Olney Theatre Center

Jim Petosa to Continue as Artistic Director

RABBIT HOLE: MOVING, FUNNY, AND BRAVE

(Olney, MD) The Washington–area premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole takes the New Mainstage at Olney Theatre Center beginning August 6. In this drama with light overtones, Lindsay-Abaire explores how a family copes with a tragic loss. “Rabbit Hole is not just a play about grief,” said Director Mitchell Hébert. “Rather it is a play about survival, moving on, connecting anew after a tragedy, and the bravery, passion, and beauty in people needing each other.”

Rabbit Hole plays on the Mainstage Stage August 6 – 31 with a special Pay-What-You-Can Preview on Tuesday, August 5 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are just $25 - $48 with discounts available to groups, seniors, and students. Call the Box Office at 301.924.3400 or visit olneytheatre.org for tickets. In addition, Olney offers several special performances that include sign interpretation, audio description, and post-show discussions. (Please see the attached “Fact Sheet” for more details.)

Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Rabbit Hole follows Becca and Howie Corbett, who are ordinary people living in an upscale suburban neighborhood. It seems they have everything, but a life-shattering accident turns their world upside down and leaves the couple drifting perilously apart. With honesty and humor, Rabbit Hole is a rich journey that searches for hope, comfort, and forgiveness in the darkest moments of our lives. “This story is human and comedic,” Hébert said. “Grief comes in many colors, shades, and phases that people pass through, and Lindsay-Abaire went straight at it.”

Rabbit Hole will be Mitchell Hébert’s first foray into directing at Olney Theatre Center. He has, however, been seen on stage at Olney in such roles as Dysart in Equus, Salieri in Amadeus, and the title role in Tartuffe. He will appear at the end of the season as Captain Hook in Peter Pan. Other work includes directing The Distance from Here and Savage in Limbo for Woolly Mammoth

Theatre Company/University of Maryland collaboration and acting in Mrs. Farnsworth at Rep Stage and Treasure Island at Round House Theatre. Mitchell is also Director of the MFA in Performance at the University of Maryland, Department of Theatre.

The talented cast features veteran and fresh faces to the Olney stage. Playing the lead role of Becca Corbett is Deborah Hazlett. She last appeared at Olney in Death of a Salesman. Other regional credits are Bug (U.S. premiere) at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Syracuse Stage; Frozen at Playmaker's Repertory Theatre; and Blue Room at Signature Theatre. Howie Corbett (Becca’s Husband) is Paul Morella who has most recently appeared at Olney in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. His other Olney credits include Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, and Private Lives. His many regional credits include Romeo and Juliet at The Studio Theatre and The Treasure of Ursa Major at The Kennedy Center. Izzy (Becca’s zany sister) is Megan Anderson who is a company resident at Everyman Theatre where she has performed as Hero in Much Ado About Nothing, Joyce in And A Nightingale Sang, and Helen in The Cripple of Inishmaan. Kate Kiley who has appeared all over the country in various theaters including The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, San Diego Rep, and Arkansas Rep, will play the role of Nat (Becca’s well-meaning but off-kilter mom). Playing the part of Jason (the high school student who is the catalyst of the Corbett’s grief) is University of Maryland, College Park student Aaron Bliden. Bliden is pleased to make his first appearance at Olney Theatre Center. At Maryland he has performed in a variety of mainstage and student productions including The Ash Girl at Kay Theatre and The Physicists.

In addition to Hébert, the creative team for Rabbit Hole includes Scenic Designer Marie-Noëlle Daigneault (National Players Tour 58 traveling set for Othello and The Importance of Being Earnest) who has designed a comfortable house with real working fixtures for the Corbett’s to live in, including a sink and refrigerator, and a revolving bedroom; Costume Designer, Kathleen Geldard (Olney’s Of Mice and Men, In the Mood, and Elephant Man); Sound Designer Jarett C. Pisani (Olney’s Stuff Happens, The Mousetrap, and 1776); and Lighting Designer Charlie Morrison (Olney’s Fiddler on the Roof, Of Mice and Men, and Eubie!).

