ABOUT THE PLAY
Break a leg… or someone else’s.
Down-on-his-luck actor Harry finally catches a break: he’s cast as the understudy in a long-lost Kafka play playing to sold-out Broadway crowds. But when the show’s swaggering Hollywood star, Jake, sweeps into rehearsal, the stage becomes a battlefield of ego, ambition, and insecurity of truly Kafkaesque proportions.
Caught in the crossfire is the razor-sharp stage manager—with a complicated history with both men—desperately trying to keep the production (and her sanity) from imploding before opening night.
Theresa Rebeck’s THE UNDERSTUDY is a wickedly funny, fast-paced backstage comedy about ambition, jealousy, second chances, and the fragile line between art and ego. Smart, biting, and unexpectedly moving, it’s a love letter to the theater—and a no-holds-barred look at what happens when the spotlight isn’t big enough for everyone.
“Rebeck’s sharply written script gets the comedy right, especially where it concerns the Kafkaesque play, and cannily captures the carping so common among competing actors.”
“There’s much that the playwright gets right with her comic premise, including the imagined sections of Kafka’s “play,” which are a perfect imitation of the writer’s style, and her depiction of the professional rivalries endemic to the acting profession.”
SCHEDULE
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FRIDAY, JULY 10th - 7:30 PM (PREVIEW)
SATURDAY, JULY 11th - 7:30 PM (OPENING NIGHT)
SUNDAY, JULY 12th - 2:00 PM
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 15 - 2:00 PM
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15 - 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, JULY 16 - 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, JULY 17 - 2:00 PM
FRIDAY, JULY 17 - 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, JULY 18 - 2:00 PM
SATURDAY, JULY 18 - 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, JULY 19 - 2:00 PM (CLOSING)
MEET THE CAST
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Jeffrey Bean, Broadway: Amadeus; Bells Are Ringing. Off-Broadway: Dig (Primary Stages), Dublin Carol (Irish Repertory Theatre, received a 2020 Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Performance); The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons); About Alice (Theatre For A New Audience). Television & Film: The Housemaid; Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin; The Chair Company; Crystal Lake; The Diplomat; The Hunting Party; Cabrini; Billions; Lincoln Rhyme; The Blacklist; The Good Fight; Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Dr. Death. Regional: Alley Theatre, 25 Seasons; Humana Festival; Bay Street Theatre; White Heron Theatre; Dorset Theatre Festival; Hope Summer Repertory Company; Shakespeare Dallas jeffreybean.com
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David Mason's previous Dorset credits include: THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE, THIRST, TABLE MANNERS and the world premiere of DIG by Theresa Rebeck. Broadway: PICTURES FROM HOME (Studio 54). Off-Broadway: Theresa Rebeck's DIG (Primary Stages) and SEARED directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel (MCC); TRICK OR TREAT (59E59). Other NYC: Ensemble Studio Theatre, Civilian Studios, Primary Stages, Present Company, NativeAliens, Red Fern Theatre, Circle East. Selected regional credits include: the world premiere of THE NEST by Theresa Rebeck at Denver Center; CHAPTER TWO directed by Marsha Mason at Arizona Theatre Co.; numerous productions at Cleveland Playhouse, Portland Stage, Cape Playhouse, Geva Theatre Center, TheatreSquared, Northern Stage, Weston Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, New Century Theatre, Public Theater, Opera House Arts. TV: Blue Bloods, The Blacklist, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Leftovers, House of Cards, Law & Order: SVU.
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Elizabeth Heflin recently completed a run of Samantha Inside Out (World Premiere) at New Jersey Repertory. Broadway: The Government Inspector; Off-Broadway: Twelfth Night; National Tour: The Odd Couple with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall. She’s a resident company member with the REP/UD: Medea, The Threepenny Opera, August: Osage County, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Flea In Her Ear, Heartbreak House, The Millionairess, O’ Beautiful. She was also a company member at the Alley Theatre for 13 years: The Greeks, Much Ado About Nothing, The Real Thing, The Goat or Who Is Sylvia, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Doubt. Other regional credits include: The Old Globe, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Paper Mill Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, Coconut Grove, Dallas Theater Center, Crossroads Theatre, PlayMakers Repertory, Westport Country Playhouse, and Geva Theatre. TV credits: The Pretender, Renegade, Days of Our Lives, Guiding Light, As the World Turns, and New York News.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM
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Theresa Rebeck is a widely produced writer for stage, film, television, and novels, and the most Broadway-produced female playwright of our time. The two-time Emmy-nominated writer, and the Festival’s resident playwright, returns to direct this season on the heels of receiving critical acclaim for the New York productions of two of her own plays which were developed at Dorset Theatre Festival. Dig, which had its World Premiere in Dorset’s 2019 season, debuted Off-Broadway at Primary Stages this past August, and I Need That ran on Broadway this past December at the Roundabout Theatre Company and starred Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Danny DeVito.
