BRAWLER
Brawler
Written by Walt McGough
Directed by M. Bevin O'Gara
April 8 - April 22, 2018
World Premiere
Adam was the scariest man in the NHL, but that was all last season. Now he's down in the minors and high on pills, and he just trashed the Dunkin' Donuts Center locker room. His friends need to talk him down before he gets into real trouble, but he’s got his own agenda, and is spoiling for one last fight. A modern-day riff on Sophocles’ "Ajax," seen through the lens of the last true gladiator sport. Produced in collaboration with Boston Playwrights Theatre
Sponsored By
Travis Hyde- Underwriter
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The Artists
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Cast
ANTHONY GOES (Odie): is making his Kitchen Theatre Company debut. He was last seen locally in Simon Says at the BCA and in the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Regional houses include Pasadena Playhouse, New Victory Theatre, Lynn Redgrave Theatre, Crossroads Theatre, Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, and Connecticut Rep to name a few. Anthony holds an M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Connecticut and currently is an adjunct professor at the Community College of Rhode Island.
GREG MARAIO (Moose): is thrilled to be making his debut at the Kitchen Theatre Company. Greg is a Boston native who has been working as an actor and a director for the past 10 years. He was a member of the ensemble of the 2016 workshop production of Finish Line and returned for its world premiere at Boston's Shubert Theater in March 2017. Recent acting credits include Jordan in the New England premiere of Significant Other (IRNE Nomination) as Jonathon / Miranda in Casa Valentina (Elliot Norton and IRNE nominations) and as Victor / Clint in John Kuntz’s Necessary Monsters (SpeakEasy Stage). Other recent acting credits include Faithless (Boston Playwrights Theatre); Colossal (Company One); Translations (Bad Habit Productions); and The Misadventures of Spy Matthias (Theatre on Fire). He has also worked with many local companies including The Huntington, New Rep, Zeitgeist Stage, and Central Square Theater, where he will be performing the role of La Marquise de Merteuil in their June Production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Greg received a BFA from Lesley University where he studied acting with Anne Pluto.
MARC PIERRE (Jerry): is absolutely thrilled to make his Kitchen Theatre Company debut. Most recent credits include Airness (Actors Theatre of Louisville); When January Feels Like Summer (Central Square Theatre); Peter and the Starcatcher (Lyric Stage Company); Milk Like Sugar (Huntington Theatre Company); The Flick (Gloucester Stage); Romeo and Juliet and King Lear (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); I am a Camera (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre); Great Expectations and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (New Repertory Theatre). Off-Broadway credits include Line (13th Street Repertory Company). Film credits include Twelve (Radar Pictures). Marc received his B.F.A. at Emerson College. He is a recipient of the Isabel Sanford Scholarship and Emerson College’s Acting Area Award.
GIGI WATSON (Trisha): is grateful to be collaborating with KTC for the first time on a new work. Her Boston area theatre credits include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (SpeakEasy Stage); Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth (Brown Box Theatre Project); Finish Line (Boston Theater Company); Billy Elliot (Wheelock Family Theatre); The T Party (Company One); Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar (Fiddlehead Theatre Company); Meet Me in St. Louis (Greater Boston Stage Company); Coriolanus (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); and Café Variations (ArtsEmerson/SITI Company). Additionally, Gigi works with commercial and corporate clients as a video and voiceover artist. She also coaches acting and singing with My College Audition. Gigi holds a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from Emerson College
Creative Team
WALT MCGOUGH (Playwright): is a Boston-based playwright (by way of Pittsburgh and Chicago). In Boston, he has held fellowships with both the Huntington and New Repertory Theatre Companies, and was a finalist for the 2016 Dramatists Guild Lanford Wilson Award. His plays include PATTERN OF LIFE, which was named Best New Play by the Independent Reviewers of New England, and THE FARM, PRISCILLA DREAMS THE ANSWER, and PAPER CITY PHOENIX, all of which received Best New Play IRNE nominations. Other plays include CHALK, DANTE DIES!! (AND THEN THINGS GET WEIRD), THE HABERDASHER!, and NON-PLAYER CHARACTER. He has worked around the country with companies such as San Francisco Playhouse, The Lark, the Huntington, New Rep, Playwrights Foundation, the Kennedy Center, NNPN, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Fresh Ink, Sideshow, Orfeo Group, Nu Sass Productions, Chicago Dramatists, and Argos. In 2015, his play ADVICE FOR ASTRONAUTS was selected as the winner of the Milken Playwriting Prize. He has served on the staff at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston and Chicago Dramatists, is a founding ensemble member of Chicago's Sideshow Theatre Company, and co-hosts the bi-weekly pop culture comedy podcast CROSSOVER APPEAL. He holds a BA from the University of Virginia, and an MFA in playwriting from Boston University. More information at www.waltmcgough.com
M. BEVIN O'GARA (Director): is Artistic Producing Director at the Kitchen Theatre Company. As a director, Bevin's credits include The Who & The What by Ayad Ahktar, Milk Like Sugar by Kirsten Greenidge (Elliot Norton Award nomination for Best Production) and Becoming Cuba by Melinda Lopez at the Huntington Theatre Company; The Bridges of Madison County, appropriate, A Future Perfect, Tribes (Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards for Best Production), and Clybourne Park with SpeakEasy Stage Company; Brahman/i, Chronicles of Kalki, You for Me for You, Love Person, and The Pain and the Itch with Company One Theatre; Phedre with Actors’ Shakespeare Project; Fast Company with the Lyric Stage Company, Marjorie Prime with the Nora Theatre Company, How Soft the Lining and Translations with Bad Habit Productions, Two Wives in India and Gary with Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 2.5 Minute Ride with New Repertory Theatre, and Melancholy Play with Holland Productions.
