Christopher Durang and Debra Monk
Are "Laughing Wild”At The Huntington

Huntington Theatre Company Artistic Director Nicholas Martin has announced that he will direct a special Huntington production of Christopher Durang's 1987 cult-classic comedy, "Laughing Wild.”

The two-person show will star Durang, an OBIE Award-winner and Tony Award nominee, and acclaimed actress Debra Monk, who has received Tony, OBIE, and Emmy Awards. "Laughing Wild” will run at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts from June 3 - 26.

Martin commented, "As the title suggests, this is a raucously funny play, and it was just dying to be revived. It needed the exact right cast, and Chris and Debra together on stage will make this the hottest spring ticket in town."

Martin previously directed Durang's "Betty's Summer Vacation” to critical acclaim at Playwrights Horizons in 1999 (for which he won an OBIE Award) and for the Huntington in 2001. He also directed Monk in the Lincoln Center Theater's 2000 production of Arthur Laurents' "The Time of the Cuckoo,” for which she won an OBIE.

"Laughing Wild” premiered at Playwrights Horizons in New York in October 1987, starring Durang and E. Katherine Kerr. Some critics and mainstream audiences at the time didn't know what to make of it, Martin says, because its odd structure and absurd content was way ahead of its time. Its popularity and stature has grown over the years and it has developed a significant cult following.

The show had a sold out, four-performance revival with the original actors in New York in 2003, and has enjoyed productions at theatre companies around the world.
A major production has never before been mounted in Boston.

The three-part play skewers often-touchy social issues, as well as religious and contemporary icons through two comedic monologues delivered by characters called only "Man" and "Woman." Part three brings the characters together to reenact a troubling grocery store incident, to recount and appear in each other's dreams, and to participate in a psychotic TV talk show.

Martin says that since "Laughing Wild's” debut nearly two decades ago, audiences and critics have warmed to its strikingly different theatrical style. He expects the show to do well in Boston because of its comic look at modern urban life and its underlying humanity.

"’Laughing Wild’ is a great example of what makes Christopher Durang so terrific," Martin says. "He can make great comedy out of our common alienation."

Christopher Durang’s works include "A History of the American Film" (Tony nomination, Best Book of a Musical, 1978), "The Actor's Nightmare," "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You" (OBIE award; Off Broadway run 1981-83), "Beyond Therapy" (Broadway 1982), "Baby with the Bathwater" (Playwrights Horizons, 1983), "The Marriage of Bette and Boo" (Public Theatre, 1985; OBIE award, Dramatists Guild Award), "Laughing Wild" (Playwrights Horizons, 1987), "Durang/Durang" (an evening of six plays at Manhattan Theatre Club, 1994, including the Tennessee Williams parody, "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls"), "Sex and Longing" (Lincoln Center Theater production at the Cort Theatre, 1996, starring Sigourney Weaver), and "Betty's Summer Vacation" (Playwrights Horizons, 1999; OBIE award).

Debra Monk has appeared on Broadway in "Reckless," "Thou Shalt Not," "Ah, Wilderness!," "Steel Pier" (Tony nomination), "Company," "Picnic" (Tony nomination), "Redwood Curtain" (Tony Award), "Nick and Nora," "Prelude to a Kiss," and "Pump Boys and Dinettes" (co-author). Her Off Broadway appearances include Mike Nichols' "The Seagull" at The Public Theater/NYSF, "The Time of the Cuckoo" (OBIE Award), "Ancestral Voices," "Death Defying Acts," "Three Hotels," "Assassins," and "Oil City Symphony" (co-author, Drama Desk Award).

For more information, call 617-266-0800, visit the Calderwood Pavilion Box Office at 527 Tremont Street in Boston or visit www.huntingtontheatre.org or www.BostonTheatreScene.com.

-- OnStage Boston

03/04/05

 

 
 
 
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