Seattle Repertory Theatre Presents Edward Albee's The Lady from Dubuque

Seattle, WA – Seattle Repertory Theatre will stage the long-awaited and rarely produced Edward Albee play, The Lady from Dubuque. Directed by Seattle Rep Artistic Director, David Esbjornson The Lady from Dubuque plays in the Bagley Wright Theatre from January 11 through February 10. Previews begin January 11, with opening night set for January 17. Tickets are available through the Seattle Repertory Theatre box office seven days a week at (206) 443-2222, toll-free at (877) 900-9285, as well as online at www.seattlerep.org.

The Play: Jo and Sam are having a party. As the evening wears and guests and hosts alike become less congenial, it becomes clear that the thrust and parry of chatter at this gathering isn’t completely frivolous — something dark is at rest behind Jo’s biting humor. As the party breaks up and everyone seeks his own solace, an unexpected guest and her mysterious companion arrive. Will she bring Jo comfort? And are Jo and Sam ready to accept what this lady has to offer? Seattle Repertory Theatre mounts the long-awaited revival of this rarely produced stunner by the author of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and reunites the recent Broadway team (The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?) of playwright laureate Edward Albee and director David Esbjornson.

The Playwright: Edward Albee’s plays include The Zoo Story (1958), The American Dream (1960), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1961-62, Tony Award), The Ballad of the Sad Café (1963), Tiny Alice (1964), A Delicate Balance (1966, Pulitzer Prize, 1967 Tony Award), All Over (1971), Seascape (1974 Pulitzer Prize), The Lady from Dubuque (1977-78), The Man Who Had Three Arms (1981), Finding the Sun (1982), Marriage Play (1986-87), Three Tall Women (1991, Pulitzer), Fragments (1993), The Play
About the Baby (1997), and The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (2000). He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and president of the Edward F. Albee Foundation, which maintains the William Flanagan Creative Persons Center, a writers and artists colony in Montauk, NY. Mr. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980, both the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts in 1996, and a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2005.

The Director: David Esbjornson has directed The Great Gatsby, Tuesdays with Morrie and the world premiere of Ariel Dorfman’s Purgatorio for Seattle Repertory Theatre. Recent credits include the inauguration of the New Guthrie Theater with the world premiere of The Great Gatsby, the Theatre Royal Haymarket (London) production of A Few Good Men with Rob Lowe, Much Ado About Nothing with Jimmy Smits, Kristen Johnston, and Sam Waterston at NY Shakespeare Festival/Delecorte Theatre, In The Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks at the Public Theater, Neil Simon’s Rose and Walsh with Jane Alexander and Len Cariou at the Geffen Theatre, and Homebody/Kabul by Tony Kushner in London. Mr. Esbjornson has worked with Arthur Miller on two premiere productions: The Ride Down Mt. Morgan at the Public and on Broadway with Patrick Stewart and Frances Conroy, and the world premiere of Resurrection Blues with Laila Robins at the Guthrie Theater. For seven years, Esbjornson was the artistic director of the Classic Stage Company. Esbjornson holds an MFA from NYU and has been in residence at the O’Neill Festival, Iowa Playwrights Festival, received a Quinn Martin Honorary Chair at University of California, San Diego, and a Distinguished Alumni Award from Gustavus Adolphus College.

Performance Details: Performances of The Lady from Dubuque are at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday with 2:00 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sundays. There will be no performance on Thursday, January 18. There will be a 2:00 p.m. matinee on Wednesday, February 7. Post-play discussions will be held after performances on Thursday, February 1 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, January 28 at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday, February 4 at 2:00 p.m. There is an audio-described performance on Saturday, February 3 at 2:00 p.m. and an American Sign Language (ASL)-interpreted performance on Sunday, February 4 at 2:00 p.m.