Callaghan's Fever/Dream, a Corporate Nightmare, Will Premiere in DC June 1 | Playbill

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News Callaghan's Fever/Dream, a Corporate Nightmare, Will Premiere in DC June 1 Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC, will close its 2008-09 season with the world premiere of Fever/Dream by Sheila Callaghan, June 1-28. It will boast the largest cast in the 29-year history of the troupe.

Artistic director Howard Shalwitz directs the new work by the author of Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake) and the recent Off-Broadway work, That Pretty Pretty; or The Rape Play. The cast features Woolly Mammoth Company member Jessica Frances Dukes, Kimberly Gilbert, Kate Eastwood Norris, and Michael Willis, with Daniel Eichner, Drew Eshelman and KenYatta Rogers, plus a collection of college actors to play corporate drones.

The play is billed as a "raucous and highly physical comic reinvention of Pedro Calderon de la Barca's classic Life is a Dream" that "gleefully skewers corporate America with razor-sharp wit and the biggest cast ever assembled on Woolly's stage."

According to Woolly Mammoth notes, "In a dank basement of an American mega-corporation, a forgotten employee, Segis (Eichner) is literally chained to his desk, droning mindless answers to innocuous phone queries when he is discovered by feisty courier Rose (Gilbert) and her sidekick, Claire (Dukes). Instantly, Segis is told that Bill Basil (Eshelman) is stepping aside from leadership at Basil Enterprises and he's the new CEO — or is it just a dream? A sudden elevator ride to the executive suite takes our hero on a kaleidoscopic power trip that reorders the corporate bureaucracy and unsettles the hearts of its employees (Norris, Rogers, Willis)."

Playing The Associates & Accountants of Basil Enterprises are University of Maryland students Andrew Blau, Lauren Ciandella, Michael Davis, Alice Gibson, Mark Halpern, Shannon Listol, Amanda Miller, Katie Rooney, Mark Sparacino, Anastasia Stewart and Scott Whalen.

Opening is June 7 at Woolly Mammoth's home at 641 D Street, NW, in DC. Shalwitz stated, "Life is a Dream has long been a favorite of mine, and Sheila's natural zaniness completely transforms the tone and intent of this great classic for our own times. But Fever/Dream remains a big undertaking — with Woolly Company Members alongside a lively chorus of college students as accountants and office drones. There will be a very physical language to the production as well. I've been inspired and energized by my collaboration with one of our region's most original choreographers, Meisha Bosma — and the result will be a vigorously physical, hip corporate comedy that caps off the season."

Callaghan's full-length plays include Scab, Crawl Fade to White, Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), We Are Not These Hands, Dead City, Lascivious Something, Kate Crackernuts and That Pretty Pretty; or, The Rape Play.

The production and design team for Fever/Dream includes Misha Kachman (set design), Franklin Labovitz (costume design), Colin K. Bills (lighting design), Veronika Vorel (sound design), Jennifer Sheetz (properties) and Meisha Bosma (choreographer).

Tickets can be purchased at (202) 393-3939 or online at www.woollymammoth.net.

 
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