Bay Street Theater unveils its second Main Stage production with "Five Presidents." A new play by Emmy Award-winning writer Rick Cleveland ( Six Feet Under, The West Wing, and House of Cards), the production has already been extended for an additional week due to popular demand. The play opens June 23 and runs through July 19, 2015. The Bay Street Theater production is the East Coast premiere of the play.

"Five Presidents" is a funny and incisive new drama is about the meeting of America’s most exclusive club – the ex-presidents. Obliged to gather together on the day of Richard Nixon’s funeral, four “exes” and one “current” vent frustrations, revisit old grievances, and reveal the toll that it takes on any person foolish enough to seek the highest office in the land.

Directed by Mark Clements, the cast stars John Bolger (" Twelve Angry Men," "South Pacific," "Macbeth"), Mark Jacoby ("Ragtime," "Show Boat," "Sweeny Todd"), Martin L’Herault ("Godspell," "Of Mice and Men," "The Merchant of Venice"), Reese Madigan ("Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Death of a Salesman"), Steve Sheridan (Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Drew Carey Show), Britt Whittle (30 Rock, "Glass Menagerie").

.

Brit Whittle, Mark Jacoby, Steve Sheridan, Martin L Herault, John Bolger. Photo: Lenny Stucker/LennyStucker.com.

Brit Whittle, Mark Jacoby, Steve Sheridan, Martin L Herault, John Bolger. Photo: Lenny Stucker/LennyStucker.com.

.

The production team includes Todd Edward Ivins (Set Designer), Jesse Klug (Lighting Designer), Brian Jerome Peterson (Sound Designer), Mary Folino (Costume Designer), Lauren Wilde (Makeup Designer), and Richelle Harrington Calin (Production Stage Manager).

This production was originally produced at the Arizona Theatre Company and the Milwaukee Repertory Theater and was commissioned by Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

A “Pay What You Can” performance will be on June 23 at 7 pm. “PWYC” tickets are limited and will be available at the Box Office beginning at 11 am. Previews are sponsored by Peconic Landing.

“30 UNDER 30” also returns this year. If you are under the age of 30, you can attend the Mainstage performance for just $30. Photo ID must be shown.

Returning this year is TALKBACK TUESDAY with Bay Street’s Artistic Director, Scott Schwartz, and members of the "Five Presidents" cast following each Tuesday performance except for preview week.

.

Martin L Herault, Steve Sheridan, John Bolger.

Martin L Herault, Steve Sheridan, John Bolger. Photo: Lenny Stucker/LennyStucker.com.

.

"Five Presidents" playwright Rick Cleveland is an Emmy-winning writer/ producer whose television credits include The West Wing, Six Feet Under, Mad Men, Nurse Jackie, and House of Cards.

Cleveland’s stage play Jerry and Tom was adapted into a feature film and was an official selection at both the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals. He cowrote the screenplay for the motion picture adaptation of John Grisham’s Runaway Jury, which starred John Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman.

Cleveland was invited to the National Playwrights’ Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center twice, in 1991 and 1993, and is a Founding Member of American Blues Theatre, Chicago’s second oldest ensemble-based theatre company, and Founding Member of the Ojai Playwrights Conference. Several of his plays have been published by Samuel French and Dramatists Play Service, and have been produced around the country, as well as in the U.K., Germany, Scotland, Moscow, Mexico City and Istanbul.

Award-winning Director Mark Clements makes his Bay Street debut with "Five Presidents". Mark began his tenure as Milwaukee Rep’s Artistic Director with the 2010/11 season. He is an award-winning international theater director whose work has appeared in over 100 major theaters throughout Europe and the United States.

Recent productions for the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia include: "Five Presidents", "The Color Purple," "The History of Invulnerability," "End of the Rainbow," "Ragtime," "Clybourne Park," "Assassins," "Othello," "Next to Normal," "Death of a Salesman," "Born Yesterday," "Great Expectations," "Les Misérables" (2008 Barrymore Award – Best Production of a Musical), "Of Mice and Men" (2007 Barrymore Award – Best Director and Best Production of a Play) and others.

