PIONEER THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS
Deathtrap
By Ira Levin
Salt Lake City – Pioneer Theatre Company presents the comedy-thriller Deathtrap, March 28 through April 12, 2014.
Written in 1978, Deathtrap by Ira Levin still holds the record for longest-running comedy thriller on Broadway. Sidney Bruhl is a playwright desperately in need of a hit—and just in time, a former student sends him the manuscript of his first play, a murder mystery called Deathtrap. Sidney smells a hit, but he’s never been that fond of sharing credit. TIME Magazine said, “If you care to assassinate yourself with laughter, try Deathtrap.”
THOM SESMA leads the all-Equity cast in the role of the duplicitous playwright Sidney Bruhl. Broadway and national tour credits include The Times They Are A-Changin’, The Lion King,Search and Destroy, Titanic and Chu Chem. Sesma is currently nominated for the 2014 Helen Hayes Award for his performance as The Engineer in Eric Schaeffer’s new and re-imagined production of Miss Saigon at the Signature Theatre in D.C. Some off-Broadway credits include NSYF/Public Theatre, the Roundabout, Second Stage, The Drama Department, The Mint, Epic Theatre and Playwrights Horizon. His many film and TV credits include The Good Wife, Single Ladies, Third Watch and Law & Order. This is his PTC debut.
GAYTON SCOTT plays the role of Sidney’s wife, Myra Bruhl. Scott’s Broadway credits includeGypsy with Bernadette Peters and directed by Sam Mendes, The Women starring Cynthia Nixon and Present Laughter starring Frank Langella. Off-Broadway she appeared in Bunty Berman Presents . . . and Abigail’s Party at the New Group, Indiscretions at the Phoenix Theatre, andWhite Chocolate at The Culture Project. Other New York credits include Theatre Lab, WET, Packawallop (at the Fringe), Here, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Prospect Theater among others. Her film and TV credits include P.S. I Love You, Forbidden Love, Law & Order: CI,Guiding Light, As the World Turns and Great Performances on PBS. This is her PTC debut.
DEVIN NORIK plays the role of Clifford Anderson, whose script Sidney wants to make his own. Norik has appeared off-Broadway in Unnatural Acts at Classic Stage Company, which received a Rosemarie Tichler Award, and Unplugged In for Theatre Row. His film credits include The Professor starring Betsy Brandt, The Trouble with Cali directed by Paul Sorvino, The Lipstick Stain, Surviving Family and Roger, the Chicken. On television, he appeared in MTV’s I Just Want My Pants Back. This is his PTC debut.
KYMBERLY MELLEN plays the role of Helga Ten Dorp, a psychic who threatens Sidney’s plans. Mellen’s credits include productions at Writers’ Theatre, Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre. She has also been seen at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing andMacbeth. Her film credits include The Unborn, Boy with Blue and Joseph: Prophet of the Restoration. She received her BFA from BYU and her MFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University. She recently appeared at PTC in Emma and Laughing Stock.
CRAIG BOCKHORN plays the role of Porter Milgrim, Sidney’s legal counsel. Bockhorn’s Broadway credits include On Golden Pond (also the Kennedy Center and National Tour), The Lonesome West and Prelude to a Kiss. Other New York credits include King Lear, The Seagull,Kit Marlowe (Public Theatre), The Hope Zone and The Truth-Teller (Circle Rep.) He returns to PTC after appearing here in many shows, most recently Laughing Stock, Our Town and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Guest artist MAY ADRALES directs the production. Off-Broadway credits include Lauren Yee’sChing Chong Chinaman, Thomas Bradshaw’s The Bereaved (Top Ten of 2009, Time Out), Tommy Smith’s The Wife, Lisa Ramirez’s Exit Cuckoo (Best Solo Performance), and Anton Dudley’s Cold Hard Cash. She helmed the world premieres of Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them at Actors Theater of Louisville, Mary at The Goodman Theatre, In This House at Two River Theater Company, and Katori Hall’s Whaddabloodclot!!! at Williamstown Theater Festival. She served as Director of On Site Programming at the Lark Play Development Center (2008-2010), developing programs to support and nurture over 200 playwrights. She served as an Artistic Associate at The Public Theater (2006-2008), spearheading the Shakespeare Lab, a professional conservatory. Adrales is the recipient of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation’s inaugural Denham Fellowship and the Paul Green directing award, a TCG New Generations grant, and directing fellowships at New York Theater Workshop, Women’s Project, SoHo Rep, and The Drama League. She has directed and taught at NYU, Juilliard, American Conservatory Theater, American Repertory Theater, Fordham University and Bard College. Adrales is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and currently serves on faculty.
Scenic design is by guest artist DAN ZIMMERMAN. Zimmerman designed sets for Romeo and Juliet and Noises Off, Actors Theatre of Louisville; Suicide Incorporated, Roundabout; I Call My Brothers, The Play Company; God of Carnage, Portland Stage Company; Cry Old Kingdom andThe Delling Shore, Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival; Henry IV, Part I, The Pearl Theatre Company; The Glass Menagerie, University of Rochester; WASPS, Studio 42; The Clearing, Theatre at St. Clements; Be a Good Little Widow, ArsNova; Seven Minutes in Heaven, Here; Baby Screams Miracle and Motel Cherry, Clubbed Thumb; The Steadfast, Slant Theatre Project; The Who’s Tommy, Revision Theatre; and many, many others.
