Staged Reading - The Two Of Us

By Michael Frayn

A staged Reading

Directed by Vicki Siegel & Anna Andersen

Tuesday - July 31, 2012 8 p.m.

ONE NIGHT ONLY

THE TWO OF US (1970),each featuring two actors.  Our production is co-directed by the playwright Vicki Siegel (A Hot Day in Ephesus) and the veteran director Anna Andersen (Pseudolus.)

THE TWO OF US features 3 of the works - Mr. Foot, about a man, his wife, and his foot, which seems to have an equal role in threesome, The New Quixote, featuring a cougar, her conquest, and her morning dilemma, and Chinamen - Murphy's Law as applied to a dinner party - the frantic backstage activity required was the inspiration for NOISES OFF.  Plays Tuesday July 31st at 8 p.m.

2012 Summer Staged Reading Series

The Two of Us

A Collection of Comic One-Acts by Michael Frayn

A staged reading, Directed by Vicki Siegel and Anna Andersen

ONE NIGHT ONLY - Tuesday, July 31st, 2012, 8 p.m.

 

Mr. Foot                   Vicki Siegel
                                 Stanley Spenger

 

The New Quixote       Anna Andersen
                                   Nathan Bogner

 

  Chinamen               Jody Christian
                                 Keith Jefferds

Anna Andersen is a recent transplant in Southern California, where she acted and directed in just over 75 plays in just under 25 years. Her favorites include playing Kate in Taming of the Shrew, directing Macbeth, and writing/ directing/ performing an educational outreach program that brought Shakespeare to thousands of students in LA. This is Anna's fourth staged reading and she's having a delightful time. A habitual director, she thanks and reproaches Vicki for putting her back on the stage.

Vicki Siegel is the playwright of Actors Ensemble's spring production, the musical A Hot Day in Ephesus, based on Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. She has acted mainly with the Curtain Theatre as the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet; Mistress Quickly in last year's Merry Wives of Windsor and this year's production of Much Ado About Nothing.  Other roles are Miss Prism in Importance of Being Earnest for 16th St. Players in San Francisco and coming up Lady Boyle in Tracy Letts' Superior Doughnuts at Custom Made Theater.  Nibs in THE TWO OF US is a favorite role and it's a real joy to be able to perform it again for Actors Ensemble.

Cast

Nate Bogner Nate's thrilled to return to Actors Ensemble's Staged Reading series, having played both Antipholus' in The Comedy of Errors and Pseudolus in Pseudolus earlier this season. This past season he was also seen as Pfc Downey in A Few Good Men and Mark in Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight.

Jody Christian is happy to be participating in a staged reading with AE, having just finished a role (you should have seen her dancing) in her third AE production, A Hot Day in Ephesus. She most recently portrayed Hannah Jarvis in AE’s popular Arcadia. She has worked at CalShakes and SubShakes, where she first met Vicki while acting in the staged readings series of the Canon. Her background is in dance, sketch comedy, and Shakespeare.

Keith Jefferds has performed at theaters throughout the Bay Area. Favorite roles have  included King Henry in Lion in Winter, Boss Mangan in Heartbreak House (here at AE), Tartuffe in Tartuffe, Sir Wilfrid Robarts in Witness for the Prosecution, Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey, and Ben Hecht in Moonlight & Magnolias. When he isn’t acting (or acting out) Keith writes plays: his one-acts Swing Set, Survival Rate and Sinatra in Hell have had readings in East Bay theatres… and tomorrow he starts dashing off a play a day in August for Play Cafe’s “31 Plays in 31 Days” marathon. Oy vey.

Stanley Spenger has been in an around AE since before he can remember (though there is a picture of him in the AE 50^th anniversary program from 1982 or something like that).  He’s acted and/or directed numerous shows including Uncle Vanya, Twelfth Night, Hedda Gabbler, and most recently took on the role of Hector in AE’s 2011 production of Heartbreak House.

Thanks to:  Jose Garcia, Alecks Rundell, and Jerome Solberg

$5-$10 sliding scale.  Cash or check only at the door.  Box office/will call opens 1/2 hour before start of show - Box office located inside the lobby.  Wheelchair accessible - use the north side lobby entrance.