You’re invited to the brilliant, witty world of The Cocktail Party – T.S. Eliot’s profound exploration of self-deception and redemption.
 THE COCKTAIL PARTY
by T.S. ELIOT
Directed by
SCOTT ALAN EVANS
With
MARK ALHADEFF, JEREMY BECK,
BEN BECKLEY,
LAUREN ENGLISH, CYNTHIA HARRIS, SIMON JONES,
JACK KOENIG,
ERIKA ROLFSRUD
and CELIA SMITH
"A MASTERPIECE OF THE MODERN STAGE."
- John Chapman, New York Daily News.
Edward and Lavinia Chamberlayne are throwing a party at their fashionable London flat. The guests arrive only to discover that their hostess is no where to be found and a rather strange man, who no one knows, seems right at home. Ruthless and compassionate, this “Cocktail Party” embodies the day-to-day struggle of domestic life while turning the classic ‘drawing room comedy’ on its head.
March 7th through April 10th, 2010
Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri at 7:30 PM
Sat. at 2:00 & 8:00 PM
Sun. at 3:00 PM
The Beckett Theatre
Theatre Row
410 West 42nd Street, NYC
THE CRITICS RSVP with PRAISE for the PARTY!
TACT's Prodcution of THE COCKTAIL PARTY garners high praise!
"This produciton is beign performed with elan by a high-class ensemble cast. The run has been extended for a week. It should have been a year."
- Wall Street Journal
"Chilling...Sparkling...with the style of a frothy drawing-room affair."
- New York Times
"Intriguing...a welcome chance to see this rarely performed play" -NY POST
"Handsome...Challenging...We must laud any company that wrestles with Eliot’s chimera, which has the head of a comedy, the body of a sermon and the stinging tail of a satire on Freud." Timeout NY
"T.S. Eliot's smart, amusing 'Cocktail Party' is a party worth attending!...Simon Jones is excellent...Cynthia Harris is delightful" - Associated Press
“Superb…Spirited…director Scott Alan Evans gives Eliot's weightier passages their due.” -The Village Voice
"AN IMPECCABLE REVIVAL...delivered by the outstanding ensemble."
- Theatermania
"A STRONG CAST...this is a stimulating "Party." -Backstage
"A HANDSOME STAGING...intelligent, invigorating performances...well worth your time!" -Curtain Up
"SMART AND ELEGANT...the cast couldn't be finer" -TalkEntertainment
“An elegant staging with an impeccable cast under the astute, knowledgeable direction by Scott Alan Evans.” -Wolf Entertainment Guide
“An EXPERT CAST illuminates both the text’s CRYSTALLINE POETRY and its ELUSIVE ideas. CHEERS to TACT for taking the risk, and CHEERS for SUCCEEDING SO WELL.” - Light And Sound America
“[The] simple elegance works perfectly well. So does the play and the cast. Evans directs it wondrously. TACT: the most valuable revival troupe in town!” - Peter Filichia’s Diary/ Theatremania
“TACT is one of the finest ensembles in this city, and THE COCKTAIL PARTY is an intellectually stimulating, quite entertaining piece of Theatre that will provoke thought, conversation and argument well into the night.”
- Performing Arts Insider
“This is just going to knock your socks off!” - WOR/ Dr. Joy Browne
“Fascinating…a finely wrought production. As is usually the case, a TACT (The Actors Company Theatre) production is impeccable, with “The Cocktail Party” being another example of the company’s fine work.” - Epoch Times
“TACT’s fine production … the cast is excellent all around. This is a meaty work that makes you think.” - Forbes On Film And Footlights
Set design by ANDREW LIEBERMAN & LAURA JELLINEK
Costume design by DAVID TOSER
Lighting design by AARON COPP
Sound design by JILL BC DU BOFF
Original Music by JOSEPH TRAPANESE
Production Stage Manager: MEREDITH DIXON
Production Manager: JOSHUA SCHERR
Assistant Stage Manager: KELSEY DAYE LUTZ
Props by: LILY FAIRBANKS
Wardrode supervision: AMANDA JENKS
 MARK ALHADEFF (Alexander MacColgie Gibbs) TACT: Company Member since 2009/08. 6 productions with the company, most recently, Candle-Light. New York: Love Child (New World Stages); Incident At Vichy (TACT); Bedroom Farce (TACT); Catch-22 (Lucille Lortel); Piscary (EST); Widows (59e59); The Young Left (Cherry Lane); Tolstoy’s The Power Of Darkness (Mint); Rearviewmirror (59e59); Conor Mcpherson’s Rum & Vodka (Ohio); Pagans (Abingdon); Bigger Man (Partial Comfort). Regional: Seattle Rep, McCarter, Berkeley Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Pittsburgh Public, Dorset, Wilma, NJ Shakespeare Fest. Film & Television: Law & Order; Monday Night Mayhem; Daily Pops.
