MAURITIUS

by Theresa Rebeck

Directed by Jessica Kubzansky
March 27 – April 26, 2009

A new mystery by one of America's most prolific playwrights!

Filled with scams and double-crosses, two half-sisters vie for the rights to a recently inherited (and dazzlingly valuable) stamp collection. Throughout their farcical escapades, the pair come face-to-face with a couple of machine-gun mouthed con artists who ensnare them in their own brand of beguiling trickery.

"Three Thugs and a Stamp Collection! You can't dismiss the pleasurable kick of watching a woman take on a slew of Mamet-esque thugs! The corkscrew-twist drama of suspense...moves quickly and fluidly...a multitude of mysteries!"
- Ben Brantley, The New York Times on the Broadway production of Mauritius

Starring:
Ray Abruzzo (The Sopranos, LA Law)
John Billingsley (True Blood, Star Trek: Enterprise)
Kirsten Kollender (Home Baking Made Easy, Williamstown Theatre Festival)
Monette Magrath (The Constant Wife, Pasadena Playhouse)
Chris L. McKenna (Art School Confidential)

 

Stamp Collectors Day: A Celebration of the Stamp

Saturday, April 11
1:00 - 3:30 p.m.
On the Playhouse Courtyard

Special Pasadena Playhouse Pictorial Postmark, USPS Exhibition and presentation by fine artist Synthia Saint James.

For more information, please email Gay Parker at gparker@pasadenaplayhouse.org.


Quotes and Reviews
Related Links
More about the creative team:
     Theresa Rebeck
    Jessica Kubzansky

Learn more about:
     The Republic of Mauritius
     Mauritius Post Office Stamps

Quotes and Reviews

"Taut dramatic intrigue!"
"The work draws you in with its twists and turns... Mauritius ensnares us in the tricky pursuit of genuine value."
- Charles McNulty, LA Times

"An altogether exciting, richly rewarding experience!"
- Bob Verini, Variety

"GO! A slick and polished production, with an impeccable cast!"
- Neal Weaver, LA Weekly


Related Links*
Theresa Rebeck’s Official Website

Theresa Rebeck in the news
About the Republic of Mauritius

About Mauritius “Post Office” Stamps

About Stamp Collecting

Jessica Kubzansky Interview on Backstage.com
Ray Abruzzo on the Internet Movie Database
John Billingsley’s Official Website
 

Bonus Features
Facebook Page
MySpace Page
 

Theresa Rebeck (Playwright): is a widely produced playwright throughout the United States and abroad. Past New York productions of her work include Mauritius at the Biltmore Theatre in a Manhattan Theater Club Production; The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann and Spike Heels at Second Stage; Bad Dates and The Butterfly Collection at Playwrights Horizons; and View of the Dome at New York Theatre Workshop. Omnium Gatherum (co-written, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003) was featured at the Humana Festival, and had a commercial run at the Variety Arts Theatre. Her newest work, The Understudy, will premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival this summer and will star frequent collaborator Julie White.

In television, Ms. Rebeck has written for Dream On, Brooklyn Bridge, L.A. Law, American Dreamer, Maximum Bob, First Wave, and Third Watch. She has been a writer/producer for Canterbury’s Law, Smith, Law and Order: Criminal Intent and NYPD Blue. Her produced feature films include Harriet the Spy, Gossip, and the independent feature Sunday on the Rocks. Awards include the Mystery Writer’s of America’s Edgar Award, the Writer’s Guild of America award for Episodic Drama, the Hispanic Images Imagen Award, and the Peabody, all for her work on NYPD Blue. She has won the National Theatre Conference Award (for The Family of Mann), and was awarded the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award in 2003 for The Bells. Mauritius was originally produced at Boston’s Huntington Theatre, where it received the 2007 IRNE Award for Best New Play as well as the Eliot Norton Award.
Ms. Rebeck is originally from Cincinnati and holds an MFA in Playwriting and a PhD. in Victorian Melodrama, both from Brandeis University. She is a proud board member of the Dramatists Guild and has taught at Brandeis University and Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband Jess Lynn and two children, Cooper and Cleo.

