PTC presents Oslo by J.T. Rogers

Salt Lake City – Pioneer Theatre Company presents J.T. Rogers’ award-winning drama, Oslo, in its first major regional premiere, running Friday, Sept. 14 through Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018.

Oslo won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Play, telling the dramatized story of the Norwegian diplomats who secretly brought together representatives of the State of Israel and Palestine to broker the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords, proving that sometimes the greatest act of heroism is the willingness to sit in a room and talk with your enemy.

Oslo also won the 2017 Best or Outstanding Play awards from Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, New York Drama Critics’ Circle and Drama League.

Playwright J.T. ROGERS won the 2017 Obie Award for Best New American Theatre Work for Oslo. He was resident playwright at Salt Lake Acting Company in 2004-2005 and his plays have received world premieres in Utah. Rogers will be at PTC to participate in a post-show talkback hosted by Doug Fabrizio of KUER’s RadioWest after the Saturday, Sept. 22 matinee performance.

JEFF TALBOTT and KATE MIDDLETON portray the married Norwegian diplomats, Terje Rød-Larsen and Mona Juul. The couple organize breakthrough negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat.

“One of the (many) things I love about this play is how undaunting it is. You hear ‘history play, peace in the Middle East’ and immediately think ‘uh-oh, here comes hard work’. But not this play,” said TALBOTT. “It’s wildly entertaining from the first moment. That it happens to also be moving and aspirational in a time when we can really use it is a great bonus.”

TALBOTT returns to PTC after appearing previously in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Odd Couple and Doubt. Also a playwright, he wrote last season’s world premiere of i. MIDDLETON returns to PTC after appearing in the 2014 production of A Few Good Men and 2015’s Alabama Story.

IAN BEDFORD, NEAL BENARI, RICHIE CALL, BEN CHERRY, DEMOSTHENES CHRYSAN, SUSANNA FLORENCE, JOEL REUBEN GANZ, THAMER JENDOUBI and MAX WOERTENDYKE and the ensemble play 35 roles, in 6 languages and 5 dialects.

Utah audiences have seen BEDFORD at Utah Shakespeare Festival where he began his professional career 20 years ago, continuing to film and TV. BENARI’s Broadway credits include Fiddler on the Roof, Aida, Victor/Victoria, The Merchant of Venice, Chess, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Roza and The First. CALL returns to PTC after Newsies, The Last Ship, Something’s Afoot, The Philadelphia Story and Hamlet. CHERRY appeared on Broadway in Indecent and Fiddler on the Roof; CHRYSAN’s turns on Broadway have included Junk, Golden Boy and The Velveteen Rabbit.

FLORENCE has been seen most recently in PTC’s Twelfth Night last season, but also in King Charles III, Fiddler on the Roof and One Man, Two Guvnors. GANZ debuts at PTC; he was in Broadway’s Tony Award-winning War Horse. JENDOUBI also enjoys his regional theatre debut with this production, to add to his career as a comedian. WOERTENDYKE’s credits include Broadway’s A View from a Bridge. 

The rest of the ensemble includes HADLEY HEGE, PATRICK KINTZ and JOHN TERRELL.

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