GOD OF CARNAGE

Dates: July 20 – 30

Style: Comedy
Run Time: 80 minutes with no intermission
Ages: 13 and up
(There is no official rating system for live theatre. We invite you to use your own judgment.)

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Show Summary

Written by Yasmina Reza
Translated by Christopher Hampton

What happens when two sets of parents meet up to deal with the unruly behavior of their children? A calm and rational debate between grown-ups about the need to teach kids how to behave properly? Or a hysterical night of name-calling, tantrums and tears before bedtime?

Winner of the 2009 Tony Award. “[A] streamlined anatomy of the human animal…delivers the cathartic release of watching other people’s marriages go boom. A study in the tension between civilized surface and savage instinct, this play is itself a satisfyingly primitive entertainment.” —NY Times. “Elegant, acerbic and entertainingly fueled on pure bile. It’s Reza’s sharpest work since ‘Art’.” —Variety. “Brutally entertaining…in another of Christopher Hampton’s exquisite translations, [Reza] cannily manipulates social observations that appeal to vast audiences and creates characters that bring out the best in actors.” —NY Newsday. “Reza has established herself as a master [of] magnificently constructed plays.” —Entertainment Weekly.

God of Carnage is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service Inc., New York.

Meet the Actors & Crew

Jill Abramovitz
'Veronica Novak'


Broadway credits include: Beetlejuice (Maxine/Juno), as well as Fiddler, Cinderella, 9 to 5, and Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me. Other favorite stage credits include Lillian Kantrowitz in the recent A Walk on the Moon at the George Street Playhouse, Beetlejuice at the National, Sweeney Todd at Avery Fisher Hall, and shows at Papermill (Ever After, Damn Yankees), Goodspeed (Emmet Otter, Band Geeks), Barrington Stage, Kennedy Center, and Westchester Broadway Theatre (Fanny Brice in Funny Girl). On TV, Jill has had recurring roles on Chicago Med (Susan Charles) and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Stevie), and has also appeared in Bluebloods, The Blacklist, L&O SVU, The Last OG, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Madam Secretary, The Good Wife and others. An award-winning writer as well (book and lyrics), Jill contributed lyrics to Broadway’s It Shoulda Been You and has multiple projects in development. www.jillaonline.com

Benim Foster
'Alan Raleigh'


Benim was last seen as Father Nick in Starz’ Shining Vale, with Courteney Cox and Greg Kinnear, and as talk show host Alan Bachman in Ron Howard’s/Brian Grazer’s Genius:Aretha, with Cynthia Erivo. Broadway: Disgraced, Barefoot in the Park, Roundabout Theatre’s National Tour of Twelve Angry Men. Off-Broadway: If I Forget (Roundabout), The Way We Get By, Becky Shaw (both Second Stage), Henry V (The Public/NY Shakespeare Festival), Forever Dusty, Last Train to Nibroc. Benim originated the role of Isaac in the Pulitzer prize winning Disgraced (American Theatre Company). Regional: At The Old Place (La Jolla Playhouse), What The Jews Believe(Berkshire Theatre Fest.), Talley’s Folly (MRT – Best Actor Nomination, IRNE), Disgraced (Huntington/Long Wharf Theatres – Best Actor Nomination, Connecticut Critics Circle), Slueth, Duplex (Best Actor Award, MITF), Skin Of Our Teeth, Shylock in Merchant of Venice, Venetian Twins (all at Quintessence Theatre). Television: New Amsterdam, The Blacklist, The Deuce, FBI:Most Wanted, Fringe, Ugly Betty, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU. Film credits: Golden Boy (also Co-Producer), Stags (Best Actor Nomination, Visionfest Film Festival), Flying Scissors, Noah Wise, That Thing With The Cat, Analyze This, Broadway Damage, The Undeserved, Imperfection, The Best Day Ever. Benim is a graduate of UNCSA, and is proud to have studied under the late Bill Esper at The William Esper Studio.

