Two River Theater’s latest production, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, is slated to run from February 17th to March 18th – with its opening night performance scheduled for Friday, February 23rd at 7:00 PM.
RED BANK, NJ — Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, continues its 2017/18 season with the world premiere of The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, adapted for the stage by and starring David Greenspan, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll. Performances will begin in Two River’s Marion Huber Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, on Saturday, February 17 and continue through Sunday, March 18. The opening night performance is Friday, February 23 at 7pm. Tickets are available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org. The lead production sponsor is Brookdale Community College.
“There’s an impassioned camp of theater lovers who assert that Thornton Wilder is the consummate American theater artist; there’s another who say the same of David Greenspan. Imagine what they’ll say when these two collaborate on something new,” says Artistic Director John Dias.
The Bridge of San Luis Rey was published in 1927 and won Thornton Wilder the first of his three Pulitzer Prizes. (Wilder, the only writer to win Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and drama, was also honored for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth.) Set in 18th century Peru, the novel is about five travelers who fall to their deaths when they are crossing a bridge that breaks without warning. “There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning,” Wilder wrote in its famous final words.
Commissioned by Two River Theater, five-time Obie Award-winning playwright and actor David Greenspan brings Wilder’s masterpiece about life, fate, and love to the stage as a profound meditation on theater and live performance. Greenspan (most recently seen in a solo performance of Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude) leads a nine-actor company in the role of Uncle Pio, the play’s narrator.
The cast of The Bridge of San Luis Rey also includes Sumaya Bouhbal (Pepita), Zachary Infante (Esteban), Julienne Hanzelka Kim (Madre María), Elizabeth Ramos(Camila Perichole), Steven Rattazzi (Don Andrés de Ribera/Captain Alvarado/Don Vicente/Jaime/Inez), Mary Lou Rosato (Doña María), Bradley James Tejeda (Manuel) andMadeline Wise (Doña Clara).
The creative team includes scenic designer Antje Ellermann, costume designer Elizabeth Hope Clancy, lighting designer Yuki Nakase, and sound designer Karin Graybash. The casting is by Jack Doulin + Sharky, and the stage manager is Megan Smith.
Says Tappan Wilder, Thornton Wilder’s nephew and literary executor, “Beneath the beautifully wrought surface of Wilder’s Bridge rage epic battles before the bar of judgement, questioning the meanings of life, death, faith and love. The Wilder Family and I are thrilled that David Greenspan and Two River Theater are bringing this novel to the stage.”
Tickets for the show can be purchased online or at the box office, ranging from $40 to $80 for general admission. There will be discounts, however, for groups, seniors, and U.S. military personnel, their families, and veterans. Additionally, there will be a limited number of $20 available as well. And lastly, if you’re under 30 years of age, there will be select discounted $20 seats as well.
source: Two River Theater