 JEREMY BECK (Peter Quilpe) TACT: Debut. Off Broadway: Bury The Dead (Transport Group), Betrayed (Best New Play - Culture Project), Hard Right (Players), The President and Her Mistress (Abingdon). Other NY credits: Girl Crazy (NY City Center Encores!); The Second Tosca (45th Street Theatre); Pink (SPF), Bang Big (NYC Fringe); Bartleby The Scrivener (IRT); The Dog In The Manger (Quinnopolis). Regional: She Loves Me (IRNE, Best Musical), The Cherry Orchard, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Huntington); Quartermaine’s Terms, A Flea In Her Ear, She Loves Me (Williamstown Theatre Fest.); Quinnopolis vs. Hamlet (1812/Walnut Street); The Notebook of Trigorin, The Field (Keegan). London/West End: Shakespeare's R&J. Film: Gods and Generals. Jeremy also records audio books for Audible.com Education: Honors Scholar, James Madison University and a graduate of BADA’s Midsummer In Oxford’s “Shakespeare Intensive” program.
 BEN BECKLEY (Caterer’s Man) TACT: Debut. New York Theatre: Cato; Los Angeles; Not a Creature Was Stirring (premiere, The Flea). Other Theatre: Ghost Box (Chocolate Factory); Welcome to Nowhere (P.S. 122; Via/Exit Festival - France; Mois Multi - Canada); Americana Kamikaze (Prelude Fest.). The Assembly (associate member): Clementine (OHT); The Three Sisters (Red Room). Also: Woodshed Collective, HERE Arts Center, Peculiar Works Project, Berkshire Theater Festival. www.benbeckley.com.
 LAUREN ENGLISH (Celia Coplestone) TACT: Debut. Most Recent: Ophelia in Hamlet (Shakespeare Theatre Of NJ). Regional: Our Town (Emily), Prelude to a Kiss (Rita), The Crucible (Abigale), and in The Glory of Living (Lisa) The San Francisco Playhouse. Other Theatre: Henry IV (1&2) (California Shakespeare Fest).; Playground ( Berkeley Rep.); The Red Snake (Magic); As You Like It (Marin Shakes. Co.); Big Love at D.W. Rep. NYU Graduate Acting class 2009: The Three Sisters (Masha); Twelfth Night (Viola); The Constant Wife (Marie-Louise); Picnic (Rosemary). Member: Actors’ Equity Assoication.
 CYNTHIA HARRIS (Julia Schuttlethwaite) TACT: Co-Artistic Director, Founding Member. 39 productions with the company. Most recently, the critically acclaimed production of Alan Ayckbourn's comedy Bedroom Farce at the Beckett Theatre. Other New York Theatre: HOME; Long Island Sound; Bad Habits; Company; Any Wednesday; Natural Affection; Romance Language; Second Avenue Rag; Cloud Nine; Jules Feiffer’s Hold Me; The Beauty Part; White House Murder Case; Mystery Play; America Hurrah and The Serpent (member of the Open Theatre); Merry Wives of Windsor (NYSF); “Selected Shorts” at Symphony Space; Food for Thought Lunchtime Theatre. Regional: of The Injured Party (by Richard Greenberg, World Premier, South Coast Rep); Light Up the Sky (Williamstown); Shadow Box (Premiere - originating the role of Beverly - Mark Taper Forum); Too Much Johnson; My Mother Said I Never Should (NY Stage & Film); Scenes from American Life. Film: I Do & I Don’t; The Distinguished Gentleman; Reuben, Reuben; Mannequin on the Move; Three Men and a Baby; Up the Sandbox; Isadora. Television: Rescue Me; Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman; Now and Again; Mad About You (5 seasons); Law & Order; Edward and Mrs. Simpson (BAFTA nominee for Best Actress); LA Law; Life of the Party: The Pamela Harriman Story; Ask Me Again (PBS); Harrison - Cry of the City; Passion (adapted from Edith Warton’s The Reef); the film version of An American Daughter by Wendy Wasserstein.
