The Father |
February 5 — March 1André was once a tap dancer. He lives with his daughter, Anne, and her husband, Antoine. Or was André an engineer, whose daughter Anne lives in London with her new lover, Pierre? The thing is, he is still wearing his pajamas, and he can’t find his watch. He is starting to wonder if he’s losing control. Featuring acclaimed actor Alfred Molina (Frida, An Education, Enchanted April) in a tour-de-force performance that will captivate audiences and leave you breathless.
“GRIPPED...Tiptop production”
By Florian Zeller
Translated by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Jessica Kubzansky
Starring Alfred Molina
90 minutes, no intermission
Cast
Creative Team
Florian Zeller (Playwright)
Florian Zeller is a French novelist and playwright. His work has been translated into several languages. Florian Zeller wrote his rst novel Neiges arti cielles (Artificial Snow) when he was twenty-two years old. He has written five acclaimed novels and eleven plays, including L’Autre (2004), Le Manège (2005), Si tu mourais (2006, Prix Jeune Théâtre of the Académie française), Elle t’attend (2008), La Mère (2011, Molière Award), La Vérité (2011), Le Père (2012, Molière Award, Prix du Brigadier), Une Heure de tranquillité (2013), Le Mensonge (2015, Théâtre Edouard VII, starring Pierre Arditi), L’Envers du décor (2016), and Avant de s’envoler (2016). He won the prestigious Prix Interallié in 2004 for his novel La Fascination du Pire (Fascination of Evil) and several Molière Awards (highest theatrical honor) for his plays La Mère (The Mother) and Le Père (The Father). Florian Zeller has fast become one of France’s most well-known contemporary playwrights. L’Autre, Le Manège, Si tu mourais, Elle t’attend, La Mère (The Mother, Molière Award in 2011), La Vérité (The Truth), and Une Heure de tranquillité (A Bit of Peace and Quiet) were successfully produced in France and internationally. Le Père (The Father) was the 2014 winner of 3 Molière Awards (Best Play, Best Actor [Robert Hirsh] and Best Actress [Isabelle Gelinas]) and won the Prix du Brigadier in 2015. Une Heure de tranquillité (A Bit of Peace and Quiet) starring Fabrice Luchini became a movie directed by Patrice Leconte. Most of Florian Zeller plays are being optioned and performed all over the world. His plays La Mère (The Mother), Le Père (The Father), and La Vérité (The Truth) have been translated by Christopher Hampton. The play Le Père (The Father) was nominated for Best New Play at the 2016 Olivier Awards and Kenneth Cranham won for Best Actor in a Play. Le Père (The Father) also received two nominations for the 2016 Tony Awards: Best Play and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play. Frank Langella was awarded for his performance. Florian Zeller lives in Paris. He is married to the actress and sculptor Marine Delterme.
Christopher Hampton (Playwright)
Christopher Hampton’s plays and musicals have so far garnered four Tony Awards, three Olivier Awards, four Evening Standard Awards, and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award; prizes for his film and television work include an Oscar, two BAFTAs, a Writers’ Guild of America Award, the Prix Italia, a Special Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Hollywood Screenwriter of the Year, and The Collateral Award at the Venice Film Festival for Best Literary Adaptation. Original plays: Appomattox, The Talking Cure, White Chameleon, Tales from Hollywood, Treats, Savages, The Philanthropist, Total Eclipse, and When Did You Last See My Mother? Adaptations from novels: Youth Without God (Horváth), Embers (Márai), and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Laclos). Musicals: Stephen Ward, Dracula: The Musical, and Sunset Boulevard. Libretti: Appomattox, The Trial, and Waiting for the Barbarians (all for Philip Glass). Translations include plays by Chekhov, Ibsen, Molière, Horváth, Yasmina Reza, and Florian Zeller. Film includes: Ali and Nino, A Dangerous Method, Chéri, Atonement, The Quiet American, Dangerous Liaisons, The Good Father, The Honorary Consul, Total Eclipse, Mary Reilly, Tales From The Vienna Woods, and A Doll’s House. He wrote and directed Imagining Argentina, The Secret Agent, and Carrington. Television includes: The Thirteenth Tale, The Ginger Tree, Hôtel Du Lac, The History Man, and Able’s Will.
Jessica Kubzansky (Director)
Jessica is the Artistic Director of Boston Court Pasadena and an award-winning director working nationally. Pasadena Playhouse directing credits: Hold These Truths, Pygmalion, and Mauritius. Recently at Boston Court: the world premieres of Kit Steinkellner’s Ladies, Sarah B. Mantell’s Everything That Never Happened, Stefanie Zadravec’s Colony Collapse, RII (her own three-person version of Shakespeare’s Richard II), plus Luis Alfaro’s Mojada, A Medea in Los Angeles (a co-pro at the Getty Villa), the New York and world premieres of Sheila Callaghan’s Everything You Touch (Rattlestick at the Cherry Lane). Other recent credits: Othello (A Noise Within), Hold These Truths (Arena Stage, San Diego Repertory Theatre), Aditi Kapil’s Orange (South Coast Repertory), Aaron Posner’s Stupid Fucking Bird (ACT Theatre Seattle). Upcoming: Sarah B. Mantell’s Everything That Never Happened for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Jessica has received numerous awards and honors, among them the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle’s Margaret Harford Award for Sustained Excellence in Theater.
