The Father The Father

The Father  | 

February 5 — March 1

André was once a tap dancer. He lives with his daughter, Anne, and her husband, Antoine. Or was André an engineer, whose daughter Anne lives in London with her new lover, Pierre? The thing is, he is still wearing his pajamas, and he can’t find his watch. He is starting to wonder if he’s losing control. Featuring acclaimed actor Alfred Molina (Frida, An Education, Enchanted April) in a tour-de-force performance that will captivate audiences and leave you breathless.

“GRIPPED...Tiptop production”

-Los Angeles Times

By Florian Zeller

Translated by Christopher Hampton

Directed by Jessica Kubzansky

Starring Alfred Molina

90 minutes, no intermission

MEMBERS: FREE

TICKETS: $25+

André was once a tap dancer. He lives with his daughter, Anne, and her husband, Antoine. Or was André an engineer, whose daughter Anne lives in London with her new lover, Pierre? The thing is, he is still wearing his pajamas, and he can’t find his watch. He is starting to wonder if he’s losing control. Featuring acclaimed actor Alfred Molina (Frida, An Education, Enchanted April) in a tour-de-force performance that will captivate audiences and leave you breathless.

“GRIPPED...Tiptop production”

-Los Angeles Times
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Open Captioning

The Open Captioned performance of The Father will be on Sunday, Feb 23 at 2:00 PM.

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Support for Open Captioning is provided in part by TDF. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Cast

Alfred Molina

Alfred Molina

André

Alfred Molina

Alfred hails from London and has lived and worked in the USA since the early 90s. His career spans over 45 years with more than 200 credits in theater, television, and lm. He made his lm debut in Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark and quickly followed up with appearances for directors as diverse as Richard Donner, Mike Leigh, Jim Jarmusch, Lasse Hallström, Mira Nair, Stephen Frears, and Julie Taymor. His theater work includes the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, London’s West End, and Broadway where he has been a three-time Tony Award nominee. He has also worked extensively in Los Angeles, with productions at the Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, and The New American Theatre. This is his first full production with Pasadena Playhouse. He dedicates this performance to full-time caregivers everywhere.

Sue Cremin

Sue Cremin

Anne

Sue Cremin

Sue appeared in the title role of “Neva” (Kirk Douglas Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory) as well as world premieres at the Mark Taper Forum, Yale Repertory Theatre, and Actors Theater of Louisville. Favorite credits: “Viola” in Twelfth Night (The Old Globe) and “Candida” in Candida (Two River Theater). New York: Such Things Only Happen in Books (Keen Company), Honey Brown Eyes (Clurman Theatre), Killing the Boss (Cherry Lane Theatre), A Part of the Story (MCC Theater) and Dinosaur Dreams (NY Stage & Film). Film & Television: California Love, Homeland, The Good War, The Tao of Steve, NCIS, Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie, The Shield, Monk, and Law & Order. Currently recurring on ABC’s new series For Life. Sue is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Michael Manuel

Michael Manuel

Pierre

Michael Manuel

Michael was most recently seen at A Noise Within as “Tilden” in Buried Child, “The Creature” in Frankenstein and “Iago” in Othello. Michael has worked in regional theaters across the country including the Alley Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum, Yale Repertory Theatre, Seattle Rep, Empty Space, Group Theatre, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Theatre for a New Audience, Cornerstone, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Geffen Playhouse, Upright Citizens Brigade, Interact Theatre Company, MainStreet Theatre Company, and Impro Theatre. Some of his television, lm, and narration credits include: Wonderland, National Treasure, and the upcoming Lafayette Escadrille. Michael is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Pia Shah

Pia Shah

Laura

Pia Shah

Pia recently made The Shower, a film she wrote, produced, and starred in while 8 months pregnant. Film/television: HBO’s Room 104, Grass (fully improvised film on Netflix), Grey’s Anatomy, Good Trouble, 8 x 10 (Bollywood), The Wonderful Maladys, Dirty John, Tone-Deaf, Single Parents, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Endings/Beginnings, and Futurestates. She originated the role of “Leela”, a teenager on the spectrum, in the world premiere of Orange at South Coast Repertory. Other theater work: Ojai Playwrights Conference, Circle X Theatre, Sacred Fools Theater Company, The Blank Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Audible/Minetta Lane Theatre, Seattle Rep, and Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Pia is a graduate of William Esper Studio, Johns Hopkins University, and has an MFA from USC.