 SIMON JONES (The Uninvited Guest) TACT: Co-Artistic Director. 30 productions with the company, most recently: Waters of the Moon. Broadway: Blithe Spirit; Waiting in the Wings; Ring Round the Moon; The Herbal Bed; The School for Scandal; Private Lives; The Real Inspector Hound/Hamlet; Getting Married; Benefactors; The Real Thing; and The 39 Steps (Voice only). Off-Broadway: Home; Long Island Sound; Passion Play; You Never Can Tell; Privates on Parade; Woman in Mind; etc. Musicals-in-Concert: Many, including: The Girl Who Came to Supper; Darling of the Day; Betting on Bertie; Anything Goes; Call Me Madam; Magdalena. Regional: At Williamstown: Quartermaine’s Terms; Where’s Charlie?; The Royal Family. At the Guthrie: The Home Place; Shadowlands. Also My Fair Lady (for Michigan Opera, McCarter, etc.); Hapgood (L.A.); Aren't We All? (National Tour). Radio: including: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (multiple series), and Sexton Blake, Detective series – both for the BBC. Television: Brideshead Revisited; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; and others: from Cambridge Spies to Oz; from Cosby Mysteries to Blackadder. Film: The Thomas Crown Affair; The Devil's Own; 12 Monkeys; Miracle on 34th Street; American Friends; Brazil; Club Paradise; Monty Python's Meaning of Life; Privates on Parade; etc. Also an award-winning audio book narrator… www.simonjonesinfo.com
 JACK KOENIG (Edward Chamberlayne) TACT: Company Member since 1998/1999, 20 productions with the company, most recently The Devil Passes. Broadway: Accent on Youth; The Lion King. Off-Broadway: Incident at Vichy (TACT); Tabletop (American Place; Drama Desk Award - Outstanding Ensemble Performance); Big Bill, Everett Beekin (Lincoln Center); The Voysey Inheritance (Mint); Marco Polo Sings a Solo (Signature); Misalliance, Cymbeline (Pearl); I’m With Ya, Duke (EST); Three Days of Rain, The American Plan, Mad Forest, Fuddy Meers (MTC); First Night (Westside); Not About Heroes (Lortel); A Trip to the Beach (Rattlestick). Regional: A Christmas Story (Pioneer); Macbeth (Phil. Shakes. Fest.); A Moon for the Misbegotten, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Importance of Being Earnest (Virginia Stage); Copenhagen, Heartbreak House, Private Lives, An Ideal Husband, Stones in His Pockets, Return of the Prodigal, Laughing Stock (Peterborough Players); Absurd Person Singular (Bristol Riverside); You Can’t Take It With You, A Month in the Country, Hamlet (Asolo); Rough Crossing, Battle of Angels (Westport); A Quiet End (Rep. of St. Louis); The Woman Who Laughed (Sharon Stage); Mandragola (Shakespeare Theatre). Film: Marci X; My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend; I.Q.; The Proprietor; Last Exit to Brooklyn. Television: Sex & the City; Law & Order; Law & Order: SVU; Law & Order: CI; Cosby Mysteries; Now & Again; The Education of Max Bickford; All My Children; As the World Turns; Another World; Monsters.
 ERIKA ROLFSRUD (Lavinia Chamberlayne) TACT: Debut. Broadway: The Coast of Utopia, Rabbit Hole, Exit The King. Off-Broadway: Misalliance; The Glory of Living; How I Learned to Drive; Trout Stanley; O Pioneers!; Comedy of Errors; Eclipsed; Love’s Fire. Regional: Black Pearl Sings, Ford’s Theatre; Little Dog Laughed (Kevin Kline Award, Best Actress), Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; Rabbit Hole, Pittsburgh Public Theatre/Hartford Theaterworks; Sea of Tranquility, The Seagull, Cymbeline, Henry IV, Dancing at Lughnasa, Macbeth, The Gate of Heaven, Old Globe Theatre; Bad Dates, Arizona Theatre Company and Two River Theatre Company; Outrage, Wilma Theatre; Jumpers, ACT Theatre; The Dazzle, Hartford Theaterworks; Much Ado About Nothing, Great Lakes Theatre Festival; The Good Times Are Killing Me, Seattle Repertory Theatre; and the Shakespeare Festivals of Utah, Seattle and Idaho. Film: Alone, Dream Date. Television: Law & Order, Third Watch, All My Children, As The World Turns. Education: MFA: Old Globe Theatre/USD.
