TRINITY REP PRESENTS A TALE OF TWO CITIES
A story of love, redemption, and revolution
February 20 – March 22
PROVIDENCE, RI: Trinity Rep continues its 2019-20 Season with a timeless classic retold, A Tale of Two Cities. Directed by Tyler Dobrowsky, who last brought audiences Little Shop of Horrors, this is a beautifully vibrant production that is at once sweepingly epic and profoundly personal. Based on the novel by Charles Dickens and adapted by resident acting company member Brian McEleney, the story famously depicts the best of times and worst of times. A Tale of Two Cities runs February 20 – March 22, with press opening on Monday, February 24 at 7:30 pm. Tickets start at $27. More information can be found at www.TrinityRep.com/tale.
ABOUT A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Against a tumultuous backdrop of social and political upheaval emerges a passionate story of romance, sacrifice, and vengeance. This fresh new adaptation fuses the late 18th century with the contemporary, bringing the epic and universal face-to-face with the intensely intimate and personal. “The best of times and the worst of times” are brought to vivid life on stage in this remarkable approach to the time-honored classic.
Director Tyler Dobrowksy said, “I’m thrilled to direct this brilliant new adaptation of one of the greatest books of all time, A Tale of Two Cities. I’ve always loved Dickens and A Tale of Two Cities is a real masterpiece of storytelling. The story is both personal and political, with passionate and poetic language, featuring colorful characters, romance and humor, all set against the backdrop of one of the most important periods of human history. It really has something for everyone.”
CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
Tyler Dobrowksy has been a member of the education, literary, and artistic teams at Trinity Rep since 2003 and currently serves as the Associate Artistic Director and Director of New Play Development. He founded YASI (Young Actors Summer Institute), Trinity Rep’s summer program for children, as well as Teatro en El Verano Trinity Rep’s touring bilingual summer theater project, produced in partnership with Rhode Island Latino Arts. Directing credits at Trinity Rep include: Little Shop of Horrors, Into the Breeches!, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, A Flea in Her Ear, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Love Alone, and A Christmas Carol. Directing credits at the Gamm include The Big Meal, Morality Play, The Rant, American Buffalo and Incognito.
Brian McEleney (adaptor and Doctor Manette) has been with Trinity Rep for over thirty seasons. As Trinity Rep’s Resident Associate Director, he has directed over 20 productions, including last season’s limited run of the An Iliad, in which he also starred. Other credits include The Grapes of Wrath, House and Garden, Absurd Person Singular, The Crucible, Twelfth Night, All the King’s Men, Our Town, and Hamlet. Favorite roles include King Lear, Richard II, Richard III, Malvolio, George (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), Dr. Larch (The Cider House Rules), Prior Walter (Angels in America), and, in his first Trinity appearance, Mozart in Amadeus. He is a graduate of Trinity College and the Yale School of Drama. He serves as head of the Brown/Trinity MFA Acting program.
Dobrowksy will be working alongside Joel Thibodeau (music director and composer), Emmy award-winning Eugene Lee (set design), Toni Spadafora (costume design), Kate McGee (lighting design), and Peter Sasha Hurowitz (sound design).
The cast of this production features resident company members Stephen Berenson as Monsieur Defarge, Timothy Crowe as Mr. Lorry, Daniel Duque-Estrada as Sydney Carton, Brian McEleney as Doctor Manette, Rebecca Gibel as Lucie Manette, and Rachael Warren as Madame Defarge.
Joining them are guest artists Rudy Cabrera in the ensemble, Matt Clevy as Marquis, Jackie Davis in the ensemble, with Rachel Dulude, who will play Miss Pross, and Taavon Gamble who will play Charles Darnay, and who was last seen in 2019’s A Christmas Carol as Jacob Marley. Brown/Trinity MFA student Jotae Fraser ’20 will play John Barsad, and alum David Rabinow ’02 is in the ensemble.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS AND SPECIAL EVENTS FOR A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Continuing Trinity Rep’s tradition of offering affordable tickets for all, the theater will have discounted previews of A Tale of Two Cities. Thursday, February 20 is a Pay What You Can performance. Pay What You Can tickets go on sale at 6:30 pm that evening, and are limited to one per person.
Other special performances for A Tale of Two Cities include an Open Captioned performance for the show on Sunday, February 23 at 2:00 pm and Wednesday, March 4 at 2:00 and 7:30 pm. The Next Generation Night will be held on Thursday, February 27, and includes a special event for the next generation of theater-goers. The Teens Talk performance will be held on Friday, February 28, which features Trinity Rep’s Teen Ambassadors discussing their perspective on the show following the 7:30 performance.
A Context & Conversation panel discussion will be held in partnership with Providence Public Library on Monday, March 9 at 6:00 pm at the 134 Collaborative at 143 Mathewson Street in Providence. At this free event, panelists from the community will examine what new and renewed connections mean in a precarious world. Christina Bevilacqua, Trinity Rep’s conversationalist-in-residence and programs and exhibitions director at Providence Public Library will moderate the discussion.
A Tale of Two Cities is sponsored by Navigant Credit Union. The 2019-20 Season Sponsors are Ocean State Job Lot and Rhode Island Council on the Arts. The 2019-20 Season supporting sponsor is The Providence Tourism Council. Southwest Airlines is the official airline of Trinity Rep.
TRINITY REPERTORY COMPANY
Rhode Island’s Tony Award-winning theater, Trinity Rep has created unparalleled professional theater for and with its community since its founding in 1963. Trinity Rep strives to facilitate human connection and has been a driving force behind the creativity that fuels and defines the region for more than 50 years.
Trinity Rep is committed to reinventing the public square and inspiring dialogue by creating emotionally-stimulating live productions that range from classical to contemporary and innovative education programs for all ages and abilities. Its annual production of A Christmas Carol has brought families together for more than four decades and made memories for over a million audience members.
Subscriptions and single tickets are now on sale for the 2019-20 Season, which included the world-premiere of The Prince of Providence by George Brant, based on the book The Prince of Providence by Mike Stanton; with Fade by Tanya Saracho; August Wilson’s Radio Golf; and continues with A Tale of Two Cities by Brian McEleney, based on the novel by Charles Dickens; Sweat by Lynn Nottage; and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler.
For more information on our 2019-20 Season, call the box office at (401) 351-4242 or visit Trinity Rep’s website at www.TrinityRep.com.