Robert Mammana

Robert Mammana

Man

Robert Mammana

Robert is honored to be back at the Pasadena Playhouse. Past Playhouse appearances include Casa Valentina and Sleepless in Seattle. Broadway: Les Miserables. National Tours: Show Boat, Les Misérables, and The Sound of Music. Off-Broadway: The Twentieth-Century Way (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater & Boston Court). Regional: Denver Center, South Coast Repertory, Portland Center Stage, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Pasadena Playhouse, McCarter Theatre Center, Goodman Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company. TV: The Office (as “Sweeney Todd”), NCIS, CSI, The Good Wife, How To Get Away With Murder, Elementary, CSI:NY, Dexter, Heroes, The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives, and Enterprise. Film: Dead End, Just Say Love, Flightplan, and Menace. Awards: LA Drama Critics Circle Recipient, LA Weekly Award Recipient, Helen Hays Nomination, three LA Ovation Nominations, and two Joseph Jefferson Nominations.

Lisa Renee Pitts

Lisa Renee Pitts

Woman

Lisa Renee Pitts

Broadway: Tony- nominated Sweat by Lynn Nottage. Selected Regional Credits: Tiny Beautiful Things and Doubt (Portland Center Stage; Critics Circle Award), A Raisin in the Sun (Virginia Stage Company), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Syracuse Stage), and Intimate Apparel (San Diego Repertory Theatre; Critics Circle Award and NAACP Theater Award Nominee). Selected Film/Television: Dr. Dre’s mother, “Verna” in Straight Outta Compton (dir. F. Gary Gray), True to the Game (dir. Preston Whitmore), XX (dir. Karyn Kusama), Her (dir. Spike Jonze), Baselines (dir. Nate Parker), and The Stand, based on the novel by Stephen King (dir. Tucker Gates). Voiceovers: Narration of 100+ audiobooks! Education: BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University | lisareneepitts.com “victory”

Creative Team

Florian Zeller (Playwright)

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Florian Zeller is a French novelist and playwright. His work has been translated into several languages. Florian Zeller wrote his rst novel Neiges arti cielles (Artificial Snow) when he was twenty-two years old. He has written five acclaimed novels and eleven plays, including L’Autre (2004), Le Manège (2005), Si tu mourais (2006, Prix Jeune Théâtre of the Académie française), Elle t’attend (2008), La Mère (2011, Molière Award), La Vérité (2011), Le Père (2012, Molière Award, Prix du Brigadier), Une Heure de tranquillité (2013), Le Mensonge (2015, Théâtre Edouard VII, starring Pierre Arditi), L’Envers du décor (2016), and Avant de s’envoler (2016). He won the prestigious Prix Interallié in 2004 for his novel La Fascination du Pire (Fascination of Evil) and several Molière Awards (highest theatrical honor) for his plays La Mère (The Mother) and Le Père (The Father). Florian Zeller has fast become one of France’s most well-known contemporary playwrights. L’Autre, Le Manège, Si tu mourais, Elle t’attend, La Mère (The Mother, Molière Award in 2011), La Vérité (The Truth), and Une Heure de tranquillité (A Bit of Peace and Quiet) were successfully produced in France and internationally. Le Père (The Father) was the 2014 winner of 3 Molière Awards (Best Play, Best Actor [Robert Hirsh] and Best Actress [Isabelle Gelinas]) and won the Prix du Brigadier in 2015. Une Heure de tranquillité (A Bit of Peace and Quiet) starring Fabrice Luchini became a movie directed by Patrice Leconte. Most of Florian Zeller plays are being optioned and performed all over the world. His plays La Mère (The Mother), Le Père (The Father), and La Vérité (The Truth) have been translated by Christopher Hampton. The play Le Père (The Father) was nominated for Best New Play at the 2016 Olivier Awards and Kenneth Cranham won for Best Actor in a Play. Le Père (The Father) also received two nominations for the 2016 Tony Awards: Best Play and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play. Frank Langella was awarded for his performance. Florian Zeller lives in Paris. He is married to the actress and sculptor Marine Delterme.