Clements directed "The Milliner" (Off -Broadway, World Premiere), "CSC" (New York); "My Fair Lady," (Copenhagen); "The Browning Version" (Barclays/TMA Regional Theatre Award) at Derby Playhouse and "Blunt Speaking" (World Premiere) at Chichester Festival Theatre (U.K.) and the Lucille Lortel Theatre (New York).

Clements served as an Associate Artistic Director for Moving Theatre Company, the production company founded by Vanessa and Corin Redgrave. He has also been Associate Director for New End Theatre and New Players Theatre (London), Royal Theatre (Northampton) and Torch Theatre (Wales). He serves on the National Advisory Board for the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program at Ten Chimneys.

.

Mark Jacoby, Steve Sheridan. Photo: Lenny Stucker/LennyStucker.com.

Mark Jacoby, Steve Sheridan. Photo: Lenny Stucker/LennyStucker.com.

.

Actor John Bolger (Gerald Ford) is new stranger to the stage or screen. Stage productions include appearances in Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (Marin Alsop conductor); "Outside Mullingar," "Good People," "Twelve Angry Men," "Lips Together Teeth Apart," at George St. Playhouse; "South Pacific" (National Tour); "Dirty Dancing" (National Tour);  "Richard the III" (Hartford Stage); "Light Up the Sky" (The Roundabout); and others.

Television credits include The Blacklist, Elementary, Person of Interest, Royal Pains, The Black Donnelly's, Law and Order, Sex and the City, NYPD Blue, General Hospital. Film: The Union, Black and White, Just Looking, Parting Glances.

Actor Mark Jacoby (George Herbert Walker Bush) returns to Bay Street, having previously appeared in "Rumble in the Ring." Jacoby's Broadway roles include Walter Hobbs in "Elf," Judge Turpin in "Sweeney Todd," Padre Perez in "Man of La Mancha," Father in "Ragtime," Gaylord Ravenal in "Show Boat" (Tony, Outer Critics, and Joseph Jefferson Award nominations), Baron von Gaigern in "Grand Hotel," and Vittorio Vidal in "Sweet Charity" (Theatre World Award).

His New York credits include "Critical Darling" for The New Group, "Sitting Pretty" for The Hypothetical Theatre, and "Enter the Guardsman" for The Vineyard Theatre (Drama Desk nomination). Jacoby has appeared in the First National Tour of "Wicked" and has performed regionally at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Maltz-Jupiter Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre (Barrymore Award), Goodman and Signature Theatres (Helen Hayes Nomination) and more.

Television credits include all three Law & Order’s and the soap operas The Guiding Light, As the World Turns, One Life to Live, and All My Children.

.

Mark Jacoby, Steve Sheridan, Brit Whittle, John Bolger, Martin L Herault. Photo: Lenny Stucker/LennyStucker.com.

Mark Jacoby, Steve Sheridan, Brit Whittle, John Bolger, Martin L Herault. Photo: Lenny Stucker/LennyStucker.com.

.

Actor Martin L’Herault (Jimmy Carter) makes his Bay Street Theater debut in"Five Presidents". New York credits include Jimmy Bulkeley in "Bonus Army" and New York Comedy Repertory Ensemble (Founding Member). He has appeared regionally in productions staged at the Jenny Wiley Theatre, The Gard Theatre, Dobama West, and the Wisconsin Shakespeare Festival.

Television credits include Judge Chillingworth on A Crime to Remember and Philip Bates on I’d Kill for You. Lifetime credits include Father of Kimberly L'Herault.

