August 25, 2004

Philadelphia Theatre Company opens its 2004-2005 season with the Philadelphia premiere of Christopher Trumbo's TRUMBO, running October 8 through November 7 at 1714 Delancey Street. Directed by Peter Askin, the play stars Tony Award-winner Bill Irwin and features local favorite Bill Zielinski.

Previews begin Friday, October 8 with opening night on Wednesday, October 13. Performances run Tuesday through Sunday until November 7. Tickets are $30 to $45, with discounts for students, seniors and groups and are available by calling the Box Office at 215-985-0420 or visiting www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org.

Harmelin Media is the production sponsor for TRUMBO. Jewish Exponent is the print media sponsor. City Paper is the season print media sponsor.

Christopher Trumbo, son of the legendary Hollywood 10 blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, culled his play TRUMBO from the letters of his father. TRUMBO tells the story of Hollywood 10 member Dalton Trumbo who went before the House Un-American Activities Committee. After refusing to answer questions about his political affiliations, Trumbo was fired from MGM and imprisoned for a year. Through his brilliant and funny letters to friends, former friends, fronts, and family emerges the story of a family's survival and one stubborn artist's quest to break the blacklist. TRUMBO premiered last season at Off-Broadway's Westside Arts Theatre in August, 2003, starring Nathan Lane.

Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976) wrote or co-wrote dozens of feature films, including Exodus, Spartacus, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Kitty Foyle, Gun Crazy and Papilon. Using fronts and aliases, he won two Academy Awards while blacklisted, for Roman Holiday and The Brave One. He wrote four novels, including the National Book Award-winning Johnny Got His Gun and the acclaimed stage play The Biggest Thief in Town. Trumbo's work continues to inspire contemporary artists as diverse as Steven Spielberg (Always was a remake of Trumbo's A Guy Named Joe) and Metallica (their Grammy-winning “One” was based on Johnny Got His Gun).

Christopher Trumbo (Playwright) has worked as a writer, primarily in the motion picture and television industries, for the last 35 years. He shared a writing credit with his father on the television film Ishi: The Last of His Tribe, completing the project after his father died. His most recent project is the motion picture script of Sinatraland, to be directed by Peter Bodanovich. He began working in motion pictures in 1960 as an assistant director on Otto Preminger's production of Exodus.

Peter Askin (Director) is currently directing the Broadway premiere of Eve Enseler's The Good Body. He has previously directed TRUMBO Off-Broadway starring Nathan Lane. Askin also directed Paul Newman in the role of Dalton Trumbo at Connecticut's Westport Country Playhouse this past summer and will be directing Brian Dennehy in the role at Chicago's Goodman Theatre. Other recent productions include Mike O'Malley's Searching for Certainty, John Leguizamo's record-breaking Sexaholix, Spic-O-Rama (which won a Drama Desk Award) and Mambo Mouth (which won OBIE and Outer Critics' Circle awards). Askin has also directed the New York, London, and Los Angeles productions of Hedwig And The Angry Inch (which won both OBIE and Outer Critics' Circle awards), and Pulitzer Prize finalist Dael Orlandersmith's Monster and Beauty's Daughter (which also received an OBIE Award), as well as her play The Gimmick, which he conceived and directed at Sundance and the McCarter Theatre Center. Other New York credits include Dinner with Demons, How It Hangs, Linda Her, Beauty Marks, Ourselves Alone, Reno, Reality Ranch, and Down an Alley Filled With Cats.

Bill Irwin (Dalton Trumbo) Tony Award-winner for Fool Moon, starred opposite Sally Field in the 2002 Tony Award-winning play Edward Albee's The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? In March of 2005, he will star opposite Kathleen Turner in the Broadway revival of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? He just completed performing in The Signature Theatres' 2003/04 Season dedicated entirely to his original work for which he served as writer, director, and star. His other Broadway work includes his original work, Largely New York, which received five Tony Award nominations and won Drama Desk, Outer Critic Circle and New York Dance and Performance Awards. In the fall of 2000, Bill directed and performed his own adaptation of Samuel Beckett's prose work Texts for Nothing at the Classic Stage Company, for which he received a nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance by the Outer Critics Circle. Irwin has appeared on numerous television shows including The Closing Ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta in which he starred, directed, and choreographed; Northern Exposure, Saturday Night Live, the Tonight Show, the Cosby Show, HBO's Bette Midler: Mondo Beyondo, PBS' Great Performances 20th Anniversary Special, and Sesame Street. His feature films include: Love Conquers All!, Igby Goes Down, the Laramie Project for HBO, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey, John Turturo's Illuminata, Scalpers with Andy Garcia and Mike Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Klein and Rupert Everett. In 1983, Irwin was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographer's Fellowship, and in 1984 was named a Guggenheim fellow and was awarded a five-year MacArthur Fellowship.