 

Christopher Hampton (Playwright)

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Christopher Hampton’s plays and musicals have so far garnered four Tony Awards, three Olivier Awards, four Evening Standard Awards, and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award; prizes for his film and television work include an Oscar, two BAFTAs, a Writers’ Guild of America Award, the Prix Italia, a Special Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Hollywood Screenwriter of the Year, and The Collateral Award at the Venice Film Festival for Best Literary Adaptation. Original plays: Appomattox, The Talking Cure, White Chameleon, Tales from Hollywood, Treats, Savages, The Philanthropist, Total Eclipse, and When Did You Last See My Mother? Adaptations from novels: Youth Without God (Horváth), Embers (Márai), and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Laclos). Musicals: Stephen Ward, Dracula: The Musical, and Sunset Boulevard. Libretti: Appomattox, The Trial, and Waiting for the Barbarians (all for Philip Glass). Translations include plays by Chekhov, Ibsen, Molière, Horváth, Yasmina Reza, and Florian Zeller. Film includes: Ali and Nino, A Dangerous Method, Chéri, Atonement, The Quiet American, Dangerous Liaisons, The Good Father, The Honorary Consul, Total Eclipse, Mary Reilly, Tales From The Vienna Woods, and A Doll’s House. He wrote and directed Imagining Argentina, The Secret Agent, and Carrington. Television includes: The Thirteenth Tale, The Ginger Tree, Hôtel Du Lac, The History Man, and Able’s Will.

Jessica Kubzansky (Director)

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Jessica is the Artistic Director of Boston Court Pasadena and an award-winning director working nationally. Pasadena Playhouse directing credits: Hold These Truths, Pygmalion, and Mauritius. Recently at Boston Court: the world premieres of Kit Steinkellner’s Ladies, Sarah B. Mantell’s Everything That Never Happened, Stefanie Zadravec’s Colony Collapse, RII (her own three-person version of Shakespeare’s Richard II), plus Luis Alfaro’s Mojada, A Medea in Los Angeles (a co-pro at the Getty Villa), the New York and world premieres of Sheila Callaghan’s Everything You Touch (Rattlestick at the Cherry Lane). Other recent credits: Othello (A Noise Within), Hold These Truths (Arena Stage, San Diego Repertory Theatre), Aditi Kapil’s Orange (South Coast Repertory), Aaron Posner’s Stupid Fucking Bird (ACT Theatre Seattle). Upcoming: Sarah B. Mantell’s Everything That Never Happened for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Jessica has received numerous awards and honors, among them the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle’s Margaret Harford Award for Sustained Excellence in Theater.

David Meyer (Scenic Design)

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Pasadena Playhouse: Native Gardens, Belleville, King Charles III, Our Town. Off-Broadway: A Sucker Emcee, The Way West, Empanada Loca, and A Family for All Occasions (Labyrinth Theater). Regional: Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Merrily We Roll Along. Feature Film & Television Production Design: Secret Society of Second Born Royals, Corporate Animals, John Wick 2 (reshoots), Permission, and She’s Lost Control. Art Direction: Vice, Birdman, and The Wolf of Wall Street. David studied Architecture and Theater at Syracuse University and received his MFA in Production Design for Stage and Film at NYU/Tisch. | davidmeyerdesign.com

Denitsa Bliznakova (Costume Design)

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Denitsa is happy to make her Pasadena Playhouse debut. Her theater design work has been seen nationwide at venues including the Geffen Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, Old Globe Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Kennedy Center, Cleveland Play House, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and others. Denitsa’s work for opera includes productions at Los Angeles Opera, San Diego Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. Costume design credits for other media include films and music videos. Nominations for Outstanding Costume Design: LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and Colorado Theatre Guild Henry Award. Denitsa is a Professor and the Head of the graduate Design and Technology program in the School of Theatre, TV and Film at SDSU. | Denitsa.com.

Elizabeth Harper (Lighting Design)

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Regional: Between Two Knees (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), The Cake (La Jolla Playhouse), The Invisible Hand (Kansas City Repertory), Indecent (Denver Theatre Center), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Immediate Family (dir. Phylicia Rashad; Mark Taper Forum), Quack, Woman Laughing Alone With Salad (Kirk Douglas Theatre), Wait Until Dark, Mysterious Circumstances, and Play Dead (dir. Teller; Geffen Playhouse), Rock of Ages (The 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle), Office Hour starring Sandra Oh, Little Black Shadows (South Coast Repertory), Crescent City (dir. Yuval Sharon; The Industry Opera Company). Corporate events include projects for Microsoft, Under Armour, AirBnB, and Universal Studios. Elizabeth is a professor of lighting design at the University of Southern California.