Actor Reese Madigan (Special Agent Michael Kirby) returns to Bay Street having appeared as John in David Mamet’s "A Life in the Theater." Madigan's Broadway credits include Abe Lincoln in "Illinois" (Lincoln Center) and "Holiday" (Circle in the Square). Off-Broadway productions include "Richard II," "Richard III," "Henry IV parts 1 &2" (all at The Public Theatre); "Night and Her Stars" (Manhattan Theatre Club) and others.

Madigan is an Associate Artist at The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, where he’s appeared in 14 plays. Regional theater appearances include Actors Theatre of Louisville; Arena Stage; The Shakespeare Theatre; CENTERSTAGE, Cincinnati Playhouse, Virginia Stage Company, Arizona Theatre Company, San Jose Rep, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Shakespeare on the Sound and others.

Recent television credits include Elementary, The Black Box and he has appeared in the film American Shaolin.

.

Mark Jacoby, Steve Sheridan, Brit Whittle, John Bolger, Martin L Herault. Photo: Lenny Stucker/LennyStucker.com.

Mark Jacoby, Steve Sheridan, Brit Whittle, John Bolger, Martin L Herault. Photo: Lenny Stucker/LennyStucker.com.

.

Actor Steve Sheridan (Ronald Reagan) takes the Bay Street Theater stage for the first time. Sheridan is an alumnus of Chicago’s famed theater, The Second City, where he wrote and performed in a number of hit shows, including Jean-Paul Sartre and Ringo (Joseph Jefferson Award nomination). Stage work in Los Angeles garnered him awards from LA Weekly and Drama-Logue for both acting and playwriting.

Film credits include Nothing in Common and Vice Versa. Television credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Drew Carey Show and Malcolm in the Middle.

Actor Brit Whittle (Bill Clinton) has appeared in multiple World Premiere in New York including   "The Mnemonist of Dutchess County," "Lifeline" and "Lyric is Waiting." Additional New York appearances include productions with Attic Theater Company at Theater Row, Abingdon Theatre Company, kef productions, Wonderful World Attic Theater Company at Theater Row and JB 78th Street Theater Lab.

Regional appearances include the World Premiere of "Five Presidents" at Milwaukee Rep and a production at Arizona Theater Company. He has appeared in Regional theater productions mounted by the Contemporary American Theater Festival (WV), North Dorset Theatre (VT) and the Gulfshore Playhouse, Cobb Riverside Theatre Company, Asolo Theatre and Banyan Theater (all in FL).

His television appearances include American Odyssey, Younger, The Blacklist, Believe, The Carrie Diaries, Law & Order: SVU, Blue Bloods, Mercy, 30 Rock, All My Children, One Life to Live, Guiding Light, As the World Turns Film: The Adjustment Bureau, Say Yes Quickly, Red Rover, Odessa, December Thaw, and House of Lords.

.

Brit Whittle, Mark Jacoby, Steve Sheridan, Martin L Herault, John Bolger. Photo: Lenny Stucker/LennyStucker.com.

Brit Whittle, Mark Jacoby, Steve Sheridan, Martin L Herault, John Bolger. Photo: Lenny Stucker/LennyStucker.com.

.

BASIC FACTS: "Five Presidents" has its East Coast Premiere at Bay Street Theater. It will be performed from June 23 to July 19, 2015. To purchase tickets, visit www.baystreet.org or call the Box Office at 631-725-9500.

A “Pay What You Can” performance will be on June 23 at 7 p.m. and are available at the Box Office beginning at 11 am. “30 UNDER 30” provides tickets for $30 for those under 30 years old. Photo ID required.

TALKBACK TUESDAY will be held with Bay Street’s Artistic Director, Scott Schwartz and members of the "Five Presidents" cast each Tuesday except for preview week.

For details or to discover additional performances at Bay Street, visit www.baystreet.org.

_____________________

Copyright 2015 Hamptons Art Hub LLC. All rights reserved.

Don't miss a story!

We are on Social Networks

Comments are closed.

subscribe
error: Content is protected !!