BRENDA VAN DER WIEL designs costumes for this production. As costume shop manager for the University of Utah’s Theatre Department, Van der Wiel has designed several dozen shows for the Babcock Theatre and the Classical Greek Theatre Festival. She also frequently designs for Salt Lake Acting Company and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. In addition to many other credits at PTC, she has worked with Seattle Opera, Santa Fe Opera and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
Lighting design is by guest designer KARL E. HAAS, who previously designed Les Misérables,Laughing Stock, Miss Saigon, The Producers, West Side Story and South Pacific among many others at PTC. His New York design credits include productions at Playwrights Horizons, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Julliard. Haas has been Lighting Supervisor/Designer for the Bolshoi Ballet/Opera, the Kirov Ballet, the Spanish National Ballet, and the Joffrey Ballet. Haas is currently the Architectural Western Regional Manager for Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC).
CHRISTOPHER DUVAL serves as fight choreographer for the production. He is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors, a Senior Instructor with Dueling Arts International, and holds a 2nd degree black belt in Aikido. DuVal’s work has been seen throughout the country at such theatres as South Coast Repertory, Shakespeare Orange County, Sacramento Theatre Company, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Theatre Center, Syracuse Stage and thirteen seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he worked on over 25 productions. He is an Assistant Professor in the Actor Training Program at the University of Utah.
Sound design is by JOSHUA C. HIGHT. Hight is an established live sound engineer in both London and Salt Lake City. His other projects of note include working with Sommerset House for the 2012 Olympic Games, Of Monsters and Men, Collective Soul, Fallout Boy, Slash, the Psychedelic Furs, Citizen Cope, the Dropkick Murphys, Gogol Bordello, Kate Nash, Easton Corbin, Sevendust and many more. Hight is a Graduate With Distinction of London’s Alchemea College of Audio Engineering and the new Resident Sound Designer for PTC.
Hair and makeup design is by PTC resident designer AMANDA FRENCH. French has worked for Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Opera, Egyptian Theatre Company and the University of Texas as Austin. She is a contributing writer in the tenth edition of Stage Makeup by Corson, Glavan and Norcross, and her work can be seen in The Costume Technician’s Handbook by Ingham and Covey, and Wig Making and Styling: A Complete Guide for Theatre and Film by Ruskai and Lowery.
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Pioneer Theatre Company operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. Pioneer Theatre Company, Utah’s only fully professional theatre, performs at Roy W. and Elizabeth E. Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, located on the University of Utah campus at 300 South and 1400 East in Salt Lake City, easily accessible by TRAX light rail. Free parking is also available and the theatre is equipped with an elevator, handicap parking, hearing assistance devices and other easy-access features.
PHOTOS AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD: High-resolution color photos of this production will be available for media use on the PTC website beginning Wednesday, March 19, 2014 after 3:00 p.m. Go directly to http://www.pioneertheatre.org/press-room/media-photos/ TV CAMERA FILMING: Filming a short segment of the production during Preview or Opening Night for press use can be arranged. Call 801-581-7222. INTERVIEWS: Interviews with the cast and artistic staff are available. Call 801-581-7222. PRESS TOURS: Tours of the set for the press are available. Call 801-581-6270. WHO: Pioneer Theatre Company
WHAT: Deathtrap By Ira Levin WHEN: March 28 through April 12, 2014
TIMES: Mondays – Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 8:00 p.m. Saturday matinees, 2:00 p.m.
WHERE: Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre 300 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City
PRICE: $25 – $44 in advance and $5 more when purchased on the day of the show Kids in grades K – 12 are half price on Mondays and Tuesdays EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT: $5 off the cost of Main Floor and Loge seating for the first seven performances, when tickets are purchased on or before March 21
MORE INFO: Box Office: 801-581-6961 Open 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., Mon – Fri www.pioneertheatre.org
CAST:
Craig Bockhorn*…………………………………………… Porter Milgrim
Kymberly Mellen*…………………………………………. Helga Ten Dorp
Devin Norik*………………………………………………… Clifford Anderson
Gayton Scott*………………………………………………. Myra Bruhl
Thom Sesma*……………………………………………… Sidney Bruhl
ARTISTIC TEAM:
Director………………………………………………………. May Adrales
Set Designer……………………………………………….. Dan Zimmerman
Costume Designer……………………………………….. Brenda Van der Wiel
Lighting Designer…………………………………………. Karl E. Haas
Sound Designer…………………………………………… Joshua C. Hight
Hair and Makeup Designer……………………………. Amanda French
Fight Choreographer…………………………………….. Christopher DuVal
Production Stage Manager……………………………. Augie K. Mericola*
Dramaturg…………………………………………………… Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell
Associate Dramaturg……………………………………. Elizabeth Ferguson
* Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association.