John Zalewski (Sound Designer)

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John is based in Los Angeles, inspired by artists like Reza Abdoh and Bill Viola, and has designed soundscapes applied to live performance for 21 years. He’s been heard supporting theater at Arena Stage, Guthrie Theater, Portland Center Stage, Alliance Theatre, Perseverance Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, Marylebone Gardens (London), South Coast Repertory, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Redcat, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Evidence Room, Boston Court, Belle Reve, and more. Recent credits: Othello (A Noise Within), Belleville (Pasadena Playhouse), Hold These Truths (San Diego Repertory Theatre), and Macbeth (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Upcoming: Destiny of Desire tour (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Guthrie Theater) and The Scarlet Letter (South Coast Repertory). Awards: Ovation, Backstage, LA Weekly Theater, Drama Critics’ Circle and Scenie awards. John teaches sound at Occidental College.

Nicole Arbusto, CSA (Casting)

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Theater casting credits include: Tiny Beautiful Things and King Charles III (Pasadena Playhouse), The Golden Dragon, The House in Scarsdale: A Memoir For The Stage, the upcoming Passion (Boston Court), the Los Angeles casting for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of Tracy Letts’s Linda Vista, and twelve years with the Ojai Playwrights Conference working on new plays by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Terrence McNally, Jiehae Park, JC Lee, Robert Askins. TV/Film: The Lovers starring Debra Winger and Tracy Letts (A24), Room 104 and Animals. (Duplass Brothers Productions; HBO)

Sara Sahin (Stage Manager)

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Sara has worked on Broadway and Off-Broadway at Roundabout Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company, Park Avenue Armory, MCC Theater, Lincoln Center Theater, Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, among others. Regional: The Wallis, Signature Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Barrington Stage Company. This spring Sara will be going to South Africa with William Kentridge’s The Head and the Load, having stage-managed it at the Park Avenue Armory, the Tate Modern, and Ruhrtriennale. Sara has directed and co-produced with writer Greg Turner, five of his original plays and a short lm. Sara is a member of LCT’s Directors Lab and a graduate of New York University.

David S. Franklin (Assistant Stage Manager)

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Previous productions at Pasadena Playhouse include Stoneface, Defiance, Showtune, Sisterella, Blues in the Night, and Closer Than Ever. Selected Center Theatre Group credits: Baz Luhrmann’s La Bohème, Art, Curtains, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Parade, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, God of Carnage, Red, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Bent, Zoot Suit, Head of Passes, Linda Vista, and Soft Power. Other credits: Los Angeles Theatre Center (1985–1990), Geffen Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Intiman Theatre, Public Theater, and European Tours of Quotations from a Ruined City and Law of Remains (Reza Abdoh’s Dar a Luz company).

Talkbacks

Talkback Tuesday | Tuesday, Feb 18

Talkback with Alfred Molina and the cast of The Father.
Join us for a talkback with the cast of The Father and get an inside-look at the cast’s process preparing for this production.

 


Talkback Tuesday | Saturday, Feb 22 at 3:30 PM

In Conversation: Dr. Paul Stephen Aisen: A discussion of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and the current state of therapeutic research

Press Quotes

“I was mightily impressed with Jessica Kubzansky’s production and with the performances of the reliably astounding Alfred Molina in the title role and an unerring Sue Cremin, who plays his daughter.”

— CHARLES MCNULTY (LOS ANGELES TIMES THEATER CRITIC)

 

“HARROWING, DISORIENTING, AND MESMERIZING…An eye-opener of a play.”

– Stage Scene LA

 

“Will crack your heart wide open.”

– coloradoboulevard.net

 

 

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Advisory

Pasadena Playhouse does not offer advisories about the subject matter for this production, as sensitivities vary from patron to patron. If you have any inquiries regarding content, age-appropriateness or stage effects (such as strobe lights or theatrical fog) that may affect patron comfort, please contact Patron Services during Box Office hours at 626-356-PLAY.

Children under age 5 are not permitted in any performance at Pasadena Playhouse.

Institutional Partner

This production is made possible by a generous grant from The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation.

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