Jessica Kubzansky (Director) is the Co-Artistic Director of The Theatre @ Boston Court in Pasadena and an award-winning director working around the country at such venues as South Coast Rep, The Geffen Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, The Mark Taper Forum/Kirk Douglas New Works, the Laguna Playhouse, The Aurora, The American Stage Co., and many more. Kubzansky does a great deal of new work; recent world premieres include Bob Clyman's Tranced (Laguna Playhouse), Bryan Davidson's War Music (Geffen Playhouse and LATC) Nick Salamone's and Maury McIntyre's Gulls, a musical adaptation of The Seagull; Mickey Birnbaum's Bleed Rail, Carlos Murillo's Unfinished American Highwayscape #9 & 32, Jean-Claude van Itallie's Light, Cody Henderson's Cold/Tender (all at The Theatre @ Boston Court); in addition Julia Cho's BFE (Portland Center Stage JAW/WEST), Tory Stewart's Leitmotif (South Coast Rep's Pacific Playwrights Festival), Sheila Callaghan's Kate Crackernuts (24th St. Theatre) etc. Other recent work includes: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Illinois Shakespeare Festival), The Glass Menagerie, Toys in the Attic (The Colony Theatre) Hare/Brecht's Mother Courage (T@BC), Measure for Measure (A Noise Within), Amy's View, The Servant to Two Masters (International City Theatre), Dancing at Lughnasa (La Mirada McCoy/Rigby), Pirates of Penzance (The Publick), and many others. Kubzansky received the 2004 Los Angeles' Drama Critics' Circle's Margaret Harford Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatre.

The Republic of Mauritius* is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometres (560 mi) east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the republic includes the islands of St. Brandon, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands. Mauritius was first settled by the Dutch in 1638, but was seized by the French in 1715. Under French rule, the island developed a prosperous economy based on sugar production. During the Napoleonic Wars in 1810, Mauritius was surrendered to the British. Mauritius attained independence in 1968 and the country became a republic within the Commonwealth in 1992. Mauritius has been a stable democracy with regular free elections and a positive human rights record, and has attracted considerable foreign investment earning one of Africa's highest per capita incomes.

The island is well known for its natural beauty. Author Mark Twain, for example, noted in Following the Equator, his personal travelogue, "You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first and then heaven, and that heaven was copied after Mauritius".

The official language of Mauritius is English and Mauritian society includes people from many different ethnic groups. A majority of the republic's residents are the descendants of people from the Indian subcontinent. Mauritius also contains substantial populations from continental Africa, Madagascar, France, Great Britain, and China, among other places.

In 1847, Mauritius became the fifth country in the world to issue postage stamps. The two types of stamps issued then, known as the Mauritius "Post Office" stamps, consisting of a Red Penny and Blue Two Pence denomination, are probably the most famous and valuable stamps in the world.

Mauritius “Post Office” Stamps* are among the rarest stamps in the world, and are of legendary status in the world of philately. Two stamps were issued: an orange-red one-penny (1d) and a deep blue two-pence (2d).

These stamps were engraved by Englishman Joseph Osmond Barnard, who stowed away on a ship to Mauritius in 1838. The designs were based on the then current issue of Great Britain stamps (first released in 1841), bearing the profile head of Queen Victoria.

Five hundred of each value were printed from a single plate bearing both values and issued on September 21, 1847, many of which were used on invitations sent out by the wife of the Governor of Mauritius for a ball she was holding that weekend. The stamps were printed using the intaglio method (recessed printing), and bear the engraver's initials "JB" at the lower right margin of the bust. The words "Post Office" appear in the left panel, but on the following issue in 1848, “Post Paid” replaced these words.

The stamps, as well as the subsequent issues, are highly prized by collectors because of their rarity, their early dates and their primitive character as local products (learn more about stamp collecting ). Surviving stamps are mainly in the hands of private collectors but some are on public display in the British Library in London, including the envelope of an original invitation to the Governor's ball complete with stamp. Another place where they can be seen is at the Blue Penny Museum in Mauritius.

Click here for information about subscriber benefits or purchase your subscription today!

* Note that the links found on this part of the website take you to pages not monitored in anyway by Pasadena Playhouse. The views and opinions expressed on this websites do not reflect that of our theatre in any way.