Tony Award winner Fritz Weaver and Tony nominee Michael Stuhlbarg took the stage Nov. 15 for the first preview of this New York premiere of the new David Mamet adaptation of the 1905 drama by Shaw contemporary Granville-Barker.
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The classic play "explores the timely issue of morals vs. money as an upper middle class family goes to pieces when it is revealed that the patriarch has amassed the family fortune by secretly embezzling money from his clients," according to ATC. "As his son tries to put things in order, he discovers that the family is more than willing to perpetuate this way of doing business, rather than sacrifice their comfort and luxury."
David Warren (Fiction, Rope, Harmony) directs. Performances play to Jan. 7, 2007.
Weaver won his Tony for Child's Play; Stuhlbarg was nominated for The Pillowman. The troupe also includes Steven Goldstein (Atlantic's Romance) and Todd Weeks (Broadway's The Full Monty) and Rachel Black (Necessary Targets), Christopher Duva (Broadway's The Elephant Man), Peter Maloney (Atlantic's Celebration and The Room), Katharine Powell (The Water's Edge), Judith Roberts (Broadway's Present Laughter), Geddeth Smith (Broadway's Waiting In The Wings), Samantha Soule (Broadway's Dinner at Eight) and CJ Wilson (Broadway's Festen).
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Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Atlantic Theater Company co-founder David Mamet returns to Atlantic following the acclaimed world premiere production of his comedy Romance, which subsequently enjoyed celebrated engagements at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and The Almeida Theatre in London.
David Warren staged the Lortel Award nominated Off-Broadway revival of Harold Brighouse's Hobson's Choice and the world premiere of Tom Donaghy's Minutes from the Blue Route, both at the Atlantic. Warren directed the Broadway revivals of Holiday, Summer and Smoke, Misalliance and Off-Broadway's interactive rhythm show Drumstruck.
The design team features scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Gregory Gale, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, sound design by Fitz Patton, with dialect coaching by Stephen Gabis and production stage management by Freda Farrell.
David Mamet's world premiere adaptation of the play premiered at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco in March 2005.
London-born Harley Granville-Barker (1877-1946) was an English actor, producer, director, dramatist, and Shakespearean scholar. At the age of 14, he first became involved in the theatre as an actor. In 1900, he joined the experimental Stage Society, and by 1904 landed the job of manager of the Court Theatre where he introduced the public to the plays of Henrik Ibsen, Maurice Maeterlinck and George Bernard Shaw. He was especially well-known for his productions of Shakespeare, which revolutionized the way the plays would be performed in the theatre with their naturally spoken dialogue. Granville-Barker also produced several of his own plays including The Voysey Inheritance (1905), Prunella (1906), Waste (1907), and The Madras House (1910). During World War I, Granville-Barker served in the Red Cross, and after the war was elected President of the British Drama League. Shortly thereafter, he relocated to Paris, and in 1923 began writing his famous "Prefaces to Shakespeare" (1927-48).
In 1940, Granville-Barker and his family fled to Spain and then to the United States, where he worked for British Information Services and lectured at Harvard University. He returned to Paris in 1946 and died there later that same year.
The Voysey Inheritance will play Tuesday through Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM and Sundays at 3 PM. All tickets are $55 and are available by calling Telecharge at (212) 239-6200 (Telecharge.com).
Atlantic Theater Company's main stage is located at 336 West 20th Street (between Eighth and Ninth Avenues). For membership information, call (212) 691-5919, ext. 1092, or visit www.atlantictheater.org.
