time Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award finalist Michele Lowe, Peabody Award winner Theresa Rebeck, best-selling author Luanne Rice, as well as Leslie Ayvazian, David Cale, Jessica Goldberg, Lameece Isaaq, Claire LaZebnik, Marco Pennette, Lisa Ramirez, Annie Weisman and Cheryl L. West. These playwrights’ combined stories give voice to mothers and children of all ages, races and even sexes – resulting in an eye-opening, poignant and irresistible evening.
In Mother Words had two workshops in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater in 2008, before it opened with the title Motherhood Out Loud at Bay Street Theatre in the Hamptons in the summer of 2009; last fall the play had its official world premiere at Hartford Stage. Following the the Geffen Playhouse production, In Mother Words is set to run this fall at New York’s Primary Stages.
IN MOTHER WORDSConceived by Susan Rose & Joan SteinWritten by Leslie Ayvazian, David Cale, Jessica Goldberg, Beth Henley, Lameece Issaq, Claire LaZebnik, Lisa Loomer, Michele Lowe, Marco Pennette, Lisa Ramirez, Theresa Rebeck, Luanne Rice, Annie Weisman & Cheryl L. WestDirected by Lisa Peterson
Final Two Weeks Featuring:Mia BarronSaidah Arrika EkulonaHarriet HarrisJames Lecesne
Ticket InfoTicket prices range from $67 to $77 for the regular run. Tickets are on sale now on www.geffenplayhouse.com, by calling (310) 208-5454 or in-person at the Geffen Playhouse box office.
Production CreditsSet Designer Rachel HauckCostume Designer David WoolardLighting Designer Christopher KuhlSound Designer Jill DuBoffProjection Designer Jan HartleyAnimations Emily HubbleyProduction Stage Manager Young Ji
Biographies
MIA BARRONRecent work includes the world premiere of Spirit Control with Manhattan Theatre Club, Farragut North (Geffen Playhouse), the revival of House of Blue Leaves (Mark Taper) and the off-Broadway premiere of Hillary (New Georges). New York credits include Tom Stoppard’s Tony award winning trilogy The Coast of Utopia at Lincoln Center, The Pain and The Itch, The World Over, She Stoops to Comedy (all at Playwrights Horizons) 1001(Page 73 productions); Hardball, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty (Summer Play Festival); The Grille Room, Sixteen Wounded (Cherry Lane); QED (Lincoln Center). In New York, she also co-wrote and performed in the Off-Broadway production of Big Times (directed by Leigh Silverman). Work at theatres around the country includes; New York Stage and Film, The Guthrie, The Long Wharf, The Acting Company, The Huntington, Westport Playhouse, The Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, The Old Globe, among others. Television and film include Guiding Light, Blue Blood, The F Word, 27 Dresses, Righteous Kill, as well as a long running role as the voice of Molotov on “The Venture Brothers” (Cartoon Network), MFA from Graduate Acting Program at NYU.
SAIDAH ARRIKA EKULONASaidah Arrika Ekulona originated the role of Mama Nadi in Ruined at the Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club (OBIE Award, Lucille Lortel Award, JEFF Award, Drama Desk Citation). BROADWAY: Well. OFFBROADWAY: Ruined (MTC); Othello; Unconditional; 365 Days, 365 Plays; Well; The Square; Romeo and Juliet (Public Theatre/NYSF); Anon (Atlantic Theater Company); The Thugs (Soho Rep); Fabulation (Playwrights Horizons); A Streetcar Named Desire (NYTW) FILM: That’s What She Said; Righteous Kill; The Taking of Pelham 123; Two Lovers; The Rebound; Uncertainty; The Royal Tenenbaums; Happy Accidents. TV: Law and Order SVU; Royal Pains; Mercy; The Sopranos; Queens Supreme; Sex & The City; Hope & Faith; Law & Order. Training: MFA–University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theatre.