 CELIA SMITH (Miss Barraway) TACT: Debut. Theatre/Opera: The Student Prince; Iolanthe (Opera Columbus); 365 Plays/365 Days; Lucky Stiff; Seussical; The Baker's Wife; The Magic Flute; Die Fledermaus; Street Scene. Television: Law & Order: SVU. Film: Jihaad; An Unofficial Tale. Concerts: “Pastorello” from Tosca, the Columbus Symphony with Francisco Casanova; Broadway Meets Country in Nashville.
SCOTT ALAN EVANS (Director) TACT: Co-Artistic & Executive Director. Since 1993, under Evans’ guidance, TACT has grown to become one of New York City's most respected not-for-profit theater companies. With its Concert Performance and Salon presentations (staged readings in a theatrical style developed with the company by Evans) and its Off-Broadway productions, TACT has unearthed and Evans has produced and/or directed over 90 forgotten or neglected plays, bringing many back to the cannon of plays produced. The company has garnered consistent critical praise and Evans' most recent production of Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy was among TACT’s most successful. For TACT, Evans adapted & directed the US premiere of Nöel Coward’s Long Island Sound, and conceived, co-wrote & directed the world premiere of The Triangle Factory Project. The New York Post called Triangle “the theatrical event of the season.” The play has been published by Dramatists Play Services and continues to enjoy productions across the country. More recently, Evans and has produced seven and directed four of TACT's productions presented at their current home at Theater Row, including Home, The Sea, The Runner Stumbles and Incident at Vichy. In addition to his work with TACT, Evans wrote & directed the musical, Goose! Beyond the Nursery (3 Outer Critic Circle Award nominations including Best Off-Broadway Prod.). Other recent NY Theatre: Joseph Hayden’s The Seven Last Words… (Chamber Music Society - Lincoln Center); The Constant Wife (NYU Grad. Acting). Mr. Evans served for 10 years as Artistic Director of the American Musicals Project, producing an annual concert series at the New-York Historical Society celebrating great musical theatre writers and featuring Broadway headliners. Education: BFA, Boston Univ., School for the Arts (magna cum laude), and a former student and assistant to Michael Howard at the Michael Howard Studios. Member: SDC; Dramatist Guild.
ANDREW LIEBERMAN (Set Design) TACT: Debut. Opera And Theater Design: English National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, New York City Opera, Montreal Opera, Glimmerglass, Spoleto Festival USA, Long Beach Opera, Portland Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Gotham Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Austin Lyric Opera, The Curtis Institute, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Second Stage, The Public Theater, Bard Summerscape, The Children’s Theater Company, Centerstage, McCarter Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Denver Center, Huntington, Long Wharf, Portland Center Stage, Santa Fe Stages, Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Indiana Repertory, Syracuse Stage, Juilliard, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Wilma, and California Shakespeare, among others. He was also part of the creative team responsible for Partenope at English National Opera, winner of the 2009 Lawrence Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production. Previous productions with director Sam Helfrich include Orphée and The Consul (Glimmerglass). Andrew is a Princess Grace, USA Award winner. Upcoming projects: Paradise Lost at A.R.T, L’etoile at New York City Opera, The Aliens at Rattlestick, and Othello at Shakespeare on the Sound. Faculty: NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
LAURA JELLINEK (Set Design) TACT: Debut. Recent projects: Ghosts (Christopher Wheeldon – SF Ballet), For Artists Only (Julia Jonas – NellieTinder/Ontological-Hysteric), The Chimes (Adam Immerwahr – SPF - Public), The Journey of the Fifth Horse (Michael Sexton – NYU Graduate Acting), Welcome to the Woods (Erwin Maas - International Theatre Laboratory Workshop), Bus Stop (Pam Berlin – NYU Graduate Acting), and Two Thirds Home (Giovanna Sardelli - Brokenwatch Theatre Company). Upcoming projects: Target Margin Theater and The Debate Society. Education: MFA: NYU.
