Stage and screen actress Bonnie Franklin will star in an upcoming California staging of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance.The Rubicon Theatre Company of Ventura will present the work starting Sept. 20 and opening Sept. 22 for a run through Oct. 14. Rubicon artistic director and co-founder James O'Neil directs.
A Delicate Balance is "about a modern-day, upper-class New England family [that] takes an unflinching look at the fragility of friendship in the face of fear," according to a release. The work earned Albee a Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1967 (his first of three).
Joining Franklin in the cast will be Rubicon vets Susan Clark (The Glass Menagerie, The Devil's Disciple, Dancing at Lughnasa), Amanda McBroom (Love Letters, Lady Macbeth Sings the Blues), Robin Gammell (Waiting for Godot) and Stephanie McNamara (The Night Of The Iguana) as well as Rubicon newcomer Granville van Dusen (Darwin in Malibu, Honour).
Franklin — known to television audiences for her work on "One Day at a Time" — appeared on Broadway in Applause and Off-Broadway in Grace and Glory, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, Your Own Thing and Dames at Sea. She appeared at Rubicon in Dancing at Lughnasa.
The design team for A Delicate Balance includes Gary Wissman (set) and Jeremy Pivnick (lighting). Linda Tross serves as production stage manager. Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy starred in the original Broadway run of A Delicate Balance in 1966. The Albee drama was then adapted for film featuring Katharine Hepburn and Paul Scofield. George Grizzard, Rosemary Harris and Elaine Stritch starred in the 1996 Tony Award-winning revival.
Albee's breadth of work includes The Zoo Story, Seascape, Three Tall Women, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Play About the Baby, Tiny Alice, The Lady from Dubuque and The Goat or Who is Silvia? His Peter and Jerry and Occupant will play in the upcoming Off-Broadway seasons at Second Stage Theatre and Signature Theatre, respectively.
For tickets to A Delicate Balance at 1006 E. Main Street (corner of Main and Laurel) in downtown Ventura, call (805) 667-2900 or go online to rubicontheatre.org.
