|
The Last Yankee
is Miller’s unflinching, yet compassionate ode to the relentless
challenges of long-term relationships. Leroy and Patricia Hamilton
gently navigate middle-age marital terrain as as they careen to the far
corners of emotional stability. The road to repair is through the
tunnels of a state mental hospital where their paths intersect with the
Fricks. John and Karen Frick don’t even know where to turn to unlock
their golden years-run-aground. Frick immerses himself in work, as his
wife descends into a Fred Astaire-fantasy, complete with top hat and
tails in this heartwarming drama.
|
|
|
BACK
TO TOP
|
BACK
TO TOP
|
Roslyn Alexander (Karen Frick) has starred in many
Chicago theatres, and this is her second appearance on the Actors
Workshop stage where she took the same role in The Last Yankee in AWT's production
at Victory Gardens in 2001. At Victory Gardens itself, she has appeared
in James Sherman's God of Isaac,
Jest a Second, Door to Door, Affluenza, and Beau Jest, which she played in New
York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In addition to
working at Steppenwolf, Court, National Jewish, and many other
theatres, she was cast by Mike Nichlos in the first national company of
The Prisoner
of Second Avenue at the Ahmanson Theatre in L.A., and won the
Jeff Award for best actress for Wings
at Wisdom Bridge, directed by Robert Falls.
|
BACK
TO TOP
|
Jim Farruggio (Leroy Hamilton) is happy to be
making his second apperance on the AWT stage since playing the father
in Praying Small. His most
recent role was Major Preston James in Awaken Productions world
premeire staging of Half-Life
at the American Theater Company. Jim says "I would like thank all the
great people who have made my first year back in Chicago a 'wonderful'
year indeed!"
|
BACK
TO TOP
|
Jan Ellen Graves (Patricia Hamilton)
recently appeared in AWT's Broken
Glass as Margaret, Liars
& Angels: The Language of Cherubs
as Franny Allbright and as the pathologist and boss in Praying Small. Some of her favorite
stage roles include M’Lynn in Steel
Magnolias, Mrs. Keller in Miracle
Worker, Kate in All My Sons,
Ilona in She Loves Me and
Sister Robert Anne in Nunsense.
She has also appeared in a number of industrials and commercials. Jan
was the project manager for the buildout of the new AWT space, is the
technical director, managing director, and all-around fixer-upper. |
BACK
TO TOP
|
Sam Perry (John Frick) most recently played
Norman Mailer in AWT's production of Liars
and Angels. He began his acting career with several musicals at
the renowned Macarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. A
quoted authority on counter-terrorism, Sam consulted with Fugitive director Andrew Davis on
his film Chain Reaction. He is a familiar face in TV commercials and
print ads. Sam reprises the role he played in the AWT Chicago premiere
of The Last Yankee at Victory
Gardens Studio Theatre in 2001.
|
BACK
TO TOP
|
Michael Colucci (director) is the Artistic Director
of the AWT and has been acting, producing, directing, and teaching in
Chicago for nearly twenty years. He is a long-standing member of SAG,
AFTRA, and Equity, and founded the Actors Workshop training center in
Old Town in 1991, and the AWT in 1994 as an itinerant theatre company,
finally and happily landing in Edgewater in 2003, where the inaugural
show was a critically acclaimed production of Praying Small.
His favorite acting experiences are as the Father in Praying Small at AWT, Dave/Bob in Beau Jest at Victory Gardens with
Roslyn Alexander and The American
Clock at Court Theatre in the '80s, which received three Jeff
nominations including best ensemble (and this rarity can also be seen
after lo these many years in AWT's current season of mostly recent
Arthur Miller).
Special experiences as a director include AWT's recent production of Broken Glass by Arthur Miller, Praying Small by Clifford Morts, Otherwise Engaged by Simon Gray, The Monogamist by Christopher Kyle.
His favorite career role, however, is that of a teacher here at the AWT.
|
BACK
TO TOP
|
Tom Camacho (stage manager) is elated to be working
on his second project with AWT after stage managing and costuming Broken Glass. Tom is also the
executive/managing
director for The Serendipity Youth Theatre, (a youth theater company
committed to providing arts and theater to Chicago Public Schools), an
actor and a dancer that teaches beginning ballet to children. In his
spare time he is also a student at Columbia College Chicago finishing
his B.A. in arts administration, an aircraft mechanic who works
maintaining and restoring WWII fighters and bombers, and an equestrian
who has competed jumping rather large fences with retired thoroughbred
race horses. He is committed to figuring out what he wants to do when
and if he ever grows up.
|
|
|
