Press Release: Time and the Conways Cast and Creative Team Annoucement

CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM ANNOUNCED
FOR THE OLD GLOBE’S REVIVAL OF
J.B. PRIESTLEY’S TIME AND THE CONWAYS

PERFORMANCES RUN MARCH 29 – MAY 4,
WITH OPENING NIGHT ON THURSDAY, APRIL 3 AT 8:00 P.M.

SAN DIEGO (March 24, 2014)—The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for the Globe’s revival of J.B. Priestley’s period classic Time and the Conways. Directed by Rebecca Taichman, Time and the Conways will run March 29 – May 4, 2014 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run March 29 – April 2. Opening night is Thursday, April 3 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

The curtain rises on a gorgeous English country home in 1919 in the midst of a game of charades played by the young Conway family at a birthday party with their friends. Flash forward to 1937 in the same house: the grown children have gathered to settle family accounts in a world not so bright as it was. For this family, time is a kind of dream: their precious moments together are fleeting and brief, but their destinies are eternal. Time and the Conways, by the author of An Inspector Calls, is just the kind of theatrical gem Globe audiences love to rediscover, with the kind of sumptuous period scenery, costumes, and artistry for which The Old Globe is renowned.

In his poignant drama of the Conways and their eventful lives in Britain between the wars—a period that Globe audiences who love “Downton Abbey” will recognize—Priestley examines the driving forces of human existence: love, ambition, and most of all, time. He conjures a striking portrait of a family in which past, present, and future are inextricably intertwined.

“I am looking forward to welcoming San Diego audiences to the Globe to rediscover this extraordinary work by a master of the English stage,” said Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “Rarely revived in the United States, Priestley’s plays are fascinating, moving, and highly theatrical. The visual artistry of the gifted director Rebecca Taichman and the richness of the Globe’s production values will make Time and the Conways a memorable evening.”

The cast of Time and the Conways features Leanne Agmon (Carol Conway; upcoming Hybrids), Broadway veterans Jonathan Fielding (Alan Conway; Pygmalion, The Seagull), Morgan Hallett (Madge Conway; Translations, Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Rose Hemingway (Hazel Conway; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying opposite Daniel Radcliffe), Sarah Manton (Joan Helford; One Man, Two Guvnors, London’s The Coast of Utopia, South Pacific, Dirty Dancing), Leo Marks (Gerald Thornton; the Globe’s Lincolnesque), Kim Martin-Cotten (Mrs. Conway; The Merchant of Venice), Max Gordon Moore (Ernest Beevers; Relatively Speaking), Amanda Quaid (Kay Conway; Equus), and Lee Aaron Rosen (Robin Conway; The Big Knife, The Normal Heart).

The creative team includes Neil Patel (Scenic Design), David Israel Reynoso (Costume Design), Scott Zielinski (Lighting Design), Matt Hubbs (Sound Design), Jan Gist (Vocal and Dialect Coach), Caparelliotis Casting (Casting), and Diana Moser (Stage Manager).

Time and the Conways is supported in part through gifts from Conrad Prebys and Debra Turner, Globe Guilders, United, and Wells Fargo.

J.B. Priestley (Playwright, 1894-1984), born in Bradford, England, was the son of a schoolmaster. He served in the British Army until 1919, when he went to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Priestley was a wartime broadcaster, second only to Winston Churchill as spokesman for England’s self-determination and faith. He wrote some 50 plays and dramatic adaptations; among the best known are his “Time” plays (Dangerous Corner, I Have Been Here Before, and Time and the Conways), influenced by the theories of J.W. Dunne; his psychological mystery drama An Inspector Calls; and his farce When We Are Married. Although more naturally a playwright, he is also well remembered for his many novels, including Black-Out in Gretley, Daylight on Saturday, Three Men in New Suits (springing from his observations of wartime life in Britain), and Angel Pavement, a romantic novel. Satirist, philosopher, humorist, time-theorist, political pundit, and entertainer, he was made a member of the Order of Merit in 1977.

