Our friends at the Wheelhouse Theater Company are making the move from downtown to 42nd Street! You may remember their hit production of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s Happy Birthday, Wanda June played to sold out crowds at the Gene Frankel Theater back in April. Now, they’re returning to take things uptown to The Duke on 42nd Street. Do not miss this incredible production directed by our friend Jeff Wise and featuring our Co-Artistic Director Craig Wesley Divino on stage. We’ll see you there!
October 18 - November 29, 2018
The Duke on 42nd Street
229 W 42nd St.
New York, NY 10036
A Little About The Show
Happy Birthday, Wanda June first premiered off-Broadway at the Theater de Lys (now the Lucille Lortel) on October 7, 1970, was restaged at the Edison Theatre on Broadway, starring Marsha Mason and Kevin McCarthy and opened December 22, 1970.
Happy Birthday, Wanda June takes a searing and darkly comedic look at American culture through the brilliantly perverse lens of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Harold Ryan, a widely respected war veteran and big game hunter, returns home after being missing and presumed dead for 8 years. Harold brings with him an old way of thinking, one that celebrates a chauvinist machismo and American exceptionalism. But Harold soon discovers that the society he returns to has made attempts to progress into a more modern and enlightened cultural narrative. What follows is a dynamic and often hilarious meditation on toxic masculinity and an American capitalist society’s failed attempts at progress cloaked in “honor” and “morality”, and how the two are deeply connected. But simply put, and as the first few lines of the play state, “this is a play about men who enjoy killing, and those who don’t.”
Cast:
Jason O’Connell
Kate MacCluggage
Finn Faulconer
Craig Wesley Divino
Kareem M. Lucas
Matt Harrington
Charlotte Wise
Brie Zimmer
Creative:
Written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Directed by Jeffrey Wise
Scenic Design: Brittany Vasta
Lighting Design: Drew Florida
Costume Design: Christopher Metzger
Sound Design: Mark Van Hare
Production Stage Manager: Paula R. Clarkson
Assistant Stage Manager: David Kenner