AARON COPP (Lighting design) TACT: Bedroom Farce. Recent projects: Homeland (created by Laurie Anderson, at Lincoln Center); The Silk Road Project (Artistic Director Yo-Yo Ma); Isis in Transit and Undergo (choreographed by Eliot Feld at the Joyce Theater); The Invention of Minus One (created by Jonah Bokaer at the Henry Street Playhouse); and Gray Area (directed by Seth Barrish at the Barrow Group).
DAVID TOSER (Costume Design) TACT: Adjunct Company Member since 1997, most recent production, with the company Incident at Vichy. David has been well represented at venues on and Off-Broadway as well as at over a dozen regional theatres. In recent years he has designed regularly for the Irish Repertory Theatre and has been the costume designer/coordinator for the last 20 Tony Awards.
JILL BC DU BOFF (Sound Design) TACT: Incident at Vichy. Broadway: The Constant Wife; The Good Body; Bill Maher: Victory…; Three Days of Rain (assoc.); Inherit The Wind (assoc.); Wit (Nat.Tour). Off-Broadway: Atlantic, MTC, MCC, Playwrights Horizons, Public, Vineyard, Second Stage, NYTW, WP, New Georges, Flea, Cherry Lane, Signature, Clubbed Thumb, Culture Project, Actor’s Playhouse, New Group, Promenade, Urban Stages, Houseman, Fairbanks, Soho Rep, Adobe. Regional: Minneapolis Children’s Theatre, Bay Street, La Jolla Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, Westport Country Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, Portland Stage, Long Wharf, The Alley, Kennedy Center, NYS&F, South Coast Rep., Humana, Williamstown, Berkshire Theatre, ATF. Television: Comedy Central Presents: Slovin & Allen; NBC Late Fridays Film: We Pedal Uphill Radio: Contributing producer for PRI’s Studio 360; Nominations: Drama Desks, Henry Hewes. Awards: Ruth Morley Design Award. Faculty: Sarah Lawrence College.
DANIEL KLUGER (Sound design) TACT: Debut. Theatre: Welcome to Yuba City (Pig Iron), The Oldsmobiles (Flea), Peter Pan (Arden), Dov & Ali (Playwrights Realm), The Temperamentals (MAN underdog/Barrow Group), Jailbait (Cherry Lane), Whore, The Ones That Flutter (SPF/ Public Theatre), Hardly Wonder (Columbia Univ.), The Greeks Part III (Juilliard), Melissa Arctic, Heartbreak House, A Murder, A Mystery and A Marriage (Two River Theatre Co.), The Persians (People's Light & Theatre), Metamorphoses (Weston), The Dining Room (Keen), Platonov, Uncle Vanya (Lake Lucille/Brian Mertes).
JOSEPH TRAPANESE (Composer) TACT: Adjunct Company Member since 2008/09, 4 productions, with the company, most recently, Incident at Vichy. Theatre: Twelfth Night (Atlantic /NYU Tisch School); Riff Raff (Snikrep Productions, LA); Film / TV: Composer: Dexter; The Bannen Way; Beyond Limits. Orchestrator: Dexter; Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief; Traitor; What Happens in Vegas. Awards: Harold Arlen Film & TV Award (2009); Jerry Goldsmith Award (2007); Henry Mancini Music Scholarship (2006); ASCAP Young Composer Award (2003). Faculty: UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
ANDREW BLOCK (Assistant Director) TACT: Debut. Recent credits: L.A. Short-play festival, Shorts & Sweets (producer); I Hate L.A.; Keeping Pace (director). LA Theatre: Bingo With the Indians (West-coast premiere, 2009 GLAAD nominee, Outstanding LA Theatre); Producing Director for the late-night series Off the Clock. Dancing at Lughnasa, 12th Night, Noises Off, and City of Angels. Art Board member of Rogue Machine. Education: MFA, DePaul Univ.; BFA, Adelphi Univ. A proud native of New Orleans. |