Rebecca Taichman (Director) has directed Off Broadway productions of Sarah Ruhl’s Stage Kiss (Playwrights Horizons), David Adjmi’s Marie Antoinette (Soho Rep), Kirsten Greenidge’s Milk Like Sugar (Playwrights Horizons), Greenidge’s Luck of the Irish (LCT3), Ruhl’s Orlando (Classic Stage Company), Dark Sisters by Nico Muhly and Stephen Karam (MTG/Gotham Opera), Telemann’s Orpheus (New York City Opera), Theresa Rebeck’s The Scene (Second Stage), Menopausal Gentleman (Ohio Theatre), and Rappaccini’s Daughter (Gotham Opera). Taichman’s regional credits include Adjmi’s Marie Antoinette (Yale Rep/ART), Milk Like Sugar and Sleeping Beauty Wakes by Rachel Sheinken and GrooveLily (La Jolla Playhouse), She Loves Me (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), The Winter’s Tale, Cymbeline, Twelfth Night, and The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare Theatre Company), The Winter’s Tale and Twelfth Night (McCarter), Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone and The Clean House (Woolly Mammoth), and Adjmi’s Evildoers (Yale Rep). Taichman is currently co-creating the new piece Vengeance with Paula Vogel for La Jolla Playhouse, Yale Rep, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and she will be directing Sarah Ruhl’s new play, The Oldest Boy, at Lincoln Center this fall.

TICKETS to Time and the Conways can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Performances begin on March 29 and continue through May 4. Ticket prices start at $29. Performance times: Previews: Saturday, March 29 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, March 30 at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m., and Wednesday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. There is a 2:00 p.m. matinee on Wednesday, April 23 and no matinee performance on Saturday, April 26. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors, and groups of 10 or more.

Additional events taking place during the run of Time and the Conways include:

INSIGHTS SEMINAR: Time and the Conways

Monday, March 31 at 7:00 p.m. FREE

Insights Seminars are informal presentations of ideas and insights to enhance the theatregoing experience. The seminar features a panel selected from the artistic company of the production and takes place in the theatre where the production is performed. Reception, 6:30 p.m. Seminar, 7:00 p.m. Admission is free and reservations are not required.

POST-SHOW FORUMS: Time and the Conways

Tuesdays, April 8 and 15 and Wednesday, April 23. FREE

Discuss the play with members of the Time and the Conways cast and crew at post-show discussions led by the Globe’s creative staff after the performances.

SUBJECTMATTERS:TimeandtheConways

Wednesday,April16.FREE

Following the performance, explore the ideas and issues raised by the production through brief, illuminating post-show discussions with local experts, such as scientists, artists, historians and scholars. UCSD Professor/Philosophy Chair Craig Callender will discuss J.B. Priestley’s obsession with time; the human experience and mysteries of theories of time; multiple streams of time; and his belief in time as a replacement for faith or religion.

LOCATION: The Old Globe is located in San Diego’s Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available during performances ($10). For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org.

A REMINDER: Balboa Park’s 100-year-old Cabrillo Bridge, which provides access to Laurel Street and the west side of the Park, will be closed to automobiles and vehicular traffic through June during Caltrans’s seismic retrofitting process. The bridge will remain accessible to pedestrians and bicycles, so patrons could arrive a bit earlier and enjoy the short walk across the iconic bridge towards Plaza de Panama and the historic views of the California Tower and Dome. To access The Old Globe during this repair period, vehicle traffic should enter Balboa Park from the east via Park Boulevard and President’s Way. The Organ Pavilion and the Hall of Champions lots all offer ample parking, and a lovely short walk through the Park. Due to improvements under way, the parking lot adjacent to the Alcazar Garden will be temporarily closed for the next six to eight weeks to increase the number of spots available to disabled users of the Park. During this time, the City of San Diego will extend the hours of the beautiful new Balboa Park trams until after Old Globe performances have concluded; running until 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and until 11:00 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Audience members wishing to take the trams to and from the Globe should park near the pick-up location at Inspiration Point (east of Park Boulevard at President’s Way), where they depart every 10-15 minutes and deliver guests to the heart of Balboa Park at the Plaza de Panama. The trams do not have stops at the Organ Pavilion or Hall of Champions lots. Guests may also be dropped off in front of the Mingei International Museum. The Balboa Park valet is located in front of the Japanese Friendship Garden. For directions and up-to-date information, please visit www.TheOldGlobe.org/Directions.

CALENDAR: Time and the Conways (3/29-5/4), Water by the Spoonful (4/12-5/11), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (5/17-6/22), Dog and Pony (5/28-6/29), Othello (6/22-7/27), Into the Woods (7/12-8/10), Quartet (7/25-8/24), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (8/10-9/14)

PHOTO EDITORS: Digital images of The Old Globe’s productions are available at www.TheOldGlobe.org/pressroom.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country’s leading professional regional theatres and has stood as San Diego’s flagship arts institution for over 75 years. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Michael G. Murphy, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 14 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theatre’s education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Catered Affair, and the annual holiday musical Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.