Author David Lindsay-Abaire was born and raised in Boston’s inner city. The son of a factory worker and a fruit peddler, Lindsay-Abaire attended public school until the age of 12 when he received a six-year scholarship to the Milton Academy, a small, private New England prep school. It was there that he first became interested in writing plays. He went on to concentrate in theater at Sarah Lawrence College, and was accepted into the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at the Juilliard School. His career really began to take off with Fuddy Meers in 1999, which earned several awards during this initial run, including the John Gassner Playwrighting Award. Some of his other plays include Kimberly Akimbo, Wonder of the World, A Devil Inside, and Snow Angel.

Rabbit Hole was commissioned by South Coast Repertory and first presented at its Pacific Playwrights Festival reading series in 2005. In 2006, after 23 previews, Rabbit Hole opened at the Biltmore Theatre, where it ran for 77 performances. The play was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Play, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Rabbit Hole is the second most produced play in 2008 next to Doubt: A Parable, which was on Olney’s Mainstage earlier this year.

Jim Petosa to Continue as Artistic Director

(Olney, MD) The Olney Theatre Board of Directors is proud to announce that Jim Petosa will continue as Artistic Director for the 70-year old institution. “Jim is one of the most talented Artistic Directors in the country. He is a tremendous artist with great leadership skills and we are delighted that he will be continuing with us,” states George Brown, Olney Board President.

The news comes after a June 2007 announcement that Petosa would finish his 15-year tenure as Artistic Director after the theater’s 2008 Season.

Since that time, a new zeitgeist has swept Olney. Motivated by critical and financial success of the 2008 season and the hiring of new, energetic Managing Director—Amy Marshall, the Board requested that Petosa reconsider his decision to leave at such an exciting time in the theater’s growth.

“I am energized by the Board's unexpected invitation to continue as Artistic Director of Olney Theatre Center and by the growing and excellent partnership with Amy. It is a new chapter in the life of this theater, and I am pleased to serve as its artistic leader for this next phase,” says Petosa.

Marshall is equally thrilled by the news. “I could not be happier about Jim reconsidering his decision to step away. I am delighted that our collaboration will continue; it allows me an opportunity to learn from his experience and wisdom. It is also inspiring to know that our productions will continue to be of the highest quality under Jim’s leadership,” says Marshall.

Petosa’s affiliation with the theater dates back to 1979. He has been Artistic Director since 1994, and he also serves as Artistic Director for National Players. In 2002, he was appointed Director of the School of Theatre at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts. Under

Petosa’s guidance, Olney Theater began a major expansion plan, the largest component of the plan was the New Mainstage (a 429-seat theater), which opened in the summer of 2005.

Petosa is a nationally recognized artist. His many Olney directing credits include

Democracy, Brooklyn Boy, In the Mood, An Enemy of the People, The Elephant Man, The Miracle Worker, Copenhagen, The Laramie Project, and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well & Living in Paris (Helen Hayes Award).

As a guest artist, he has directed at The Kennedy Center, The Studio Theatre, Round House Theatre, Washington Jewish Theatre, and Rep Stage. Petosa has directed for University of Maryland, College Park; The Catholic University of America; The George Washington University; and Middlebury College. He serves as a stage director for Boston University's acclaimed Opera Institute and serves as Executive Producer of the Boston University InCite Arts Festival, an annual event in New York City. His most recent direction of the Tom Stoppard/Andre Previn collaboration Every Good Boy Deserves Favour performed at The Town Hall this past March. He continues his association as one of three artistic directors of Potomac Theatre Project, now in its 21st season, its second in New York City where he will be directing the New York premiere of Neal Bell's Somewhere in the Pacific this July.

Olney Theatre’s 2008 Mainstage Season continues through the end of the calendar year. Tickets are still available by calling 301.924.3400 or visiting www.olneytheatre.org. The 2009 Season, again under Petosa’s leadership, will be announced in late summer ‘08.

Click here for more season information