Playwright and sometime actor Keith Reddin and "Oz" actor Nelson Vasquez star in the Primary Stages production of Barefoot Boy with Shoes On, by Edwin Sanchez. Primary Stages artistic director Casey Childs directs the piece, which opens Oct. 20, after previews from Oct. 6. The show runs through Nov. 7.
Sanchez penned the Atlantic Theater Company's Trafficking in Broken Hearts and Clean. Like the other works, Barefoot also tackles urban blight, this time through the eyes of a young father-to-be who wants to give his son a better life but is hampered by a sedentary father and grandfather, who spend their days drinking beer and watching ponro; his ex-girlfriend, Vickie, who has left him and denies the child she is carrying is his; and a doctor who wishes to sell the child to waiting parents.
Reddin, the author of such plays as The Highest Standard of Living and Black Snow, has made a habit of trodding the boards from time to time, most recently in a 1998 Off-Broadway production of Warren Leight's Stray Cats. He also appeared in the title role in the Signature Theatre Company's staging of Lee Blessing's Fortinbras.
Vasquez stars in the hit cable prison drama "Oz." Also in the cast are Dennis Parlato (The Sound of Music, Hello, Again), Lazaro Perez and Jaime Sanchez. Sanchez burst onto the film scene in 1965, playing opposite Rod Steiger in the movie "The Pawnbroker." Since then, he has acted in such films as "The Wild Bunch," "The Bad Lieutenant" and "Carlito's Way."
Here's the Primary Stages 1999-2000 line-up: € Oct. 6-Nov. 7: Barefoot Boy With Shoes On by Edwin Sanchez, directed by Primary Stages artistic director Casey Childs.
€ Dec. 1, 1999-Jan. 2, 2000: Elsa Edgar by Bob Kingdom, directed by Casey Childs. In this solo of two monologues about the way the media handles rumor and private information, author-actor Kingdom looks at gossip columnist Elsa Maxwell and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Kingdom penned the solo works Dylan Thomas: Return Journey and The Truman Capote Talk Show, which played in repertory at NYC's Perry Street Theatre in 1994.
€ March 8-April 9, 2000: An Empty Plate in the Cafe du Grand Boeuf by Michael Hollinger, directed by John Rando. Rando, a Primary Stages veteran, helmed David Ives' Mere Mortals there. He also staged Ives' Lives of the Saints in Philadelphia and the Encores! staged reading of Do Re Mi. He's currently directing Merton of the Movies at CA's Geffen Playhouse.
€ May 3-June 4, 2000: TBA.
For Primary Stages tickets ($30-$35; Subscriptions $130 and up), call the box office at (212) 333-4052. Primary Stages is located at 354 West 45th Street.
--By Robert Simonson