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CAST BIOGRAPHIES

LEANNE AGMON (Carol Conway) recently starred alongside Paul Sorvino and Carolyn Hennesy in the upcoming feature film Hybrids, a comedy about a family of vampire/witches. Her other film credits include Every Word Handwritten (featured in Rolling Stone and on VH1), Acabonac Sunrise, and the Stanley Kubrick biopic Fidelio. She made her network television debut on CBS’ “Blue Bloods.” Her favorite stage credits include Irina in Three Sisters (Atlantic Theater Conservatory), Diana in All’s Well That Ends Well (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), Rivkele in God of Vengeance and Ilse in Spring’s Awakening (Marvell Rep). Agmon trained with the Atlantic Theater Company, where she received the prestigious Outstanding Achievement Award.

JONATHAN FIELDING (Alan Conway) has appeared on Broadway in Pygmalion with Roundabout Theatre Company and The Seagull at the Walter Kerr Theatre. He has also worked Off Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theater Company, 59E59 Theaters, Dixon Place, and Ohio Theatre and regionally with Penguin Rep, Ivoryton Playhouse, American Stage Theatre Company, and The Public Theatre in Maine. In 2008 Fielding performed in Washington, D.C. for the grand reopening of Ford’s Theatre in The Heavens are Hung in Black, commemorating the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. Fielding is an artistic associate of Amphibian Stage Productions in Texas and a founding member of the Harbor Stage Company in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. His television and film credits include “All My Children,” “Guiding Light,” the 2014 NBC pilot“The Odyssey,” and Miyuki.

MORGAN HALLETT (Madge Conway) has appeared on Broadway in Translations directed by Garry Hynes and Long Day’s Journey Into Night directed by Robert Falls, and her Off Broadway credits include When the Rain Stops Falling (Lincoln Center Theater) and Rebel Voices (Culture Project). Her regional credits include Quartermaine’s Terms (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Translations (McCarter Theatre Center), Love, Janis (Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Marines’ Memorial Theatre), The Ladies Man (Indiana Repertory Theatre, Geva Theatre), Vincent in Brixton (Virginia Stage Company), and A Death in the House (Alliance Theatre). Hallett spent five seasons at Denver Center Theatre Company, where her credits included Noises Off, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Lonesome West, Pierre, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, The Cripple of Inishmaan, and Tantalus directed by Sir Peter Hall. Her television and film credits include “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “The Good Wife,” “Deception,” “Unforgettable,” Population 436, and The Reader.

ROSE HEMINGWAY (Hazel Conway) is making her debut at The Old Globe. Most recently she could be seen on the Broadway stage playing Rosemary Pilkington opposite Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette in the 50th anniversary revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Her other stage roles include Sophie Sheridan in the National Tour of Mamma Mia! and Mary Phagan in Parade (Donmar Warehouse/Mark Taper Forum). Her television credits include “The Mob Doctor” and “Blue Bloods.”

SARAH MANTON (Joan Helford) has appeared in One Man, Two Guvnors (Broadway), The Coast of Utopia and South Pacific (National Theatre, London),Baby in Dirty Dancing (West End), Einstein and Mileva (Theatre Row, New York), and Major Barbara, The Madras House, Village Wooing, and O’Flaherty V.C. (Orange Tree Theatre, London). She has toured the U.K. as Alison in Look Back in Anger, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and Lucy in The Rivals. Her regional theatre credits include The Champion of Paribanou directed by Alan Ayckbourn, Owners (Yale Repertory Theatre),When We Are Married (Denver Center Theatre Company), Time of My Life (Pittsburgh Public Theater), and Villette (Frantic Assembly/Steven Hoggett). Her television and film credits include “Casualty” and “Doctors” for BBC, various short films, and the lead in Ayckbourn’s “Whenever” for BBC Radio 4.

LEO MARKS (Gerald Thornton) previously appeared at The Old Globe as Leo in the world premiere of John Strand’s Lincolnesque. His other world premieres include Noah Haidle’s Smokefall and Julia Cho’s The Language Archive (South Coast Repertory, Los Angeles Times Culture Monster’s year-end “Top Flight Performances”), Bill Cain’s How to Write a New Book for the Bible (Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award nomination for Drama – Featured Male), Heather Woodbury’s Tale of 2 Cities: An American Joyride on Multiple Tracks (Obie Award for Performance – Ensemble), Charles Mee’s A Perfect Wedding (Kirk Douglas Theatre), and Neal Bell’s Somewhere in the Pacific (Playwrights Horizons). He has also performed at The Shakespeare Theatre Company, in Rebecca Taichman’s production of Cymbeline, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Intiman Theatre, Ahmanson Theatre, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Soho Repertory Theater, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Marks’s other awards include Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Performer of the Year in 2012, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Top 10 Leading Men in 2010 and 2011, and several L.A. Weekly Theater Awardsand nominations. He is a member of The Antaeus Company and Evidence Room and a founder of Elevator Repair Service.