Vanessa Lock
'Annette Raleigh'


Vanessa is a Washington DC based actress and director fulfilling a long time dream to perform at The Cape Playhouse. She is revisiting the role of Annette after performing the character at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA. Most recently she played Soccer Mom in The Wolves with NextStop Theatre. A member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, Vanessa has spent the past 14 years as the Theatre Arts Director at Oakton High School. Favorite productions include, Men On Boats, Titanic the Musical, and Pirates of Penzance. TV includes: A Haunting in Connecticut, America’s Most Wanted, The Pretender, Two of a Kind, Caroline in the City, and Mad About You. www.vanessalock.com

Jason O'Connell
'Michael Novak'


Jason is thrilled to be making his Cape Playhouse debut! Off-Broadway: Judgment Day (Park Avenue Armory), Happy Birthday, Wanda June (Wheelhouse/The Duke on 42nd St), Pride and Prejudice (Primary Stages), Sense and Sensibility (Bedlam/The Gym at Judson), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Pearl), The Saintliness of Margery Kempe (The Duke), The Seagull & Sense and Sensibility (Bedlam/Sheen Center), Saint Joan & Hamlet (Bedlam/Lynn Redgrave), and multiple incarnations of Jason’s own solo show The Dork Knight (Joe’s Pub, Primary Stages, Abingdon Theatre Company, etc). Other NYC credits include the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble production of Don Juan In Hell (NYIT Award – Outstanding Lead Actor). Regional: Two River Theater (Noises Off, Merry Wives), Syracuse Stage (Amadeus, The Play That Goes Wrong), Kansas City Rep (Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B), Arkansas Rep (All My Sons, Clybourne Park), Delaware Theatre Company (Boeing Boeing), Great Lakes Theater (Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged), American Players Theatre (Merry Wives of Windsor, The Play’s the Thing), Florida Studio Theatre (Next Fall, The Goat), and 11 seasons at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (Much Ado, 39 Steps, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Liar, The Tempest, Into the Woods, etc). Jason’s Shakespearean roles include Hamlet, Richard III, Mercutio, Benedick, Petruchio, Falstaff, Parolles, Berowne, Bottom, Puck, and Caliban. In addition to The Dork Knight, Jason is also the writer of Fat and Scant of Breath, and the co-writer (with Brenda Withers) of Cyrano, an adaptation he directed at Amphibian Stage in Fort Worth (Jason later played the title role at both Two River Theater and HVSF). Other directing credits include Pride and Prejudice at Syracuse Stage and Playhouse on Park, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at HVSF, Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged at Texas Shakespeare Festival, and – most recently – the Off-Broadway premiere of The Head of Richard, a two-actor reinterpretation of Richard III. TV credits include “Search Party”, “Law & Order: SVU”, and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”.www.jason-oconnell.com

Yasmina Reza
Playwright


Yasmena is a French playwright and novelist, based in Paris, whose works have all been multi-award-winning, critical and popular international successes, produced worldwide and translated into 35 languages. She has written seven plays (Conversations After A Burial, The Passage Of Winter, “Art,” The Unexpected Man, Life X 3, A Spanish Play, God Of Carnage, How You Talk The Game) and 6 novels (“Hammerklavier,” “Une Desolation (Desolation),” “Adam Haberberg,” “Dans la Luge d’Arthur Schopenhauer,” “Nulle Part” and “L’Aube, le Soir ou la Nuit (Dawn Dusk or Night)”). Films include: “Le Pique-Nique de Lulu Kreutz,” directed by Didier Martiny and “Chicas,” written and directed by the author.

Christopher Hampton
Translator


Joe Calarco
Director


Joe is thrilled to be working at The Cape Playhouse for the first time. Credits include Off-Broadway: Patrick Barlow’s A Christmas Carol at St. Clements, In Transit and Boy at Primary Stages, R&J (adaptor/director) at The John Houseman, Sarah Plain and Tall at the Lucille Lortel, The Burnt Part Boys and Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky at Playwrights Horizons, in the absence of spring (writer/director) at Second Stage, The Memory Show and Bury the Dead for The Transport Group. Regional: The Kennedy Center, Signature Theater, The Old Globe, ACT, Philadelphia Theater Company, The Shakespeare Company, Chicago Shakespeare Company, the Folger Theater, Round House Theater, Theatre J, Theater Under the Stars, Barrington Stage Company, The O’Neill, Goodspeed, and the National Theater in London among others. He is the winner of the Lucille Lortel Award, 4 Helen Hayes, 2 Barrymore Awards, and has been nominated for the Drama Desk Award twice and for the Evening Standard Award as well. As a playwright, 16 of his plays are published with 3 more about to be. He is a proud member of SDC and of The Dramatists Guild.