David Meyer (Scenic Design)
Pasadena Playhouse: Native Gardens, Belleville, King Charles III, Our Town. Off-Broadway: A Sucker Emcee, The Way West, Empanada Loca, and A Family for All Occasions (Labyrinth Theater). Regional: Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Merrily We Roll Along. Feature Film & Television Production Design: Secret Society of Second Born Royals, Corporate Animals, John Wick 2 (reshoots), Permission, and She’s Lost Control. Art Direction: Vice, Birdman, and The Wolf of Wall Street. David studied Architecture and Theater at Syracuse University and received his MFA in Production Design for Stage and Film at NYU/Tisch. | davidmeyerdesign.com
Denitsa Bliznakova (Costume Design)
Denitsa is happy to make her Pasadena Playhouse debut. Her theater design work has been seen nationwide at venues including the Geffen Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, Old Globe Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Kennedy Center, Cleveland Play House, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and others. Denitsa’s work for opera includes productions at Los Angeles Opera, San Diego Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. Costume design credits for other media include films and music videos. Nominations for Outstanding Costume Design: LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and Colorado Theatre Guild Henry Award. Denitsa is a Professor and the Head of the graduate Design and Technology program in the School of Theatre, TV and Film at SDSU. | Denitsa.com.
Elizabeth Harper (Lighting Design)
Regional: Between Two Knees (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), The Cake (La Jolla Playhouse), The Invisible Hand (Kansas City Repertory), Indecent (Denver Theatre Center), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Immediate Family (dir. Phylicia Rashad; Mark Taper Forum), Quack, Woman Laughing Alone With Salad (Kirk Douglas Theatre), Wait Until Dark, Mysterious Circumstances, and Play Dead (dir. Teller; Geffen Playhouse), Rock of Ages (The 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle), Office Hour starring Sandra Oh, Little Black Shadows (South Coast Repertory), Crescent City (dir. Yuval Sharon; The Industry Opera Company). Corporate events include projects for Microsoft, Under Armour, AirBnB, and Universal Studios. Elizabeth is a professor of lighting design at the University of Southern California.
John Zalewski (Sound Designer)
John is based in Los Angeles, inspired by artists like Reza Abdoh and Bill Viola, and has designed soundscapes applied to live performance for 21 years. He’s been heard supporting theater at Arena Stage, Guthrie Theater, Portland Center Stage, Alliance Theatre, Perseverance Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, Marylebone Gardens (London), South Coast Repertory, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Redcat, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Evidence Room, Boston Court, Belle Reve, and more. Recent credits: Othello (A Noise Within), Belleville (Pasadena Playhouse), Hold These Truths (San Diego Repertory Theatre), and Macbeth (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Upcoming: Destiny of Desire tour (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Guthrie Theater) and The Scarlet Letter (South Coast Repertory). Awards: Ovation, Backstage, LA Weekly Theater, Drama Critics’ Circle and Scenie awards. John teaches sound at Occidental College.
Nicole Arbusto, CSA (Casting)
Theater casting credits include: Tiny Beautiful Things and King Charles III (Pasadena Playhouse), The Golden Dragon, The House in Scarsdale: A Memoir For The Stage, the upcoming Passion (Boston Court), the Los Angeles casting for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of Tracy Letts’s Linda Vista, and twelve years with the Ojai Playwrights Conference working on new plays by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Terrence McNally, Jiehae Park, JC Lee, Robert Askins. TV/Film: The Lovers starring Debra Winger and Tracy Letts (A24), Room 104 and Animals. (Duplass Brothers Productions; HBO)
Sara Sahin (Stage Manager)
Sara has worked on Broadway and Off-Broadway at Roundabout Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company, Park Avenue Armory, MCC Theater, Lincoln Center Theater, Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, among others. Regional: The Wallis, Signature Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Barrington Stage Company. This spring Sara will be going to South Africa with William Kentridge’s The Head and the Load, having stage-managed it at the Park Avenue Armory, the Tate Modern, and Ruhrtriennale. Sara has directed and co-produced with writer Greg Turner, five of his original plays and a short lm. Sara is a member of LCT’s Directors Lab and a graduate of New York University.
David S. Franklin (Assistant Stage Manager)
Previous productions at Pasadena Playhouse include Stoneface, Defiance, Showtune, Sisterella, Blues in the Night, and Closer Than Ever. Selected Center Theatre Group credits: Baz Luhrmann’s La Bohème, Art, Curtains, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Parade, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, God of Carnage, Red, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Bent, Zoot Suit, Head of Passes, Linda Vista, and Soft Power. Other credits: Los Angeles Theatre Center (1985–1990), Geffen Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Intiman Theatre, Public Theater, and European Tours of Quotations from a Ruined City and Law of Remains (Reza Abdoh’s Dar a Luz company).
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Advisory
Pasadena Playhouse does not offer advisories about the subject matter for this production, as sensitivities vary from patron to patron. If you have any inquiries regarding content, age-appropriateness or stage effects (such as strobe lights or theatrical fog) that may affect patron comfort, please contact Patron Services during Box Office hours at 626-356-PLAY.
Children under age 5 are not permitted in any performance at Pasadena Playhouse.