The sixth annual event will also include previously-announced readings of new plays by Tony Kushner, Gore Vidal, Regina Taylor, David Grimm, David Cale, Jeremy B. Cohen, Michael Elyanow and Jamie Pachino, Oct. 25-31.
Nearly every major politico attached to the Bush White House is depicted in Hare's new work. The London cast includes Adjoa Andoh (as Condoleeza Rice), Desmond Barrit (Dick Cheney), Isla Blair (Laura Bush), Dermot Crowley (Donald Rumsfeld), Nicholas Farrell (Tony Blair), Ian Gelder (Paul Wolfowitz), Ewan Hooper (Hans Blix), Alex Jennings (George W. Bush), Joe Morton (Colin Powell), Philip Quast (George Tenet) and Larrington Walker (Kofi Annan). Nicholas Hytner directs the run which opened Sept. 10 at the National Theatre.
The schedule of "Red, White & New - Brand:NEW 2004" is as follows:
The play, which takes its name from a quote by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, follows the Bush White House's process leading up to the invasion of Iraq.
The work, wherein First Lady Laura Bush reads Dostoevsky to the pajama-clad ghosts of Iraqi children. explores issues of political morality and moral relativity. References to Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and other Bush administration notables fill the work.
The eight winning ten-minute entries by teens on the title theme.
The Mystery of Irma Vep's Jeffery T. Roberson and James Lescene star in this Hartford Stage commission to update the work to Cole Porter's Jazz Age.
The tale of an African-American mother determined to provide a better future for her daughter and through her own business savvy and marriage to C.J. Walker becomes the first African-American millionaire. But her success and riches aren't what she planned they be.
A washed-up country singer finds new hope in a young hopeful woman set on stardom.
Gore Vidal's The Best Man star Chris Noth ("Sex and the City," "Law & Order") stars in a Civil War-set tale of a father who sends his sons off to war only to find his new palatial estate commandeered by the Union. A discussion with the author follows.
Daniel Letterle ("Camp") is featured in the work with music composition by Andre Pluess and choreography by Randy Duncan based around the journals, interviews and life of a 22-year old Kenyan photographer who was killed in an attack while covering the war in Somalia for Reuters.
A Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist and a wise rabbi's 30-year unlikely friendship is jeopardized when the scientist sets off to prove or disprove the existence of God. "Brand:NEW" readings will be held at the Richardson Rehearsal Studios, 942 Main Street in Hartford, CT. Select readings will take place in the John Huntington stage (at 50 Church Street). Limited seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, call (860) 527-5151 or visit www.hartfordstage.org.