CRISTINA TODESCO (Scenic Designer): Most recent credits include The Bakelite Masterpiece (New Repertory Theater), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Boston Conservatory), and Brawler (Boston Playwright's Theater). Theater companies include Actors' Shakespeare Project, Company One, ART Institute, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, the Culture Project, Gloucester Stage, Huntington Theatre, Boston Playwrights, Merrimack Repertory Theater, Olney Theater Center, Orfeo Group, Poet's Theater, Speakeasy Stage Company, Stoneham Theater, Harbor Stage, Summer Play Festival, Trinity Rep, Wheelock Family Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival among many more. She has designed for the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall in Boston and at Tanglewood. For Outstanding Design, she is the recipient of four Eliot Norton Awards: The Clean House (New Rep), Twelfth Night (ASP), The Aliens and The Flick (Company One) and an IRNE Award: appropriate (Speakeasy Stage). She earned a BFA in painting from Boston University's School of Visual Arts, and an MFA in scenic design from BU's School of Theatre Arts, where she currently teaches.
PENNEY PINETTE (Costume Designer): is a Boston-based designer focusing in dance and theatre. She has designed Ideation, The Gift Horse, Golda's Balcony, and A Number at New Rep. In addition she teaches costume production at Boston University where she has recently received her MFA. She has worked with Boston Conservatory's dance department from 2013-2017, puppeteer Bonnie Duncan of They Gotta Be Secret Agents, and the Boston dance community, including Prometheus Dance, Contrapose Dance, and Fort Point Theater Productions.
EVEY CONNERTY-MARIN (Lighting Designer): is delighted to be working on Brawler again and making their debut design outside of Boston. Previous designs include The Lion King Jr (Edison K-8), Lost Tempo and The Honey Trap (Boston Playwrights' Theatre). They are a recent graduate of Boston University with a degree in lighting design and a concentration in lighting production. You can find their other projects on their website: www.eveylight.com.
ANDREW DUNCAN WILL (Sound Designer): is a Boston-based sound designer and educator. Brawler is his third collaboration with M. Bevin O'Gara, following Brian Friel's Translations and a world premiere of How Soft the Lining by Kirsten Greenidge. Recent Boston design credits include productions with Hasty Pudding, A.R.T. Institute, Lyric Stage, Bad Habit Productions, Flotsam Productions, Gloucester Stage, Stoneham Theatre, Puppet Showplace Theater, New Rep, Fresh Ink, Boston Public Works, Commonwealth Shakespeare, and Company One. Andrew received an MFA in Sound Design from Boston University.
MISHA SHIELDS (Movement and Fight Choreographer): is a dance and aerial circus choreographer in the Boston and New York areas. Off-Broadway credits include Baghdaddy (Chita Rivera Award Nominee/St. Luke's Theater), Wonderland (Atlantic Theater), and The Orion Experience (XL Nightclub). Other credit highlights include I Was Most Alive With You, Milk Like Sugar, A Doll's House, Ripcord (Huntington Theatre Company); Emma! (Stageworks Media workshop); Zombies on Broadway! (RKO Theatricals workshop); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Merrily We Roll Along (APAC); Company (St. Bart's Players); The Bridges of Madison County (SpeakEasy Stage Company); We're Gonna Die, Hype Man, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., Really (Company One Theatre); Rocky Horror (Yale); Cabaret and Sunday in the Park With George (Boston Conservatory). Upcoming in 2018: Loch Ness (Adirondack Theatre Festival). Love to Ben and Shea. www.mishashields.com