Bill Zielinski (Christopher Trumbo) was last seen at Philadelphia Theatre Company in the Barrymore Award-winning production of The Laramie Project. Bill has also performed with Philadelphia Theatre Company in the production of Gross Indecency. A four-time Barrymore nominee, he has recently been seen in The Comedy of Errors and Travels with my Aunt, both at Lantern Theater; Resurrection Blues at The Wilma Theater; Northeast Local and All My Sons at the Arden Theatre Company; Merchant of Venice at People's Light and Theatre Company; and Once at Brat Productions. Film and television credits include Hack and the HBO feature Shot in the Heart.

Philadelphia Theatre Company's production of TRUMBO has a notable design team. Set designer Loy Arcenas designed the American premieres of Love! Valour! Compassion!, Corpus Christi, Prelude to a Kiss, Once on This Island, Spunk, Blue Window, The Invention of Love, Indian Ink, Simpatico and A Man of No Importance. Lighting designer Jeff Croiter has designed lights for Gone Home at Manhattan Theater Club, The Dazzle at Roundabout, The Fourth Wall at Primary Stages, Passion Play at Minetta Lane and Tallulah Hallelujah at Douglas Fairbanks Theater. Sound designer John Gromada, recipient of a 1997 Drama Desk Award and a 1991 Obie Award, has served as composer/sound designer for the Broadway productions of Enchanted April and Proof, as well as for Philadelphia Theatre Company's world premiere of Master Class. Video designer Dennis Diamond, a 2001 Bessie Award recipient, boasts Broadway and theater credits including John Leguizamo's Spic-O-Rama, Blue Man Group, Doug McGrath's Political Animal, Philip Glass' La Belle et La Bete, Bill Irwin's Largely New York and Larry Gelbart's Mastergate.

Philadelphia Theatre Company's subscription season also includes the Philadelphia premieres of THE STORY by Tracey Scott Wilson, directed by Maria Mileaf, running January 28 through February 27; ELEGIES: A SONG CYCLE by William Finn, directed by Joe Calarco, running March 18 through April 17 and TAKE ME OUT, winner of the 2003 Tony Award for Best Play, by Richard Greenberg, directed by James J. Christy running May 13 through June 12.

Subscriptions for the 2004-2005 season are available for $108-$162 for a four-play season by calling Philadelphia Theatre Company at 215-985-0420 or visiting www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org. Special 25 & Younger Flex subscriptions are also available for only $60.

Philadelphia Theatre Company, now in its 29th season, is Philadelphia's only non-profit professional theater dedicated to producing regional and world premieres of works by contemporary American playwrights. Under the artistic direction of Sara Garonzik, Philadelphia Theatre Company has had ever-increasing national impact with over 100 new American plays. Recent world premiere productions include: Bruce Graham's According to Goldman; Jeffrey Hatcher's A Picasso; Daniel Stern's comedy Barbra's Wedding; John Henry Redwood's No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs; J.T. Roger's White People; David Ives' Lives of the Saints; three-time Tony Award-winning Master Class by Terrence McNally; Bunny Bunny by Alan Zweibel; and the American premiere of Birdy by Naomi Wallace. Philadelphia Theatre Company was chosen Best Theatre Company 2003 by Philadelphia Magazine. Since 1995, Philadelphia Theatre Company has received 77 nominations and 21 awards from Philadelphia's Barrymore Awards, most recently for The Last Five Years (Overall Outstanding Production of a Musical, 2002-2003) and A Picasso (Outstanding New Play, 2002-2003). Philadelphia Theatre Company has been in residence at the historic Plays & Players Theater since 1982.

For further information, please call 215-985-1400 or visit www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org.

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