The production will officially open Nov. 14 at the Huntington's main stage, the Boston University Theatre. Performances will continue through Dec. 9.
"In a U.S. Army barrack in 1965, four young soldiers await the orders that will most likely send them to Vietnam," reads a show description. "As they wait, they nurture a friendship of necessity – desperately seeking connection in a world that seems frighteningly devoid of inspirational leadership.
"With palpable tension mounting, their very different backgrounds are revealed and the men are forced to confront racism, homophobia and their own convictions of what it means to be a man."
The cast features Hale Appleman ("Teeth"), Larry Clarke (The Dog Problem), Ato Essandoh (Mother Courage and Her Children), Brad Fleischer (Coram Boy, Pig Farm), Charlie Hewson ("Camp Hope," "The Nanny Diaries"), Augustus Kelley ("Late Summer," Bug), Cobey Mandarino (The Red Box), John Sharian ("Staten Island"), M. Zach Bubolo and J.D. Williams ("The Wire," "Oz").
The Streamers design team includes Neil Patel (set), Tom Broecker (costumes), Jeff Croiter (lighting) and John Gromada (sound). Fight direction is by Rick Sordelet. Stephen M. Kaus serves as production stage manager with Katie Ailinger as assistant stage manager. Streamers was rescheduled from last season due to director Ellis' duties on the musical Curtains. Ellis recently directed a free New York City reading of the Rabe play for Roundabout Theatre Company subscribers at the American Airlines Theatre.
Ellis, who serves as an associate artistic director at Roundabout, has directed Broadway stagings of Curtains, The Little Dog Laughed, Twelve Angry Men, The Boys From Syracuse, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Rainmaker, 1776, She Loves Me, Picnic and A Month in the Country. Other credits include Entertaining Mr. Sloane, The Waverly Gallery, The Dog Problem, That Championship Season and the NYC Opera staging of A Little Night Music.
Playwright Rabe's Hurlyburly enjoyed an Off-Broadway revival in 2005. He has also penned The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, In the Boom Boom Room, Burning, Goose and Tomtom, Corners, Sticks and Bones, A Question of Mercy, The Oprhan and Those The River Keeps. Ellis directed Rabe's last effort, The Dog Problem, Off-Broadway in 2001. His screenplays include "Hurlyburly, Casualties of War" and "The Firm."
Huntington is offering free tickets to current and former military personnel and their families and friends (up to 4 tickets each) for the Nov. 11 Veterans Day 7 PM performance. Tickets may be retreived at the box office starting at noon through curtain time, on a first-come/ first-served basis.
Tickets to Streamers at the Huntington's B. U. Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue in Boston, MA, are available by phone at (617) 266-0800 or online at huntingtontheatre.org.