HARRIET HARRISHarriet Harris is the recipient of the 2002 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as “Mrs. Meers” in Thoroughly Modern Millie. Other Broadway credits include: Cry-Baby The Musical, Present Laughter, Old Acquaintance and The Man Who Came to Dinner with Nathan Lane (filmed for PBS). Other New York credits include: playing all the female roles in Paul Rudnick's Jeffrey (Drama Desk nomination), Bella, Belle of Byelorussia (Drama Desk nomination),The Crucible, Man and Superman, Innocents' Crusade at Manhattan Theatre Club, Christmas on Mars at Playwrights Horizons, Rude Entertainment at Drama Dept., and Hamlet, Julius Caesar and Macbeth at The New York Shakespeare Festival. Miss Harris is also the recipient of the 2006 L.A. Stage Alliance Award for Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance of “Madame Dilly” in On the Town at Reprise! Her most recent regional appearances were as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd at Barrington Stage, Josie in Unusual Acts of Devotion at The La Jolla Playhouse, Amanda in The Glass Menagerie at The Guthrie and Vera in Mame at The Kennedy Center. Other regional credits include: Tartuffe, A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Month in the Country and Hedda Gabler. Film credits include "Memento," "Monster-in-Law," "Nurse Betty," "Romeo and Juliet," "Quiz Show," "Addams Family Values" and "Dotty Gets Spanked." TV credits include "Desperate Housewives" (recurring as Felicia Tillman), "Frasier" (recurring as agent Bebe Glazer), "Six Feet Under," "CSI," "The Beast," "Ally McBeal," "Ellen," "The X-Files," "Ghost Whisperer," and series regular roles on "It's All Relative," "Union Square" and "The Five Mrs. Buchanans."
JAMES LECESNETheater: His one-man play Word of Mouth was presented Off-Broadway by Mike Nichols & Elaine May and directed by Eve Ensler (NY Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Solo Performance). Word of Mouth went on to be performed in Los Angeles (LA Weekly Theater Award), at the HBO Comedy Festival in Aspen, and in many cities throughout the U.S. Other theater credits include: One Man Band, directed by Jack Hofsiss; Cloud 9, directed by Tommy Tune; Extraordinary Measures, written & directed by Eve Ensler; and the 30th anniversary production of Boys in the Band, directed by Ken Elliot; I Am My Own Wife, The Mystery of Irma Vep (Hartford Stage Co). Film & Television: Sex & The City, Home for the Holidays, Broadway Damage and Motherhood. Other: He wrote the short film Trevor, which received an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short and he is co-founder of The Trevor Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending suicide among LGBT & Questioning youth. James has published two young adult novels, Absolute Brightness and Virgin Territory; and he wrote The Road Home; Stories of Children of War, which was presented at the International Peace Initiative at The Hague, adapted Armistead Maupin’s Further Tales of the City for Showtime (Emmy Nomination) and wrote one of the final episodes of Will & Grace.
LISA PETERSON (Director)New York: The Model Apartment by Donald Margulies (Primary Stages); Slavs! by Tony Kushner, Traps and Light Shining in Buckinghamshire by Caryl Churchill (Obie Award for Direction), The Waves adapt. from Virginia Woolf (two Drama Desk nominations), all at New York Theatre Workshop; The Scarlet Letter adapt. by Phylis Nagy (CSC, world premiere). Regional: Collected Stories by Donald Margulies (South Coast Rep, world premiere, DramaLogue Award); Ikebana by Alice Tuan (East West Players, world premiere, DramaLogue Award); The Batting Cage by Joan Ackermann, July 7, 1994 by Donald Margulies, Tough Choices for the New Century by Jane Anderson, Slavs! by Tony Kushner, Trip's Cinch by Phylis Nagy (Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, world premieres); Good Person of Setzuan adapt. by Tony Kushner, Triumph of Love adapt. by James Magruder, Arms and the Man by G.B. Shaw, The Swan by Elizabeth Egloff (La Jolla Playhouse); A Moon for the Misbegotten by O'Neill, My Children! My Africa! by Athol Fugard, Slavs! by Kushner (Baltimore Center Stage); Fefu and Her Friends by Irene Fornes (Yale Rep); Reckless by Craig Lucas (Hartford Stage). New Play Development: Sundance, The Playwrights' Center, New Dramatists, Young Playwrights' Festival, Taper New Works Festival, Audrey SkirballKenis, New York Stage and Film, Royal Court London.
ABOUT THE GEFFEN PLAYHOUSEThe Geffen Playhouse has been a hub of the Los Angeles theater scene since opening its doors in 1995. Noted for its intimacy and celebrated for its world-renowned mix of classic and contemporary plays, provocative new works and musicals, the Geffen Playhouse continues to present a body of work that has garnered national recognition. Named in honor of entertainment mogul and philanthropist David Geffen, who made the initial donation to the theater, the company is helmed by Producing Director and President of the Board Gilbert (Gil) Cates, Artistic Director Randall Arney, Managing Director Ken Novice and Chairman of the Board Frank Mancuso. Proudly associated with UCLA, the Geffen Playhouse welcomes an audience of more than 130,000 each year, and maintains an extensive education and outreach program, designed to engage young people and the community at large in the arts. For more information, please visit geffenplayhouse.com.
LISTING EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse10886 Le Conte AvenueLos Angeles, California 90024Box office: 310-208-5454www.geffenplayhouse.com
