Mainstage Production
Click images below for a larger version.
Photo credit: John B. Barrois.
Lance E. Nichols and Alex Lemonier
Lance E. Nichols, Donna Duplantier & Kenneth Brown, Jr.
Rus Blackwell and Lance E. Nichols
Rus Blackwell and Donna Duplantier
NOW EXTENDED THROUGH JUNE 14!
SHOTGUN
by John Biguenet
Director Valerie Curtis-Newton
May 6 – June 14. 2009
A NATIONAL NEW PLAY NETWORK
“ROLLING” WORLD PREMIERE
starring
Rus Blackwell . Kenneth Brown, Jr.
Donna Duplantier . Alex Lemonier
Lance E. Nichols
designers
Geoffrey Hall . Scenic Design
Kelly James-Penot . Costumes
Erick Shim . Composer & Sound Design
Patti West . Lighting Design
In SHOTGUN, John Biguenet explores what happens when the storm waters recede. Mattie, an upwardly mobile African-American landlord, rents the other half of her shotgun double to the white carpenter Beau and his teenage son who lost their home to the flood waters. Dexter, Mattie’s unemployed machinist father, has moved in with her and is none too happy that she’s renting to Beau. In this pressure-cooker of a house divided, these wounded people must choose between living in the dark past or looking to a brighter future.
Southern Rep kicks off SHOTGUN’s National New Play Network (NNPN) “Rolling” World Premiere in May; then Florida Studio Theatre and Orlando Shakespeare Theater get to explore the play in 2010. SHOTGUN has already been presented as staged readings at three theaters across the U.S. and has been awarded a 2009 Access to Artistic Excellence grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Southern Rep commissioned and premiered Biguenet’s RISING WATER to great acclaim; it became the best selling play in the theater’s 22-year history and has gone on to seven productions across the country to date.
This production of SHOTGUN, like SRT’s production of SICK, is part of the NNPN’s Continued Life of New Plays Fund, a cooperative venture designed to ensure that new plays will see future productions beyond the initial debut. Partnerships of three theatres receive funds in support of multiple productions of the same new play, guaranteeing the play national exposure.
BIOGRAPHIES
The Big Easy’s 2008 Theatre Person of the Year, John Biguenet is the author of six books and four previous plays: WUNDMALE (broadcast on German and Austrian national radio), THE VULGAR SOUL (SRT 2005), RISING WATER (winner of the 2006 National New Play Network Commission Award and other honors), and NIGHT TRAIN (developed on a 2008 Studio Attachment at the National Theatre in London). His work has been presented at Symphony Space on Broadway and on stages around the country. For the New York Times, Biguenet chronicled in columns and videos the catastrophic flooding of his hometown of New Orleans. He teaches at Loyola University.
Director Valerie Curtis-Newton is the Artistic Director at The Hansberry Project, an Artistic Associate at Seattle's ACT, and heads the Directing Program at the University of Washington. She’s directed at such highly regarded theatres as Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Mark Taper Forum, and New York Theatre Workshop. She was selected as an NEA/TCG Career Development Director and won Stage Directors & Choreographer’s distinguished Gielgud Directing Fellowship. For more on Curtin-Newton, check out her website.
CURRENT PRESS ON SHOTGUN
The critics have been unanimous in their praise:
“In Shotgun . . . playwright John Biguenet exposes with power and grace the wounds that remain. . . and examines how they might best be healed.”
– New Orleans Times-Picayune
“Shotgun. . . deals with race but is ultimately about people. And it’s fascinating.”
– Gambit Weekly
“[Shotgun is] a serious play about serious subjects, and yet it is filled with the rich dark humor that got New Orleanians through those days after the storm.”
– Nola.com
“Biguenet’s ear for dramatic, natural dialogue is so adroit you cannot turn your eyes and mind from his play. So is his enchantment!”
– WYES-TV
TALKBACK WITH THE ARTISTS May 12 by Susan Larson
"The discussion was a testimony to the power of provocative playwriting."
PRE-SHOW ARTICLE IN TIMES-PICAYUNE May 5 by Susan Larson
"It became apparent to me that the story didn't end along those rooftops, " Biguenet said. "And another contribution I could make was to keep this story alive, be part of that effort to awaken Americans. We're still in the first and second chapter in the story."
COVER STORY OF "ONSTAGE" MAGAZINE Summer Issue by Kathy Finn
"Like other local actors who have been cast in post-Katrina dramas, [Lance] Nichols says his own experiences help enrich his role. 'Being born here and having been displaced by Katrina for over a year, I can relate to Dexter’s feeling of not having a place to go back to.'”
"The audience almost wouldn't leave the theater," [Biguenet] says. "It became clear that there was a great deal more to say about what these people had lived through, what we all had lived through."
MULTIMEDIA
An interview with the playwright from the Orlando Sentinel about SHOTGUN’s developmental reading at Orlando Shakespeare Theatre.
See a slideshow of RISING WATER at the Times-Picayune.
CALENDAR
May |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun |
| 4
SUBSCRIBER PARTY 5:30pm |
5 | 6 Preview 8pm SHOTGUN @ SRT |
7
Preview |
8
Preview |
9
Opening |
10
3pm |
| 11
PlayLab |
12 | 13
|
14
8pm |
15
8pm |
16
8pm |
17
3pm |
| 18
PlayLab |
19 | 20
|
21
8pm |
22
8pm |
23
8pm |
24
3pm |
| 25 Memorial Day |
26 | 27
|
28
8pm |
29
8pm |
30
8pm |
31
3pm |
JUNE |
||||||
| Mon | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun |
| 1 CROSSTOWN READING SERIES @ Le Chat Noir |
2 | 3
|
4
8pm |
5
8pm |
6
8pm |
7
3pm |
| 8 PlayLab @ SRT |
9 | 10
|
11
8pm |
12
8pm |
13
8pm |
14
3pm |
TICKET PRICES VARY BY DAY OF PERFORMANCE
Thursdays & Sundays |
$25 general admission |
Fridays & Saturdays |
$27 general admission |
Every performance |
$10 Student Rush (with ID) cash only at the door . |
Group Discounts |
10 or more . call the box office for more information |
Additional $1-$2 ticket service fees apply.
Theatre Professional is defined as a member of AEA, SAG, AFTRA & IATSI.
SOUTHERN REP CANNOT MAKE REFUNDS FOR ANY REASON. If you are a single ticket buyer and need to exchange a ticket, you may do so by paying a $5 per ticket exchange fee. Subscribers may change their dates free of charge at any time before the date of the performance. Simply call the box office to reschedule - that's one of the beauties of being a subscriber.
In deference to other audience members, late seating is at the discretion of the management. Thanks for being a part of Southern Rep!
