A FAMILY UP FOR BID
AUCTIONING THE AINSLEYS
By Laura Schellhardt
Directed by Meredith McDonough
Lucie Stern Theatre
July 14—August 8, 2010
World Premiere
Going once…going twice…The bids come fast and furious as a family of professional auctioneers puts its heart, its heritage, and even its darkest secrets on the block in this comic drama that electrified our New Works Festival. With a brilliant flair for mystery, language, and laughter, one of America’s hottest young playwrights explores what happens when what we own becomes more important than who we are.
Contains mature language.
*Visual Voice audio described performances 8/6 8pm, 8/7 8pm, 8/8 2pm
Auctioning the Ainsleys is a recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays award.
Groups of 8 or more save 15%! Contact Elisa Valentine at 650.463.7126 or at elisa@theatreworks.org for more information or to make a reservation.
Season Media Sponsor: The Mercury News
“A comically probing look at how possessions define our lives...A BUOYANT RIDE"
SF Chronicle
"There are jokes that are SO FUNNY THEY ACTUALLY EARN APPLAUSE...deserves to have a worldwide run...Scripts this brilliant just don't happen all the time."
Daily News
"FULLY POLISHED...keeps the audience in stitches from the first bid to the last call on the auction block."
Mercury News
"A rich, hilarious comedy of absurd, tightly wound characters and situations...THIS IS A SHOW WITH A FUTURE."
Out & About Magazine
"ORIGINAL AND BRILLIANT...studded with engaging original humor and the actors and the set are exceptional."
San Mateo Daily Journal
"LIVELY...dynamic direction...impressive"
SF Examiner
"UNIQUE...TheatreWorks has gained well deserved national attention for innovation and originality."
Stark Insider
"VIGOROUS AND REFRESHING...Splendid performances...the first set change provoked an audible 'Oooo...' from the audience."
Palo Alto Weekly
"[Auctioning the Ainsleys] is about pacing, appreciating the musical beats in the script..."
My Cultural Landscape
"A MUST SEE...absolutely hysterical and farcical with lines bringing loud laughs."
ForAllEvents
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Jessica lynn carroll*(Amelia) is happy to return to TheatreWorks after having appeared in the New Works Festival productions of The Burnt Part Boys (Frances), Asphalt Beach (Louann Purdy), and The Funkentine Rapture (Leslie Nielsen). Locally, Ms. Carroll has worked with Foothill Music Theatre, playing Little Sally in Urinetown and Evelyn Nesbit in Ragtime. She also appeared in the role of Emily Webb in Our Town with Palo Alto Players, as well as Sally in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown with Theatre on San Pedro Square. Ms. Carroll earned a BFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and is a member of Actor’s Equity. |
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molly anne coogan*(Annalee) is delighted to be back at TheatreWorks where she has performed in Auctioning the Ainsleys (Annalee, New Works Festival), Emma (u/s, performance Harriet, Mrs. Elton), Touch(ed) (Kay, New Works Festival), M Butterfly (u/s Renee), and Oskar the Kid that Could (Rebecca, School Tour). Other Bay Area credits include The Secret Garden (Martha) for Lamplighters Music Theatre, Assassins (Squeaky Fromme) for Custom Made Theatre, Cartoon (Akane) for Impact Theatre, as well as work with Magic Theatre and 42nd Street Moon. She can be seen in the web-TV series Chaos Theory and is also writing a series for the network PhoebeTV. Ms. Coogan currently resides in New York where she is a member of the band Rooftops, with their debut album set for release this fall. |
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diane dorsey*(Alice) is joining the TheatreWorks family for the first time with Auctioning the Ainsleys. Her regional credits include premieres of Lee Blessing’s Heaven’s My Destination (Cleveland Playhouse), Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice (Madison Repertory), and covering two roles in the original production of August: Osage County (Steppenwolf Theatre). Other favorite shows are All My Sons (Geffen Playhouse), Blithe Spirit (Peninsula Players), The Cripple of Inishmaan (Nebraska Repertory), Mata Hari (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), plus the 25th anniversary production of Bleacher Bums (Royal George Theatre, Chicago). Her film and TV credits include Road to Perdition, Ghost Whisperer, The Practice, Roseanne, and Designing Women. Recently she created and performed Kaleidoscope, a solo piece saluting her own family members. Ms. Dorsey currently serves as an Associate Artist with Chicago Dramatists and on the Actors’ Equity Board (Central Region). |
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Lance gardner*(Arthur) is pleased to return to TheatreWorks, where he understudied Intimate Apparel and Anna in the Tropics, and has performed multiple staged readings for the Young Playwright’s Project. He has appeared on stage in Yellowjackets at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Equivocation, A Streetcar Named Desire, Lovers & Executioners, and A Brief History of Nearly Everything at Marin Theatre Company, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at California Shakespeare Theater, Rust at Magic Theatre, T.I.C. with Encore Theatre, Skin at Climate Theatre, Angels in America parts I & II at City Lights Theatre Company and more. He is a member of San Jose Repertory Theatre’s social outreach and education division, Red Ladder Theatre Company. Mr. Gardner also performs regularly as the drummer for the San Jose based rock band Vie Victus. |
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heidi kettenring*(Avery) spent three years as Nessarose in the Broadway in Chicago production of Wicked. She toured the country for one year in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. As a resident of Chicago, favorite credits include My Fair Lady (Eliza), Little Women (Jo), and Funny Girl (Fanny) at Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre; Guys and Dolls (Adelaide), Travesties (Gwen) and The Importance of Being Earnest (Gwendolyn) at Court Theatre, as well as work with Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace and Evergreen Park, Northlight Theatre, Theatre at The Center, Peninsula Players, and American Theatre Company. Ms. Kettenring has also sung concerts for the Ravinia festival in Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Pensacola Symphony and can be heard singing on a Disney Princess children’s book. She appeared on an episode of television’s Cupid. |
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liam vincent*(Aiden) has regional credits including productions at Alliance Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, Arizona Theatre Company, Pasadena Playhouse, The Civilians, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz. In |
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laura schellhardt(Playwright) has written original plays including How to Remove Blood from a Carpet, The K of D, Air Guitar High, The Apothecary’s Daughter, Courting Vampires, Shapeshifter, Inheritance, and Je Ne Sais Quoi. Her theatrical adaptations include The Phantom Tollbooth, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, The Outfit, and Creole Folktales. She is also the author of Screenwriting for Dummies. Ms. Schellhardt received a TCG National Playwriting Residency, the Jerome Fellowship, a Dramatist Guild Fellowship, and The New Play Award from ACT, Seattle. She participated in TheatreWorks’ New Works Festival (Auctioning the Ainsleys), the Kennedy Center’s New Voices/New Visions, The O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference, and Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Women Playwright Festival. She received her MFA in playwriting from Brown University where she studied under Paula Vogel and currently heads the undergraduate playwriting program at Northwestern University. |
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MEREDITH McDONOUGH(Director) is TheatreWorks’ Director of New Works and recently directed Opus. She is the Associate Artistic Director of Orchard Project in NY and an Artistic Associate at Delaware Theatre Company. She spent three seasons as a Resident Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville, directing numerous world premieres in the Humana Festival. She directed premieres for Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Actors Express, Summer Play Festival, and Keen Company. Favorites include Summer of ’42 (Round House Theatre), Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice (Williamstown Theatre Festival), and Angels in America (University of California, San Diego). She was New Works Program Director for National Alliance for Musical Theatre, is an Affiliated Artist with New Georges, and a Drama League Fellow. Her MFA in directing is from UCSD and BS in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. |
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