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DTF: Dig, Queen of the Night, Wait Until Dark, Scarecrow, Thirst, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, True Art, Salvage, Other Desert Cities. Regional: The Old Globe, Hartford Stage, Signature Theatre (DC), Goodspeed Musicals, Children’s Theatre Company, Dallas Theater Center, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Geva Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Two River Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Everyman Theatre, People’s Light, Miami New Drama, Resident Ensemble Players at UD, Weston Theater Company, White Plains Performing Arts Center. NYC: Primary Stages, Red Bull Theater, Fiasco Theater, Tectonic Theater Project, Mint Theater, The New Victory Theatre, Classical Theatre of Harlem, York Theatre Company, Trusty Sidekick, Penguin Rep, Mason Holdings. Designs for A$AP Rocky, Sotheby’s, 2020 Summer Olympics, Big Apple Circus, National Geographic. www.cjswaderdesign.com
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This is Fabian’s seventh show at Dorset, previously costuming The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Sidekicked, Wait Until Dark, Queen of the Night, Slow Food, and Misery. Fabian attended the Yale School of Drama for his MFA and Boston University (BFA) to pursuetheatrical costume design. Credits include Man of La Mancha (Asolo Rep); American Mariachi, Mother Road (PCPA); Three Sisters, Twelfth Night (Two River Theater) Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, Max Makes a Million, Winnie the Pooh (Alliance Theater); Dial M for Murder, Straight White Men, Mlima’s Tale, In the Heights, Man of La Mancha, Romeo and Juliet (Westport Country Playhouse); Mother Road (PCPA); God’s Ear (Juilliard); Afterglow, Safeword (Midnight Theatri cals); Recent Alien Abductions (Play Co.); ¡Bienvenidos Blancos! or Welcome White People! (Team Sunshine, Philadelphia), A View from the Bridge, Seven Spots on the Sun, set and costume for The War Boys (NYC); Sabina, Sotto Voce (Portland Stage); Midsummer, The Moors (Yale Repertory Theater world premier); He Left Quietly (SummerWorks Performance Festival, Toronto).
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Mary Ellen is a New York City–based lighting designer whose work spans theater, dance, opera, and music. Her collaborations include Little Island, MCC Theater, Primary Stages, Long Wharf Theater, Opera Philadelphia, Juilliard, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Pittsburgh Opera, as well as artists and creators such as Theresa Rebeck, CYI Studio, and American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*.) Mary Ellen is a 2020 Bessie Award Honoree for her work on Monica Bill Barnes’s Days Go By and received a Henry Hewes Award nomination for her lighting design for Clare Barron’s I’ll Never Love Again. Additional honors include the Opera America Tobin Director-Designer Prize, Live Design’s Young Designer to Watch, the USITT Barbizon Lighting Design Award, and a Hangar Theatre Lab Company Design Fellowship. Mary Ellen holds an A.B. from Harvard University and an M.F.A. from Boston University. She is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and formerly taught at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. www.maryellenstebbinsdesign.com
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Ian is a sound designer, composer, and projection designer based in NYC. His work spans theatre, opera, dance, and installation. Credits include productions with Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Skirball, Daryl Roth Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Minetta Lane, Roundabout Underground, Signature Theatre, The New Group, The Tank, Tuacahn Amphitheatre, The Tent Theatre Company, ACT of Connecticut, Yale Rep, Laguna Playhouse, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Dorset Theatre Festival, Actors Shakespeare Project, and Ars Nova, among others. Ian is a member of USA829. @ianscxt • ianscot.com
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Obadiah's work has appeared on Broadway in The Lieutenant of Inishmore; Shining City; A Life In The Theatre; Harvey; Saint Joan; The Country House; The Assembled Parties; Collected Stories; Accent On Youth; and Come Back, Little Sheba. Over his thirty-year theater career he created music and sound for the original productions of works by David Mamet, Woody Allen, Eric Bogosian, Ethan Coen, Theresa Rebeck, and Suzan-Lori Parks. His music was recently incorporated into Alex Harris’s photography monograph Our Strange New Land at Atlanta’s High Museum. Obadiah’s work for the toy industry is enjoyed by children, though perhaps not always parents, around the world. Awards: Lortel, Viv, and BACC awards. TV: HBO, Nickelodeon, Discovery, TLC, and the History Channel.
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Joe Gery has worked extensively in theater with Caparelliotis Casting since 2014, as well as with Meredith Tucker Casting in film & television. His most recent theater credits include the Broadway productions of Good Night and Good Luck, Grey House, Ohio State Murders, Sam Gold's Macbeth, and The Minutes, as well as off-broadway productions at Signature Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, The Vineyard, and Ars Nova. Television credits include all three seasons of The White Lotus (HBO), Godfather of Harlem (EPIX), Ray Donovan (Showtime), and the final season of The Bold Type (Freeform).
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Described as a creative force, Shannon Lewis’ credits span theatre, television, and film. She is the choreographer of the new smash hit Broadway musical JUST IN TIME, currently running in New York City.
Shannon has also worked extensively creating for film and television. She is the choreographer for Saturday Night Live’s famed Film Unit, and is a frequent collaborator on The Tonight Show, Last Week Tonight, as well as creative director for select NBC/Universal live events.
She has created works at venues such as: Carnegie Hall, Ballet Jazz Montreal, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Dreamworks, Roundabout Theatre Company, Signature Theatre NYC, Town Hall, Alvin Ailey Citicorp Theatre, CLI, NYTimes Center, and more.
As a performer, she appeared in 10 Broadway musicals over a 25 year career. She is most known for her performance of “I Gotcha” in the Tony Award winning original Broadway cast of FOSSE. @realshanlew | www.shannonlewis.net
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Other Desert Cities (Dorset Theatre Festival); King Lear (La MaMa); Calf Scramble (Primary Stages), Choreomania 1518 (Playwrights Realm); Nikolai Gogol's The Inspector, Escaped Alone (Yale Rep); Three Sisters, Dindin, Buried Child, Liv at Sea (Harbor Stage Company). MFA, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University. Thank you to Megan for marrying me.
ADVISORY: TBA
RUNTIME: 95 minutes, no intermission
THE UNDERSTUDY is produced by Dorset Theatre Festival.
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Support for the 49th season is provided by Legacy Donors, the Rodgers Family Foundation, The James H. & Irene M. Hunter Charitable Trust, The Shubert Foundation, and the members of the Festival’s World Premiere Circle.
THE UNDERSTUDY is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Dramatists Play Service. www.concordtheatricals.com
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