Sarah Beth Hall
Scenic Design


Sarah Beth is thrilled to be designing her first show at The Cape Playhouse. Selected design credits include: The Hobbit (Adirondack Theatre Festival), Little Women, One Man, Two Guvnors (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company), Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, Listen for the Light, SuperTrue, The Fisherman’s Wife (Know Theatre), Bonnie & Clyde, Pippin, Mamma Mia! (Summer Rep Theatre Festival), Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare LIVE!), Make Way for Ducklings (Adventure Theatre), Keeper of the Realm (The Carnegie). www.sarahbethhalldesign.com/

Johanna Pan
Costume Designer


JOHANNA PAN (Costume Design) is a Costume and sometimes Scenic designer for Theatre, Film, Dance and Opera, a textile and visual artist, host and co-producer of the podcast “Dirty Laundry: Unpacking the Costume Closet”. Born and raised in Singapore, they currently split their time between New York City and home. They first discovered theatrical design while competing in the creative thinking competition Odyssey of the Mind and has never looked back. They are a proud feminist, lover of vintage clothing and all things related to textile arts. Johanna’s artistic practice is centered around decolonizing the imagination, breaking down the notions of feminized labor, and anti-racism. They continue to harbor hope for a more sustainable humankind in the face of adversity and dreams of a future filled with equity, inclusion and diversity. MFA NYU/TISCH, BFA Ithaca College, ig: @jpandesign

Andrew Cissna
Lighting Designer


Andrew CISSNA is based out of Washington DC. Andrew has lit over 100 productions in both DC and regionally. In DC he has worked with Ford’s Theatre, Round House Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Theatre J, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences, Theatre Alliance, Forum Theatre, Olney Theatre, and many others. Regionally, he has worked at Perseverance Theatre Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Playmakers Repertory Company. He has also assisted many designers from Broadway to The Guthrie and all over DC. Andrew is also the Technical Supervisor for the Spoleto Festival USA held in Charleston, SC.

Jacob Levitin
Sound Designer and Sound Engineer


Jacob has been living and breathing sound and music for as long as he can remember. Most recently, he was the A1 for Islander Off-Broadway (Playhouse 46) and worked on multiple Broadway and touring shows as a music technology specialist with Midiomatic LLC. Jake’s very excited for his first summer at Cape Playhouse! Some of his original music and visual work can be found on Instagram @05_bottlebell.

Arthur Atkinson
Stage Manager


Arthur is thrilled for the return of live theater at the Cape Playhouse! Most recent NYC theatre productions: Liz Swados’s Nightclub Cantata at the Cell Theatre, The Daughter-in-Law at City Center (Mint Theater), Brecht on Brecht (TBTB), Paradise Lost (FPA), Cagney – The Musical at the Westside Theatre; many shows at the Irish Repertory Theatre, the York Theatre Company, Keen Company, The Directors Company, et al. Toured internationally in Fiddler on the Roof starring Topol, then Harvey Fierstein and Theodore Bikel. A proud member of Actors Equity Association. Love to Lisa.

Casey Kaleba
Fight Director


Casey has arranged violence for more than five hundred productions, including the Guthrie Theatre, Spoleto Festival, Folger Theatre, Signature Theatre, and Kennedy Center. Recent work includes Carmen for the Washington National Opera, The Marksman for Wolf Trap Opera, Quixote Nuevo for Round House Theatre, and the national tour of An Officer and a Gentleman. A recognized Fight Director and Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors, Casey served as an audition choreographer for Marvel Universe Live and swung swords, hammers, and pool noodles on the shows Men at Arms: Reforged and Jojo Goes.

JZ Casting
Geoff Josselson, CSA and Katja Zarolinski, CSA


JZ CASTING are New York-based casting directors, handling productions for theatre, film and television. Recent theatrical work includes productions for Arena Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Baltimore Center Stage, Cape Playhouse, Denver Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Irish Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Paper Mill Playhouse, Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Round House Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Theaterworks Hartford, Weston Playhouse. For more information, please visit www.jz-casting.com to see how you can support the next generation of artists.

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