Multimedia Email this Article Printer-friendly RELATED ARTICLES: 17 Jan 2005 -- Arliss Howard Is Father to A Number of Sons in Off-Broadway Churchill Work 22 Dec 2004 -- Arliss Howard to Replace Sam Shepard in A Number 16 Dec 2004 -- Tickets to Off-Broadway's A Number Now On Sale Through Feb. 13; Shepard Not Extending 16 Nov 2004 -- Sam Shepard — the Actor — Returns to New York Stage in Caryl Churchill's A Number, Nov. 16 27 Sep 2004 -- Dallas Roberts to Star With Sam Shepard in A Number Off-Broadway, Nov. 16

By Ernio Hernandez
07 Dec 2004

Sam Shepard and Dallas Roberts star in the Caryl Churchill cloning drama A Number, opening Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop Dec. 7.

James MacDonald directs the staging of the new 70-minute Churchill which began previews Nov. 16 at the NYTW's East Village venue for a run through Jan. 16, 2005.

In A Number, a son discovers that he is one of a number of clones produced by his father. Michael Gambon played the patriarch opposite Daniel Craig as three of a score of his multiple sons in the world premiere of the work at London's Royal Court Theatre.

Actor-director Shepard is known in theatre mainly as a playwright for such works as True West and his Pulitzer Prize winner Buried Child. The Churchill work will mark the actor's return to the stage after a 30 year absence. In film, he has appeared "Days of Heaven," "The Right Stuff," "Fool for Love," "Crimes of the Heart," "Baby Boom," "Steel Magnolias" and "The Pelican Brief."

Shepard's Fool For Love is scheduled for its Broadway debut at the Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre later in 2005 under the direction of original star Ed Harris. A new Shepard work, God of Hell, is recently played Off-Broadway with Frank Wood, Randy Quaid, J. Smith-Cameron and Tim Roth.

Roberts played in the recent Off-Broadway revival of Burn This opposite Catherine Keener and Edward Norton. He was also seen in True Love and Nocturne. Other stage credits include Enter the Night, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Finer Noble Gases and Tatjana in Color. On screen, Roberts appeared in the recent Michael Mayer feature debut "A Home at the End of the World."

Director MacDonald has served as associate director of London's Royal Court Theatre since 1992 where he has staged Blasted, 4.48 Psychosis, Hard Fruit, Real Classy Affair, Cleansed, Bailegangaire, Harry and Me, The Changing Room, Simpatico, Peaches, Thyestes, The Terrible Voice of Satan, Hammett's Apprentice and Putting Two and Two Together. He has also directed works at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Almeida Theatre and the Royal National Theatre Studio.

The design team for A Number includes Eugene Lee (scenic), Gabriel Berry (costume), Edward Pierce (lighting) and Darron L. West (sound). Martha Donaldson serves as production stage manager.

Tickets to A Number at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street (between Second Ave. and Bowery) are available by calling (212) 239-6200. For more information, visit www.nytw.org.

Dallas Roberts and Sam Shepard in A Number
photo by Carol Rosegg

Keyword: Features/Location: All News Features Celebrity Buzz Writer: All Ackerman, Ari Allen, Morgan Blank, Matthew Bradley, Anne Buckley, Michael Ehren, Christine Gans, Andrew Gewirtzman, David Grode, Eric Haun, Harry Hernandez, Ernio Hetrick, Adam Hylton, Kevin Inverne, James Jones, Kenneth Kalafatas, Greg Khodosh, Ilya Ku, Andrew Lefkowitz, David Maher, Sam Marcus, Jason Mardenfeld, Sandra Mattison, Ben Mazzola, Karen Merlo, Melissa Nathan, John Nondorf, Tom Pincus-Roth, Zachary Rothstein, Mervyn Rudetsky, Seth Scheduler, Mailing List Shenton, Mark Simonson, Robert Staff, Playbill Stekeur, Craig Suskin, Steven Tallmer, Jerry Trinh, Paul Viagas, Robert Windman, Matt Wong, Wayman

Contact Us | Advertise | Privacy Policy

Send questions and comments to the Webmaster
Copyright © 2008 Playbill, Inc. All Rights Reserved.