Will Frears (Off-Broadway's Year Zero, Still Life, The Water's Edge, Pen) directs the tale of estranged digital-era business partners who are reunited. Opening night is Oct. 24 following previews from Oct. 9 at Geffen's Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater.
According to Geffen notes, "Kip [played by Sadoski], and Will [played by Katona] became Silicon Valley legends after the viral success of their blockbuster video game. But success has driven them apart: Will has become a suit obsessed with the bottom line, and the death of Kip's wife has turned him into a total recluse. Now they've been thrown back together in a high-stakes gamble to complete and ship a new multi-billion dollar game; but as Will re-enters Kip's life, he realizes that his old friend has built a whole other world — complete with an artificial intelligence [played by Heisler] to whom Kip escapes to ease his loss. Now Will and Kip must work to resolve their differences, confront the past and face the fact that technology's brave new world often leaves us with little else but a yearning for the old one."
Sadoski was nominated for a 2009 Best Actor Tony Award for playing the hen-pecked boyfriend in Broadway's reasons to be pretty. He plays Don, a love-confused cable TV news producer, on Aaron Sorkin's series "The Newsroom." He also created the role of surviving brother Trip Wyeth in the Off-Broadway world premiere of Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities; he also played the role on Broadway.
Heisler was nominated for Drama League and Lucille Lortel awards for her role in Kin.
Katona was most recently seen in the South Coast Repertory's production of Misalliance. Build is a recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, "enabling the production to have an unprecedented two-week preview period."
Performances continue to Nov. 18.
Golamco is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter and playwright. His critically-acclaimed play Year Zero has been produced at the Colony Theatre in Los Angeles, Second Stage Uptown in New York and Victory Gardens in Chicago, where it was the Grand Prize Winner of Chicago Dramatists' Many Voices Project, as well as nominated for a Jeff Award - Best New Work. His play Cowboy Versus Samurai has had several productions since its premiere in New York City, including in Canada and Hong Kong. He is the recipient of the Helen Merrill Award and is a member of New Dramatists. He is currently working on new play commissions for South Coast Repertory and Second Stage Theatre.
The creative team includes scenic designer Sibyl Wickersheimer, costume designer E.B. Brooks, lighting designer Daniel Ionazzi, sound designer Vincent Olivieri, production stage manager Young Ji, casting director Phyllis Schuringa and dramaturg Amy Levinson.
For more information, visit geffenplayhouse.com.