KIM MARTIN-COTTEN (Mrs. Conway) has recently appeared as Paulina in The Winter’s Tale (Hang a Tale Productions) and The Guide in Not What Happened (Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival). She was also recently nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her portrayal of Josie Hogan in A Moon for the Misbegotten (The PearlTheatre Company) and covered Portia opposite Al Pacino in Merchant of Venice (Broadway). Her other work includes Goneril in King Lear with Stacy Keach (Goodman Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre Company), the premiere of Naomi Iizuka’s Ghostwritten (Goodman),andperforming all three sisters while covering the BroadwayNational Tour of August: Osage County. Martin-Cotten is also a director and recently directed productions of Death of a Salesman, Cabaret, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Dumb Waiter as well as assisting Anna Deavere Smith with her production of House Arrest: First Edition (Arena Stage). She is also one of the founding producers of Hang A Tale Productions in New York City.

MAX GORDON MOORE (Ernest Beevers) appeared in the Broadway production of Relatively Speaking, three one-act plays written by Ethan Coen, Elaine May, and Woody Allen. His other credits include Jack Tanner in Man and Superman and George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life (Irish Repertory Theatre), The Master Builder (Brooklyn Academy of Music), TRAGEDY: a tragedy (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Seagull (Cleveland Play House), Richard III, As You Like It, and The Merchant of Venice (California Shakespeare Theater), Bach at Leipzig (A Contemporary Theatre), John Bull’s Other Island (Geva Theatre), Pleasure and Pain (Magic Theatre), Private Jokes, Public Places (Aurora Theatre Company), Learned Ladies and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Texas Shakespeare Festival), The American Song Project (The Flea Theater), and Family Alchemy (A Traveling Jewish Theatre). Moore’s film and television credits include Gods Behaving Badly, Terrors of Basketweaving, and “The Good Wife.”

AMANDA QUAID (Kay Conway) appeared Off Broadway at LCT3 in Luck of the Irish, also directed by Rebecca Taichman, for which she was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award. Her other New York credits include Equus (Broadway), the U.S. premiere of Cock (The Duke on 42nd Street), The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence (Playwrights Horizons), The Seagull directed by Max Stafford-Clark (Culture Project), A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney (Soho Repertory Theater), Galileo opposite F. Murray Abraham (Classic Stage Company), The Illusion directed by Michael Mayer (Signature Theatre Company), the world premiere of Ethan Coen’s Happy Hour (Atlantic Theater Company), The Witch of Edmonton (Red Bull Theater), and The Yeats Project and Banished Children of Eve (Irish Repertory Theatre). Quaid’s regional work includes Vivie in Mrs. Warren’s Profession opposite Elizabeth Ashley (The Shakespeare Theatre Company) and Rosalind in As You Like It (Folger Theatre).

LEE AARON ROSEN (Robin Conway) has appeared regionally in Suddenly, Last Summer and Mary’s Wedding (Westport Country Playhouse), All My Sons (Huntington Theatre Company), Barefoot in the Park (Actors Theatre of Louisville, Bucks County Playhouse), The Matchmaker (Center Stage), The Member of the Wedding (Ford’s Theatre), The Game (Barrington Stage Company), and Once in a Lifetime, Loot,and God of Vengeance (Williamstown Theatre Festival). His Broadway credits include The Big Knife and The Normal Heart, and his Off Broadway credits include Gabriel (Atlantic Theater Company), The Lady from Dubuque (Signature Theatre Company), and A Contemporary American’s Guide to a Successful Marriage c. 1959 (Cherry Lane Theatre/Soho Playhouse). On television, he has appeared in “The Big C,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Damages,” “Person of Interest,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” and “Guiding Light.” His film credits include Saving Private Ryan, Company K, the short film Lawn Care, and the upcoming features Sidewalk Traffic and The Girl in the Book. Rosen is featured in the award-winning web series “80/20,” and his voice can be heard in several Rockstar Games titles as well as in the PBS documentary series “Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle.”